Lunchtime Science

This Wednesday, we are celebrating science by having the students participate in Lunchtime Science. If you are interested in volunteering between 11-1, please contact Gina White. We are also in need of empty two liter bottles for our terrariums, so if you have not sent one if with your child, please do so tomorrow (Tuesday). If you have any extra bottles, please send these in too.

Last Thursday, your child came home with a note listing an item they will need to bring into school tomorrow for our lunchtime science activity. Please contact me if you have any questions.

April 15-19

I really enjoyed Teacher Appreciation Day, which seem to run all week, with breakfast each morning, special lunches, fruit baskets, gift cards and flowers. Thank you so much for making my week special. As I wrote before, it is such a pleasure coming to school each day to teach your children.

A big thank you for coming out last Friday to support the students as they shared information about people who have made a difference in the world. From Doctor Martin Luther King Junior and Pele, to Queen Elizabeth I and Cleopatra, the students transformed themselves and did an amazing job.

This week we Celebrate the Arts. I found an interesting article online about 10 skills children learn from the arts:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/01/22/top-10-skills-children-learn-from-the-arts/

Various activities have been organized for the week including a presentation by a rock band on Tuesday and Drumming Group on Thursday.

The Celebrate the Arts Teach-in will be on Friday from 9-10:35. The Musical Program by the students will begin at 11:00 with a picnic lunch to follow. The students will need to wear a plain white t-shirt to school with Shorecrest bottoms (pants, shorts, or skort).

If you haven't bought tickets to see the Upper Division musical, The Music Man, I would encourage you to do so. The musical is a fun one, with great dancing and music. You are in for a treat. I am also a very proud mom, with my daughter Grace returning to the stage playing Gracie, the mayors youngest daughter.

Current Events presenters this week are: Auggie and Jackie on Tuesday; Ainsley and Aidan on Wednesday; Victoria and Will on Thursday and Isabella on Friday.

The next meeting for the ADHD Support Group is April 24th from 6:30-7:30pm in the Children's Studio. The topic will be health impact of ADHD.

There is no school on Monday, April 22. Relax and have fun (as I am planning on doing).

Feeding the Children Everywhere starts at 9am and ends at 2pm on Sunday, April 29.

This week the students are reviewing spelling words for the last four weeks. This morning I gave the students a pre-test to see what words the students needed to still practice. Please check the back of the homework log for words your child still needs to memorize and I will quiz them on these words this Friday. I will also be quizzing the students recall of doubles and halves, which is part of our math lesson this week. These facts are recorded on the back of the homework log. One of the major ways to solve problems is by using mental math.

This week we are reading non-fiction books related to the arts, to coincide with Celebrate the Arts. Our non-fiction unit is coming to an end, and we will do some reflecting this week. We will recap text features of non-fiction books and the students will have some time writing up and presenting their book recommendations.

The students will continue writing and recording reflections in their Voice Thread, that you will have a chance to view in May (an invitation will be coming your way soon). This Voice Thread showcases some of the work they have completed this year.

In math, we will continue to practice the trade first subtraction method as well as help build up mental arithmetic skills for adding three or more 1 and 2 digit numbers. The students will also practice repeated doubling and halving. and revisit equal sharing of money.

In science, we are continuing to observe the chrysalis and observe the butterflies emerging from them. The will also observe some distinct butterfly body parts (proboscis, abdomen, six legs). We will also compare the Painted Lady Butterfly to the Monarch Butterfly (in Venn Diagram form).

We will finish our study of Asia with some research about the panda (from China) and work on our A to Z book (compiling facts we have collected along the way in our study).

I wish you a wonderful week. Thanks again for all your support -

Ms. O'Mullane

April 8-12

Thanks to the warm birthday wishes. I really loved the clay pot the students helped decorate for me, flowers, gift cards and cards. I felt very loved on my special day. It is such a pleasure coming to school each day and working with your children.

Tomorrow is our second field trip for the year. We will be learning about clay art form at the Morean Arts Center of Clay from 9:30-10:45am. The students will also have a chance to work with clay after the demonstrations. We will return for lunch at school. 

Come meet some famous people who have made a difference in the world this Friday, April 12, at 8:20am. Please have your child come to school dressed as their person they have written their All About Book on. You do not need to buy a costume. Be creative! They will need to bring their uniform to change into after the celebration.

