U.S states song and presentation

Here is our presentation of the elementary school classic. The song is a fun way to learn and remember the names of all fifty states.

We need some chaperones for our field trip

CHAPERONES NEEDED

We could use a few parent or caregiver chaperones to attend our Tuesday, June 5 field trip to the Wistariahurst Museum in Holyoke. The bus will leave at 9:00 a.m. and return to Bridge Street at around 1:00 p.m. Chaperones are welcome to take the bus with us or take their own personal cars. Chaperones must have a CORI background check in order to attend. There is about a two week turnaround time for the CORI check, so let me know if you would like to chaperone as soon as possible.    

HOT WEATHER

Now that summer is officially here (at least temperature-wise), it is important that the kids stay hydrated during the day. Our room gets HOT! Last year we recorded almost ten days in which the temperature in our room was 90+ degrees. Kids are welcome to bring in water bottles. However, please don’t send in any other kinds of beverages for consumption during classroom time. Spills otherwise are too hard and time consuming to clean up, and the kids don’t need any added sugar or caffeine during the school day.

Field trip and new reading and writing units

FIELD TRIP

Tuesday, April 24 is our field trip to the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. We have to board the bus at 9 a.m. sharp to insure that we arrive in Springfield at 9:30. Please be sure your student arrives to school on time Tuesday so they don’t miss out.

READING – NEW UNIT ON HISTORICAL FICTION

This week we begin our unit on historical fiction. Our class read-aloud text is Number the Stars, a book about the escape of a Jewish family from Denmark during World War II. During the unit students will work in small groups to read and discuss a common text, like a book club model. Ask your student about characteristics that make a book historical fiction. Do you have any historical fiction favorites?

WRITING – NEW UNIT ON LITERARY ESSAYS

Students will learn how to write a literary essay. This type of essay is not a summary of the plot or characters, but rather a critical and careful analysis of a theme or big idea of a story. Students will support their ideas by citing evidence from the text. You may notice this unit builds on the work from our last unit on persuasive essays.  

MORNING MEETING – PROBLEM SOLVING

For the past several Wednesday mornings we have been learning about problem solving strategies, the last bend of our Second Step social-emotional learning curriculum. In the last session we discussed some ways to resist peer pressure and stay true to ourselves. It’s not always easy to do, but students agreed that it’s really important!

GARDENING

Right before vacation we had our first spring gardening class. Students selected seeds for the plants they would like to grow this season.  We also prepared the beds for cultivation. A lesson on photosynthesis connected wonderfully to our science unit on energy transformation. We head over to the garden again this Wednesday.

SUPPLIES NEEDED

Our supply of sanitizing wipes for cleaning desks and tables has run out. Any donations of wipes would be appreciated.

Geometry,opinion writing and more

The school year is zooming by, but we still have lots of important learning to do.

In math we are in the middle of our geometry unit. After that we have a unit on fractions and decimals and then another visit to multiplication and division, this time with larger numbers. Last week in writing we kicked off our persuasive essay unit. We also call it opinion writing. In reading, we are wrapping up our unit on non-fiction texts. Next we move on to historical fiction. In science we just began a unit on energy. And finally in social studies we continue our march across the United States and its regions as we turn our attention to the Midwest.  

We have made it through the year so far with very few student absences due to illness. On a related note, our supply of sanitizing wipes for cleaning desks has run out. If anyone would like to donate some wipes to Room 302, it would be appreciated. 

Come See Room 302 Perform at Assembly

It is Room 302's turn to do a presentation at the school celebration assembly on Monday January 23rd at 9:00 am. The kids have prepared a presentation that showcases the math karate program we use to learn multiplication facts. The presentation will last only a couple of minutes, but it will have a touch of theatrical flair to it. You won't want to miss it. The kids are very excited. We hope you can attend!  

Where we've been, where we're going

Happy New Year. I want to provide you with a quick rundown about what we have covered, what we are working on currently, and what is coming up.

In math we spent much of the early part of the year reinforcing foundational skills around number sense (factoring and multiples, prime numbers, etc.) and with the operations multiplication and division. We then did a short unit on measurement, having some fun with measuring various dimensions of our classroom, weighing the pros and cons of the metric system versus U.S. customary units, and seeing exactly how long is 100 feet. We are currently working with geometry concepts such as the properties of polygons (triangles, quadrilaterals, etc.) and measuring, adding and subtracting angles. In a few weeks we will begin our work in fractions and decimals, an important (and challenging) part of the 4th grade curriculum.

For reading we started the year with a unit on fiction. Much of our work focused on close analysis of story characters, exploring how they change and grow in response to the challenges they confront during the story’s narrative arc. The students learned how to read closely and notice all the textual clues to be found in and that enrich high quality fiction. These include the recurring appearance of specific details and images that support story themes and the meaningful and evocative names that authors very purposely give to their characters (ask your child about Bradley Chalkers). We had tremendous class discussions during these lessons. You would be very proud of the deep and thoughtful analysis your children engaged in. We recently began our new reading unit on non-fiction. More on that to come…

We began our year in writing focused on penning narratives, or stories. Our first unit focused on personal narratives, real small moment stories from the kids’ own experiences. The children learned about the steps of the writing process, from generating ideas and drafting, to revising and editing. We then extended those skills to writing realistic fiction, focusing on character development, constructing stories with strong narrative arcs, and writing engaging dialogue. We just started our new unit on writing opinion and persuasive essays.

Homework Policy

We have had many discussions in our district about the value of homework in the elementary grades. The bottom line is that there is very little research indicating that extensive homework correlates strongly with higher academic achievement.

Therefore, the required homework I assign primarily focuses on two fundamental skills: math and reading. For math students will receive 3 to 4 brief nightly assignments each week designed to reinforce skills covered that day. For reading students will be expected to read for at least 20 minutes each night Monday through Thursday and for at least 40 minutes during the weekend. Books are available in our classroom and the school library that students can take home. I ask that students have an adult at home sign their reading log each night after they have finished their reading. While the research on homework shows little if any positive link to academic performance, research about reading consistently shows that the amount of reading children do significantly influences their reading performance. 

There are of course some students who enjoy doing homework. In addition to the required assignments, each week I will also offer optional homework assignments. As with the required work, I will collect and then return with feedback any optional assignments students submit. 

You can reach me with any questions or concerns you have by calling (413) 587-1460 or by e-mail at jzyskowski@northampton-k12.us.