Friday, January 31, 2014
Math Websites to Explore
Websites to explore:
Excellent site to build basic fact knowledge in all operations
Fabulous
independent and multiplayer practice games
Excellent
site to build fact knowledge with increasing challenge
Lots of fun
games for math and other content areas
Organized by
grade level and content curriculum
Provides
both exercise to support learning and higher level challenges
More fun games in many content areas
More fun games in many content areas
Lessons and
exercises to support learning
Also
provides opportunity to make individualized worksheets
Success in Savanna, 1/31/14
Dear
Parents,
What a pleasure it was to have an
almost “normal” schedule this week.
Wednesday’s two-hour delay was just a blip, but with the added time at
the end of the day it felt like a regular week.
We were able to get out for recess at the end of the week to release
some of pent up energy. While the warmer
temperatures are not expected to last to long, it was nice for everyone to get
out and enjoy some sunshine.
This week we continued to learn about the life and
times in Ancient Rome, division and higher-level multiplication in Math, and
paragraph writing in Language Arts. We are
working on subjects and predicates and recognizing that both are needed to make
a complete sentence. In health, we are
wrapping up Chapter 5 on “Preventing Diseases”.
In Science, we are just kicking off our next unit on Ecosystems. For planning purposes, there will likely be
tests in Social Studies and Math late next week. Further information and appropriate materials
will be sent home on Monday or Tuesday.
Some students are being sent home with a reminder
to practice math facts. These facts are
the critical foundation needed for higher-level multiplication problems. Flash cards are a fun way to review and many
sites offer these on line for free.
Every child in our room is familiar with several sites (available
through the Tuckahoe website) for this purpose.
Some of these are also posted on our classroom blog.
As you know, report cards for the
second quarter will go home next Thursday. We will have a chance to discuss this report
card and the progress of your child, at our Parent-Teacher conferences on March
7th and 8th. I will be sending
information about scheduling meetings home shortly.
We have a field trip coming up this
coming month as well. We will be going
to the Imagination Stage in Bethesda on Friday, February 14th. The permission slip for this activity will
be coming home in the next few days. We
will be limited to no more than five (5) parents per class. If you have already assisted with a trip, we
ask that you allow others to come along with us this time.
I have had a couple of inquiries
about what we will do for Valentine’s Day in the classroom. The children will have time in the afternoon
to exchange cards with each other. I am
sending home a copy of the class list to help with this. Also, they can bring in a small box or bag to
collect their cards. In addition, I have
planned a small science “experiment” about mixtures and solutions that will
result in a small treat for the end of the day.
As always, thank you for all you do
to support your child. Good luck to all
the basketball teams tonight! Enjoy the
weekend.
Sincerely,
Ms. Coffman
Upcoming Events
Thursday,
February 6- Report Cards Issued
Friday,
February 14- Imagination Stage Field Trip
Monday,
February 17- President’s Day Holiday- No School
Wednesday,
February 19- Curriculum Day
Wednesday,
March 5- Wax Museum
Thursday/Friday
March 6-7- Parent Teacher Conferences
Monday, January 27, 2014
Friday, January 17, 2014
Success in Savanna, 1/17
Dear
Parents,
Here we are at the end of the second
quarter of school. It is hard to believe
that that the year is about half over.
All the children have shown gains since the beginning of the year, which
are exciting to see. It is always around
this time of year that the children move from being second graders to truly
being third graders. Their confidence
and skill begin to solidify and they start to take off as independent
learners. While there has been much
progress from September, there are a couple of items I would like to continue
to ask you to do at home to support your child. First, review his/her
assignment notebook each night to help with the pacing of assignments as well
as making sure assignments are completed on time. Second, if your child has
forgotten an assignment or book help them figure out a strategy for making up
the assignment. This could be calling a
friend to copy the problems, or going on line and using the online resources available
on BlackBoard. Please remember, this is
the time of year where we expect your child to be able to assemble all the
necessary supplies and tools to bring home to do their homework. Third, please be sure to send in a note if
there is any change in your child’s dismissal. This includes going home with a
friend, enrichment classes, or being picked up by you. Please understand this
is a safety issue for your child. We
need to ensure that 25 children are being dismissed correctly each afternoon,
and your help with notes for your child, helps us do this successfully.
Academically this has been a full
week. We have continued to work with
multiplication, and participated in the first Continental Math League
challenge. Please remember 10 minutes of practice at home each night is suggested
for mastery of these facts. In Language
Arts this week our focus was learning prefixes (mis-, dis-, and pre). We also practiced making inferences using
picture books with little if any text. In
Social Studies we continued our Unit on Ancient Rome and will we wrapping it up
later next week or early the week thereafter. In health we are learning how to avoid
infectious diseases and how to be considerate of those who have non-infectious
ones. In Science we will soon be
starting our next unit on Ecosystems.
