Weekly Update 2/27/17

Updates/Reminders: 

• The Science Fair & Expo will be held on Thursday, March 2nd from 6 - 8 pm. 
  
• Single Subject Acceleration (SSA) is the practice of assigning a student to a higher-grade level than is typical, given the student's age, for the purpose of providing access to appropriately challenging learning opportunities.  SSA is an accelerative practice that allows students to show mastery of the content of a course without having taken the course.  If you want to learn more about SSA, there are a number of upcoming Parent Information Sessions that you can attend.  You can view the schedule here: http://bit.ly/2m0U7pC or by visiting the WCPSS Accelerative Practices website at http://wakeacceleration.weebly.com/.   
• This week Morrisville will celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday and the fact that March is reading month.  Encourage your child to participate in the Dr. Seuss themed spirit activities below: 

• The Morrisville Science Fair is scheduled for Thursday, March 2nd from 6-8PM.  If your child is interested in presenting a project, they are to fill out the following form https://docs.google.com/a/wcpss.net/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe3Svr_19GV1A3Q6h017SbOgIDc85X24L-QOiN7MME5dYwAjg/viewform?c=0&w=1 to register for this event. 
• Students can bring their projects to school in the morning between 8:45 - 9:15 am to the science lab in the Media Center or to the Fair by 5:45 pm. Students will talk to judges about their projects during their designated times as listed below:
• Grades K - 1: 6 - 630
• Grades 2 - 3: 640 - 710
• Grades 4 - 5: 720 - 750
• There will be other activities at school to participate in during the evening in the Media Center and Gym.  All projects should be taken home at the conclusion of the Fair. Please direct any questions to Bonani Langan at bonani.langan@gmail.com.
• Our school is partnering with St. Baldrick's.  This is a wonderful organization that raises money to fight pediatric cancer.  One of our own, Matt Tussey, a 4th grade teacher has agreed to get his head shaved if we raise $2,000!  If you would like to donate please go to this website   https://www.stbaldricks.org and search for MES Mustangs.  You can also get more information on the head shaving event that will take place on March 18th at Glenwood South.  Please let me know if you have any questions!  

What We Are Learning This Week:
Reading: 

This week, the students will continue their second novel study unit that will center around social issues.  Some of the common social issues that we will be discussing are: Growing Up, Courage & Honor, Culture & Diversity, Overcoming Obstacles, Fitting In, Forgiveness, and Abandonment.  The students will study these social issues through a variety of picture books that will be used during the daily mini-lessons and their novel study.  The students will take their Social Issues reading assessment, on Monday, March 6th. 

Some specific mini-lesson topics this week will include:

•Good readers reread familiar texts to find and identify the social issues thread throughout the text.

•Good readers evaluate situations or character responses that deal with social issues by responding to prompts.

•Good readers talk about what they know about gender, race, or class before reading a story that has one of these at the core of the story. 

Questions You Can Ask You Child At Home:

*What social issue(s) is/are found in the book you are reading?

*What details from the text support it?

*What is fair/unfair in your novel?  Why?

*What pressures does your main character have?

*How does your main character behave?  *What might motivate or influence your character to behave that way?

Writing: 

This week in writing the students will be starting another opinion paper. As they brainstorm topics to write about they will be also focusing on subjects that they already know a lot about, to ensure that they will be able to elaborate and add lots of strong details of support.  The students will then plan their writing using a tree map and come up with a focused thesis (opinion) statement.  As the week progresses, the students will work on writing an engaging introduction and clear topic sentences, while incorporating transitional words and phrases.

Fabulous Five Must Haves in Each Body Paragraph:

1.Clear Topic Sentence

2.3-5 Well Elaborated Details

3.At least 3 Transitional Words/Phrases 

4.Descriptive or Content Specific Vocabulary

5.Clear Concluding Statement

Questions You Can Ask You Child At Home:

*Tell me what you are writing about.  Why did you choose this topic? 

*How did you begin your introduction?  Does it catch your reader’s attention?

*Do you have topic and concluding sentences for each paragraph?

*Do you have at least three details to support each topic sentence?

Math: 

Tomorrow, the students will start working on the next unit, which will involve adding and subtracting fractional numbers with common denominators.  A large focus will be placed on adding and subtracting mixed numbers.  The students will be relying on strategies such as using pictorial representations (fraction bars), number lines, converting the mixed numbers to improper fractions, or decomposing mixed numbers to make it easier to subtract.   

Questions You Can Ask Your Child At Home: 

*Show me how you can add and subtract mixed numbers using a pictorial representation?  Number lines?  

Science: 

This week, the students will continue to observe the properties of rocks and minerals and learn the difference between rocks and minerals.  They will learn about the three different types of rocks and the rock cycle.  Please remind your child to review the notes we have taken in class.  This will help prepare them for the test that will be given in about two weeks.  Several students were absent on Friday, 2/24.  They will be responsible for getting the notes from another student.

Questions You Can Ask Your Child At Home: 

*What are the three different types of rocks?
*Can you explain the rock cycle to me?