Weekly Updates 6/8-6/12

NEWS/EVENTS

• 3-509 is leading the farm stand from 8:00-8:30 this Wednesday June 10th! Students interested in participating should arrive within this time frame on Wednesday. This is our last farm stand day of the year.
• On Wednesday we are also harvesting some plants from 9:00-9:30. If you are interested in joining us, send me an email! We would love a volunteer or two to join us.
• Tomorrow is a half day. Dismissal is at 11:50 am.
• This Friday is Family Friday, but the theme is Enrichment Celebrations. Parents will visit enrichment clusters students have attended for the past 10 weeks.
• Because of the 5th grade graduation on June 18th, we know have a tentative end of the year class party scheduled for Wednesday June 17th. I will confirm this as soon as possible. We would love to gather as a group (parents and students) once last time before the end of the year.
• Next Monday June 15th is a half day.
• On Monday June 22nd the entire grade is going to Prospect Park in Brooklyn for a Picnic. Permission slips will be distributed this week.

Homework:

1) Monday: Read and jot for 30 minutes. Reading response due Friday. "Which Shape?" math activity, cut out words.

Ambitious: Sort 42

Humble: Sort 35

Determined: Sort 30

Courageous: Sort 19

2) Tuesday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, "Score it" math activity, reading response due Friday. Farm stand tomorrow from 8-8:30!

3) Wednesday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, "Quadrilateral Riddles" math activity, reading response due Friday. 

4) Thursday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, reading response due Friday. Field day is tomorrow!

CURRICULUM

Reading: This week in Social Issues book clubs students are identifying obstacles and issues students face, and are looking at crucial scenes and consider what they teach us.

Writing: This week we are diving into Fairy Tale adaptations! After familiarizing ourselves with the original version of Cinderella, we will spend then upcoming days looking at adaptations, older student examples, and various digital versions of the tale before we start our own.

Math: This week we are continuing to study different shapes, and are sorting them by sides, angles, and other attributes. 

Social Studies: We are visiting Folk Tales around the world centers.

Weekly Updates 6/1-6/5

NEWS/EVENTS

• Thursday June 4th is a non-attendance day for students. 
• We have two clerical half days coming up- Tuesday June 9th and Monday June 15th
• June 12th is field day AND our last family Friday (enrichment celebration themed)
• We are looking to secure a date for our class end of the year party. Although it has not yet been approved, Thursday June 18th from 9:00-9:30 is a tentative option. We will email the group when this is confirmed!
• I am still waiting to receive several portfolios. PLEASE send these back, as we are adding new pieces over the course of the next week. Portfolios will go home on June 15th.

Homework:

***Due to the shortness of this week there will be no word work for HW

Monday: Read and jot for 30 minutes. Angle HW. A reading response is due Friday.

Tuesday: Read and jot for 30 minutes. "What Makes a Shape" HW. A reading response is due Friday.

Wednesday: Read and jot for 30 minutes. Right Angle HW. A reading response is due Friday.

Friday: Read and jot for 30 minutes Saturday and Sunday. 

CURRICULUM

Reading: This week we are launching our final reading unit of the year- Social Issues Book Clubs. Students will explore different issues that kids in society, and will meet with clubs to plan, discuss, and debate readings. 

Writing: This week we are publishing our Countries Around the World books using a wide variety of text feature and paper choices. Friday we are launching our last writing unit of the year- Fairy Tale Adaptations.

Math: Today we launched our last math unit of the year- Geometry and Shapes. During this unit students will learn about attributes of shapes such as line segments, points, vertices, angles, parallel and perpendicular lines, and other attributes. We will focus on various types of quadrilaterals.

Social Studies: We are continuing to read folk tales from around the world, and will start to visit centers this week highlighting artifacts, images, and other cultural differences.

