October 28, 2019
Dear Parents, It is hard to believe the first quarter will be ending on October 30. I have truly enjoyed teaching your children during these first nine weeks and look forward to the wonderful learning experiences that lie ahead! CURRICULUM Reading – Students have previously written a four-paragraph reading contract stating two reading challenges they have, as well as strategies to overcome these challenges. Students will give and receive peer feedback as they edit one another’s contract this week. They will also use the chrome books to design an eye-catching bookmark that highlights their challenges and strategies to overcome them. We recorded our audio books of Rain School and Nasreen’s Secret School this past Friday. Students will share all their work with you on Thursday as part of our end of Module 1: Overcoming Learning Challenges Near and Far celebration. Math – Students have been practicing strategies such as place value drawings and expanded method to add and subtract. This past Friday they took an assessment that involved applying these strategies to add and subtract when solving word problems. This week, during the second half of this unit, we will focus upon using the number line strategy to add/subtract, as well as using estimation skills to assess reasonable answers. Science – We kicked off our study of “Earth in the Solar System” last week with a fun read aloud about the planets. We also made a model of earth’s solar system using our different size fingerprints and paint as representations of the planets. Our field trip to Morehead Planetarium was a success, and I think students thoroughly enjoyed the two shows we viewed in the dome theater. Both programs were very informative and gave students additional facts on our solar system. READvolution – This is a partnership between Wake County Public Schools and the Carolina Hurricanes to support a community-wide literacy campaign around daily reading outside of school. Please see the info included in today’s folder. Fall/Learning Celebration – Our class will have a celebration to showcase the hard work your children have done during the Module 1 reading/writing unit. On Thursday, October 31, we would like to invite you to join us in Room 3124 (Ms. Underwood’s classroom) at 1:30 p.m. to see the amazing work your children have produced. Students would like to share their reading contracts, eye-catching bookmarks that state their personal reading challenges/strategies to overcome them, and audio books. We look forward to seeing you if you can attend. UPCOMING DATES Tuesday, October 29 – PBIS Assembly (Positive Behavior) – 11:15 – 11:45 am – You have received notification if your child will be receiving an award this quarter. Wednesday, October 30 – STEAM with Mrs. Sollars – 12:40 – 1:25 pm Wednesday, October 30 – Fall Pictures – 2:20 pm Thursday, October 31 – Fall/Learning Celebration – 1:30 pm – Ms. Underwood’s classroom – Room 3124 Friday, November 1 – Teacher Workday – No school for students Monday, November 4 – NC Check-Ins Testing (Math) – see letter in today’s folder Thursday, November 7, Friday, November 8, and Tuesday, November 12 – CogAt Testing – see letter in today’s folder Respectfully, Ms. Underwood
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October 21, 2019
Dear Parents, I hope you were able to relax and rest a bit this weekend. As we prepare for another week of fun learning experiences, I wanted to give you a peek at the week ahead: CURRICULUM Reading – Last week students identified two of their own reading challenges and strategies they will use to overcome these challenges. They used watercolors to paint an essay in order to understand the structure (organization) they will use to write their reading contracts. Students also drafted their introductory paragraph and proof paragraph 1 (first reading challenge and strategies to overcome it). This week, they will draft proof paragraph 2 (second reading challenge and strategies to overcome it) and the conclusion of their reading contracts. Throughout the week, students will practice fluently reading the excerpt of the text they chose (Rain School or Nasreen’s Secret School) in order to record an audiobook of that text as part of their End of Unit 3 assessment. Math – In our unit on addition and subtraction of whole numbers up to and including 1000, students have been practicing strategies such as using base ten blocks (both physical and virtual ones on the chrome books) and place value drawings to accurately add and subtract. This week, we will focus upon the strategy of expanded method to subtract. We are using the vocabulary word, ungroup, to explain decomposing (breaking apart) 1 ten into 10 ones or 1 hundred into 10 tens when subtracting. I sent a “Math at a Glance” document in a previous email that contains video and vocabulary support on these various strategies I am teaching in class. Science – This week we begin a new science unit entitled “Earth in the Solar System.” This is always an engaging unit with hands-on activities as students learn about four key concepts:
UPCOMNG DATES Tuesday, October 22– School-wide Club Day – 2:45 – 3:30 pm Thursday, October 24 – Field trip to Morehead Planetarium – 9:30 – 1:30 pm – Please arrive at school on time as buses will be leaving campus promptly at 9:30 am for Chapel Hill, NC. Tuesday, October 29 – PBIS Assembly – 11:15 – 11:45 am – This is our positive behavior assembly. I will notify you if your child will be receiving an award at this assembly. Wednesday, October 30 – Fall pictures Wednesday, October 30 – STEAM with Mrs. Sollars – 12:40 – 1:25 pm Thursday, October 31 – Learning/Fall Celebration - 1:30 – 2:30 pm – Please join us in the classroom to celebrate the completion of our Module 1 reading unit, Overcoming Learning Challenges Near and Far. Students have worked hard during this unit and would like to share their audiobooks, eye-catching bookmarks, and written reading contracts with you. We will enjoy some refreshments together as we celebrate. I hope you have a wonderful week! Respectfully. Ms. Underwood October 9, 2019
Dear Parents, I have been enjoying some time with my three-year-old grandson, so I apologize for the delay in sending the classroom newsletter. Listed below are some updates to keep you informed: CURRICULUM Reading – Students have been learning how to write an informative paragraph with a clearly stated focus and facts/details from the text to explain their ideas. They have been taught to organize their paragraphs as follows: introduction sentence, focus statement (main idea sentence), body sentences (explain more about the challenge and how it was overcome), and conclusion sentence. This week, we began Unit 3 in our module on Overcoming Learning Challenges by determining the gist (what the text is mostly about) and central message of a text called More Than Anything Else. This engaging book describes the challenges Booker T. Washington faced with reading. Later in the week, students will write an informative paragraph about the lesson in this book and how it is conveyed through details in the text. Math – For the past week in our graphing unit, students have been interpreting scaled picture and bar graphs. They have been learning how to answer one and two-step “how many more” and “how many less” problems using information from these graphs. We will have an assessment on this short graphing unit tomorrow. In our next unit entitled, “Stories with Addition and Subtraction,” students will learn various strategies to accurately add and subtract whole numbers up to and including 1,000. Social Studies – In our “Civics and Government” unit, students have been researching the responsibilities of the local government, using the Chrome books. We grouped these responsibilities into 4 main categories: Transportation, Safety/Security, Education, and Recreation. We have also been learning about the 3 branches of government – executive, legislative, and judicial – and even made paper bag trees with branches to represent the 3 government branches. UPCOMING DATES Thursday, October 10 - 6:00 - 8:30 pm – United Skates Spirit Night Thursday, October 17 - 5:30 - 7:00 pm - Family Night Sincerely, Ms. Underwood |
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