Ms. Arnold's Weekly News
Week of 4-7-15
**New videos attached at the end of the newsletter each week. Please share with your student. :)
***Multiplication Fact Focus attached to weekly math and multiplication videos attached to help with studying at home.
****See Mrs. H's website below for extra copies of My Math Homework pages.
What information do you need from me?
Our Classroom Learning Time
Our Focus Points
Reading / Language Arts
Students are continuing to work through our Daily 5 rotations, Read to Self, Read to Someone, Partner Fluency Time, Listening Time, and Teacher Time. Students are also meeting with me one-on-one and/or in small groups through the week to work on specific skills and set goals. Other areas of focus throughout our Daily 5 rotations are: response to reading, writing, fluency, listening, book talks, book analysis, and word building. I am very excited to see their excitement and focus to their day to day reading and writing grow. We are truly building life long readers and writers. In addition to the Daily 5 rotations, a reading resource we are excited to have this year is RAZ-KIDS. It's an online reading program that the students use a lot through the week. I monitor there reading and meet with them to discuss various reading skills and strategies.
At Home Reading Tips:
*students should witness their role models reading at home
*parents/guardians are encouraged to read every day with their child
*alternate reading with and to students
*ask students to make predictions before reading a chapter or a new book
*ask students to summarize or retell the story, after reading the text
*help students decode words during reading
*don't be afraid to ask students if what they read made sense
*don't worry about things such as names and titles. These are small things that don't change the meaning of the story
*praise students for what they did well
*help students make connections to the text
Writing
Students are continuing to gather stories in their writer's notebooks. This is an ongoing process through the entire year. We are also creating an interactive "grammar" notebook that students will use through the year. This notebook will include pages that focus on: nouns, plural nouns, singular nouns, proper nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, possessive nouns,... Students will also be working on building sentences, stories with multiple paragraphs, using commas in a series, developing informational pieces on a variety of topics and working on their revising and editing skills. Paragraph structure and legible handwriting are continuously encouraged and taught. We have begun our "informational" research piece. Students have selected a topic on how they can help animals in our community/state. Students are drafting their copy of our research report. We will finish drafting and editing this week.
Writing topics this year include:
-test taking skills: written responses in math, reading, and writing (M-Step)
-personal narrative
-paragraphing and sentencing (writing multiple paragraphs in the same story)
- a variety of informational pieces (short and long pieces)
-an opinion piece
-a variety of poetry
Science and Social Studies:
Science topics we're learning about this year:
*Motion
*Forces
*Magnets
*Traits (OUR TOPIC)
*Plants/Animals
*Organisms/Habitats
*Weather
*Hands-on engineering
Social Studies topics we're learning about this year:
*Michigan geography and maps
*The people of Michigan: the three fires, the french, the pioneers (OUR TOPIC)
*Michigan's economy: fur trade, farming, logging, mining, lumbering, automotive
*State government
*Public issues
Math (Chapter 8/Unit 8)
We will be wrapping up Unit 8 on Wednesday with the Unit 8 assessment. Each day students rotate through Math Workshop. Math Workshop consists of 2 rotations. The 2 rotations are: Teacher Time (the day's lesson) and Ipads: Front Row Math. Homework comes home with each lesson taught through the week.
Multiplication Fact Focus: multiplying by 6
-Strategy focus: repeated addition
-Memorization
Previous Fact Focus: multiplying by 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Another Fact Focus: multiplying the "doubles" (1X1, 2X2, 3X3, 4X4, 5X5, 6X6, 7X7, 8X8, 9X9, 10X10, 11X11, 12X12)
Multiplication Tricks:
0- When multiplying by 0, the product (answer) is always 0
1- When multiplying by 1, the product is always the other number (1 x 2 = 2)
2- When multiplying by 2, the factor is doubled (2 x 3 = 6... 3 + 3 = 6)
3- Sing the 3's to the tune of "Jingle Bells"
4- Sing the 4's to the tune of "Dashing Through the Snow"
5- Just count by 5's
6- Hold up the number of fingers you are multiplying, count by 5s, then count again by 1s
7- Sing the 7's to the tune of "Happy Birthday"
9- Starting with your left hand, count the number of the factor you are multiplying. Then count the number on the left of the bent finger, and then the number to the right of the bent finger.
