Have a wonderful break!

Today, we had snowy fun day.

4th grade math began with a facts test. 3rd graders did a salmon observation and seesaw post, and then played math games on the ipads.

We enjoyed a snowy morning recess-quite a treat since the weather has been too cold for the past many days for us to go outside. Most kids build snow forts and snowmen! (Please bring boots and snowpants every day, otherwise, kids must stay on dry pavement.)

We went to check out books from the media center and book room so that we have enough books to read for the eleven days we're out of school! Some of our big readers are bringing home stacks to keep them occupied for HOURS!!!! ;)

Mrs. Davis' class had time to make paper snowflakes that are six or twelve pointed like nature makes. We watched some scientific movies about snow. Click here to see the movies and for a tutorial on how to make these snowflakes! We use coffee filters; I bought 700 on Amazon for under $10. This is hours of good crafty fun (click here to purchase your own)! We'll make more after break to finish decorating the classroom! Davis kids brought home a ziplock bag with a string of yarn and their good snowflakes and a few filters if the kids wanted to take some to do at home.

We had lunch, recess, Eng. Tech./Art and Engage, then our fabulous parties organized by our fabulous parents!

Thank you all for the generosity that you showed us this week for the holidays. We truly have THE best jobs to work with your children and you, and we are so appreciative of the generosity and support that you give us all year round.

See you in 2017! Have a happy, special time with your families over the next week and a half!

Wishing you all the best,
Kim and Tom


Homework Over Break:

• Read as much as you can!!
• Write thank you notes for presents you receive. This is a great chance to show off your cursive to your grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other family members!
• Practice your math facts, do Compass Learning.  (We suggest Reading-Vocabulary, or Math-Measurement and Data).
• Spend time with your family. Play a board game or a card game.
• Clean your room. Ask what chores you can do to help out around the house.
• Be nice to your siblings.
• Cooperate with your parents.
• Play in the snow.
• Rest. Enjoy yourself!!

Wednesday

Exploring how mass affects motion.

Reading by the "fire."

Tuesday

Miraculous Monday

Today we enjoyed reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. We are completing comprehension activities as we read. If you would like to read the book, you can listen to it on Youtube by clicking here.  Kids-please don't read ahead of where we are in class! Davis' class has read chapters 1-7. Mr. Seley had a guest teacher today, as he was sick, so we'll update where his class got to tomorrow.

We had media center and book room check out, typed our realistic fiction adventure stories, and did our next lesson on forces and motion.

Have a great evening!
Kim

Friday

We had math, writing, reading, Spanish, and Character Connections. Third grade math needs to study for their unit two test which will be on Monday and Tuesday. 

Terrific Thursday

Today, we had math, our media skills lesson and book checkout, an hour of drafting time on our adventure stories in the computer lab, and we began our next read-aloud novel, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo, for which students will complete a series of lessons in reading strategies as we enjoy the book together as a whole class. These lessons compliment the students' daily, self-selected reading of books at their individual reading levels. In the afternoon, we had Eng Tech/Art and Engage, and the Davis class did our first lesson on forces while the Seley class explored the northeast region of the U.S. through a fun-filled Kahoot trivia game. Tomorrow, we will switch lessons, and Davis will do the NE Kahoot and Seley will do forces. (This allows us to share the ipad cart for Kahoot.)

Tomorrow afternoon, the BCS community will be meeting from 1:30-3:20 for Character Connections, our 3-8 groups that we are in for the six years we are at BCS. In remembrance of Veteran's Day and Pearl Harbor Day, we are focusing on the character trait of PATRIOTISM and asking all students to wear RED, WHITE, and BLUE tomorrow. Due to tomorrow's special schedule, we will NOT have PE, so no gym/swim tomorrow.

Have a wonderful evening!
Kim and Tom

Wonderful Wednesday

In writing, we continue to draft our realistic fiction action stories, working on using our outline as roadmap and including visual details.

In reading, we have finished our Stone Fox read-aloud and have collected the kids' strategy packets. 

We are beginning to learn about forces and motion in science. Today we watched short Brainpop videos, so be sure to ask your child to tell you what is a force and also why Isaac Newton is a famous scientist.

At the end of the day, we met with our word study groups to take our spelling tests from last unit, since Monday's session was snowed out! Mrs. Harvath's group has a new list and will be testing on it next week; other groups won't be getting a new list until January. In the meantime, they can be using Compass Learning, Language Arts, Vocabulary activities for individualized word study. 

