Classroom News and Information
Mr. Gates
Mr. Gates was to be our student teacher this year, but he has had to leave us earlier than expected for personal reasons.
Classroom Economy
This year in Division 2 we are participating in something called My Classroom Economy. The students' each have a job with a salary and they each need to earn bonus cash to pay for the monthly rent of their desk as well as any fines they may incur. After they have paid their expenses they may participate in the auction. We auction off items that may be of interest to the students. This month we auctions a calendar notepad that had been donated by a family as well as a travel mug and a Braefoot notebook. If you have anything that you could donate to our auction store for our monthly auction we would really appreciate your support. Items may include swim passes, movie passes, cool pens, books, fancy paper, small games, items to be used as fidgets ... your child will likely be able to give you some ideas.
Earthquake Packs
Each student in Div. 2 received a baggie and blue emergency information notice. The earthquake pack includes a list of suggested items. We would ask that these packs and forms are returned as soon as possible, so we can add our class kit to the earthquake kiosk in case of an emergency. Thank you to everyone who has already sent in the comfort packs.
Homework newsletter
Dear Parents and
Guardians in Division 2:
Some of you are asking about homework. We don’t tend to send a lot home for homework, but we hope that the students will engage in some regular practice to develop mastery. Students will also have some projects to do at home this year, and occasionally work may be sent home to get finished if they run out of class time.
We do our best to post homework, class newsletters and field trip information on the class website: https://braefoot.sd61.bc.ca/staff-info/staff-directory/ . To find our classroom website first search for Braefoot Elementary School and select the school website. If you hi-light Staff Info and select Staff Directory you will find the link to our class website beside Mr. Beck/ Ms Taylor and Division Two.
Math
Mastery basic facts for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division is very important – when students have memorized their basic facts they can focus more on developing an understanding of the concepts, rather than on calculation. In grade 4 it is expected that students will develop instant and accurate recall of addition and subtraction facts, and that they will develop accuracy in multiplication and division facts. In grade 5, it is expected that students have instant and accurate recall of addition and subtraction facts, and that they will develop instant recall for multiplication and division facts. Each week students will have a brief basic facts quiz. They need to demonstrate 100% mastery of addition twice, and then they move onto subtraction. They will continue on with multiplication and division, demonstrating mastery three times for each. Students are asked to record the facts they did not get right in their planners and to practice them for homework. Speed and accuracy of the basic facts recall will only be achieved through daily practice, so we are asking the students practice their basic facts as regularly for homework.
Mr. Beck has made some links to sites that support learning and memorizing math facts within the Braefoot website. You may also search for ‘math facts’ on the internet and find other sites you may want to explore with your child.
Spelling
On Friday’s each week your child will be bringing home a collection of spelling words weekly that have been introduced in class. We are introducing the spelling routines that each student will do in their group. The word list your child will be studying is based on their results of a spelling inventory. They should be working on spelling concepts or patterns that they have not yet mastered. Each night of the week your child is expected to do a different activity to ensure that these words and the spelling principles they represent are mastered. These activities will be modeled and practiced in school, so your child can teach them to you.
Weekend Remind your child to sort the words into categories like the ones we did in school. Your child should read each word aloud during this activity. Ask your child to explain to you why the words are sorted in a particular way – what does the sort reveal about spelling in general? Ask your child to sort them a second time as fast as possible.
Monday Do a blind or no peeking sort with your child. Lay down a word from each category as a header and then read the rest of the words aloud. Your child must indicate where the word goes without seeing it. Lay it down and let your child move it if he or she is wrong. Repeat if your child makes more than one error.
Tuesday Assist your child in doing a word hunt, looking for words in a familiar book that have the same sound, pattern, or both. Try to find two or three for each category.
Wednesday Do a writing sort to prepare for the Thursday test. As you call out of the words in a random order your child should write them in categories. Call out any words your child misspells a second or even third time.
