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 2^nd 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