Compliment Jar Party

Our class did such an amazing job today during our evacuation drill they earned enough compliments to have a class party! We took a vote and decided Bring Your Own Electronic Day is the celebration. I have a permission form that gives more information going home on Monday. Please sign and return a.s.a.p.  I am so proud of their hard work!!

Shenendehowa Elementary Schools Present Today’s Education…

October 22^nd, 2014 (Wednesday 6:30 – 7:30) Skano Cafeteria

New Elementary Literacy Series - Journeys

Kathleen Strangis, Academic Administrator for ELA grades K-5

Renée Young, Literacy Coach grades K-5

Mrs. Strangis and Mrs. Young will present on our new elementary literacy series.  Come see how parents can access this new series with their Think Central accounts on line. Through hands-on activities, learn about the different components that help parents provide support to their children at home and experience how the components of this series are being implemented in classrooms to support and develop strong readers and writers.

November 4^th, 2014 (Tuesday 6:30 – 7:30) Skano Cafeteria

Intermediate Report Card and Gradebook

Greg Pace, Tesago Elementary Principal

This presentation is designed for parents who have children entering third grade and new parents in the district who have children at the intermediate level.  Mr. Pace will present to parents the intermediate elementary report card (grades 3, 4 & 5) and will detail the changes in the elementary grading system. Mr. Pace will also show how parents can access their child’s grades electronically throughout the marking period. The transition to a percentage grade from the more general 1-2-3-4 grading can be surprising for parents. With parent teacher conferences around the corner, this will be a presentation you will not want to miss.

December 3^rd, 2014 (Wednesday 6:30 – 7:30) Skano Cafeteria

What is “special” about Special Education?

Michelle Mylod, Director of Special Education

In this installment of the Speaker Series, attendees will learn about the evaluation, identification and goal of special education. The role of parents in Committee on Special Education meetings will be discussed in depth to empower parents to support the academic and social success of their student.

Bullying Prevention Program

Bullying Prevention Program:

All Shenendehowa Elementary Schools will be facilitating a bullying prevention program the week of October 6^th-10^th 2014.  During the course of the week we will be doing a number of activities to raise awareness and prevent bullying from happening in our schools.  As part of this week we are encouraging students to wear specific colors to show support for a kinder, friendlier and safer school.  The colors/themes are as follows:

Golden Rule Monday: Wear YELLOW for “treat others are you would like to be treated”

Loyal Blue Tuesday: Wear BLUE to promote loyalty, kindness, and being a “true blue” friend

Red Wednesday Madness: Wear RED to show your awareness that it’s okay to be angry but….words are not for hurting and hands are not for hitting

Peaceable White Thursday: Wear WHITE for peaceful friendships and problem solving

School Spirit Friday: Wear GREEN to show pride in making our school, community, and country a safer place

If you are interested in finding out more about bully prevention here are a few websites that can be helpful:

http://www.violencepreventionworks.org/public/index.page

http://www.pacerkidsagainstbullying.org/

http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/bullies.html

http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/friends/bullies/

We are very excited about the opportunity to work with all students in each of the elementary buildings on such a worthwhile topic.  We appreciate your support!

October Newsletter

ELA

Reading:

Ø  Comprehension Skills & Strategies- theme, elements of drama, inferring/predicting, point of view

Writing:

Ø  Fictional Narrative’s

Ø  Students are expected to work on writing daily. Some weeks finished products are expected, others just planning is expected.

Grammar:

Ø  Fragments and Run-on sentences

Ø  Proper Nouns

Spelling Patterns:

Ø  All tests are Thursdays!!!

Ø  There will be nightly homework with your students spelling list.

Please remember each week there will be a test covering all skills taught during the ELA block.

