Parents,
As we near the end of our third quarter it baffles me as to where the time has gone. Your child has come such a long way since the beginning of the year. Much growth in a variety of ways has indeed occurred. Let me remind you that the Friday (March 30th) after Spring Break is the last day of the grading period and will be an EARLY DISMISSAL day. Please plan accordingly.
For the week March 26 through March 30, we will be continuing on our weather unit in Science. Social Studies will include the concepts of different cultures in the United States particularly looking at the Mexican influence. In Math, we will begin a new unit of study about multiple addend problems, near doubles and number strings. This also includes review in basic adding and subtracting facts. Reading/Language Arts includes connecting reading and writing; summaries, new endings, paragraph development, spelling words -- continuing with incorporating vocabulary terms from Science and Social Studies lessons as well as review words from previous lessons. Students continue to work in leveled reading groups developing reading fluency, strategies for improved comprehension and vocabulary growth. We are happy to have a new listening center and listening center library thanks to two grants: Stow Excellence in Education Foundation awarded the grant for the listening center, and Stow Schools Foundation awarded the grant for the listening center library. These are welcomed additions to our group rotations.
I know this must seem redundant, but please remember that nightly reading and math facts practice will be beneficial to your child. Right now I have only a few students who are considered "proficient" in their basic math facts. Many are struggling with addition (still counting on their fingers or simply not knowing the sums), which delays their development of subtraction concepts. Having your child write the basic fact "families" through 12s is a good practice to do at home. When the timed tests are administered, 121 problems must be completed in six minutes three seconds (that is 121 addition problems and then 121 subtraction problems). Examples of fact "families" are: 3 + 6 = 9 6 + 3 = 9 9 - 3 = 6 9 - 6 = 3; 8 + 4 = 12 4 + 8 = 12 12 - 4 = 8 12 - 8 = 4. Students have done these in class before, so they are aware of what they need to do. Also, flash cards are still a method to use for practice.
Thank you for all of your support from home. It truly makes a difference in your child's school success.
Sincerely,
Miss Kilgore
