Hi All,

I hope you had a great weekend!

Last week, we started out slowly, after a long Thanksgiving vacation, and finished with a bang!  On Friday, our 2 Fourth Grades, and one Fourth/Fifth Combination class had our second writing celebration. The kids all visited other classrooms, and got to read and comment on fellow students' informational writing. We also got to read some from our home rooms, and will continue the sharing by reading our work to Kindergarten buddies on Wednesday.

The kids then got to attend their first Big Spin, which is an upper elementary celebration of students' positive behaviors and work habits. Two kids were recognized from each class in categories including reading, overall effort, citizenship, and sportsmanship. In addition, there was a random drawing for all kids with good behavior (no blue or pink slips during the first trimester. ) Those kids picked in the drawing got to spin a wheel for prizes such as ice cream coupons and movie passes. It was a fun celebration of the kids' efforts during the first term.

In math class, kids are working hard on fractions. We have been making various models of fractions, but this is an especially important math unit to practice at home. There are many real life applications of fractions, especially in measurements. Encourage your kids to notice everyday fractions, and to take note of their relationship to benchmarks, such as 1/2. For example, what's the fraction of the carton of eggs when you have 8 left? Can it be named in more than one way (8/12, 4/6, 2/3).   Is it closer to a half a carton or a whole? When a recipe calls for 1/3 of a cup of oil, is that more or less than 1/2?  And always--how do you know? Fractions are a challenging concept and lots of practice in a variety of applications will really fine tune their understanding.

Finally, I have received many report card envelopes, but not all. We use them over the entire year, so please send back the signed envelope. I'm also waiting for several permission slips for our field trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Take care, and have a good week,
Carroll Mayer