All groups will have a spelling test on Thursdays. I will choose ten words from the list and 5 words that are not from the list but follow the spelling patterns rules that they learned this week.
You may want to practice spelling some words that were not on the spelling list but follow the spelling pattern, encouraging your child to use the spelling pattern. For example, if their spelling words include the 'ew', 'ue' spelling patterns for long u, then they could spell clue as 'clue' or 'clew' ... Which word spelling looks most familiar? Which one would you see if you were reading a mystery novel?
Thank you for your support. Together we can help your child make valuable progress this school year.
Sincerely,
Barb Taylor and Darryl Beck
Teachers
Some of you are asking about homework. We don’t tend to send a lot home for homework, but we hope that the students will engage in some regular practice to develop mastery. Students will also have some projects to do at home this year, and occasionally work may be sent home to get finished if they run out of class time.
We do our best to post homework, class newsletters and field trip information on the class website: https://braefoot.sd61.bc.ca/staff-info/staff-directory/ . To find our classroom website first search for Braefoot Elementary School and select the school website. If you hi-light Staff Info and select Staff Directory you will find the link to our class website beside Mr. Beck/ Ms Taylor and Division Two.
Math
Mastery basic facts for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division is very important – when students have memorized their basic facts they can focus more on developing an understanding of the concepts, rather than on calculation. In grade 4 it is expected that students will develop instant and accurate recall of addition and subtraction facts, and that they will develop accuracy in multiplication and division facts. In grade 5, it is expected that students have instant and accurate recall of addition and subtraction facts, and that they will develop instant recall for multiplication and division facts. Each week students will have a brief basic facts quiz. They need to demonstrate 100% mastery of addition twice, and then they move onto subtraction. They will continue on with multiplication and division, demonstrating mastery three times for each. Students are asked to record the facts they did not get right in their planners and to practice them for homework. Speed and accuracy of the basic facts recall will only be achieved through daily practice, so we are asking the students practice their basic facts as regularly for homework.
Mr. Beck has made some links to sites that support learning and memorizing math facts within the Braefoot website. You may also search for ‘math facts’ on the internet and find other sites you may want to explore with your child.
Spelling
On Friday’s each week your child will be bringing home a collection of spelling words weekly that have been introduced in class. We are introducing the spelling routines that each student will do in their group. The word list your child will be studying is based on their results of a spelling inventory. They should be working on spelling concepts or patterns that they have not yet mastered. Each night of the week your child is expected to do a different activity to ensure that these words and the spelling principles they represent are mastered. These activities will be modeled and practiced in school, so your child can teach them to you.
Weekend Remind your child to sort the words into categories like the ones we did in school. Your child should read each word aloud during this activity. Ask your child to explain to you why the words are sorted in a particular way – what does the sort reveal about spelling in general? Ask your child to sort them a second time as fast as possible.
Monday Do a blind or no peeking sort with your child. Lay down a word from each category as a header and then read the rest of the words aloud. Your child must indicate where the word goes without seeing it. Lay it down and let your child move it if he or she is wrong. Repeat if your child makes more than one error.
Tuesday Assist your child in doing a word hunt, looking for words in a familiar book that have the same sound, pattern, or both. Try to find two or three for each category.
Wednesday Do a writing sort to prepare for the Thursday test. As you call out of the words in a random order your child should write them in categories. Call out any words your child misspells a second or even third time.
All groups will have a spelling test on Thursdays. I will choose ten words from the list and 5 words that are not from the list but follow the spelling patterns rules that they learned this week.
You may want to practice spelling some words that were not on the spelling list but follow the spelling pattern, encouraging your child to use the spelling pattern. For example, if their spelling words include the 'ew', 'ue' spelling patterns for long u, then they could spell clue as 'clue' or 'clew' ... Which word spelling looks most familiar? Which one would you see if you were reading a mystery novel?
Thank you for your support. Together we can help your child make valuable progress this school year.
Sincerely,
Barb Taylor and Darryl Beck
Teachers