Chesapeake Bay Buddies are Blooming
April, 2016
We Are Recertified!
Mr. Brown, Mrs. Miller, and I received an email on the eve of Earth Day to say that Jacksonville Elementary has passed the Green School recertification process! We are thrilled to have that endorsement for the next four years.
Our Earth Day celebration was beautifully presented. I must say that second grade was awesome when they sang their Earth Day song. Third grade recited awesome Earth Day poems, fourth grade supervised a Jeopardy game between students and teachers and fifth grade performed a skit on recycling.
The school is abuzz with spring happenings!
A Sea of Information
- May 6 - Last Book Munchers
- May 13 - JES Spring Carnival - 5 to 8 pm
- May 25 - Field Day am; End of Year Picnic in the afternoon
Springing Forward!!
Math: Unit 5 is complete (patterning and early multiplication skills) and we have begun unit six which is a review of adding and subtracting higher numbers. The idea is to now use only one of these three strategies when adding and subtracting: 1. Breaking the numbers apart; 2. identifying tens and ones, and 3. Using a number line to add or subtract in groups of tens or twenties. Students know that with larger numbers, it would be impossible to draw lots of little pictures or even tally marks. We are asking the children to think using the above three strategies.
Paralleling this unit, we have learning to multiply. Currently we are demonstrating with models how to make numbers bigger instead of using repeated addition. We have used connecting cubes, small plastic animals, Legos, and even people! This is a higher level (more abstract) skill which will require memorization and practice. We will continue to do this through to the end of the year. *Practice at home using Goldfish, pretzels, cereal, M & Ms etc. You can make groups (arrays) such as 2 rows of 5 Goldfish or 2 x 5 = 10. You can rearrange them and make 5 rows of 2 Goldfish or 5 x 2 = 10.
Reading: Our current unit in reading is to analyze mysteries. Our essential question is, "How does the author build suspense in a mystery?" Your children have enjoyed reading a variety of mysteries, even though they thought they wouldn't like them! The Boxcar Children, Cam Jansen, Jigsaw Jones, and Encyclopedia Brown are some of the mysteries being read in our room.
****ALERT****
Research Report Project!
Each child brought home a notice about a long range report. It is due on May 6th. This report aligns with the mystery your child read: The Mystery in Washington DC or The Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds. Students are being asked to research a topic, completing the attached organizer, and composing a report on their topic. I strongly ask that you supervise their research on the internet. I did suggest that the website: www.worldbookonline.com/student/home
may be useful. Please let me know if you have any questions.
A report is to be written about their topic which should be approximately four paragraphs. It can be typed!
Grammar: We are now taking simple sentences and "stretching" them to make more vivid and accurate sentences. We have discussed using stronger words which create a picture in the reader's mind. Obviously adverbs and adjectives are useful when stretching sentences. : )
If at any time, you would like to talk with me, just email me and we can schedule a conference. sschmitz@bcps.org