Character Change, Fractions, Movie Day, and more!

Hello, families!  Happy Friday!  It’s been quite busy week in room 209, in spite of Wednesday’s snow day and Thursday’s delayed opening.  Here are some updates:

• Students are working to complete a draft of their stories.  This week, Mrs. Poi, Mrs. Lyons, Mrs. Consalvo, and I have been conferencing with students about their planned “skeleton” for their stories.  We’re making great progress with this, and I’m excited to see the variety of stories kids are developing.  This week, we began working on adding details (launched by their Tour Your Home homework project this week), and next week, we’ll continue this work.
• We are finishing up our work with examining how characters change within stories.  We’ve enjoyed three non-traditional texts for this mini-unit: the book/song Puff the Magic Dragon, a Macy’s commercial from last winter, and an animated short called Lily and the Snowman.  Students began by organizing their information in a graphic organizer, and then they’re using their notes to craft a short answer response outlining how the character evolved during the story.  We’re also in the midst of enjoying the novel Number the Stars, following our outstanding residency, brought to us by the Hartford Stage, and made possible by the PGS PTO! (THANK YOU!!!)
• Students are finishing up their assessments following the long division unit.  We’ve now started our fractions unit.  We had a fun launch to the unit by exploring fractions by way of enjoying Hershey’s bars.  This week, we worked on identifying and interpreting fractions.  Next week, our focus will be on finding equivalent fractions.  I’ll try to put together some videos to help them with the different skills.
• We’re finishing our science unit on waves.  This was a FUN unit!  Ask your child about how the eye perceives light waves (color, black and white, in the light and in the dark), how lasers work, how amplitude and frequency affect sound, and more!
• We’re wrapping up our study of the southeast region next week.  We started this many weeks ago, and your children have been working on learning states and capitals as part of their spelling words.  In the coming week, we’ll learn more about the southeast region, and will move into the midwest region.  On Monday, they’ll receive a study guide for states and capitals and map locations, in preparation for the assessment on Friday.
• Did you hear?!  The kids have been working very hard on following directions, treating everyone with respect and kindness, and showing whole-body listening.  After earning 25 points a few weeks ago (and enjoying some celebratory popsicles), they’ve now earned another 50 points and have chosen to have a movie day.  Barring any unforeseen snowdays, delays, or other schedule changes, we’ll have this on TUESDAY. I told the kids that it’s connecting to something we’re learning about in class but that it was a surprise.  (I think many concluded that it was going to be an uninspiring science video.  I promised them that it’s a very famous, popular movie (G-rated, of course, families), and that I was confident that they’d enjoy it.  Be sure to ask your child about it on Tuesday evening!  (And ask them how it’s connecting to what we’re studying!)
• Love is in the air!  Valentine’s Day is on Wednesday.  We have a fun celebration planned, thanks to the hard work of our room parents.  We’ll also be doing a special cooking activity throughout the day (rescheduled from our ill-fated holiday party that we had to cancel).  Students are welcome to bring in valentine cards for their friends, but I ask that if they choose to do so, they bring in one for everyone.  They’re encouraged to bring in a bag or box from home to keep their cards.  For privacy reasons, I won’t post a list of names here.  But I did just post one on Google Classroom, so if you need it for valentines, feel free to have your child login there.
• I will be out on Thursday for a district curriculum meeting, and I may be out on Friday for jury duty (if I end up having to report).

Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss