Medcalf Minutes
January 5th - 8th
Anderson Grove's Purpose and Direction
Purpose: The purpose of Anderson Grove Elementary is to prepare all students to achieve their greatest potential and to positively impact the future.
Values & Beliefs:
Family Atmosphere
Collaboration and Communication
Integrity
Continuous Improvement
3 Be’s – Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible
Be Known
Anderson Grove is Known for Being a . . .
Collaborative
Dedicated
Positive
Community
Expectation of the Week: Playground
As we return after a long break, all expectations will be reviewed. However, a focus will be playground expectations.
Invite others to play
Follow adult directions
Take turns
Be Responsible
Line up when the whistle blows
Bring equipment into the classroom
Be Safe
Stay in designated play areas
Use equipment safely and appropriately
Go down the slide on your bottom
A Note from Mrs. Medcalf
Upcoming Events
Jan. 7- PTO Meeting- 6:30 in the library
Jan. 18- No School- Staff Development
Specials Schedule
Tuesday (Day 3) - Art
Wednesday (Day 4) - Guidance
Thursday (Day 5) - PE
Friday (Day 6) - Art
A Peek at our Week
Reading – This week we’ll explore the question “Why is it important to grow food crops?” In the trickster tale Tops and Bottoms, students will read about how two clever and hardworking hares win back some lost land by tricking a lazy and greedy bear. Students will also read Goodness Grows in Gardens, an informational text that tells about community gardens and how they benefit communities. Through these stories we will work on the comprehension skill of Theme—examine characters’ qualities and motives to recognize the theme of the text—use story details to determine the theme, as well as the comprehension strategy to Visualize—as you read, use selection details to picture what is happening.
At Home – Have your child set a goal and make a list of steps to follow to meet this goal. Revisit the goal from time to time to monitor progress. Ask your child how it feels to word hard to accomplish something.
Writing – Writers will work on creating a informative paragraph that compares and contrasts information.
At Home - Ask your child to make a T-chart to compare and contrast two items. Good writers include details about how the items are alike and how they are different. Linking words such as and, but, both, yet, and however are just a few ways to show similarities and differences.
Math – Mathematicians will begin our much-awaited unit on multiplication and division. This will introduces to students by counting a number of groups containing a certain number of items. Students will solve problems such as: A pack of juice contains 3 juice boxes. How many juice boxes will be in 4 packs?
At Home – Give your child two factors and ask them to solve by drawing out the number of groups and the number of items in each group. You may also visit these sites for more practice!
http://www.multiplication.com/games/play/carls-cookie-capers
http://www.mathcats.com/explore/multiplicationtable.html
Social Studies – Students will begin a new Social Studies unit this week. We will discuss needs versus wants. Students will learn new terms such as supply, demand, scarcity, and barter. As a way to apply what we learn, our class will transform from Room 305 to a new town (town name will be voted on by students at the beginning of the unit). Students will get to share their entrepreneurial ideas as they brainstorm, develop, market, and sell their very own product or service (much more to come on that later!)
At Home – Check out these web sites to find out more:
http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/money/managing/article2.htmlhttp://www.brainpopjr.com/socialstudies/economics/needsandwants/search/
Spelling – This week students will study Unit 3, Week 12 homophone pairs, or words that sound alike but are spelled differently. Examples of homophone pairs are its/it's, fur/fir, and their/there.
We will spend time discussing the word pairs and their meanings as students must have the correct spelling of the appropriate word as used in a sentence to get points on their spelling test.
At Home – It is important that students practice sorting their words at home to understand the relationships of their words. Students can practice sorting activities at home as well as play games at http://www.spellingcity.com/BeckyMedcalf/ to have more practice with their words.
Thank you Families! I hope everyone had a Happy New Year!