Math

Last week and this we have been working on whole number concepts such as factors,  as well as multiplication and division strategies. Here are the anchor charts we built in class: 

Sadako

     We finished reading the book Sadako and the 1000 Paper Cranes this week. We spent time in small groups discussing important questions from the book. We did this by walking around the room with our partners, reading questions and answering them on "table cloths". Check out some of their great work. 

     We will also spend some time folding some paper cranes. If your family would like to donate origami paper, we always need more. 

From Nurse Lovell

VISION SCREENING  

All 3^rd & 5^th graders at Randall will receive a routine vision screening at school on Thursday, Oct 6. If your child normally wears glasses, they should definitely wear them this day.

Nurse Lovell and adult volunteers will conduct the screenings.  If any child does not pass, he/she will be retested in a few weeks (to make sure the results were valid) - - if that child still does not pass, then Nurse Lovell will send home a letter with the results and recommendations.  So, if you do not hear from the Health Office by the end of December, that means your  3^rd or 5^th grader passed their screening.

  

Nurse Lovell  

204-3305

EXAMENES DE LA VISTA 

Todos los alumnos de 3ro y 5to grado de Randall tendrán examen de vista en la escuela el 6 de octobre. 

La enfermera, Nurse Lovell junto con alumnos de la escuela de enfermería de la universidad de MATC harán los exámenes.  Si su hijo(a) no pasa el examen, se le pondrá otro en unas cuantas semanas. Si acaso no pasa esta segunda prueba, la enfermera le notificará y le hará recomendaciones por medio de una carta antes de diciembre.  Si no recibe carta quiere decir que todo ha salido bien con los exámenes de vista de alumnos de 3ro y 5to grado.

Si tiene preguntas o comentarios comuníquese a la escuela con la enfermera, Cindy al 204-2301 (Franklin) o 204-3304 (Randall) o con Yvonne 204-2263 o 204-3328.   ¡Gracias!

From the Nurse

Healthy children learn better. Healthy teachers are happier. Healthy families grow stronger.

The PTO Wellness Committee was formed in 2015 by a group of staff and families to support the physical and emotional wellness of all Franklin and Randall students, families and staff.  For more information please visit our page on the PTO website. 

All families and staff are invited to our first meeting of the year on Wednesday, September 28, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. in the Franklin LMC.  We can provide childcare but need to know by Wednesday, September 21 if it’s necessary. If you have questions or would like to RSVP please contact Kathi Seiden-Thomas atseidenthomas@gmail.com.  Please join us!

Nurse Lovell  (a.k.a. Cindy)

Making sure students are healthy, safe, and ready to learn!

Franklin Elementary, Mon 7:30am-1:30pm, Tues 8:30am-2:30pm, 204-2301

Randall Elementary, Tues & Fri 8:40am-2:40pm, 204-3305

Homework

This week we have been introducing the vocabulary homework process to students. Each week students will get a list of 18-24 vocabulary words that focus on a few specific prefixes, suffixes, or roots. The students will be given a paper copy of the list on Mondays. We will read through the list, talk about the meaning of the prefix, suffix or root, and sort the words. Students then have the option of completing the homework in their notebook or in Google Classroom. Homework is due on Friday mornings and students will take a vocabulary quiz in class on Friday. The quizzes are typically a fill in the blank sentence, match the word to the definition, or a crossword puzzle. This is what the weekly list will look like (these are the words for next week):

In class this week we worked on setting up our document in Google Classroom and writing paraphrased sentences. Your child should be able to complete this assignment with minimal support. If you have questions, please send me an e-mail!

Reading To Score

Today I introduced a reading challenge through UW-Madison called "Reading to Score". Students will have an opportunity to earn two vouchers to a UW Women's hockey game for every twenty hours of reading! Included are the letter of introduction and the recording and submission forms. Paper copies of the recording and submission forms will come home on Monday. This is NOT required, just an opportunity we are offering the students. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Music

Mr. Kaster and the students asked if I would please post the website they used in class this week. The website is http://tonematrix.audiotool.com/  They really seemed to enjoy it!

Social Studies

As an introduction to our Social Studies work, we learned about the geography of the United States. We reviewed the continents and oceans and the concept of latitude and longitude. Then we learned several geographic terms and labeled them on a map. We then applied those terms to the geographic features of the United States. After this week we will spend a couple of weeks learning about Native Americans, how different groups adapted to their particular regions and how those regional adaptations led to cultural differences as well.

