Hello families,

It was lovely to meet with all of you over the past few weeks. I always enjoy conferences (especially when we can do it in person) because I feel like I get to know the students even better! Thank you all for taking the time to meet with me. We won't have any other scheduled conferences this year, but I am always available for a meeting if you feel the need.

I was out sick the past few days, and it sounds like the class had a tough time settling down and getting any meaningful work done. We took some time today to re-establish expectations and norms, and to discuss how to continue to be your best self even when routines are interrupted. This is a work in progress!

We have started out new  math unit on multiplication and division. This week we did a lot of prep work by talking about making a reasonable estimate. One of the ways to do this is to think about what we know about the multiples of 10. If we are multiplying 22 X 56, we can start by saying we know 10 X 56 = 560. That means 20 X 56 = 1,120 (or twice as much as 10 X 56). Once we have that established, we have a pretty good baseline or estimate. If we proceed with the problem but get a solution in the multi-thousands or below 1,000, we know our solution is not reasonable. Next week we will begin looking at various strategies for breaking the numbers apart when multiplying. I will send home a family letter about this unit on Monday. Stay tuned!

I will be brief about reading and writing because we have moved very slowly this week, particularly since those are harder lessons to have taught by a guest teacher. In the past few days, the students wrote and shared letters with me. They are still working on paragraphing and elaboration skills. They are also still working on reading their club books and writing about their reading.

The class has earned a celebration. This time, the "selection committee" chose bedtime day and flashlight reading. Please remind your kids that they can wear comfy clothes/pajamas on Monday. They can wear slippers, bring a blanket, and bring a stuffy. If possible, have the bring a flashlight so we can read in the dark -- just for something fun and different! They will still need to be prepared for PE and the outdoors.

That is all for this week. As always, please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Happy Friday!

Welcome to a Thursday blog! I am not going to be here tomorrow, so I thought I should check in briefly before I go out of town. It feels like it's been another short week, especially since Wednesday was an early dismissal day. But we have been busy!

In math this week, we tackled adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators. This was relatively easy! We also worked on regrouping fractions for subtraction, and that was hard! The objective here is for students to understand that they can turn a whole number into fractions with the same numerator and denominator -- that's a kind of regrouping!  The photo below shows what I mean.

This will take some practice, but I know we will all get there!  We also began adding decimals this week, and will do more of that next week before getting into multiplication with fractions and whole numbers.

In writing, we are starting the "idea gathering" for our literary essays. Students are reading a variety of high level picture books and coming up with ideas about the characters and the themes. Next week they will each craft a thesis and get busy writing their essays.

We have started our historical fiction book clubs. The class is learning about how to notice the mood of the books (there is always trouble brewing!) and how to tack the "who, what, when, and where" onto their mental bulletin boards. Next week we will learn about double timelines and how they help us with comprehension.

In science, we are learning about renewable and nonrenewable natural resources, fossil fuels, and  how humans use them for energy. We are learning about which things we use take the most electricity, and how each energy source has its pros and cons. 

Tomorrow is NAEP testing for most of my class. You all received a letter about this about a month ago, and I reminded the students about it yesterday. All I can ask is for them to do their best and not put any pressure on themselves. We don't get to choose whether or not JES gets tagged for NAEP testing.... so here we are!  Those students who aren't testing will spend time in the classroom with some  review work while their peers take the test in other parts of the school.  If you have questions about this, contact the office (since I will be away tomorrow.)

Thank you for signing up for conferences. I have sent out links for next week's conferences (if you didn't ask for an in-person conference.) If you did ask for in-person, you did not receive a link and you should assume that your in-person conference time is on my schedule. If you received a link from me for a virtual conference but would rather meet in-person, that is also fine. Just let me know!  I will send out links for the week off 3/21 sometime next week.

I look forward to Monday when masks become optional. We discussed this as a class, and I think we are all ready to respect each family's choice and to be kind and caring about masks/no masks. I know it will be an adjustment, but it is a happy one!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I hope NOT to be driving in the storm!  Stay safe, and happy snowstorm!

 Hello Families,

It has been a short week, but it has been nice to be together again! We spent some time re-establishing expectations for learning, and we also reviewed what it's like to be able to be in a circle on the rug (something we haven't done for a while!) This class adjusts so quickly to everything -- they have had a great week!

Academics have been a little slow this week since we needed some time to review. Math never stops... so we had 3 math lessons this week! We are now learning how to add fractions and how to decompose them. Today students were coming up with equations to equal 7/8  (like 1/2 + 2/8) and using models to show their thinking. Next week, we will get  into subtracting fractions as well.

We are about to start historical fiction book clubs, but I am waiting for a few books to arrive. This week we reviewed what is meant by historical fiction, and we practiced finding certain elements of the genre in small passages. Next week, our clubs will begin in earnest.

We also "flash drafted" opinion essays this week. Many of the students were able to start and finish an essay in 2 days! We chose engaging and controversial topics that they felt strongly about. Some of these topics were: Should kids have Smartphones? Should kids be on TikTok? Should teachers give homework?  They all had PLENTY of opinions about these topics!  Next week we will begin learning how to write literary essays. So much BIG work for these little people!

I was pleased to see the letter from Mr. Alberghini about masking becoming optional starting on March 14. I know there will be some excitement about this, and it will be an adjustment! Next week, we will brainstorm as a class how it will feel, how we can continue to feel safe without masks, and how important it will be to respect each others' choices. 

I wanted to mention 2 important things: First, the read-aloud book for our historical fiction unit is a book called Number the Stars that takes place during WWII. The book does not have any graphic descriptions of war or concentration camps, but instead focuses on the resistance movement in Denmark. I know that some of the students don't know much about the atrocities of WWII, and we aren't going to discuss them in class. But they may come home asking some questions about this era, and I wanted you to be prepared.

On a related note, the second thing is about the war in Ukraine. I have been hearing a lot of talk about it among the students, and I know some kids are scared or anxious. Today we had a class conversation about it. We looked at a map and located Ukraine, we discussed some of the reasons (in general) that wars begin, we looked at pictures of Ukraine (from before the war, of course!) and we talked about what sanctions are and what refugees are. It was a pretty surface conversation, but they asked a lot of questions that I couldn't answer (like, "Will there be a WWIII?") We stuck to the basic facts and I assured them that THEY are safe.  Let me know if you have any questions about this, or about anything else!

Finally, please don't forget to sign up for a parent conference. Here is the link.

Happy Friday!