Happy Friday!
After a beautiful Memorial Day weekend we started the week with a wonderful program about living with disabilities and overcoming obstacles. We loved reading Rescue & Jessica, as well as listening to all of the personal stories from Patrick and Jessica, Kids were amazed to hear about all of the training both Rescue AND Jessica had to go through before they could be a part of each others' lives, This was an awesome program for Cole School! In Math this week we have been focusing on working with coordinate planes. Graphing coordinates and finding mystery pictures as well as using coordinate points to give directions. Today we also worked through some numberless word problems. These problems help students visualize the problem as step by step, bits of information are shared for students to decide on correct operation and labels. This definitely challenged a few at first, but after practicibg a bit, they all did a nice job! We then had some time to play with some of the nbew math games we got fronm our Norwell Education Foundation Grant! Be sure to ask your child about our new games! We finished reading The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise, you could have heard a pin drop as we finished the final chapters and heard Coyote as she told us about her beautiful memory box. This is an amazing novel about acceptance, dealing with grief, and the power of love and kindness. Be sure to ask your child what they thought about Coyote driving the bus, what would they have done? Do they think Coyote aqnd Salvador will keep in touch, why? What was their favorite part of the book? As oiur final read aloud we are going to have some fun with Lions and Liars by Kate Beasley, stay tuned for details. We worked hard on our fitness essays this week and will find out at Scusset Beach on Tuesday if one of classmates wibs the essay contest and names the fitbess program next year, Please remember all chaperones need to be at Cole School by 9:15am so we can board the buses and leave Cole by 9:30am. Only chaperones riding the buses with us will be allowed with the group on the beach, Thanks for your understanding about this! In Social Studies we had some unbelievable discussions about slavery in the Americas. We discussed the Middle Passage and the awful treatment of many slaves as they arrived in the colonies. We also took a deeper look at the colony of Virginia, looking at Williamsburg in particular. Great discussions/debates began when students realized only white landowners who practiced at the Anglican Church had a say in the government. We are now beginning to look at how tension began to grow between the colonies and Great Britain. Along with our study of the American Revolution we will be reading The Fighting Ground, by AVI. We will have some class simulations about taxes in the colonies to really help students understand how colonists were feeling. This is always lots of fun! Next week is a busy week! Field Day is Friday - be sure to email Mr. Thornton [email protected] if you can help on this fun day. Students have voted and our class name is Reilly's Radical Roosters! Looking forward to this fun day! Have a wonderful weekend! Cheers! Maura Important Dates to Remember:
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Happy Friday everyone!
Students worked so hard at the beginning of the week, completing their Science MCAS with lots of great effort! You should all be very proud of their work! I appreciate all the notes of encouragement you shared with them to keep them focused and ready to go! On Thursday we had a wonderful time in Boston at the Bunker Hill Monument and touring the USS Constitution. Students took the challenge to climb all the stairs of the monument and then followed the Freedom Trail to the USS Constitution Museum. Later onboard the USS Constitution we were able to tour the actual ship and ask questions of the different soldiers present. We ended our day by learning about a sailor's life aboard this famous vessel! This was a great trip which ties perfectly to our curriculum as we begin digging into the causes and effects of the American Revolution which is always a fun time in class! On Friday, we had visitors from the Norwell Middle School come and talk with us about what to expect next year! This is always a great first step of our transition as students hear from other students ! The 6th grade leaders did a wonderful job helping to ease stress about this transition! We will look forward to our trip to the Middle School on June 6th when we will tour the building and meet the 6th grade team! Our fantasy book clubs met on Friday! Talk about excitement! Kids were really delving into characters and problems and making some predictions about what they thought might happen next. It is great to see and hear them get so excited about their chosen novels! We are continuing our work with The Thief of Always, many twists and turns as Harvey "escaped" the Holiday House. Be sure to ask your child what they think about Harvey's recent decisions! Students are also on the edges of their seats each day as we read our chapters from The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise. Be sure to ask them to tell you about how Coyote helped out her friend Lester when he decided he no longer wanted to meet up with Tammy! This was a comical scene that they all enjoyed and some made great connections to it as well! I can tell you this, I am truly going to miss reading to this group every day - they are so engaged in each and every book we have read together this year! If you want some ideas for a good read aloud this summer let me know! In order to qualify for our Cape Cod Canal Fitness field trip, students are working on essays explaining what their favorite activity is and what benefits they gain from being active. They are also trying to name the fitness program next year. We began the brainstorming and organizing of our thoughts today. Students were reminded to be thinking about their name over the weekend as we would be writing our drafts on Monday to have them completed for Mr. Thornton on Wednesday! Permission slips for this field trip are in today's Friday folder. Please note, only chaperones that have been selected for this field trip are allowed to be with us. In Math, we were lucky to have Ms. Pagnani in on Friday to help us problem solve through a "3-Act Task". These are great activities to work through estimation and critical thinking. We cannot wait to do more with her this year! Also, the 5th grade team is excited to share the news that we were awarded a Norwell Education Foundation grant this year! We wrote a grant to expand our repertoire of Math Games! Lots of new games were ordered and are now being shared in each classroom. One that we have been using for a few months (but now have an extra copy of ) is Set, the visual perception game. There is also an online version that I put in google classroom for students to practice a daily challenge - you can access it here as well www.setgame.com/ There is also an online version of the game 24 which is also a class favorite! www.coolmathgames.com/0-make-24 Good afternoon and Happy Friday!