Math

Concepts:

Chapter 3 Multiply 2-Digit numbers

o   Multiply by 10’s

o   Estimate Products

o   Area Models and Partial Products

o   Multiply with Regrouping

o   Word problems

Chapter 4 Divide by 1-Digit numbers

o   Estimate Quotients

o   Investigate & Interpret Remainders

o   Divide 10’s, 100’s and 1,000’s

o   Distributive Property

o   Divide Using Repeat Subtraction

o   Partial Quotients

o   Place the First Digit

o   Divide by 1-Digit Numbers

**These are two of our MOST DIFFICULT chapters in 4^th grade math. Use ThinkCentral, notes and examples from the book to help your student. These concepts take A LOT of practice!

Social Studies

Concepts:

We will be learning about NYS early people.  This study will lead into an in-depth look into NY Native Americans. 

Our field trip to Brookside Museum will be October 14^th.  Please make sure to send your student on time with a packed lunch and snack. This trip is a great kick off to our study and students will remember the hands on experience for years to come.

There will be homework, quizzes and tests along with this unit so make sure to check your student’s agenda each day.

Reminders

Oct. 2^nd – Class Pictures (10:00)

Oct. 10^th – Early Release

Oct. 13^th – No school – Columbus Day

Oct. 14^th – Brookside Museum

Oct. 17^th- in school Evacuation Drill – more information to follow

Oct. 24^th –Monster Mash

Oct. 31^st – Halloween Party

This month is Fire Prevention month!

DO you have a family escape plan?

First Full Week

We have completed our first full week!!!! What a great way to kick off the year. Our class has proven again, and again that they know how to be respectful and responsible Shatekon Sharks.

I have updated my blog by adding a Homework and Bill of Rights page. The homework page gives you an idea of what to expect each night, while the Bill of Rights is a student generated behavior guide.

Thank you so much for your support this week getting forms signed, money in and homework done. Great job parents!!!

ELA

Reading:

Ø  Shenendehowa has a new reading series called Journey’s . Lots of information will be shared at Open House about the transition. Until then, be on the lookout for nightly homework that includes 30 minutes of reading, some spelling or vocabulary.

Ø  Students will learn about story structure, summarizing, author’s purpose, cause and effect and visualizing texts this month.

Writing:

Ø  Our focus will be narrative writing; specifically using descriptive paragraphs, word choice and dialogue.

Grammar:

Ø  Different types of sentences and quotations.

Spelling Patterns: All tests are Friday!!!

Ø  Sight word list (practice list)

Ø  List 1 – long and short a

Ø  List 2 – long and short e

Ø  List 3 – long and short i

Math

Concepts:

o   Place value, expanded, written and standard form in number writing, comparing, ordering and rounding numbers. Addition and subtraction will also be reviewed.

Vocabulary:

o   Place value, standard form, expanded form, greater than, less than, re-group

Assessments:

o   Each unit of study will have a pre and posttest.  You will see how much your child has grown with each concept! Only the post test will be entered into the grade bookJ

Social Studies

Concepts:

v  Geography of NYS

v  Various maps

o   How to use legends

o   How to use a compass rose

o   What type of map is this?

Vocabulary:

v  Physical map              Political map

v  Labels                         Compass rose

v  Latitude                      Longitude

v  Continent

**We are awaiting live crayfish!  When they come we’ll begin our first animal unit!

Reminders

ü Sept. 8th – bus drill

ü Sept. 24^th – PTA meeting 6:30

ü Sept. 25^th – NO SCHOOL

ü Sept. 28^th – Book orders due

ü Sept. 29^th – Open House 6-8 - We will begin in the gym

ü Sept. 16^th - Orchestra lessons will begin

**Make sure to return:

Emergency contact information cards

$2.50 for headphones which will be used each year

PG movie form

A recorder for music class

**We have monthly birthday parties. Contact myself or our room parent if your student has an upcoming birthday month. J

Summer Math Activities

Today I sent home a summer math packet. There are instructions on the cover that give information on how to use the packet most effectively. This, of course, is an optional assignment. If you choose not to use this packet, please make sure your student is practicing his/her math skills in some fashion over the summer. The time put in this summer will make a HUGE difference in 5th grade. :)