Weekly Updates 5/18-5/22

NEWS/EVENTS

• Poetry night will take place tomorrow from 6:15-7:45! Please come by to support our class nominated poet Alua, and see some of the poetry work of 3-509.
• We are going to Stoneledge Farm on May 27th! Dee Dee and Vanessa will be joining us as chaperones. I will send out an email with more specifics this Friday, but plan to have the kids arrive to school no later than 7:45 because we will leave at 8:00 am sharp. We hope to arrive back at P.S. 11 at 5:00 pm.
• There is no school Monday May 25th, as we are observing Memorial Day.

HOMEWORK:

Monday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, sort words in word study notebook, finish researching country (if you haven't done so). A Reading Response is due Friday.

Tuesday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, Line Plot HW, Reading Response is due Friday.

Wednesday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, Word Study Menu Option, Line Plot HW, Reading Response is due Friday.

Thursday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, glue and study words, Line Plot HW, Reading Response is due Friday.

Friday: Read and jot for 30 minutes each day over the weekend.

CURRICULUM

Reading: This week we are wrapping up Mystery Book Clubs. We are looking for lessons we can learn from our stories, and are planning book club posters that will share these important lessons and findings.

Writing: This week we are transitioning from taking notes about countries of interest to drafting a table of contents and writing long across chapters. Students are creating sections geared towards the land, economy, culture, and histories of their countries, in addition to others. We will revise these sections at the end of this week, and will aim to publish by May 29th.

Math:  This week we are moving from Pictographs to Line Plots. We will explore how to partition a line into fourths and halves, and will plots these points along our plots.

Social Studies: This week we are launching Folk Tales Around the World. We will start by reading a wide variety of tales, and identifying similarities and differences between myths, fables, and legends.

Weekly Updates 5/11-5/15

NEWS/EVENTS

• Farm permission slips for our trip to Stoneledge Farm were sent home today for our May 27th trip. Unfortunately bus students missed these, so I will make sure they receive a copy tomorrow. We will only be selecting two chaperones per class, as there is limited seating on our buses. Also, chaperones should know that they will most likely be separated from their children on this trip. For all big PS 11 trips, this has been the policy. By doing this the emphasis is more about safety and the coordination of the trip than spending one on one time with children. Thank you for your understanding in advance! If this still appeals to you, I will draw names by Friday to select the two chaperones. Priority will go to parents that have not yet attended a PS 11 field trip this year.
• The next family Friday (enrichment celebration) has been moved to June 12th. 
• We will most likely have an end of the year celebration for students and families. The date is TBD.
• May 19th is poetry night and our students have nominated our very own Alua to represent our class!

CURRICULUM

Reading: As we approach the end of our Mystery Book Clubs, this week we will spend the last bend of the unit reflecting on lessons learned from decisions our characters made, walking in the shoes of our detectives, and continuing to reflect on theories and ideas. Most students have read a minimum of two books in the series, and we hope to read at least one more by next week.

Writing: Now that students have their sights on the countries they would like to research and write about, we are focusing on goal setting and starting to write long about different sections.

Math: We are repeating the data collection process of asking a question, collecting data, organizing and representing data, describing and summarizing data, and interpreting the data but this time pictographs. We are considering the process as a whole and are working to develop more sophisticated questions that have a meaningful purpose.

Social Studies: Although I am still using Nigeria as a country to model strategies with during Writing Workshop, in the next week we are taking a Nigeria performance task and will then move on to Folk Tales Around the World.

Weekly Updates 5/4-5/8

NEWS/EVENTS

• Tonight is the PS 11 Spring Auction and Gala at The Hudson Terrace! I look forward to seeing you there!
• This Friday is Hannah Ticoll's (our fabulous intern from Teacher College) last day. We are working on a special project, which will be presented to her by the kids on Friday.
• This week I will be sending home permission slips for our upcoming field trip on May 27th to Stoneledge Farms. Keep your eyes open! It will most likely be sent home Thursday.

CURRICULUM

Reading: This week we are diving into other books in our mystery series, and studying connection across books as well as growing ideas. We are experimenting with different talk tools to strengthen the discussions we are having with club members.

Writing: We just launched our newest writing unit- Creating Information Books about Countries Around the World. We are revisiting text features this week, and will select a new country of interest by Friday.

