Weekly Newsletter for 12/11/15

Dear Room 4 Families,

We had quite an eventful week this week! Your child participated in the hour of code by using an app called “lightbot” where your child had to program the robot to move and turn on a light. The basic version of this app is free on iOS. There are other hour of code activities available for your child to explore on Ms. Rubino’s webpage.

This week your child worked on a short poetry unit. We are hoping to be able to finish our writing next week and start on our proofreading and publishing  soon. We are also working on our informational writing and identifying the main idea. This week your child learned how to inference, visualize, use context clues, ask questions about the text, and predict.

Your child has enjoyed reading about Flat Stanley. A Flat Stanley project has been assigned today. Please take a look at it soon so that you can make adequate arrangements for Stanley to go on an adventure. If you are mailing Stanley to a friend or family member, please contact that person and make sure they are able to complete the assignment and return Stanley in time. Stanley should be mailed sometime next week so that he can reach his destination in a timely manner. The assignment is due on Monday, January 25th. Please make sure that he is sent back before then! Your child will give a mini presentation about their project which will include where he went and something interesting that he did, so please make sure your child reads the journal if it is sent away to someone else.
You can read the assignment sheet here: https://graceyou.com/flat-stanley-project/

In math, we have started our unit on Mental Math. We are learning strategies to help your child add and subtract tens and ones in their head without having to rely on the use of pictures or their fingers. This includes counting forward/backwards by 1’s and 10’s starting at a random number that is not 0 or 1.

Next week we have 3 minimum days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday), with dismissal at 1:00 pm. Please plan accordingly.

There has been interest in holding a holiday party. Our room parent will get in touch with you regarding the details. The holiday party includes a white elephant gift exchange of a new or gently used book that is wrapped up in gift wrap. Please follow these guidelines:

1. Please only include 1 book with no extras like candy/pencils/etc.
2. Wrap the book and write “From: (Your child’s name)” – This helps me pass the book back to your child on the day of our exchange.
3. Pick a gender neutral book so that most students will be interested with it. Books like ballerina/princess books tend to be low interest with the boys and Pokemon/vehicle type books tend to be low interest with the girls. The purpose of the exchange is to generate excitement about books.

Here are next week’s homework links:

• Chinese: https://graceyou.com/mandarin-homework-week-11/
• Spelling: https://graceyou.com/spelling-week-11/

Important dates:

• 12/15/15 – Minimum Day
• 12/16/15 – Minimum Day
• 12/18/15 – Minimum Day
• 12/21/15-1/3/16 – Winter Break – No School
• 1/18/15 – Holiday – No School

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Ms. You