In addition to our regular curriculum we took time
this week to talk about Dr. Martin Luther King and his accomplishments. This led to an activity about fairness that
tied into our Roman law study in which we learned that “fairness is often
considered over the exact interpretation of the law”. Students made pennants to display the laws that
we have adopted from the Ancient Romans.
Look for these banners hanging in the hallway soon.
Below are a couple of important dates to put on
your calendars:
Friday,
January 17- End of 2nd
Quarter
Monday,
January 20- Dr. King Holiday- Schools
Closed
Tuesday,
January 21- Teacher Workday- No
school for students
Wednesday, January 22- FULL DAY OF SCHOOL/NO EARLY RELEASE
Friday,
January 24- Planetarium visit; Disco
Dance-7pm
As always, I appreciate your help
and support. If you have any questions,
please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Ms.
Coffman
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Mixed Up Multiplication Table
http://www.visualmathlearning.com/index.html
This is an awesome site for multiplication and other practice. Some games are a challenge and well-suited for my strongest and quickest learners!
This is an awesome site for multiplication and other practice. Some games are a challenge and well-suited for my strongest and quickest learners!
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Typing Club Reminder
Dear Students/Parents:
The original note regarding typing club is included below. Please be sure that you are practicing daily/weekly as suggested. I recognize that some of you will be able to move faster through the levels than others. Please know that I'm checking the time that you put forth to achieve and consider this as much as your level. If you are working hard and doing your best, I am satisfied with your level of performance.
Thank you for working hard. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Theresa Coffman
Tuckahoe ES
The original note regarding typing club is included below. Please be sure that you are practicing daily/weekly as suggested. I recognize that some of you will be able to move faster through the levels than others. Please know that I'm checking the time that you put forth to achieve and consider this as much as your level. If you are working hard and doing your best, I am satisfied with your level of performance.
Thank you for working hard. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Theresa Coffman
Tuckahoe ES
Learning how to type is a skill that is introduced in 3rd grade and reviewed in 4th grade. This year staff has decided to try a new program called Typing Club to improve student typing fluency. The link can be located on the Tuckahoe Home Page for easy access. Your child's login is their student ID and password (birthdate: 2 digits for the month 2 digits for the day and the last 2 digits for the year they were born).
The program works best if done 5 days a week (weekends are ok) for 10 minutes. Staff is asking that this be done at home as a nightly assignment. If your child is in Extended Day, they have access to computers that can be used for typing practice. If home internet access is an issue, please contact me so we can design a plan to meet your students needs.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Success in the Savanna, 1/10/14
Dear
Parents,
We spent this week getting back into
the full swing of school. We took some
time to reflect on 2013 and to set goals for 2014. I was impressed with the number of my
students who wanted to make new friendships or help others in need. I’m not mentioning names but at least three
or four expressed an interest in keeping a cleaner room …! ;)
We have started our unit on
Multiplication. In this unit, the children will learn their multiplication facts
from 1-12. After learning these facts,
we will extend our multiplication skills to include two and three digit
multiplication (with a one digit factor).
Honestly, our team is already doing so well with the early “kick-off”
facts (0-5 and 10), that I have high hopes for great success with this
unit. I strongly recommend the
website www.multiplication.com for independent
and home practice of facts. The games
that are available on this site are wonderful and allow a student to work on a
range of specific facts or to focus on just one set of facts (such as x7). I realize that there are a lot of
expectations about home practice of typing skills, reading, and more. However, I do encourage some added practice
each night or at least each week to help your child master these facts. Such mastery will be useful when we
transition into division in the coming weeks.
We concluded our week with a project
and vocabulary test in Science.
We
have continued our work on grammar, sentence structure and paragraph writing in
Language Arts. Additionally, we
completed a mid year writing prompt on a person who plays an important role in
our Tuckahoe community. In Social Studies we continued our study of
Ancient Rome with a computer scavenger hunt.
All in all it has been a busy week of learning.
Below are a couple of important dates to
put on your calendars:
Friday, January 17- End of 2nd Quarter
Monday,
January 20- Dr. King Holiday-
Schools Closed
Tuesday, January 21- Teacher Workday- No school for students
Wednesday, January 22- Full day of School-No Early Release
Friday, January 24- Planetarium Visit (see Friday Folder); Disco Dance-7pm
After a long and restful break, I am
excited to be back in the classroom with your children. We have so much to do in the coming months
and I look forward to all of it! Thank
you for all that you do.
Sincerely,
Ms.
Coffman
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