Dear Families, It has been wonderful learning from Natalie Kinsey Warnoc these past two weeks. Students learned all about genealogy, family trees, photography over time, primary and secondary sources, artifacts, anachronism and censuses. They have looked at history related to family members through various guided research. They have learned so much and we are eager to synthesize this new learning. The project requires that students choose one family member or resident of Salisbury to interview, research and/or learn about. So, students will be coming home with a brainstorming page to complete. They will most likely need help from some family members to complete the page. This completed brainstorming page will serve as the start of a writing piece where students will need to choose one small moment from that person’s life to write and publish a story about. The small moment may begin as a truth, but the story may be historical fiction at the end. Any related photographs, diaries, letters, or other primary sources will help aid your learner's writing. So feel free to send pictures of those in via email to your learner's teacher. Throughout the writing process students will be bringing home drafts, seeking help from family members. We appreciate any support you can give your student. Timeline: -Brainstorming page due, Thursday November 2nd (However, if your learner has it earlier that will help them begin writing!) -1st Draft to be reviewed at home the week of Nov 6th to be returned to school by November 10th -Week of Nov 13th, final revisions to be made between school and home -Story will be shared with Natalie Kinsey Warnoc week of Nov 20th. When we return from November Break, we will compile all student stories and publish a book. We will keep one copy at school and students will be able to purchase a copy if they wish to keep one at home. More information about this will be provided in a couple of weeks. If you have any questions or comments about this project please do not hesitate to contact us. Thanks for your support with this exciting project! If you are eager to get started we attached the brainstorming page below:
The photos below are from the Family Fun Night at Middlebury Indoor Tennis! Coming Week:
Monday, October 30-(Grade 5) STARBASE Wednesday, November 1- (Grades 4/5) Shakespeare Friday, November 3-Conference Day, No school for students Other Important Dates: Shakespeare at Town Hall Theater, Friday, November 17th (Grade 3 to watch peers) Grades 5/6 Bingo Fundraiser, Friday, December 1
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AUTHOR RESIDENCY Students were lucky to meet and learn from Natalie Kinsey-Warnoc for three days this past week. A focus was with where personal stories can come from. The following link will bring you to her website if you would like to learn about the author. In two weeks she will return and students will begin writing their own stories. Students were given family trees that they should try and fill out to the best of their abilities. We respect that families are who you want them to be, so don't worry too much about the specifics. The idea is for students to take a look back at history and see how things have changed over time. Next week, students will be working with Natalie to write a family story. She has asked students to take a few minutes at home to find a photograph or family artifact that tells a family story. Students have a form to fill out, which will help them to write their family story. Check out her website here: kinsey-warnock.com/ The photos below are from her visit: TENNIS Students also began their tennis unit in PE this week. Grades 3/4 were learning from Middlebury Indoor Tennis instructors as well as Mr. C. Fifth grade students will being tennis next week and the unit will culminate with a really fun night at Middlebury Indoor Tennis on October 27th. Mark your calendars, it was great fun last year! The photos below are of 4th graders learning about tennis! FIRE SAFETY Students were visited by Salisbury volunteer firefighters on Thursday. They learned all about fire safety and were able to explore the trucks, ask the fire fighters questions and even put out a fire! The photos below are from the visit: SHAKESPEARE Students in grades 4 and 5 met with our 5 Town Hall Theater actors on Wednesday for the third time. This week students continued to explore the play, The Twelfth Night. They also worked to direct different scenes within the play, deciding on how the actors should display more or less of various emotions. Then students needed to come to a consensus about what sounds should be in the play during various scenes. Below are some photos of that part of our week! (NOVEMBER 17th (EVENING SHOWS AT TOWN HALL THEATER) OPEN HOUSE, Grades 4/5 VIDEO LINK: www.wevideo.com/view/980066966 MATH Grade 3: Third graders are another busy week. We are hard at work learning about the different multiplication models that we will be using for the remainder of the year. Third graders also have begun the process of memorizing their multiplication facts. Students have class time to work on their facts and are invited to bring home fact cards to study each night. We introduce multiplication facts in a strategy based orders. Most students have passed their twos and have moved onto their fours and eights. Our calendar is a preview of our geometry unit. We are looking at triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons and hexagons. Grade 4: Fourth graders had a really productive week in math class! Students learned about multiplying two-digit numbers using the partial product strategy. They may call the strategy the BOW TIE method, as that term seems to stick! You should ask them to show you how to solve a problem in this way. Let them choose the problem. They are pretty proud of this new learning! We also worked with ratio tables to multiply larger numbers. Our calendar introduces equivalent fractions using money, base ten pieces, arrays and other shapes. Grade 5: Students took their Unit 1 post-assessments on Volume and relationships between various expressions and equations. They were able to compare their pre assessments from one month ago to their post-assessments. Then we were on to Unit 2! Students began to find equivalent fractions for various fractions using the money model. They then began a project about a River Trail with various