Dear Intermediate School Families,
The children have done beautifully settling back into school this week, even with a very rare-to-the-district snow day sprinkled in! I have had the pleasure of hearing about some very restful vacations, as well as some great family adventures! I was so pleased to hear that some families chose to explore some of the ideas I shared in the memo prior to break.
A Note from the Math Specialist:
After a restful week, we are off and running right into our work in math support classes. The fifth graders are working on fractions and measurement concepts, while also reviewing number sense strategies within word problems. Fourth graders are starting with long division strategies, as well as measuring angles and reviewing multi-digit multiplication and fact fluency. Our time passes quickly with our various games!
GRAIS Creates:
Fifth graders are finishing up sculpting their pinch pot mugs. Mugs will be fired in the kiln this week and then students will be glazing them. Students who are finished sculpting are making painted paper to use in some upcoming projects. Fourth graders are sketching ideas for an original character design idea. We talk about visual qualities of a good character, physical versus personality traits, and personification. We look at contemporary character designers such as Alicia Robinson, Marin Hsu, Jon Bergerman, and Elise Gravel.
GRAIS Moves:
As we head into March, classes will be finishing up our volleyball unit and starting a throwing unit. We will be working on some overhand and underhand throwing skills. The fifth grade will be starting their second swim unit on March 27th, which will run for three weeks, ending on April 13th.
GRAIS Reads:
In celebration of Read Across America day and hopefully the arrival of spring soon, students will listen to The Lorax and discuss the facial expressions of characters and how we display emotions with our facial expressions. We will also begin Women's History Month by exploring biographies of female leaders in many different fields. This month during Reading Fridays we will read Bob the Alien Discovers the Dewey Decimal System and look at books from each of the 10 main Dewey Decimal subjects.
GRAIS is Prepared:
We thank you for helping our students arrive at school every day with their refillable water containers. Our three hydration stations get lots of use throughout the day! Additionally, as we approached MCAS season, we appreciate your help in sending the children in with their FULLY charged school-issued chromebooks AND chargers in their cases every day.
Here are the links to the MCAS practice questions so you wish to take a look or have your child practice for the April and May state assessments at home:
http://mcas.pearsonsupport.com/student/practice-tests-ela/
http://mcas.pearsonsupport.com/student/practice-tests-math/
http://mcas.pearsonsupport.com/student/practice-tests-science/
Nature's Classroom forms and payment information will be emailed home within the next week, so please be on the lookout for that. Please contact the program director, Robin Ireland (rireland@freelake.org) with any and all questions you may have on the trip.
Dates to Remember:
PTO - March 21st at 6:30 p.m.
Wearin’ of the Green Day - March 17th
Trimester Two Grades Close - March 17th
Grades Post to Portal - March 23rd
Fourth and Fifth Curriculum Night - March 23rd at 5:45 p.m.
Grade Five ELA MCAS - April 10th and 11th
Grade Four ELA MCAS - April 12th and 13th
April Vacation Begins - April 14th
School Resumes - April 24th
Grade Five Math MCAS - May 8th and 9th
Grade Four Math MCAS - May 10th and 11th
Grade Five Science MCAS -May 15th and 16th
Sincerely,
Dr. Sullivan
508.923.3506 x 3150/esullivan@freelake.org