Dear Parents,
Thank you for visiting the blog today. We had a great week, except for all the sick kids! The stomach bug and a nasty virus has taken down many of us in room 216. Aside from that, I was able to attend an amazing literacy conference on Thursday. One quote that the speaker said that really stuck with me was this..."Any child can seem smart for a little while." He referenced students who at a young age can add and subtract by regrouping using the traditional algorithm, but they really don't understand why they are crossing out numbers and rewriting them. Sooner or later, the lack of understanding will catch up with them. He compared this to the student who can use many strategies to add or subtract and can mentally do this quickly because they have a deep understanding of how and why numbers "act" the way they do. I am so happy to say that my students do more than just "seem" smart! In all of my years of teaching, I have never seen students with such amazing number sense and deep understanding of math concepts. I am so happy with the common core curriculum and the rigor it expects. I hope you tune in to the conversations going on among our Cobb County board members that will greatly affect your children. I can tell you as an expert with children and how they learn, I am so unbelievably impressed with our national standards and what increased expectations I have seen. For those parents who say these national standards have "dumbed down" the curriculum, well they haven't sat in on my classroom! There is a board meeting coming up on May 16th. I would encourage you to research the topics that are being discussed and loudly voice your opinion, whatever that may be. I plan to write my board member with what I have seen and I would love it if you would also. Oh, and next time you see me, ask me about the computation test that we gave my 2nd graders and a group of 5th graders...very interesting results! Okay, I'm off my soap box for now. Here's what we did this week...
Phonics: We reviewed more complex beginning combinations as well as suffixes.
Reading: We read from our chapter book, The Wind in the Door. We also read two stories out of our Junior Great Books anthologies and completed several activities with the text. We read an article about Grandma Moses and her famous paintings. We practiced reading fluency with a special passage about Grandma Moses.
Math: We learned three strategies for division; making equal groups, repeated subtraction, and skip counting on a number line. Next week, we will combine multiplication and division.
Science: We continued to observe our caterpillars as they go through metamorphosis.
Class News and Announcements...
Thank you for your extra donations for Market Day! We still need colored hair spray and gel if you are out this weekend and would like to make a purchase for this special day. We'll need all donations by Wednesday so our organizers can set up and plan for the day.
Wednesday is Field Day. Remember to put sunscreen on your child. He/she may wear a bathing suit under shorts and shirt. Our team color is green if your child did not purchase a field day shirt.
We will also have our grade level year book signing on Wednesday. Send back the year books with your child.
Kemp Clean Up Day has been rescheduled for August.
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