Week of November 13, 2006
What a time we have been having! Halloween and its excitement! The students� sound effects performance! Report cards! Benchmarks! Shortened weeks! Our Celebration of States next Tuesday! Changing classes for reading! Our field trip! November has been a full and exciting month!
I really enjoyed our field trip on Tuesday. The students were wonderful both on the bus and off. They were attentive when the interpreters were conducting their history talks � asking and answering questions �
being models for displaying the artifacts � taking �lessons� on how to be a Revolutionary War soldier � marching in step and learning to be cooperative. I feel that we all learned a lot about the beginning of our country at Jamestown; how they traveled to the new world; how the first group lived in a fort; how the Native Americans lived. We then traveled forward in time around 170 years to Yorktown and the end of the Revolutionary War. There we learned about how most Virginians lived on �middling farms.� We saw a lot of farm animals and buildings and learned about being a soldier in the army including how they cooked and what happened if they got hurt. Thank you to our chaperones for going with us on the trip without them we could not go. Thank you to all parents for having your children at school on time (even though the buses weren�t) and for picking them up so promptly that night.
After Thanksgiving, the students will be starting a project for the Revolutionary War. Students will make an ABC book on the Revolutionary War and will be done at school and at home. I�ll be sending home the requirements so that you will be able to see what is expected. Students will also be working on our science unit on landforms in December and in January. There are a lot of hands-on-activities in this unit and it has been a favorite unit with the students.
We have received benchmark scores from last week�s assessment. The state has reset the standards for math scores and students now have to answer more questions correctly than last year to earn a level 3 (on grade level.) I will be letting the students know their scores both on reading and math and will be talking with the parents of those who did not make at least a level 3 on the benchmarks. The writing prompt scheduled for next week has been rescheduled for the first part of December.
In math, students were having some trouble with division, so we have been doing some practice with solving problems. They may use any method (algorithm) they want as long as they get the right answer. I am also requiring that they check their work by multiplying their answer by the divisor to get the dividend. I believe that one of the reasons they are having problems with dividing is that they do not know their multiplication facts so that they are automatic. Because of this, I am going to start giving them 10 basic facts to answer on paper in 10 seconds each day. After a week of practice, I will be giving grades for these tests. Please help them practice, practice, practice these facts 0 X 0 up to 10 X 10. Too many of them are having to count, having to add, or having to use the chart in the front of their math journals for the multiplication facts. When we start doing fractions, they will again need to know these facts as they change improper fractions to proper fractions and vice versa.
In reader�s workshop, we continue to work on the four fantasy books that I told you about in the last newsletter. We are working on reading skills of main idea and cause and effect. These books should be finished before the Christmas holidays. I am enjoying these groups and know that the students are learning a lot having different teachers and having to be prepared for them.
Some students are not turning in their homework and/or classwork. (The crossword puzzles count as part of the social studies grade.) Last week only 4 of the 11 students turned in their reading logs. This is a grade for the reading part of their language arts grade and since I take 9 weeks worth of reading log entries for this grade, those 7 students have a 0 to average in with the other 8 weeks. Each week that the reading log is not turned in lowers this portion of the average by approximately 11 points. Grades are impacted negatively by not turning in assignments. Progress reports go out the first part of December. Please check with your child or me about any missing assignments.
Here are some dates to remember:
Celebration of States Tuesday, Nov. 21
Thanksgiving Holiday Wednesday � Friday, Nov. 22 - 26
Make-up picture day December 1
Winter Concert December 14 7 PM (We will be performing.)
Have a great weekend and a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Judy S. Jones
Here is our class webpage address: http://www.geocities.com/linjudy1000/Jonespage.html
I list homework assignments here.
My email address is [email protected]
