Weekly Update 11/14/16

I'm looking forward to another great week of school!  It has been great getting to know your child a little better with each day and I look forward to a great year!

Updates/Reminders:

• Congratulations to Kelly and Hrisha for winning our classroom spelling bee!  They will move on to the school-wide spelling bee on December 6th. 
• Hooray for Brody and Abigail M. for being voted as two students in our class who demonstrate courage in our classroom!  They will be recognized by our school counselor, Mrs. Bowman, later this week. 
• Tomorrow, November 15th is Dining for Dollars at Mellow Mushroom.  A portion of all sales (when you mention Morrisville Elementary) will go towards our fabulous PTA.
• Next week the student team leaders will be holding a shoe drive for the World Wear Project. (http://worldwearproject.com/) The shoes get donated to needy families throughout the world and our school gets some extra money for each pound of shoes donated.  If your child donates a pair of wearable shoes, they will get a pass to go ice skating.  You must bring in the shoes next Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday (21st-23rd) to get the ice skating pass. If you turn in shoes after next Wednesday (boxes are in the lobby) you will need to email Alison Bowman at abowman@wcpss.net to get the ice skating pass. At Morrisville we have a lot to be thankful for so let’s help those that don’t have as much! Thanks!  
• Fall Conferences will start next week.  They will be scheduled through sign-up genius soon.  Please sign up for a time that works for your schedule.  If you are not interested in one at this time, or unable to find a time that works with your schedule, please send me an email.
• Thanksgiving Break will be Thursday, November 24th through Friday, November 25th.  If you child will be out any other day that week, please let me know, so your child can get the work they will miss. 
• Interims will go home on Wednesday, November 23rd.  
• Friday, December 2nd is an early release day.  School will be dismissed at 1:15PM.

Changes: 

Starting today, I have made some changes to our behavior management plan, that I hope your child has shared with you.  We will be using Bloomz for the rest of the year to manage students' behavior in our classroom. Bloomz will allow me to send quick updates from the classroom in real time, help motivate them to always show their best behavior in class and even work together towards class goals. 

Using Bloomz is really easy...after you have created your account (please follow the instructions provided), you'll be added to our class. You will be able to find your kids' behavior history by going to your left navigation in the app, under "Timelines".  Click on your child's name and you'll be in!

How it works:

I will provide feedback choosing between the "Good Job" or "Needs Work" category, and then choosing from among different awards available.  For every "Good Job" award, the student gets points; "Needs Work" awards will take points from the students.  While assigning an award, I may add comments or notes about the reasons behind this feedback.  These notes will be sent to you as a part of a report or real-time message to you. 

As students collect points, Bloomz shows a pot with a blooming flower that grows along with the students' positive behavior.  The flower will grow depending on the amount of points they get up to a certain point when a random type of flower will appear, adding to the student's expectation to learn what their new achievement looks like!  After a full bloom, the next time the student earns an award/point, their pot will reset to a new plant. 

When the students pot fully blooms (at 25 points) they will get to choose a motivator that they may use in the classroom.  Some examples of motivators that they will have the opportunity to choose from are: Switch Seats for a Day, No Math Homework for One Night, Write with a Pen for a Day, Bring a Stuffed Animal to School, etc. 

Please know that, Student Behavior Management from Bloomz avoids public visibility, securely keeping behavior feedback information between parents and teachers.

What We Are Learning This Week:

Reading: 

This week, the students will be ending their Unit 3 reading unit on Wednesday, by taking an assessment on analyzing text features and text structure in nonfiction text.  Starting on Thursday the students will continue reading nonfiction texts, but will focus on reading firsthand and secondhand accounts (primary and secondary resources) of an event or topic and recognizing the differences between the two. 

Differences Between Firsthand & Secondhand Accounts:

•A    Firsthand accounts of an event or topic is based on an author’s personal experience.  The author uses pronouns such as I, me, and we to describe the event or topic.  Diaries, autobiographies, and letters are considered to be firsthand accounts.

•A    Secondhand account of an event or topic is based on an author’s research, rather than personal experience.  The author uses pronouns such as he, she, and they to describe the event or topic.  Encyclopedia entries, biographies, and textbooks are considered to be secondhand accounts. 

Questions You Can Ask You Child at Home: 

-Is this article a firsthand or secondhand account of _______________?  

-What details from the text support your answer?

-How do you think the reader might benefit from reading this account? 

-How might a reader benefit from reading both accounts (firsthand & secondhand)?

-Which type of text (firsthand or secondhand) is more reliable?

-How does the author know these details?  Was he or she present at the event?  

Writing:

This week in writing, the students will finish their research on their North Carolina topic for the class alphabet book. The students will work on their paragraph(s), making sure to include the following:

•A topic sentence that states the main idea

•At least 3-4 supporting detail sentences

•Transitional words/phases

•Content specific vocabulary

•A concluding statement that restates the main idea in a new way

This will be published using Word, where the students will work on adding photographs, captions and other text features.

Questions You Can Ask You Child at Home: 

-How are you coming along in your writing process?

-What text features do you plan on adding to your writing to make it stronger? 

Math: 

This week in math, the students will be working on solving a variety of multi-step word problems.  They will review estimating strategies, write variables, and interpret remainders.  The students will use math talk engage in strong discourse as they work through the steps below:

Steps to Problems Solving:

1.Understand: Understand the question and locate important information.

2.Think & Plan: Choose your strategy and make your plan.

3.Solve: Use your strategy and check your plan

4.Communicate: Label and review your solution. 

The students will take their problem solving assessment on Thursday.  If I find that more time is needed, then it may get pushed back to Friday.  Our final units in math will focus on geometry concepts.  

Questions You Can Ask You Child at Home: 

-Can you take me through the problem solving process? 

-Is there another way that you could solve this problem?

Social Studies: 

This week in Social Studies the students will learn about the steps that a bill must go through in order to become a law.  They will also compare and contrast the similarities and differences between state and local government.  Finally, they will end the unit by learning about the rights and responsibilities of good citizens.  On Friday, the students will take their government social studies assessment.  They will be allowed to use their notes on this assessment. 

Questions You Can Ask You Child at Home: 

-How does a bill become a law?

-What are some ways that state and local government are similar?  Different? 

-What rights and responsibilities do you have as a citizen? 

That's all for this week!  Take care!