landmarks at different spots along the trail. Finding the distance of the trail proved to be challenging, as it needed to be a common multiple of all the stopping spots. Working with partners can also go really well, or can sometimes be a challenge within itself. This also serves as an opportunity for students to be assertive, problem solve and compromise with peers. LITERACY All students have been assigned a book to be reading at home nightly and projects have also been assigned. Ask your learner about their book and feel free to read a chapter (or a few) with them aloud or together. Some of their choices are really great! We will begin working on the book projects in school this week. Conferences Teachers are working on scheduling times for goal setting conferences with parents. It is your choice whether you would like to have your child attend the Fall Goal Setting conference. The Spring Conference is a student led conference and your chid will run this conference. Please look for a conference form in your child's folder in the next couple of days. Please return the form to school as soon as possible, so that we can schedule a conference time with you. COMING WEEK: Monday, October 16: Grade 5, STARBASE Wednesday, October 18: School Photos, Grade 4/5 Shakespeare NO SCHOOL THURSDAY OR FRIDAY Morning Meeting Photos: Dear Families, It was wonderful to see so many of you at Open House. Here are a few pictures from the event! Third and Fourth Grade October Character Project: Third and Fourth Graders will begin monthly book projects this month. Students have chosen books with a strong character to read for their nightly "just right" book for the month of October. Each student has chosen a book and been given a calendar with a reading schedule, so that they are sure to finish their book and project by the end of the month. We will be working on the project draft and final projects in class. It is important that your child bring his/her chosen book to school daily. There will be time in class to work on reading and projects in addition to students' home reading. Without the needed materials at school, it will be difficult for your child to work on his/her book and project in the classroom. Final projects are due at school on October 31. Students have their book, calendar and the first draft of their project, so that they can begin working on their books tonight! Here are examples of the completed character projects. Grade 5 Character Project: Students in grade 5 will be reading books with strong characters at home. These will be chosen this week and "schedules" for the reading will be created for those who would like one. Students will then create a character scrapbook page for one of the main characters in the book. Directions will be sent home this week. Spelling Bee: Some students in grades 5 and 6 represented us at the ACSD spelling bee last week. Way to go to Luke and Phoenix for helping the team come in 2nd! Science/Way to Go Challenge: Salisbury students also met the challenge for carpooling this past week. Ms. Clapp was very impressed with the support from students and families! We earned the maximum number of tickets for the solar raffle because of the participation. Ms. Clapp has also sent out information via email about the outdoor classroom. She is seeking snack donations for Wednesdays/Thursdays. If you have not received her emails please let us know, we can send your email address to her. 5th graders will begin attending STARBASE next week with Ms. Clapp. PE Students will begin working on tennis skills during PE in the coming weeks. The unit will culminate with a really fun family event at Middlebury Indoor Tennis on Friday, October 29. Mark your calendars! This week: Monday-Wednesday-Natalie Kinsey Warnoc/author residency Wednesday-Shakespeare (Could change due to author residency) Thursday-Fire prevention presentations by Salisbury Volunteer firefighters Friday-BAND-instruments needed! Sunday, October 15-Friends' Family Photo Shoot with Cyndi Palmer Next week (Short week): Monday-Grade 5/STARBASE Wednesday, October 18-School photo day and Shakespeare (grades 4/5) Thursday-Friday, October 19-20-No School The above photos are from the Back to School picnic two weekends ago! (3rd-5th graders) Dear Families, It looks like summer weather has arrived just in time for the start of autumn! Please help remind your student that they need sneakers for P.E. class on Monday and Wednesdays. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at Open House on Thursday, September 28 from 5:30-6:30. This is a great opportunity for your student to show you around his/her classrooms and describe all of the learning opportunities that he/she is engaged in. Ms. Foster's Literacy: Ms. Foster's Literacy Group is just finishing their read aloud The Great Treehouse War . Students have made beautiful water color projects for this book and have written about the story elements. Look for these projects on the classroom wall during Open House! This week, we will be starting our Character Unit. Each student will be part of a book group where they will read about strong characters and analyze the characters' traits and how the characters grow and change throughout the book. In addition to reading a book group book, students will have opportunities for choice reading. It is important that students are bringing their choice book to and from school each day. I have noticed that many students are reading a couple of chapters of a book and then abandoning their book. It is important for the development of high level comprehension skills that students are reading books from start to finish and taking the time to discuss and reflect on their books. Below is as graph that emphasizes the importance of students reading for a minimum of 20 minutes per night. Why Read for 20 Minutes a night? infogram.com/why-i-canand39t-skip-my-20-minutes-of-reading-tonigh-1g90n2ow3l79p4y Ms. Morrissey's Literacy: Students with Mrs. Morrissey's class are just about finished with their read aloud, Wonder by RJ Palaccio. We have discussed and written about the book in various ways. We have focused on the characters traits and students have connected the characters to their own lives. Book groups began last week and we have gotten off to a slow start due to a few schedule interruptions, including Shakespeare, which happens to be a great one! 4-5 Grade