For third grade math this week, we are wrapping up unit 2 and next week, we will be testing.

·         Tuesday we did extended facts (ex. 3x40), lesson 2-12

·         Today, we are finishing up with multi-step story problems, SAB p. 133-136, HAR pages from lessons 2-10, 2-11, 2-13

·         Thursday, we will start the unit review is on SAB p. 155-156, and I will pass out a review packet too.

·         Friday is review and practice day. Kids will meet in groups for reteaching as needed.

·         Monday-Tuesday we will be taking the Unit 2 test.

·         Wednesday we will pre-test Unit 3.

·         Thursday I have a special, fun lesson planned for the class.

Snowy, Exciting Tuesday

This week in writing, we are drafting our realistic fiction action stories on the computer. We have an hour a day to type all week; most kids are writing in pairs. We are doing word study/new Spelling City tomorrow due to the snow day yesterday. We enjoyed a snowy morning recess together and also passed back papers, so check your child's blue folder.  Battle of the Books launched today, too!

Lastly, three kids in the Davis homeroom lost their teeth during the last hour of the day this afternoon! This ties my all time record of the most kids losing a tooth in one day. 

What an exciting day! We can't wait for tomorrow!

Kim and Tom

Fabulous Friday

Tease of Snow on Thursday!

Tomorrow, third grade math is taking a short quiz to see who needs more practice with Order of Operations and who has learned the steps that we do parentheses first, then multiply and divide left to right, and finally add and subtract left to right (PeMDAS). There will also be three story problems on which students can show that they know how to represent their solution pathway using a picture/diagram, equation with variable for the unknown, and use a sentence to tell the solution with a label (PESL strategy). Also tomorrow, we will be taking our December facts tests to see if we each are faster than we each were in November. Every day this month, we have been practicing division facts for ten minutes per day in class.

Fourth grade math continued long division. Most students finished most of their work in class because they were using their class time wisely.

In writing, we are continuing our realistic fiction action stories. Most kids are partner writing. In reading, we have been reading to see how authors create action in their work, and writing an outline before we draft our stories. Next week, we will be drafting on Microsoft Word.

We also had our media skills lesson today in the media center with Mrs. Truesdell.

Have a great evening,
Mrs. Davis and Mr. Seley

Wednesday

Hi Folks!
Today in 4th grade math, the kids partnered up and worked on long division. The kids completed SAB 3.3 in class. We also started working on long division story problems, but we will continue to study them more as unit 2 progresses. 

One thing that parents can help with is sending their kids to school with warm clothes. As we all know, Michigan weather is unpredictable. If you have a chance, please send your child to school with warm winter clothes each day this winter. You may also want to send hats and gloves for them to keep in their locker in case they forget to bring them on some days.

In reading, we continued to read stories that included a lot of action. We recorded and shared more exciting sentences to improve their writing. In writing, Seley's class went to the compute lab to continue their action stories. The main lesson in writing today was a teach lesson. When the kids try to open a saved document, they often make the mistake of clicking "save" and then selecting the desired document. As we know, this has the effect of saving a blank page over their previous work. Today we discussed this again and partnered kids with older kids to show them this again.

In the afternoon, the student leadership team coordinated an event in the gym and cafeteria called We Connect Wednesday.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Davis and Mr. Seley

Homework:

Read 20/30 minutes.

4th: 3.3 SAB and HAR

3rd: SAB p. 146, 155, 156
 

Please bring warm clothes for outdoor recess.

Please bring 3 sharp pencils each day.

Tuesday

Monday

Hi Folks,
We had a great day back in class. Mrs. Davis was out sick today so the classes did slightly different lessons. In Seley, the 4th grade math kids continued to work on long division. We solved long division problems with remainders and a few division word problems. Math tests are graded and will be handed back tomorrow.

In reading, we began to explore action stories. Kids selected exciting books from the library and chose the sentence they thought was most excited. We wrote them in our notebooks and discussed what made them exciting. Here are some of the sentences kids chose:

1. Already, my lungs began to tighten.

2. Breathing was becoming more difficult as our air supply dwindled.

3. The red fox jumped at her and grabbed her by the arm.

4. "Pull up, Navin!"

5. He spun on his heels, grabbed his suitcase, and marched out to the next chapter of his life.

The kids had a rich discussion about what made these sentences exciting and interesting. They concluded that strong verbs (action words), short bursts of dialogue, and emergency situations make writing more exciting.

