In Math, we are digging deep into our multiplication unit.  Students have been exposed to 4 different methods for multiplication, the final method being the traditional short-cut method that many of us were taught in school.  We teach a variety of methods so that students understand WHY the short-cut works.  Students have been given the choice to use whichever method they feel most comfortable with, and most have chosen the short-cut method.  We have practiced multiplying 2-digit by 1-digit numbers, and today we extended our strategies to multiplying 3-digit by 1-digit numbers.  We will work up to multiplying 4-digit by 1-digit and also 2-digit by 2-digit.  Throughout our practice, students will also be working on using those strategies to solve single and multi-step word problems.

In Reading, we just finished reading The Tiger Rising today in class.  This book was loved by this class.  We have been working hard on having meaningful book discussions as we prepare for upcoming book clubs.  Today students participated in a “fish bowl” activity where they watched a group of students discuss the book.  Their focus was not on sharing their individual opinions, but on building upon ideas their classmates brought up, or questioning their peers, so that they may all begin digging deeper into the story.  As students watched, more students joined the conversation.  It started off with only 2 or 3 students in the conversation and built to 10+ students having a meaningful book discussion.  We will continue these book discussions as we begin book clubs during our informational reading unit that we will start next week.

In Writing, we are continuing to work on revising/editing strategies to improve our writing.  The goal is to finish revisions and edits to our realistic fiction stories this week so that we can share our stories with our classmates.  Next week, students will be asked to apply all that they’ve learned throughout our personal narrative unit and realistic fiction unit to write a story on their own from start to finish.  Once those are finished, they will be sent home as evidence of their writing progress thus far.  Because this will not be completed until next week, they will note receive a narrative writing score on this term for their report cards.

In Social Studies, we finished up our Government unit today with an end of unit assessment.  Those will be sent home by the end of the week, and will be their final social studies grade for this term of the report card.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

HALLOWEEN

• Halloween is tomorrow!  Your child may either come to school dressed in their costume, or change once they arrive.  Please keep in mind that tomorrow’s special is art, and I do not know what activity they might have planned.  Costume guidelines:
  • Shoes must be worn at all times.
  • No blood, gore, or weapons or look-alike weapons allowed!
  • Masks may be worn, but may only cover the eyes.  We must be able to see student faces for security purposes.
• The Halloween parade will begin at 2pm.  Families are welcome to line up outside the building to watch students parade through in their costumes.  Immediately following the parade will be recess, and then our Halloween party.  (Thank you to all parents who have volunteered to help out with our party.  It is greatly appreciated.)

LUNCH ON THURSDAY, 11/1

Our class had the most students participate for the last the Jets Pizza night.  Because of this, Jets is throwing us a pizza party to celebrate on Thursday.  Students will not need to pack a lunch or buy that day.  The only thing they will need to bring is a drink.  Thank you for supporting our school at Jets Pizza Night! 🙂

CONFERENCES

• Conferences are coming up next week!  Thank you to all parents that have already signed up for a time slot.  If you have not yet signed up, please do so as soon as possible.  I am looking forward to meeting with all of you.  Below is the link to sign up for a conference time slot as well as directions.  Please let me or the office know if you have any trouble, and we can help get you signed up.
• Sign Up for a Conference Time Slot
  We’re using SignUp.com to organize our upcoming conferencesHere’s how it works in 3 easy steps:

  1) Click this link to see our SignUp on SignUp.com: http://signup.com/go/qHWpeYX
  2) Review the options listed and choose the spot you like.
  3) Sign up! It’s Easy – you will NOT need to register an account or keep a password on SignUp.com.

  Note: SignUp.com does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact me and I can sign you up manually.

 

Upcoming Dates

Wednesday, 10/31	Halloween Parade at 2pm Halloween Party 2:40-3:40
Thursday, 11/1	Free Jets Pizza Lunch – No need to pack or buy today! 🙂
Friday, 11/2	Early Release for Students at 12:15pm – Wear Champions T-Shirt
Tuesday, 11/6	Election Day – Go Out and Vote! (Encourage your child to come along and see our democratic process in action.)
Wednesday, 11/7	Fire Drill at 2pm Parent-Teacher Conferences 4pm-8pm
Thursday, 11/8	Parent-Teacher Conferences 4pm-8pm School Board Meeting at 7pm
Monday, 11.12	Veteran’s Day Observed
Tuesday, 11/13	PTC Meeting at 7pm
Friday, 11/16	Popcorn Friday
Wednesday, 11/21 – Friday, 11/23	Thanksgiving Break – Enjoy time with family and friends!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.  I look forward to seeing all of you at conferences next week!