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The Shakespearean Sonnet

October 20, 2008

 

Hello all,

 

Important Reminder

Tomorrow is Picture Day.  If you haven’t sent back your photo order form, please do so by tomorrow.  And if it never made it home, fear not.  Photos can always be ordered later. 

 

Questionnaire

The feedback that I have received thus far about my idea of conducting a meeting sometime in the next few weeks to discuss the ways in which you can specifically help your child prepare for the CMTs and the 5th grade objectives at home has been very positive, so it looks as if I will go ahead and plan to have that meeting soon.  If you haven’t sent your questionnaire back and can find the time, I’d love to hear you ideas.  My goal is to cater this meeting to meet your needs as best as possible. 

 

Thanks!

 

A few of you requested another copy of the questionnaire, so I have attached it to this newsletter. 

 

Tea Cup Auction

If you have not heard, the theme of our Tea Cup Auction basket is The Movies!  I know there was some confusion over this.  The class voted for a sports theme but we were asked to change it after two other classes chose the same theme. 

 

Thanks for your support in this endeavor! 

 

Many, many thanks!

On Friday, Lauren’s father joined us for our much awaited egg drop and taught the kids a lesson on… well… so much.  Gravity.  The forces of motion.  Inertia.  Physics.  Aircraft design.  Three hours of absolute expert teaching and the finest science lesson ever taught in my classroom, bar none.  The kids were enthusiastic, engaged, and learned a great deal in a short period of time.  Paul has clearly missed his calling and should abandon his job as an engineer and find his way into a classroom as soon as possible.  Many thanks to Paul for the preparation and delivery of an amazing lesson, and if you see him around, please take a moment to thank him as well. Your child learned a great deal from the morning spent with him.  

 

Thanks to Lauren’s mom, Emma and Emma’s moms, and Will’s mom for joining us that morning as well.  The loading of eggs, the applying and removing of tape, and all the organization that was required for the drop was much easier with their help.  Thanks so much!

 

Election Results!

Congratulations to Laura, Matthew, and Emma D. for being chosen as the final three candidates to run for Wolcott School President.  We’ve never had all three candidates come from the same classroom, so there was a great deal of excitement this morning.  Each candidate delivered an outstanding speech to the school during Harambe, and when it was all over, Laura emerged as Wolcott School’s 64th President.  Congrats to Laura, and to Matthew and Emma for running (in the words of Emma) “positive campaigns.”  The three of them handled the election and the results with grace and dignity, as we undoubtedly expected they would.    

 

Newly Published Authors!

Congratulations to Emma D., this week’s Writer of the Week.  Emma was chosen by Wolcott’s Editorial Board for her beautiful poem about nature.  She will perform in the Writer of the Week skit this Friday at Town Meeting. 

 

Way to go, Emma!

 

Congratulations!

Congrats to Team 2, Team Haunted, for their victory in the team competition for last week!  Each of them will enjoy bonus laptop time on Friday.  It was the closest competition that we’ve had in a while, with desk inspection proving to be the deciding factor.  Organization is important, and hopefully this will continue to stress its importance to the kids! 

 

Congrats to the class as well, for defeating me in the class-wide competition last week.  As a result of their win, the kids will enjoy Preferred Seating on Friday, allowing them to choose and switch seats at will, including my seat!

 

Charlie Award winner!

Congratulations to Will, the Charlie Award winner from last week.  On Friday, we had a long, impromptu discussion about the Presidential election and the previous evening’s debate.  Many of the kids had seen the debate and had definite opinions as to the success of the candidates.  In the midst of the conversation, the kids asked if we could watch the debate, or at least some of it in class, and I told them that if they wanted to see the debate, they would have to write a five paragraph essay to me, arguing the merits of using class time for this purpose.  Will was the only student to take up the challenge, using the next 30 minutes of Writer’s Workshop to write clear, well reasoned, well written essay on the subject.  And he has convinced me!  We’ll spend some of Friday watching the debate and discussing it in terms of the structure of an argument and the supporting of opinions and assertions.

 

For going above and beyond the call of duty, Will is this week’s Charlie Award winner!  Congrats!

 

Homework

This week I’ve assigned your child a reading assignment and a math assignment to go along with his or her Essay of the Month and Science Project of the Month.  The kids should be well prepared to complete the assignments without much trouble.  They have seen the format and these types of questions before.       

 

This morning, the kids spent some time examining the Egg Drop journals of their fellow students and uncovering ideas that they can use in their own journals this month.  I informed the kids that while their Essays of the Month for September far exceeded my expectations, their journals fell far short for the most part.  The work that they did this morning, and the subsequent discussion that we had related to record keeping and research should help a great deal in improving their journals this month.  In the words of Matthew, “Now that I’ve seen a good journal, I know exactly what to do.  It makes sense to me now.”

 

Many other kids expressed a similar sentiment. 

Tomorrow we will spend some time answering questions about their Essay of the Month, though I’m pleased to report that the interview notes and rough drafts that I have seen so far have been outstanding!  The model interview that Emma’s mom and I did a couple weeks ago apparently helped a great deal, and the kids are very excited about their essays thus far. 

Just a reminder that both of the month-long assignments are due on Friday, October 31.   I also sent your child home with the final week of the district’s HEART program, which promotes a healthy diet amongst our students.  A letter attached to this newsletter explains what needs to be done this week.  These worksheets do not need to be returned to school.     

Curriculum Update

MATH

Just a quick update in terms of math.  You may have noticed that over the past week, your child has begun to learn how to multiply large numbers, including one digit times two and three digit numbers, and today we began multiplying two two-digit  numbers. 

A couple important things to keep in mind:

I will be teaching your child two or more ways to solve these problems, including the compact method, which is probably what you use at home, and the all-partials method, which breaks the multiplication into a variety of easy-to- see steps (ask your child to demonstrate each step!).  Both methods are fine, and I want the kids to understand how each works, because in addition to understanding the multiplication algorithm, it’s equally important that your child understand the way in which the algorithm works and the real process behind the method.  So please allow your child to choose whichever method that he or she is most comfortable with, and try not to force your preference on your child.  Most kids will eventually move to the compact method, but for some, the all-partials method will make better sense to them, and it’s a perfectly acceptable means of multiplying.

More important, now that we have begun multiplying large numbers, it is crucial that your child memorize his or her basic facts.  Having to count out a simple multiplication fact on his or her fingers will make two-digit time two-digit multiplication incredibly difficult for your little one, so mastery of the facts is essential.  The child takes two basic facts tests each week, and once your child can complete 90 problems in 5 minutes (about 3 seconds a problem), he or she can move onto the next set of facts.  Right now I have kids still memorizing addition facts while others are rapidly climbing the multiplication charts.  Please make it a point of asking your child about the set of facts that he or she is currently responsible for memorizing, and please please please help your child do this at home.  Memorizing these facts is simply a matter of repetition, so the more he or she practices, the better he or she will get.  A couple strategies that might help include:

  1.  Don’t skip facts.  If your child is memorizing subtraction facts, don’t allow him or her to skip onto multiplication, or subtraction will likely never be memorized. 
  2.  Identify and focus in on those facts that are not memorized.  If you are using flash cards, remove facts from the pack that your child does not know and spend time only on those facts that still need to be memorized.  Maximize your study time!
  3.  Create flash cards of those facts that your child has not memorized.  Note cards for this purpose are always available here at school for your child. 
  4.  Keep flash cards in the car, in your handbag, in the bathroom, or wherever else you may find yourselves with five minutes to kill.
  5.  Reward your child for his or her success!

Thanks as always for the support! 

That’s it for today!