Week of January 6-10

Hi Families,
  We had a very productive and busy 5-day week! 

Safety Stars
   The next round of safety star applications are available now. Students have until January 17 to submit an application if they are interested. If students were previously a safety star, they should plan to submit a new application and if students were not a safety star before they are welcome to submit an application now. Safety Stars is a great way to develop personal responsibility and give back to the school!

Math 
Unit 4: Multiplication and Division of Multi-digit Numbers
    This week we practiced the standard algorithm for multiplication of up to 3-digits times 2-digits.. Many students know this algorithm and have used it confidently for the past year. Others are still getting the hang of the steps –how to line up the place values, which numbers to carry over to the next place values, remembering the “0” in the ones place when moving to multiply by the tens-place digit. A lack of knowledge of basic multiplication facts is now causing students frustration, as it adds to their mental load when working through this algorithm and also causes them to make errors that impede their progress.

• Please help your child build automaticity with their basic multiplication facts. Ask them a few rapid-fire math fact questions, like “What’s 7 x 8?” at least once a day for practice. Automatic recall of these facts is now critical for success with our math content.

English Language Arts
Finished Unit 2: Ecosystems: Matter, Energy, and Organisms.
    Hooray! We have completed our Ecosystems unit. This week we learned about environmental threats to ecosystems, such as climate change, deforestation, pollution, and invasive species. Students worked hard to write the last section of their research reports describing environmental threats. They then finished and revised any previous writing and compiled it all into a published report. 
    We had a grade-wide share to celebrate, during which students floated to each classroom, browsed research reports, and left written compliments. Students should be VERY proud of all of the writing they produced and of all the effort they put into learning, researching, writing, and publishing. My hope is that students gained knowledge of the components of an ecosystem and how interconnected living things are with each other and their environment. I also hope that students learned how to research, take notes, and write an informational text.
  Next week we start our next ELA unit on Adventure and Survival.

Science
Unit 3: Water on Earth
    In this unit we investigate what water does on earth. We learn about oceans and freshwater, the distribution of water, and the water cycle. This week read a little about the importance of water on our planet, where it is found, and how scientists can study it.

Community Building
   In our Second Step lesson this week, we discussed accepting others for their differences and responding with compassion when our peers are picked on. 

Homework
   We had math, grammar, and reading homework this past week. Please review your child’s work before they return it to school and use this interaction as an opportunity to teach them the importance of quality of product, personal responsibility, and independent practice.

Parent Reminders
   Please remember to check your child’s Home/School Folder for any graded classwork coming home and review it with your child. See last week’s update for an important description of my markings and their meanings.
   Also, please don’t forget to check your child’s reading log in their planner each week, have them total their minutes of reading for the week, and sign your name next to the total by Monday morning. This tells me you are ensuring that they are reading outside of school and that you trust what they are claiming to be reading. Reading independently is so important for your child’s academic success.
   You can stay on top of your child’s homework with my Homework Assignment Log. 

Important Dates 

• Monday, January 20th: Martin Luther King Jr. Day -No School

Pictures
   Below are a few pictures that I managed to snap during indoor recess and our Ecosystems project work.

Thank you for reading!​

---