Math: Last week we launched our newest math unit: Data Collection and Graphing. Throughout this month we are teaching the kids the process of developing a question, collecting data, representing the data, describing and summarizing the data, and drawing conclusions. We will do three cycles of this implementing different types of graphs. Last week we highlighted bar graphs. Towards the middle of this week we will focus on picture graphs.

Social Studies: We are wrapping up our study of Nigeria and will soon be moving on to Folk Tales around the World!

Have a great week,

Ms. Bouchard

Weekly Updates 4/27- 5/1

NEWS/EVENTS

• Family Friday is this Friday! We are having a poetry slam here in 509. Families, we would love it if you also brought some of your own poetry work to read and share.
• The Gala is next Monday May 4th at the Hudson Terrace. I look forward to seeing many of you there!
• The SLT is presenting girls facts night this Thursday from 6-7pm.
• Now that state exams are over, we would love to revive our parent guest speaker sign up. Please check out the sign up genius link for available slots, and if those dates do not work with you, we can find another time. Please email me two days before your scheduled date to confirm your presentation, and to let me know if I can support you with any resources. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0f4ea8a823a0fa7-center

HOMEWORK

Monday: Read for 30 minutes and jot. A reading response is due this Thursday, student may decide what evening they are doing this.

Tuesday: Read for 30 minutes and jot. A reading response is due this Thursday, student may decide what evening they are doing this. Sort words (in writing) in word study notebook). Use fact fluency resources to work towards your fluency goal (and share with parents).

Wednesday: Read for 30 minutes and jot. A reading response is due this Thursday, student may decide what evening they are doing this. Select a word study menu option. Graphing math work.

Thursday: Read for 30 minutes and jot. Glue words in purple word study book and study for spelling test. Graphing practice.

Friday: Read for 30 minutes each day and jot. Graphing practice.

CURRICULUM

Reading: This week we are finishing the first books in our mystery series and starting to look at trends, clues, and suspects, that carry over to other books. 

Writing: Today we are spending one more day publishing our poetry anthologies. Students will select one of these published poems to share during family Friday. Later this week we are starting our next writing unit- writing informational books about countries around the world, specifically Nigeria.

Math- Today we are spending some time reflecting on our math fluency goals and will develop a plan for practice to master them. Tomorrow we will officially launch our next math unit: Data and Graphing. 

Social Studies: This week we are wrapping up Nigeria centers in preparation for our information writing unit.

Have a great week,

Ms. Bouchard

Weekly Updates 4/20-4/24

Hi Everyone,

One set of exams down, one to go! 3-509 has been working hard, and is ready to take the State Math Exams this Wednesday-Friday (April 22nd-24th). Like last week, please encourage the kids to get to bed at a good hour, eat a great breakfast, and arrive with enough time so sprinting up to the 5th floor is not needed. We will start each day at 9:00 am.

The only assignment I am asking students to complete is to finish problems #14-24 in Book 2, Practice Test 2 this evening and to read each day for enjoyment over the course of the rest of the week.

NEWS/EVENTS

• The Spring Gala Fundraiser is coming up on Monday May 5th at the Hudson Terrace.
• Family Friday will take place Friday May 1st.
• The Math State exams are this week, Wednesday April 22- Friday April 24th.
• We have some exciting events coming up in May. On Wednesday May 27th we are going to Stoneledge Farm in the Catskills to learn where the produce from the 3rd grade farm stand is coming from! More information to come!

CURRICULUM

Reading: This week we are launching our next reading unit- Mystery Book Clubs! We are thrilled to dive back into fiction. This week we are learning how to study our characters to grow ideas and theories, and how to pay attention to the setting to find clues.

Writing: This week we are taking our poetry work out once more! After reflecting on possible anthology themes, students are selecting their top 4-6 poems that fall under their categories. This week we are using a variety of checklists to revise and edit their work. By early next week we are publishing.

Math: We are finishing up our marathon training to prepare for this week's exams. Next week we are launching our Data and Graphing Unit.

Have a great week!

Ms. Bouchard