Sieracki Sentinel- November 5th, 2009 PARENT NEWS: Vaughan Elementary Mission Statement Our mission at Vaughan Elementary School is to work as a community to meet the diverse learning needs of students in order to prepare them for success in a global economy. Yearbooks on sale on line for $25.00 at www.jostens.com We are excited to provide additional time for math enrichment for our students. We are reorganizing our schedule to include an additional 45 minute block. This will allow us to focus on math standards on which our students need additional support as well as provide extension activities for those students who are proficient but are ready to engage in activities that stretch the learning. SOMETHING NEW: EVERY THIRD GRADER WILL BE BRINGING HOME A MATH GAME TO PLAY EACH NIGHT. THE GAME WILL BE THE SAME GAME FOR ONE WEEK. WE ARE ASKING THAT YOU PLAY THE GAME WITH YOUR CHILD, BUT IT IS POSSIBLE FOR HIM OR HER TO PLAY ALONE. IT SHOULD TAKE ABOUT 10 MINUTES EACH NIGHT. THERE WILL BE A SIGNATURE SHEET THAT WILL NEED TO BE SIGNED EVERY NIGHT TO SHOW THAT YOUR CHILD HAS PLAYED THE GAME. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION. New: We are really focusing on Math Problem Solving in class and we would like the children exposed to it at home as well. Once a week for math homework you will find a problem-solving folder come home with your child. The problem they are to solve will be glued to the page where they will solve the problem. After your child has made the attempt to solve the problem, please sit with them and work through the steps/strategies in order to support their understanding of problem solving. Class Needs * Clorox Clean-Up Wipes * Electric Pencil Sharpener * Extra Snacks for the snack bin Reminders: ***Please stress to your child the importance of completing his/her homework each evening to the best of his/her ability. Homework is the student's job to complete and return to school. I would appreciate it if you would look over your child's homework with them each evening for errors in spelling, conventions, or neatness. We are at a stage that the students do not always take the time to double check their work independently. Their idea of checking might be looking to see if all the blanks are filled in, as double checking means reading over everything that you read/wrote on the page. *** Please help your child to remember to wear to bring gym shoes on P.E. days. They are unable to participate in gym class if they do not have the proper shoe attire. ** Reading logs are due Monday morning. Please look over your child's reading summary on Sunday nights prior to signing their reading log. Each child should be writing 3 good sentences summarizing what they have read each evening. They should also be filling out all the information needed for each day. Since we have studied elapsed time, I have asked the children to write their minutes read each evening to the left of the column. We have started our competition within our room of minutes read each week. The minutes will be combined together each week and at the end of the quarter we will have some overall super readers. Each week we will have our " Super Reader" for the week listed in our newsletter in addition to the child with the most improvement of their minutes read. :-) Reading minutes are being totaled each week. If your child reaches his/her goal of 900 minutes for the quarter they will be attending the Rockin' Reading Pizza Party for Team Sieracki at the end of the quarter. Thanks Mrs. Pritchett for being our Rockin' Reading Mom!!!! Academics: Our Schedule: ****New to accommodate Math Enrichment**** 7:15-7:50: Unpack and begin morning work. 7:50-8:20: Announcements and Daily Math RAP 8:20-9:20: Math 9:20-10:00: Reading Workshop 10:50-11:30: Spelling and Grammar 11:33-12:03: Lunch 12:03-12:10: Check over Morning Work 12:10-12:30: Recess and Study Hall 12:30-1:15: Math Enrichment(Monday, Wednesday, Friday) Content ( Tuesday/Thursday) 1:15-2:00: Writer's Workshop 2:00-2:10: Pack-up and dismissal ** Content is also being incorporated into reading. Next week at a glance: Reading:E.Q.: How can I identify a biography? How can I read and comprehend fictional text? We will be studying Paul Revere, Susan B. Anthony, and Frederick Douglass and completing flip books on these important historical characters. Writing:E.Q.: How do I write a response to literature? We will focus this week on how we can organize our response to literature. We will be finishing up our class response to My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother by Patricia Polacco. Next week we will write our individual organizers and responses to Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream. In addition to writing our own responses we will be evaluating responses written by other individuals using our rubric. English:How can I identify simple and compound sentences? We will be identifying singular and plural nouns. Irregular and regular spellings. Spelling: We will begin Unit 6 next week. Math:E.Q.: How do I identify strategies to help me multiply? This week we will focus on the strategies of repeated addition, skip counting, and building arrays. The students should be practicing their math facts each evening.!! Congrats to Will!!!!! He is our first student to finish all 12 addition and subtraction timed tests with 100%! Way to go Will. Who will be next? Ask your child about the UNRAAVEL strategy. We have been applying the UNRAAVEL stategy in reading and have now carried it over to our problem solving folders. Social Studies:Look for a student study guide to go home tomorrow over Greece. Our test will be on Monday. Each child also has papers in their Social Studies section of their binder to help them study. E.Q: How can I identify the 3 branches of government? How can I identify the responsiblities of each branch? Important Dates: Chick-Fil-A every Tuesday morning.$2.50 November 5th ~ Preview Book Fair November 9th ~ New math game to be completed nightly goes home for the first time. November 9th ~ Unit 6 words go home in agenda November 11th ~ End of 4 1/2 weeks November 19th ~ Progress Notes go home November 20th ~ November 29th ~ Thanksgiving break. (No School) Have a great weekend! Mrs. Sieracki