10- Take the other factor and just add 0
Addition/Subtraction Baseball (tests given weekly)
By the end of 3rd grade, students are expected to be able to add and subtract fluently within 1,000. To help students with this concept we take weekly mixed addition and subtraction quizzes. There are six quizzes for students to pass, each quiz with 25 problems; students are given 10 minutes to complete the entire quiz, and may only miss 2 problems to pass. If a quiz is not passed, students will continue to retake the quiz until they pass it. The quizzes start with small numbers 0-10 and gradually move onto larger numbers 0-1,000. When students pass each quiz they move around the baseball field. Upon passing the last tests, students will have hit a home run! Students earn a token upon passing all quizzes. Students fully pass the tests once they have passed all tests A-F.
Multiplication Football (tests given weekly)
3rd graders are expected to be able to fluently multiply up to 10 x 10 by the end of the school year. Each week we focus on a new factor, starting at 0 and moving along to 10; then we take a timed (3 minute) multiplication quiz at the end of the week. Each multiplication quiz consists of 30 problems. To pass they have to get 100% before moving to the next number. Students must continue to take the quiz until they have mastered the fact. As students pass each fact, they move along the football field. After passing all facts 0-10, students will receive a token.
This Week's Spelling Words
List #21
1. about
2. allowing
3. appear
4. wayward
5. coffee
6. complain
7. enjoyed
8. explaining
9. poison
10. remain
11. repeat
12. unreal
Math Homework News
Go to www.mrshkeicher.com to print off My Math homework pages. There will be other homework assignments other than the My Math pages. These "other" homework assignments cannot be printed off this website. They have to get a new "other" homework copies from the classroom instead. We are working on uploading end of unit study guides as well.
Weekly Specials and Nightly Homework
Tuesday: Gym; Math Homework #2; study X facts; study spelling, red folders come home
Wednesday: Computers; Math Homework #3; study X facts, study spelling, folders come home
Thursday: Gym; Math Homework #4, study X facts; study spelling, red folders come home
Friday: No specials, bring library books, Fun Friday (if earned); Facts Tests; spelling test; red folders come home; study X facts
Math Strategies and Videos
Coming soon...a list of KEY math vocabulary!
Click the Link Below: Multiplication Videos
Click the Song Below: Multiplying by 6s
Keicher News!!!!
DATES AT A GLANCE
30 START OF SPRING BREAK – ENJOY – SEE YOU ON APRIL 7TH
April
3/30- 4/6 SPRING VACATION – NO SCHOOL
7 Welcome Back
Lice Check
8 Credit Union Day
8-10 Mobile Dentist – Forms went home on Thursday
10 Progress Reports go home
13 Bible Release
Good News Club – Flyers the week before
School Board Meeting – MCHS – 7:00 p.m.
14 M-Step – ELA – 5th Grade
Michigan Center Community Food Pantry – 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
15 M-Step – ELA- Part 2 – 5th Grade
Credit Union
3rd Grade Parent Mackinac Informational Meeting – 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
17 Keicher Parents’ Night Out - Glow Party – 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
21 M-Step – Math – 5th Grade
22 M-Step – Math – Part 2 – 5th Grade
Credit Union
23 M-Step – Social Studies – 5th Grade
27 Ann Arbor “Hands on Museum” – 3rd Grade – 8:45 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
28 M-Step – ELA – 4th Grade
Michigan Center Community Food Pantry – 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
29 Credit Union Day
M-Step – ELA – Part 2 – 4th Grade
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Attention: All Parents and Students
We will no longer be allowing charges for lunches after…
Tuesday, April 7th
All balances need to be paid in full by the end of the school year.
