News for the Week of May 4th

Hello 4B Families!

Happy Cinco de Mayo on Tuesday!

I hope you all had a good weekend, despite the stormy weather. Looks like some really nice weather coming up later this week! We will be having weekly theme days which are detailed in the eFC. This week is a Cinco de Mayo theme.

Speaking of later this week, there will be two pick-up opportunities: Friday from 1:00-3:00 pm and Saturday 9:00-11:00 am.  We will have folders for each student with materials for upcoming lessons.  Please let me know if you will not be able to make those pick up times and I will get the materials to you either by mail, or drop-off.  If there is anything in your child’s desk that you needplease let me know.  We are not emptying desks at this time, but if you need tool boxes, crayons, colored pencils etc. that you do not have at home right now, I can get those for you as well.  You will not be able to go into the building. Materials will be outside of the school.

Please continue to use Google Classroom to find assignments, links, instructional videos. We will continue to use Seesaw to submit many assignments, but students will also begin taking tests on Google Classroom. To start, the students will have an open book religion test that will be available Tuesday. Ms. Simpson made a video going through the chapter that the students should watch before they take the test.  There is also a quick activity on Seesaw that the students will complete after watching the video.

Cinco de Mayo: Here is some simple, kid-friendly information to share with your children about Cinco de Mayo. Many people have the misconception that Cinco de Mayo is Mexican Independence Day (which is September16th). Cinco de Mayo is actually a celebration of Mexican victory at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. In addition, there is an interesting story behind the Mexican flag. Information can be found here. For Tuesday’s Cinco de Mayo Fiesta theme day, I encourage kids to wear red, white, and green, the colors of the Mexican flag.

 

Lesson Videos: The lesson videos that Ms Simpson, Ms. Corrigan and I are posting are there to guide the students through lessons for deeper understanding and comprehension of materials. By following along with the videos, students can take part in virtual lessons—and work independently to master material and concepts. These videos should reduce the amount of time you need to spend with your children on lessons. We encourage students to wear headphones or earbuds while watching the videos, and have all materials/books needed to take part in the lessons as they listen. Thank you for encouraging your children to listen to and take part in the video lessons.
Zoom Math Review Meetings: This week, Monday’s review at 1:00 is being replaced with individual meetings to go over tests. If your child is invited, I’ll send you an email. Wednesday’s meeting at 1:00 is for anyone to join.
Individual Zoom Meetings: It was so great to catch up with many of your children one on one. I now have a weekly sign up available for the rest of the year. I’ll update it each week so that you can sign up any time. This can be for any reason. If your child needs help with something academic, and it will take longer than 15 minutes, just contact me, and I’ll set up a separate meeting.
Language Arts: The due dates for the Running Away Story have been extended. The rough draft is now due by May 11th. Students will submit their rough drafts via Seesaw—after they have done some of their own editing and revising. This means reading their draft to a family member to get feedback. The teachers should not work harder on editing that the students do!  🙂 Once we have edited the drafts the students can start their final drafts. We will provide some nice paper in the packets you will pick up later this week to use for the final draft paper. Final drafts are due no later than May 26th.  During our Zoom meeting on Monday we will talk more about the writing and the students will have an opportunity to ask questions and share ideas.
New Features on the PDFs: Based on parent feedback, we have added two new rows to the PDFs that should be helpful. At the top, there will be a list of Zoom meetings for that day. At the bottom, there will be a list of items due that day and items due in the future.

Happy Numbers: The students should be working on Happy Numbers at least 3 times a week for 15 minutes each time.  That is a total of 45 minuets of valuable math practice and review. Happy Numbers provides a math curriculum that adapts itself in response to individual student progress — it continually meets the changing needs of the students. Instant feedback helps students correct mistakes and progress independently. Using Happy Numbers along with our class lessons will help ensure continued growth and confidence in math.

 

Religion:  We will be continuing with the Beatitudes this week.  On Monday the students will have access to a video going over the Beatitude chapter in our book in preparation for an open book test that will be available on Google Classroom on Tuesday. This test needs to be completed by May 11 at the latest.  I will meet with both classes on Thursday during our Zoom sessions to complete the lesson we started last week that focuses on living the Beatitudes in our daily lives.  Students should have the PDF’s or paper they used last week to complete as we meet.  Once the students have drawn all of their pictures with captions—including a little color—they can submit them on Seesaw.  If the students missed last week’s Zoom lesson, I have posted the notes on Google Classroom for them to access.

Have a great week!

Ms. Benson

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