Number Concepts

This week in Math we worked on many number concepts. We started with the ideas of Digit and Value. 

We also worked on posters of math vocabulary. Here they are: 

Reading Response

This week and the next few we will been working on a system for writing about our reading.  We are using a T chart to show two things; 1. What the text says and 2. What the text makes us think about as we read.  This method leads us to the fifth grade emphasis on quoting the text accurately.  We work on that standard in both reading and writing this year. 

In reading this week we began working on character analysis.  We are using the Shared Reading method with the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. Shared reading is where every child has the same opportunity to read a grade level text, no matter their reading level. This is because the teacher reads the text, but each child has a copy in front of him/her to follow along.  We are continuing our use of T charts in our response notebooks to analyze how characters in the book act, evolve and feel. We are using an interactive notebook feature to help us organize our new learning about a variety of strategies. We use the notebook organizer to give us ideas about ways we can think about text, and to help guide our journal writing by providing us with a few sentence starters aligned to each strategy. 

Here are some notebook examples from this week:

MAP

MAP testing will be on Tuesday, September 20th and Tuesday, September 27th.

US State Practice

Here are some games kids can play to help practice their US state knowledge. We will be working on this all year.

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/USA_Geography/USA_GL_click_1024.html

http://online.seterra.net/en/vgp/3003

http://www.abcya.com/USA_geography_puzzle_map.htm


http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-map-snap-united-states

http://www.yourchildlearns.com/mappuzzle/us-puzzle.html

http://www.ilike2learn.com/ilike2learn/unitedstates.html

Zoo Field trip

Permission slips will come home Friday for a trip to HVZ on Friday, September 30.  Please send in the note as soon as possible, especially if you'd like the school to order a lunch through food services for your child. Let me know if you'd like to join us!

Math Games

This week students will learn two more math games that they can play if they have extra time during the school year.  The first game is CHANCE, which is similar to the game Farkle. We like playing this game in fifth grade because it gives students practice in mental calculations, adding and subtracting across decade and century numbers, and even into the thousands.  It helps with Math Practice standards such as thinking about numbers in many ways, use what I know to solve problems, and discover and use shortcuts.  Here are the rules we use at school if you'd like to play at home. 

Chance:
You need to make points on each roll in order to keep
playing. You may keep rolling as long as you've made points. If you roll and the dice you just rolled didn't make you any points, you crash, which means you've lost all the points for that turn. How to make points:
1=100 and 5=50, these are the only two dice that can
make you points alone.
If you roll three of the same number
at the same time they equal that number
times 100, except 1 which is 1000.
2 2 2=200 If you roll 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
3 3 3=300 ALL IN THE SAME ROLL that equals
4 4 4=400 1500 points!
5 5 5=500
6 6 6=600 You need 10,000 points to win the game.
1 1 1=1000


The other game we will play is Hot 100. Although this game is pretty simple, being able to write numbers to 100, we will differentiate it as the year goes by integrating bigger numbers, fractions and decimals. Here are the directions for that: 

Reading

We started work this week on Reader Response notebooks.  We will use a T chart to train students how to write in their notebooks using text evidence, and this week, connections.  We began this study through the amazing stories of Patricia Polacco.  Check out her website.

Patricia Polacco

Ask your child about this Polacco book which we read this week. 

Classroom Expectations

We had such a GREAT first week!
We had fun getting to know one another, working together and getting used to our new routines.  We worked on compiling a list of classroom expectations.  Our list was immense, so we narrowed it down to some great ideas that encompass all of the others.  Here's our list:

Classroom ownership

We've worked the last couple of days to make name badges for displaying school work in school. They look great!

Figure Me Out

Figure Me Out is a beginning math activity where students are asked to describe themselves using mathematical equations. It gives me a glimpse not only in to their lives, (oh you have five cats!), but let's me see what kind of mathematical thinking your child does. Here are some great examples: 

Math Practice Standards

Today we reviewed the Math Practice Standards. We are thinking about them in terms of how we do math. We reviewed the standards and reflected on the standards we think we do well and those we think we can work on this year.

We then introduced a game called Beat the Teacher. In Beat the Teacher the teacher rolls a di six times, each time students place that digit into a six digit number, with the goal of creating the largest possible number (or at least a number bigger than the teacher). This game asks students to reason with numbers and explain their reasoning, and it practices reading, writing and comparing numbers to the hundred thousands. We will use this game later in the year when we get to working on decimals!