In writing, we discussed Pixar's formula for storytelling. It is as follows...

Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

We discussed this formula and noted how many popular movies follow it.  We encouraged kids to use this formula in their own writing.

By the end of the week, both classes will be working on action stories to share in magazine form. The kids are working in pairs or individually on this project. For publishing purposes, we are asking the kids to limit each story to 1000 words.

Throughout the next three weeks, we will work on writing, revising, editing, typing and publishing these stories. The kids are very excited to work on this together.

Sincerely,
Mr. Seley and Mrs. Davis

Homework:

Read 20/30 minutes

Tell your parents about your ideas so far for your adventure story

4^th Grade: 3.2 SAB and HAR

Math Facts

Spelling completed by 12/11

Luxurious, Legislative Lansing

Today's field trip was jam packed with exciting sights and knowledge! Thanks to our chaperones for making today possible. One of the girls decribed the Capitol bathroom as "luxurious" and that does summarize how artful the Capitol is. Check out Seesaw for some photos! Kids will be uploading more tomorrow. Tonight's homework is to charge the device that you took photos on and download the student Seesaw app on it, then bring it to school tomorrow.

Have a great night! We think your kids should be tired after the big day we had!

Kim and Tom

Terrific Tuesday

Hi Everyone!

We learned more about government today and learned what we will see tomorrow. Ask your child to tell you something he or she learned from reading the green TCI textbook and something that he or she learned from the movie. Also ask them what they hope to see and to learn tomorrow. What are they excited about! The field trip this tomorrow will help bring these terms to life! Here are some things to remember for the field trip...

What do you need to bring for Wednesday’s field trip?

1. Dress nicely (business casual: pants that are not jeans or gym pants and a nice collared shirt or sweater without words on it). Please don't buy anything new :)
2. Comfy walking shoes
3. Winter jacket, hat, gloves
4. Nut free lunch and drink—all disposable
5. Book for bus
6. Small devices with headphones if you want to use audio on the bus.

Some of you have connected with your child on Seesaw. We sent home a handout last week with instructions; let us know if you need another copy. You will connect directly with your child's online portfolio! As a mom, I loved when my son's teacher used it last year, because I would get a notification on my phone, and get an automatic view into his classroom to see what he was up to that day!

Have a great night,

Mrs. Davis and Mr. Seley

Monday

Hi Everyone!

We hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Today in 4th grade math we learned long division. We taught the kids a method for remembering the steps called: Dogs Might Smell Bad. :-) Make sure your children explain this mnemonic device to you tonight. It's a great way to remember the order of the steps. In 3rd grade math, we continued building our fluency with multiplication and division facts 0-9 and did a puzzle chart that really made the kids problem solve!

In reading, we continued reading with our reading buddies. Kids were encouraged to explore nonfiction. We talked about some of the aspects of nonfiction books and how they are different from fiction books.

In social studies, we skipped ahead to read the chapter about government. This will help the kids enjoy our field trip Wednesday. Today we introduced the terms judicial, legislative and executive. If you have time at home, please chat with your kids about these terms. We just introduced them today, so many kids are still working on the pronunciation. We will continue to explore these terms in the future. The field trip this Wednesday will help bring these terms to life! Here are some things to remember for the field trip...

What do you need to bring for Wednesday’s field trip?

1. Dress nicely (business casual: pants that are not jeans or gym pants and a nice collared shirt or sweater without words on it).
2. Comfy walking shoes
3. Winter jacket, hat, gloves
4. Nut free lunch and drink—all disposable
5. Book for bus
6. Small devices with headphones if you want to use audio on the bus.

We started Word Study today.

Beginning today, students will meet with either Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Harvath, Mrs. Maliszewski, Mr. Seley, or Mrs. Roberts, our instructional specialist, each Monday afternoon for 35 minutes. Your child’s word study teacher will provide instruction, introduce the words to each group, offer practice activities, and pass out the weekly homework assignment. Tests will also be done with the word study teacher. Every other Monday, look for a one page Word Study assignment to come home with instructions for www.Spelling City.com and Words their Way activities stapled to it.

Words Their Way is a word study program that is being implemented across our district in grades K-5. This program is a research-based developmental approach that results in word knowledge. Students gain general knowledge about why combinations of letters are used to form words. Through this general knowledge, students deepen their understanding of spelling, phonics, and word meanings. As they actively examine and investigate words, learners are improving their ability to understand new words that they encounter in reading. They also develop skills in using words in their own writing.