Your child will be presenting as if they are that person. Homework this week is memorizing facts about this person.

Celebrate the Arts is the week of April 15-19. On April 19, we invite you to the Children's Celebrate the Arts performance at 11am. This share will be followed by a picnic lunch with your child.

On Sunday, April 28, we are asking for volunteers from the Shorecrest community to help pack food bags in the new Athletic Center. The event is called Feeding Children Everywhere. It starts at 9AM and ends at 2PM. I hope to see you there. It is another way we can come together to make a difference in the lives of children.

There is no school on Monday, April 22.

Current Event Sharing this week will be Claire and Matthew on Tuesday, Noah and Stella DeFrain on Wednesday, Nico and Rose on Thursday, and Nick and Stella Davis on Friday.

Please take a look at new Unit 7 Math Family Letter coming home today. In Unit 7, children will concentrate on number patterns, computational skills, and the application of mathematics through the use of data. They will continue to use the 100-grid to support their numeration skills and also explore the patterns of doubling and halving numbers, which will help prepare them for multiplication and division.

This Family Letter lists vocabulary and Do Anytime Activities to help support your work with your child on the concepts taught in this unit and in previous units. Please keep this Family Letter for reference as your child works through Unit 7.

In science, we will continue to watch our caterpillars undergo an amazing transformation - turning into a chrysalis, the third stage in its life cycle.

Will's mom will return to show us a model of a dolphin and answer some of the questions we have about them. 

In social studies, we will continue building up our fact files about the continent of Asia.

I wish you a wonderful week, in all that you do. 

Ms. O'Mullane

April 1-5, 2013

RELAY FOR LIFE
Teachers and students may wear their Relay shirts or purple shirts Monday - Friday 4/1-4/5. Students must wear their uniform bottoms with their purple shirt. This year's Relay event will commence at an all school assembly kick off lap, at 9am on Friday at the track with the students walking the track during the day with their PE classes. 

FIELD TRIP
As part of "Celebrate the Arts", we will be learning about clay art form at the Morean Arts Center of Clay on Tuesday, April 9 from 9:30-10:45am. The students will also have a chance to work with clay after the demonstrations. We will return for lunch at school. It is a very small building; so if you would like to meet us there, please let me know if advance in case space is an issue.

CELEBRATE THE ARTS
Celebrate the Arts is the week of April 15-19. On April 19, we invite you to the Children's Celebrate the Arts performance at 11am. This share will be followed by a picnic lunch with your child. The children are expected to sit down and eat lunch. They will have recess at another time during the day. Please don't let your child run around or play on the playground.

FEEDING CHILDREN EVERYWHERE
On Sunday, April 28, we are asking for volunteers from the Shorecrest community to help pack food bags in the new Athletic Center. The event is called Feeding Children Everywhere. It starts at 9AM and ends at 2PM. I hope to see you there. It is another way we can come together to make a difference in the lives of children.

There is no school on Monday, April 22.

CURRENT EVENT SHARING this week will be Auggie and Jackie on Tuesday; Ainsley and Aidan on Wednesday; Victoria and Will on Thursday; and Isabella on Friday.

Parent Reader this week will be Gina White.

The students are in for another fun and busy week ahead. We will continue reading biographies in Reading Workshop and study non-fiction text features. The students will study the information they collected and organized in a graphic aid and make an All About Book about this amazing person who made a difference in the world. They will also create a simple visual aid that represents this historial figure. In math, the students will practice  the partial sums addition method and trade first subtraction method. In social studies, the students will continue exploring Asia, including the people and culture. In science, the students will continue observing their caterpillars and learn more about them, including watching how they molt. Also, we are excited that Will's mom, a marine biologist, will be visiting as a guest presenter on Thursday.

If you have any questions about what we are doing in class or ways you can support your child at home, please don't hesitate to contact me any time.

I wish you a wonderful week. Enjoy this spring weather.

Math Games

Many games you have at home or see at the local store involve mathematical thinking. Children develop their skill in an almost effortless way when they play these games with each other and adults. The ages shown are suggested by the manufacturer, however, let the interest and motivation of your child be your guide when selecting and playing the games (Rf. Everyday Math, Home Connection Handbook).