What a week! We worked hard at the beginning of the week reviewing the many different concepts and strategies we have used this year in Math. Students were ready and raring to go for the Math MCAS on Thursday and Friday! So very proud of their efforts! We will be spending some more time on measurement and graphing and solidifying concepts as we close out our year together! You should be very proud of their effort! In Reading, we continue in our Fantasy unit. Students had their first book discussions last Friday and are really reflecting on the power in their novels and how sometimes what may seem magical in the beginning of a story, can change as the story moves on. We are digging deep into our class read aloud of The Thief of Always to model how power changes and also how characters begin to realize and deal with different problems. I love hearing their discussions, as they are making connections and challenging each others predictions in this unit! We are also continuing our reading of The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise. Students are seeing how Coyote is empathetic to her friend Salvador even though she is nervous about getting back to the park on time. Be sure to ask your child what they think will happen. Will Coyote make it on time? How will Rodeo react? What do they think will happen to Salvador and his mother? We are really diving into our unit on Animals and Ecosystems. Students used digital learning guides to finish their research on 6 different BIOMES. We then took a look at animal adaptations and did some simulations in class. Be sure to check out the photo gallery for pictures of these centers in action and ask your child what they learned about different footprints - how is an elephant's foot different than a frog's and why are they so different? How do they help the animal? How about beaks? How does the size of the beak change what the animal might eat? Let's not forget about hibernation and migration? Can you name two animals that hibernate and two that migrate? Vertebrate projects are due on Monday, a few have already come in and I am thrilled by their creativity and attention to detail! This week in our Friday folders - please find the following:
Thanks as always for your support! Have a great weekend! Maura Important Dates to Remember:
Good afternoon!
Another crazy busy week in Room 15! We started the week with a reminder to be so thankful for our freedoms. The second grade students did a marvelous job singing and sharing poetry about Memorial Day at our community meeting! Be sure to take a moment to be thankful on May 27th! Later that day we had some fun reviewing polygon with Mr. Tinker - we programmed our new robots to pace out a square, rectangle and trapezoid based on clues given by Mr. Tinker. I think we have some future technology gurus in our class! In Math, we continue to work on decimals. We spent the beginning of the week reviewing how to divide decimals and ended with a review of decimals with all 4 operations! Good work by all! We will review the metric system next week in preparation for our Math MCAS on Thursday and Friday, May 16th and 17th. If you would like to send another note of encouragement in, please do so - this is such a great way for students to start the days of testing! In Reading, we are knee-deep in our fantasy unit. Tomorrow students will have their first discussion groups, I have loved listening to their connections so far and know they are really thinking about the setting and the power in their novels. They have been asked to think of which characters have the power, is it a good power or one used for evil. We continue to use The Thief of Always as our mentor text, I use this text to model this and then have students focus the strategy in their independent reading. We are also almost half-way through The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise. Be sure to ask your child what they think about Coyote riding across country in a bus with a guy (her dad) named Rodeo. It is a heartwarming story with lots of twists and turns! In Science, we are becoming experts on all things Animals! This week we focused on Ecosystems and Biomes. We used a wonderful digital literacy program to research interesting facts about 6 different biomes and also shade in areas of the world where the different biomes are found. They have chosen their vertebrate and are researching classification and the ecosystems in which they live. Lots of great discussions as we talk about the differences in food chains and how predators and prey affect these chains. Next week our focus will be on what impacts an ecosystem, proud of their efforts! Next week we have the MATH MCAS on Thursday and Friday. Students have been working hard as we review all we have learned thus far! As always it will be important to have students well rested during the testing period - so there will not be any homework next week except to work on their Vertebrate project. Thank you as always for your constant support. Teacher Appreciation Week at Cole School was completely overwhelming, I feel so lucky to work in such a supportive environment! Have a wonderful weekend! Maura Important Dates to Remember:
Good afternoon!
I know I have already sent emails home about this, but I am still beaming with pride at the effort shown by students during the MCAS! Two longs days of reading and responding, but they did great!! Rest up next week so we will be ready and raring for Math! In reading, we had our final book tasting of the year today. We "tasted" lots of fantasy titles and students responded to those they liked and would like to read with a partner. We will partner up on Monday and set some goals for our new novels. We are also reading The Thief of Always as our fantasy read aloud. We are together diving into the components of good fantasy novels, learning lots about tone and how it impacts setting. Students have lots of thoughts as to what they think might happen in this book - they are already on the edge of their seat waiting for what happens next! (I love this!) . We are discussing elements of fantasy and going beyond what we thought of as setting to really think about what is happening "around" the story. Great discussions so far! We are also continuing The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise, you should ask your child what they thought about Coyote legally changing her name! Many students were amazed about this! In Math this week, we continued our work with decimals - focused on multiplication and the movement of decimals. We are moving on to include division next week and will be focusing on reviewing graphing and measurement as well. Students have been doing a nice job with their menus, so they have been practicing concepts from the beginning of the year. This should help them feel more confident as we ready for the Math MCAS. Early morning extra help for math on Tuesdays is still going on as well - 8:15am on Tuesdays and all are welcome! In Science, we are deep into our study of animals. We started the week making models of our backbones and are now looking at life cycles and biomes. Check out the photo gallery to see us at work with our digital learning guides! Students will be getting a vertebrate project assigned next week - they will build a model of a vertebrate and tell about its life cycle and explain an ecosystem where it can be found. Stay tuned for details! Thanks for all of your support! Have a great weekend! Maura Important Dates to Remember:
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June 2019
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