Shakespeare: Before we met for the first time on Wednesday with the actors from Town Hall Theater we began learning about William Shakespeare himself. Thus far we have learned a bit about his early life. Students were also impressed about all of the words and phrases we use today that he "invented"! When the actors arrived we played some theater-like games in order to get to know each other. They also did begin to set the stage of the story, Twelfth Night. Students are never told the story, but by acting pieces out the plot begins to unfold. The process is pretty amazing! At this point students have just been introduced to some of the characters and wondering about the problems they are facing based on their actions and feelings. The setting provides a background for students to use when exploring. It was a highly energetic hour and I imagine next week will be as well! The plan is for us to meet for about 8 weeks and then perform the play on November 17th, so be sure to mark your calendars! Third Grade Math: Third graders will be completing their first math unit this week. Unit 1 is a review of addition and subtraction facts and adding and subtracting two digit numbers. We will have a final test on Friday. Our next unit is an introduction to multiplication. Third graders will be introduced to the a variety of multiplication models and begin learning strategies for the multiplication facts. Attached is an overview of our second math unit. www.mathlearningcenter.org/sites/default/files/documents/family/PAR-BR3-U2.pdf 4th Grade Math: Fourth graders have been exploring numbers and determining whether numbers are prime or composite. We have been using the area model to multiply some larger numbers, into the teens. The students have an interesting math calendar to share with you when you visit on Thursday, so be sure to ask them about it! 5th Grade Math: Fifth graders have been investigating volume and surface area. They are also working to create and solve expressions by noticing number relationships. The math calendar is introducing students to many equivalent fractions with visual models. *Fifth grade students need to return STARBASE field trip permission forms and call buttons (designed names). Upcoming Events:
The above photos include 4th-5th graders participating in our first Shakespeare meeting! The above photos are 5th graders working during math class and during Mrs. Hornbeck's 5th grade Social Studies class. The above photos are of 4th graders continuing to learn all about each other in fun ways during Morning Meeting and working hard during math! There is even a photo of some budding musicians playing instruments during music class! Third Graders working hard on math!
COMING UP:
Wednesday, 9/20-Grades 4/5 Shakespeare practice Monday, 9/25-Way to Go Challenge begins (Big Wednesday!) See Amy Clapp's information about this! Thursday, 9/28 (2 weeks away!)-Open House, 5:30-6:30 The first few days sure did fly by. We have enjoyed getting to know each other, the new routines and expectations! Students have met all of their teachers and are really getting into the swing of things. Literacy: Students explored the classroom libraries and chose books to begin reading independently. In some cases we are just getting to know our new learners and are listening to them read and discuss their books with us. Students also have prepared their writing journals for the year. They will begin free writing a bit this week and we will work our way towards writing personal narratives shortly. It is an expectation that students read 20-30 minutes nightly. Some students have assigned books to be reading at home, while others will have these soon. Math: All grades have just begun to explore the new math concepts. Everyone began by creating essential agreements or rules that we will follow to help create a productive math class. Groups also took pre-assessments and will continue with Unit 1. To see the specific grade level overview (math concepts, strategies and vocabulary), click on the math links on the left side of the page. Classroom Economy: Our first integrated Social Studies unit of study is Economics. As part of this unit the 3rd-5th grade students will be participating in a classroom economy. Each student has applied for a classroom job. Students will switch jobs at regular intervals throughout the year. They will be paid a salary for their job and charged rent for their classroom work space. Through the classroom economy students will learn some of the following valuable life skills in an experiential way.
Homework: Homework will begin next week. Students can expect a math worksheet due on Wednesday and Friday as well as a spelling packet/language due Friday. (This will be worked on during school as well, so it should remain in student folders throughout the week). We also expect 20 minutes of nightly reading and will begin creating systems to ensure this is happening. Please allow students a few weeks to get in the swing of things with their homework routines. However, if after a couple weeks things are still seeming very difficult contact us so we can alter your learner's plan. Your Homework: We have included a link to a survey we would love for you to complete about your learner. We will send home a paper copy on Friday in case you prefer to complete it that way. Knowing a lot about your learner helps us to better meet their needs and you are the expert! docs.google.com/forms/d/1GcYOEvLfjxv4b4FPGFBhYhh38e0n-dtQ4k9_uwCq5pg/edit UPCOMING EVENTS:
Thursday (9/7): -FOSCS (Parent/Teacher) Meeting in the library at 5:30. Everyone welcome! Friday (9/8): -Year of the Book rollout with author/illustrator AShley Wolff and Summer Reading Bike raffle -BAND for returning members Saturday (9/9): -3:00-6:00 BACK TO SCHOOL BARBECUE and FUN GAMES Families with last names A-L are asked to bring a side dish and K-Z are asked to bring a dessert. The FOSCS group will provide hot dogs and Middlebury College volunteers will be running games. There will also be a book give away, 1 free book per student! Thursday, September 28th-OPEN HOUSE 5:30-6:30 The blog will soon include many photos of your learners throughout their school day. If there is any other information you would like included in these weekly updates please let us know! Thanks so much for helping us to get the year off to a great start! Lili Foster and Bethany Morrissey |