Counting, Adding and Subtracting
Chutes and Ladders (3+)
Hi Ho! Cherry-O (3+)
Sorry! (6+)
Trouble (6+)
Uno (6+)

Attributes, Patterns, and Geometry
Crazy Eights - traditional card game (4+)
Guess Who? (6+)
Guess Where? (6+)
Jigsaw puzzles
Rummikub (8+)
tangrams (5+)

Strategy and Spacial Perception
The a-MAZE-ing Labyrinth (8+)
Battleship (7+)
checkers (3+)
Jenga (3+)
Connect Four (7+)
mancala (6+)
memory (many names exist for this game of matching face-down pictures (3+)
Mille Bornes (8+)
Othello (8+)
Pretty Pretty Princess (5+)

More excellent games can be found on the Internet by searching under "educational math games."

I have posted some of these links on the right side of my blog.

Top 10 Ways to Help Your Kids Do Well in Math

by Peggy Gisler, Ed.S. and Marge Eberts, Ed.S.

Mastering Math
Mastering mathematics is absolutely essential for future opportunities in school and careers. Your children will need to reach a certain level of competency in math to take many advanced high-school courses, to be admitted to college, and to have a wide variety of career choices. Here's how you can help them maximize their math-smarts.

1. Make sure your children understand mathematical concepts. 
Otherwise, math becomes a meaningless mental exercise of just memorizing rules and doing rote drills. Have your children manipulate objects to figure out basic concepts. For addition, they could add one, two, or more blocks to a pile of blocks and then tell you how many blocks are in the pile.

2. Help them master the basic facts. 
Mastery of a basic fact means that children can give an answer in less than three seconds. Considerable drill is required for children to give quick responses. Use flash cards to help your children learn the basic facts. When they don't know an answer, have them lay out objects to solve the problem.

3. Teach them to write their numbers neatly. 
Twenty-five percent of all errors in solving math problems can be traced back to sloppy number writing. Improve your children's number-writing skills by having them trace over numbers that you have written. Suggest they use graph paper to keep the numbers in problems neatly aligned.

4. Provide help immediately when your children need it. 
Math is one subject in which everything builds upon what has been previously learned. For example, a failure to understand the concept of percent leads to problems with decimals. If a teacher is unable to help your children, provide the help yourself or use a tutor or learning center.

5. Show them how to handle their math homework. 
Doing math homework reinforces the skills your children are learning in class. Teach them to begin every assignment by studying the textbook or worksheet examples. Then have them redo the examples before beginning the assignment to make sure they understand the lesson.

6. Encourage your children to do more than the assigned
problems. 
Considerable practice is necessary for your children to hone their math skills. If the teacher only assigns the even problems, having them do some of the odd ones will strengthen their skills. The more time your children spend practicing their skills, the sooner they will develop confidence in their abilities.

7. Explain how to solve word problems. 
Mathematicians have an expression: To learn to solve problems, you must solve problems. Teach your children to read a word problem several times. Also, have them draw a picture or diagram to describe it. Make it easier for them to understand the steps in a problem by teaching them to substitute smaller numbers for larger ones.

8. Help your children learn the vocabulary of mathematics. 
They will never get a real feeling for math nor learn more advanced concepts without an understanding of its vocabulary. Check that your children can define new terms. If not, have them use models and simple problems to show you they understand how the term is used.

9.Teach them how to do math "in their head."
One of the major ways to solve problems is by using mental math. Kids should use this method frequently instead of using pencil and paper or a calculator. When helping your children with a problem, help them determine when it would be appropriate to use mental math.

10. Make mathematics part of your children's daily life. 
Mathematics will become more meaningful when your kids see how important it is in so many real-life situations. Encourage them to use math in practical ways. For example, ask them to space new plants a certain distance apart, double a recipe, and pay bills in stores.

Field Trip to Morean Arts Center

As a part of “Celebrate the Arts,” we will be learning about the clay art form at the Morean Arts Center of Clay on Tuesday, April 9 from 9:30-10:45 am. The students will also have a chance to work with clay after the demonstration. We will return for lunch at school.

It is a very small building; so if you would like to meet us there, please let me know in advance in case space is an issue.

For further info: http://www.moreanartscenter.org/content.php?id=30