As a component of our overall literacy curriculum, Words Their Way complements the instructional practices used in writing and reading workshop.  Students experience large group, small group, and individualized instruction that is developmentally determined based on each child’s demonstrated skill level. Learners are not expected to memorize lists of spelling words or specific definitions. The curriculum is sequenced to provide ongoing understanding of letter combinations and how those combinations are used in the formation of words. Students are expected to apply this knowledge to reading and writing. Here are some basic differences between a traditional spelling program and word study:

Word Study Compared to Traditional Spelling Programs
Developmental: Word Study	Traditional: Not Word Study
Encourages examination	Encourages memorization
Small group instruction	Whole group instruction
Spelling lists according to instructional levels	Spelling lists by themes or grade levels
Form generalizations about words	Learn spelling rules
Encourages the examination of words and word parts	Encourages the rules and exceptions
Integrated into literacy program	Taught as separate program

Students improve long-term memory by physically working with cards of printed words in the course of word study.

During Words Their Way lessons, students are improving memory as they are:

·         Actively engaged and investigating

·         Manipulating ideas and objects

·         Testing hypothesis and making predictions

·         Using language to clarify learning with peers in academic conversations

·         Recording and constructing their own learning

Stages of learning are not assigned by grade in word study. There are five stages, divided into a total of eight groups, into which all students are placed according to their demonstrated understanding. As students move into a new stage of development, they deepen their understanding of how words work. The goal is not to move through stages quickly, but to fully develop the application of concepts when reading and writing new words.

If you have any questions about your child’s word study or Spelling City, please email your homeroom teacher.

Thank you!

Mr. Seley and Mrs. Davis

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had another wonderful day in class today. In 4th grade math, students took the Unit 2 Test. They seemed very confident when they turned their papers in. In 3rd grade math, students worked with a partner to solve and write multiplication and divsion story problems using our PESL strategy and uploaded their two photos to Seesaw.

In reading, we finished reading the novel Stone Fox. The kids really enjoyed the story. We watched the movie afterwards. The kids enjoyed comparing the book to the movie. There were many differences.

Finally, at the end of the day, Mrs. Davis' class shared their class' book of published personal narratives. The kids in both classes enjoyed reading the stories. When your kids get home today, please ask them to show you the book of their published pieces. It's great! We plan to do one with both classes soon!

Look for graded assignments, BCS directories, a Seesaw flyer to connect with your child's online portfolio, and the Davis' class book of personal narratives.

Have a very happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful week of family time. We are both so thankful for your children and the joy they bring to us every day.

With gratitude,
Mr. Seley and Mrs. Davis

Magnificent Monday

We had a great day in class today. In math, the 4^th graders reviewed for their test. Their was time at the end for everyone to ask extra questions to prepare for the test. 3rd graders worked on showing their thinking for solving story problems.

In reading, we visited the library and book room for our book checkout time. Kids chose books with their reading buddies and read them in pairs.

In writing, Mr. Seley's class did a mini-lesson about the difference between “too,” “to,” and “two.” Kids wrote narratives in many genres. We asked the students to underline each of the above homophones in their writing to show they are using them correctly. The kids did a great job! Mrs. Davis' class finished publishing their personal narratives. A few kids needed to finish typing, and we also chose one part of their story to illustrate.

After lunch, the kids went to gym. When they returned to class, we worked on our daily grammar activity. Following grammar, we read Stone Fox to the class. Mrs. Davis finished the book today. Seley will finish the final chapter tomorrow. The kids have really been enjoying the book. We have been working on the skills of predicting and inferring as we read.

Then for the last hour or the day, the kids got on iPads and logged onto Seesaw. The kids keep many of the books at school so they don’t get lost. Seesaw will be one of the ways we share work with our parents at home. For this reason, we sent a flyer home with a QR code parents can use to check out their child’s posts on SeeSaw. Please share your child's QR code with grandparents and others who would enjoy connecting with your child's learning.

Please make sure your child gives this flyer to you tonight. Thus far, Seley's parents will be able to go on and see their favorite story so far from their writer’s notebook and Davis' parents can see some of the lessons your child did to strengthen their personal narrative. In the future, we will continue to post more work that your child would like to share. SeeSaw is a relatively new program for us at BCS, so we will be learning along with you!

About six of our eggs hatched today!

Sincerely,

Mr. Seley and Mrs. Davis

Today's Planner:

Fabulous Friday!

