Memorial Buzz
News from Manchester Memorial Elementary School!
November 13, 2015
Principals Note...
Our 4th and 5th graders enjoyed a presentation from the Manchester and Middleton K-9 units this morning. The kids learned about the training that the dogs go through and saw some really interesting demonstrations. The presentation focused on age-appropriate topics such as finding missing items and people along with general dog safety and training information. It was a huge hit...Thank you Manchester PD and Middleton PD for sharing your expertise with our students!
Have a great weekend!
John
Upcoming Dates...
November
14- 3:00 PM - Spaulding Education Fund's "Night of Stars" at MERMHS Auditorium
16 - School Photo Re-takes
25 - Early Release - TIme TBA - (Thanksgiving Recess)
26/27 - Thanksgiving Recess
December
6 - 3:30 PM The MMES Chorus will be performing at the Manchester Tree Lighting
18 - All-school Winter Concert @ MMES - Time TBA
22- Chorus/Band Winter Concert @ MERMHS - 7pm
23 - Noon dismissal for Winter Recess
January
4 - Students return from Winter Recess
4 - Bradford Ski Program
29 - Grade 4 to Cape Ann Symphony at MERMHS Auditorium
Help Wanted...Volunteers!
FOREIGN LANGUAGE NOTES
MATHEMATICS CORNER
Everyday Mathematics – EM4: The NEW Edition!
Grade 4 Teacher
This year students at Memorial School are using the newest edition of Everyday Mathematics!
What is the Same?
Everyday Mathematics and the Common Core State Standards remain closely aligned. They both aim at developing all students’ mathematical power –their ability to reason, communicate, and solve problems. They both also aim at fostering productive dispositions in students – a belief that mathematics is worthwhile, an inclination to use the mathematics they know to solve problems they face, and confidence in their own mathematical abilities.
Everyday Mathematics continues to bring rigor to school mathematics by building procedural skill, conceptual understanding, and application. Knowing efficient procedures affords mathematical power. Mathematical power allows children to solve a variety of problems by drawing upon their collective mathematical knowledge to solve a variety of real-world problems.
Conceptual understanding is very important. Students need to not only understand how to solve a problem but also why their procedure works. Procedural skill without understanding is inflexible, unreliable, and nontransferable. The mutual dependence of conceptual understanding and procedural skill has been widely recognized for many decades. What has not been so widely recognized is that applying mathematics is equally important. Knowing concepts and procedures is of little value if that knowledge cannot be put to use. The balance of these three aspects of procedural skill knowledge, conceptual understanding, and application has always been fundamental to Everyday Mathematics.
The spiral curriculum, another key feature of Everyday Mathematics, remains strong. Students K-5 develop depth of knowledge by repeatedly returning to topics over time, making connections and going deeper with each return.
What is Different?
A key feature of the Common Core is its call for a more focused curriculum that is narrower so that is can be deeper. This edition of Everyday Mathematics has been rebuilt from the ground up so that it achieves focus by adhering closely to the Common Core’s Content Standard as well as the Standards for Mathematical Practice. The finely grained tracking of the standards has made it easier for teachers to accurately assess and follow students’ learning trajectories in order to provide effective instruction and differentiation.
The new edition of Everyday Mathematics also now includes open response lessons. Open response problems are tasks that have multiple solution paths and often have more than one solution. They offer students rich opportunities to solve engaging problems using their own strategies and reasoning. These two-day lessons include a day for students to solve a challenging problem, followed by a day for students to analyze and learn from the solution of others and then revise their own work from the first day. Kindergarten students are introduced to the process of analyzing and learning from others’ work, but they are not expected to revise their initial responses.
Parent Link
Would you like quick, easy access to home links and family letters? Would you like to understand Everyday Mathematics better? Below is a link for just for parents. When you navigate to this page, click on your child’s grade in the left menu bar. Then be sure to click EM4 at home, so you are using the correct edition. Also be sure to check out “Understanding Everyday Mathematics.” There are some great resources here.
Announcements from our Friends
Thanksgiving Food Drive
THE SPAULDING EDUCATION FUND
The 7th Annual Night of Stars
THE SPAULDING EDUCATION FUND
PRESENTS
The 7th Annual
A Night of Stars
Sunday, November 15th
3:00pm
Manchester Essex High School Auditorium
Masters of Ceremonies: Charlie Davis and Oscar Heanue
Tickets are on sale now through our website!
Bradford Ski and Snowboard Program
The Bradford Ski & Board Program is happening again this year! Please click here or see the attachment for information and share with friends!! Sign up quickly as space will run out this year!
TREATS for TROOPS!!
TREATS for TROOPS!! Please donate your extra Halloween candy! All next week, just drop the candy off in the Memorial office and we will send it off to Operation Shoebox, an organization that will distribute the sweets to the soldiers. Thank you!
PTO: Tapes for Education
Do you ever shop at Crosby's? We sure do! Please join us, as Manchester Memorial once again participates in the "Tapes for Education" program with Crosby's Market! Simply bring or send your Crosby's register receipts in to school. There is a red Crosby's bin by the office. The PTO will collect and submit them for FREE equipment, such as computers, printers, AV and athletic equipment, for Memorial School. Thank you for participating in this great, easy program!