November 5, 2009
Yearbooks on sale now for $25.00 online at www.jostens.com
Vaughan's Mission Statement--
Our mission at Vaughan is to work as a community to meet the diverse learning
needs of students in order to prepare them for success in a global economy.
We are excited to provide additional time for math enrichment for our
students. We are reorganizing our schedule to include an additional 45 minute
block. This will allow us to focus on math standards on which our students
need additional support as well as provide extension activities for those
students who are proficient but are ready to engage in activities that
stretch the learning. Please see our attached schedule for details.
SOMETHING NEW: EVERY THIRD GRADER WILL BE BRINGING HOME A MATH GAME TO PLAY
EACH NIGHT. THE GAME WILL BE THE SAME GAME FOR ONE WEEK. WE ARE ASKING THAT
YOU PLAY THE GAME WITH YOUR CHILD, BUT IT IS POSSIBLE FOR HIM OR HER TO PLAY
ALONE. IT SHOULD TAKE ABOUT 10 MINUTES EACH NIGHT. THERE WILL BE A SIGNATURE
SHEET THAT WILL NEED TO BE SIGNED EVERY NIGHT TO SHOW THAT YOUR CHILD HAS
PLAYED THE GAME. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.
Reminders:
We are really focusing on Math Problem Solving in class and we would like the
children exposed to it at home as well. Once a week for math homework you
will find a problem-solving folder come home with your child. The problem
they are to solve will be stuck to the page where they will solve the
problem. After your child has made the attempt to solve the problem, please
sit with them and work through the steps/strategies in order to support their
understanding of problem solving.
Please remember we need you to sign agendas each night. It is your child's
responsbility to ask you to sign the agenda every night and write down what
they read during the week and get you to sign that. You only need to sign
Behavior sheets if your child gets a check during the week. We need the
students reading up to 90 minutes this 2nd 9 weeks. We figured this ended up
being about 15 minutes a day or more time, if your child is not reading every
night.
Please remember the children need to wear or bring tennis shoes on PE days.
Next week, Tuesday and Friday are PE days.
The last reminder is remember if you come to eat lunch with your child,
please remember that you and your child need to eat at the visitor's table.
Our New Schedule--
7:15 – 7:50 Unpack and Begin Morning Work
7:55 – 8:15 Math RAP
8:15 – 9:05 Reading Workshop (Science and Social Studies integrated)
9:05 – 10:00 Math
10:00 - 10:50 Specials
10:50 – 11:30 Language Arts
11:36 – 12:06 Lunch
12:10 – 12:30 Recess and Study Hall
12:30 – 1:15 M/W/F Math Enrichment Tu/Th Writer's Workshop
1:15 – 2:00 M/W/F Writer's Workshop Tu/Th Science and Social Studies Ext.
2:00 – 2:10 Read-Aloud
2:10 – 2:18 Pack-up and Dismissal
Calendar of Events--
(Chicken biscuits on sale every Tuesday morning for $2.50 each)
Important Upcoming Dates:
November 6, 2009 Preview Book Fair
November 9, 2009 New Math Game Envelope and signature sheet comes home
November 10, 2009 Purchase books at the Book Fair 8:30-9:00am
November 11, 2009 Sort/Spelling Test for Unit 8 Homophones words are taped in
the agenda for the week of November 2nd-6th
November 11, 2009 End of 4 1/2 weeks
November 19, 2009 Progress Folder
WHAT DID WE LEARN THIS PAST WEEK
Reading: Unit EQ: How do a I read and comprehend fictional text? How do I
use text features to determine unfamiliar words? This week we finished our
Flip Books on Paul Revere, Susan B. Anthony, and Frederick Douglass. We also
intergrated our Health and read about Tobacco and Alcohol. We have used our
text features and our Background Knowledge to help us get important
information in our flip books.
Writer's Workshop: How do I write a Response to Literature? We revised and
edited our model book review on the Halo-Wiener. We have started our
independent graphic organizers on Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream. We will finish
our organizers tomorrow and begin writing our book review (blurb) next week.
They will publish their book reviews by creating a back cover layout complete
with images.
Grammar: How do I identify singular and plural nouns? Tomorrow we will begin
learning about singular and plural nouns. We will make a plural noun book
next week that will help us keep the rules straight.
Spelling: (Words Their Way): We have been learning about homophones and what
that means. We know that homophones are words that sound the same but they
are spelled differently and mean different things. Today, we played
pictionary to help us learn the meaning of our words. Our Spelling/Sort 8
test will be next Wednesday. Target will take it for morning work.
Math: Unit EQ: How does multiplication affect numbers?
We will begin with dividing a set into equal parts. Please have your child
practice their multiplication facts as we begin to move into multiplication
and division. The children are required to know their multiplication facts
for 0-10 this 9 weeks. This is a Third grade standard.
EQ: How do I apply problem solving strategies to multiplication word
problems?
We have introduced problem solving folders to the students. Their folders
have strategies in them that we will be focusing on this year. At this
point, the student have been using the "draw a picture" strategy with great
success. As they develop the other strategies, they will become better
prepared for the CRCT.IF A STUDENT CAN EXPLAIN TO YOU WHAT THEY DID TO SOLVE
A PROBLEM, THEN THEY ARE DISPLAYING A GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONCEPT.
During MATH RAP and regular math time we have focused on problem solving
using our strategies. We have now been introduced to "Draw a Picture"
and "Make a Chart or Table".
Science:
EQ: How does water affect different types of soils?
EQ: How do rocks and soil change over time?
Our students are experimenting with which types of soil absorbs water the
best. Please discuss the recent flood with your scholar to help them connect
what we discuss in class with the real world around them. Erosion and
weathering are concepts tht we will be learning a great deal about in the
next week or so. Many students confuse these terms and ofter refer to them
as the same idea. Weathering is the process by which rock and/or break down
into smaller particles. However, erosion is the process of those particles
MOVING from one place to another because of natural forces such as flowing
water, wind, or moving ice (glaciers). Please seek out examples of
weathering and erosion this week, so your child will have a better
understanding of each concept.