This morning in 4^th grade math we studied for the Unit 2 test. The topics covered on the test include:

Multi-Digit Multiplication

Traditional Method

Rectangle Method

Partial Products

Story Problems

2-Step

Extra Information

Multi-Digit Multiplication

1x3 digits

1x4 digits

2x2 digits

2x3 digits

Then the students went to gym and swimming. When they returned, we completed week 11 of DOL and checked it as a class. Then we went to the computer lab to take their online science tests.

In the afternoon, our 152 salmon eggs arrived!!! We put them into our tank in the science lab. The kids learned all about the salmon we are raising in conjunction with the DNR. We learned about salmon with a picture book that we began to color and a Magic School Bus video. We observed the salmon and learned about some of the tools we use and what kind of data we collect. When you are at BCS, please stop at our science lab in room 104A (across from Mrs. Mali's room 107) and look at our tank.

Check out our first post on Seesaw! Click on the Seesaw link on the right hand side of the blog. (We will be sending home parent login info next week so you can connect with your child's private Seesaw portfolio. This Seesaw link goes to our public blog that anyone can access without a log in.) If your child has an ipad, download the Seesaw app. You can download the Parent Seesaw app that we will connect you with us next week.

Today's Planner:

• Monday Davis swims and Seley need gym shoes
• Practice multiplication and division facts for 15 minutes
• Read for 20/30 minutes
• 4th grade math: SAB p. 87-90 and paper review for Unit 2 are due Monday.
• Please return permission slips and report card envelopes.
• 3rd grade Spanish: practice greetings, feelings, goodbyes for 5-10 minutes (kids have a paper)

Conference Wednesday and Thursday

Homework:

• Science quiz tomorrow. Study using the two pages from your science book and the flashcards that you brought home. Today we studied in class and worked with our flashcards.
• If you have an ipad or other device, bring it tomorrow. We will be using the Seesaw app (the student version) so please download it at home tonight.
• Davis swims tomorrow, Seley needs gym shoes.
• Read and practice your multiplication and division facts!

Terrific Tuesday

Nice November Monday

We are having a short science quiz on Friday. Here are the study materials. Please review them throughout the week at home. 

Mr. Morawski shared this guidance for us for conferences:

Planning for conferences with your child’s teachers – let’s keep a growth mindset at the forefront of our partnership in supporting our students’ learning.  When you attend parent-teacher conferences this Wednesday or Thursday, consider asking questions that are focused on the learning process and effort in learning, not only on results or “the grade”. Here are a few questions that keep our focus on a growth mindset vs. a fixed mindset:

·         Is my child an active participant in class?

·         What are the areas of growth for my child?

·         How does my child react to the mistakes he/she makes academically, socially or behaviorally?

·         How does my child show risk-taking in class?

We can't wait to celebrate your children with you!

Terrific Thursday

Writing and Electoral College Wednesday

The kids learned so much about the election! Thanks for taking them to the polls.

Here are some resources we looked at today. Hopefully your kids impress you at dinner with their knowledge of the electoral college process.

Scholastic News Election Results http://election.scholastic.com/latest-news/trump-wins/

NPR article with data http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/09/501393501/shades-of-2000-clinton-surpasses-trump-in-popular-vote-tally

Electoral College SchoolHouse Rock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyIFqf3XH24

We continued to type and revise our personal narratives. 

Election Day!!

Tomorrow, students have no school in observance of Election Day. (Teachers will be marking and printing report cards.) We study government in third and fourth grade. Today, we spent two hours of our afternoon studying the presidential election process and learning that being an informed voter is a responsibility of U.S. citizens. We also read more of our read-aloud, The Kid Who Ran for President.

If you are going to the polls tomorrow, take your children!!! They have an election day packet, and the last page is an observation activity of what it is like to go vote. We'll be following the electoral college process later this week. Your child also has two Scholastic News magazines covering the election. For more, visit http://election.scholastic.com/ and play a fun electoral college game at http://election.scholastic.com/election-central/Electoral_Challenge_Game/ .

Happy Election Day!

We passed out a field trip permission slip and a second quarter choice hour schedule today. 

Fun Friday

Thanks to all the dads, moms, and other special people who came to Eat and Run today. The kids loved seeing you, and we did too!

Most kids finished typing their personal narratives today! They've been so engaged in their writing and with helping each other strengthen their writing and to figure out all the tools Microsoft Word can bring to a writer. 

Enjoy the perfect fall weekend!

From fourth grade math: