Updates from Room 202

Hello Families,

We've been busy in Room 202!  You have probably heard that we have welcomed two new students our our classroom.  Andrew and Prayag have joined our class and we are fortunate to have them.  They both are now valued members of our classroom community and fit right in. There are now 24 students in our classroom.

Andrew's dad, Mr. Zhang, visited our classroom on Friday to share and discuss the traditions associated with Chinese New Year.  We thank him for taking the time out of his busy schedule to share his talents, memories, and slideshow with us.  The children greatly appreciated his gifts of Chinese writing and red envelopes!

We recently began and are now immersed in a Historical Fiction unit.  Students have read a story and articles about the California Gold Rush.  We are now reading stories written by Laura Ingalls Wilder set in Minnesota in the 1800s.  We will also be reading other fictional pieces based on real events from the past. Students have been writing in response to reading, answering comprehension questions and creating written essays in response to a writing prompt. As always, the best way to improve reading skills is for children to read, read, read at home.  RAZ Kids counts as reading and also provides practice with comprehension skills.

The boys and girls started a new unit in math...Area and Perimeter.  Information about this unit was sent home with the students on Friday.  The first few lessons have focused on measuring in standard square units to determine the area of a rectangle. 

Your child is encouraged to use Xtra Math at home to improve math fact fluency and Zearn, which follows our math curriculum and provides a preview and practice of the skills being taught in the classroom. 

In Science we continue to learn about Weather and Climate and we will soon be starting a unit about the Puritans in social studies.

The students recently took their first MCAS practice test, done together as a class.  We discussed the importance of going back to the text to locate the correct answer and how to eliminate answers that do not make sense.  We will continue practicing with paper and pencil as we discuss test-taking strategies, as well as on the Chrome Book, using a program called Edulastic.  Your child is encouraged to use Typing.com at home to help them with their keyboarding skills.

Valentine's Day - We will have a valentine exchange in our classroom.  I will soon be sending home a list of student names.  Please be sure your child has a valentine for each of their classmates in order to avoid hurt feelings. 

Wanted:  We are doing our best to keep our classroom germ free during this season of flu, colds, and other illnesses.  We have plenty of tissues, but are running low on wipes for student desks and tables.  If you have extra wipes that you would be willing to donate, it would be greatly appreciated!  Thank you so much!

October

Hello!

We've been busy learning and laughing in Room 202!  Below you will get a glimpse of some of the things we have been up to!

Reading: The boys and girls have been reading Realistic Fiction stories with a focus on learning about story elements.  Recently the students have been learning how to identify the setting in a story, analyze the feelings of characters and observe how feelings change throughout.  We will continue working on these skills and diving deeper into analyzing story elements. When reading with your child ask them to describe the setting of the story in detail.

Math:  We have been learning various strategies for multiplying and dividing numbers and how to apply these skills to solving word problems.  Students have learned how to model multiplication using equal groups, arrays, tape diagrams and number bonds.  The boys and girls have been introduced to optional math challenge activities that they may engage in during our math block, once they have demonstrated mastery of the lesson material or as before school work or for an early finisher activity during the day. 

Writing:  These first few weeks we are focusing on writing basics.  Most recently, we have been discussing sentence structure, including subject and predicates.  Students are also learning how to answer questions in complete sentences.

Social Studies:  The students have learned about the town of Hopkinton and where it is located in relationship to other places in Massachusetts.  We have created maps of Massachusetts and identified important landforms, bodies of water, towns and cities.  In addition, we have recently discussed the six New England states and created maps of these as well.  Next up, the boys and girls will be learning about the Native American tribes that made their home in New England.

Room Parents:  Mrs. Watkins and Mrs. Keeley will be our room parents this year!  You will be hearing from them soon about our Pumpkin Blowout, which will take place on Thursday, October 31st.  Each child will need a 4-5 pound pumpkin for this annual event.  This activity is always a great deal of learning fun!

I'm looking forward to our upcoming parent-teacher conferences taking place in November!