1. TEACHER REQUESTS for the 2015-2016 school year are now being taken in the Keicher office. We will continue to take requests during the month of April. We have a super teaching staff at Keicher Elementary, and are excited at the variety of teaching styles we can offer our students. Requests must be written and have an educational reason to be considered for the placement. As much as we are able, we will honor requests made, but there are no guarantees. The deadline is April 30, 2015.
2. PRESCHOOL – Michigan Center Preschool has a few openings left for the 2015-2016 school year. We have 3 and 4 year -old tuition classes open to any child from any district. Our 4 year- old state funded program is free for families that meet the criteria set by the State Scholarship Program. For more information or to enroll your child, contact Kim at 764-3380. Hurry – classes are filling up fast.
3. ATTENDANCE is a very important part of the academic process. Please stress to your student the importance of being in school and getting to class on time. This is something that will carry them through in their professional career as well. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
4. 6TH GRADE CAMP is coming soon! Parents, we need you! We especially need dads for overnight supervision of the boys’ cabins. In order to make our kid’s experience at camp wonderful, your assistance is needed to help us chaperone on June 1st and 2nd. Any time you can spare is most appreciated. Please call 764-5200 if you can help us out or have any questions. The final payment of $35.00 is due on May 8th.
5. The MICHIGAN CENTER COMMUNITY FOOD PANTRY will be open every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month from 6:30 -7:30 p.m. The pantry is located at the west end of Keicher. Follow the signs through the Pre-School playground gate. See dates above.
6. Good News Club – Our last “Good News Club” is on Monday, April 13th. We will be having a party that will include handing out perfect attendance awards, refreshments, games, and an illusionist. Hope to see you there!
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JCISD Math & Science Center’s “Family Engineering” to return to Sugar and Shearing Festival
JACKSON, Mich. – The Jackson County Intermediate School District’s Mathematics and Science Center will host “Family Engineering” from 12:00pm-4:00 pm on Sunday, March 29, during the annual Sugar and Shearing Festival at Ella Sharp Museum, 3225 4th St, Jackson, MI 49203.
Students of all ages and their families are invited to the museum’s Community Room to participate in free, hands-on, collaborative, and creative activities that highlight features and skills related to engineering. Attendees can also receive up to four free meal tickets (sponsored by JAMA) per family for participating in the activities.
“These types of activities are wonderful for both parents and kids to take part in,” said Kristie Morris, director of the Jackson County ISD’s Math and Science Center and coordinator of the event. “The parents are able to watch and join their kids as they complete the tasks, and it takes some of the fear and unknown out of the word ‘engineering’.”
During the day, families can participate in a total of 13 hands-on activities such as “What Do Engineers Do?” during which participants worked to discover the range of work engineers complete; “Mining for Chocolate,” where participants examined the most effective ways to remove chocolate chips from cookies; and “Team Up,” a family activity requiring teamwork to assemble a structure despite various engineering challenges.
Families will also have the chance to team up to build the tallest tower, invent new uses for common "engineered" objects, and form assembly lines to efficiently put together a simple ink pen.
To learn more about Family Engineering, visit: www.familyengineering.org.
More about the JCISD Math and Science Center
The JCISD Math and Science Center is one of 33 in the Michigan Mathematics and Science Centers Network. These centers provide leadership, curriculum support, professional development, and student services for local school districts. The centers also serve as a resource clearinghouse for educational materials and information, and work to foster community involvement in the areas of mathematics and science.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Kristie Morris
Director, Mathematics & Science Center
Jackson County ISD
(517) 768-5151 / kristie.morris@jcisd.org
HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK STUDENTS AND PARENTS!!!
Ms. Arnold
Email: Stacy.Arnold@mccardinals.org
Location: Keicher Elementary School, Broad Street, Michigan Center, MI, United States
Phone: 517-764-5200
Facebook: facebook.com/KeicherArnold
Twitter: @Arnold12Stacy