Spring

Supposedly spring has arrived, though it is hard to tell from looking out the window.  Hopefully some warm weather will dry out the playground soon.  Between cold temperatures and a wet, icy playground, the students have been forced to stay indoors for recess far too often.

Thank you to everyone for getting in touch with me about conferences.  It was nice to sit down and discuss each student's progress and what we have been studying recently.  Here is a look ahead to what we will be covering in the final trimester.

Math - We have begun a rather comprehensive unit on fractions, covering an understanding of improper fractions, equivalent fractions, fractions on a number line, addition and subtraction of fractions, and eventually multiplication of fractions.  The next module will then connect fractions to decimals and cover computation using decimal numbers.

Writing - Right now our focus has returned to opinion writing, where students are composing a persuasive essay on a topic that matters to them.  Building on the structure we learned earlier in the year, we are now trying to improve our introductions, conclusions, and transitions, while making sure we include a variety of strong evidence to support our opinion statement.  My hope is that we will have time to use a short study of poetry to improve our word choice and use of figurative language.  Then we will return to narratives one final time before the end of the year.

Reading - This trimester students will learn to use context clues to identify the meanings of unknown words in both fiction and non-fiction texts.  We will also revisit how to identify the main idea and how to summarize a text, as these are skills that need more practice.  The class will also explore the differences between poetry, prose, and drama.

Parent Teacher Conferences

A reminder that there will be no school next Friday, March 20th.  That is the first day I will be offering parent teacher conferences.  If you have not contacted me yet about a conference, please let me know either a time that would work well for you to meet with me or that you do not feel the need to meet at this time.  All HES parents will be asked to fill out a short survey that gives us feedback on how we are doing and how we can improve.  Thank you in advance for taking the time to do this.  

A Celebration of Reading

Mr. Moreno interviewing the characters from The Cat in the Hat.

 The students worked hard on their Track My Progress testing this past week and logged a lot of hours of reading as part of our Dr. Seuss Read-a-thon.  After Monday, our class alone had read for 23 hours!  I am really proud of their effort and enthusiasm.  What a fun group to teach!

Mr. Moreno shares his favorite Dr. Seuss book with the class.

Please look carefully at the Friday Folder, as it included important information about parent-teacher conferences, dental hygiene week, and an upcoming movie night for 2nd -4th graders.  Also included was the March book order, which is due back this Thursday if you would like to order any books.

Finally, a reminder that this Thursday is a noon dismissal and there is no school this Friday.

Dr. Seuss's Birthday Celebration

In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday, and Read Across America Day, HES has several special events planned for this coming week.  First, the whole school, staff included, will have some DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time each day.  The students will not know when the announcement to "drop everything and read" will be made, so they will have to have a book with them at all times.  In addition, there will be a school-wide reading incentive, asking students to keep track of the minutes they read each day (at school and at home).  Finally, a special guest reader will be visiting our classroom on Thursday morning after the assembly.

Speaking of the assembly, two fourth grade students, Gracie Fortier and Judson Dunne, will be performing at this week's assembly, so if you get a chance, come check it out!

At the beginning of the week students will partake in another round of Track My Progress testing.  This online testing program, which students complete four times a year, helps us chart the progress they are making in reading and math.  The fourth graders will take the math portion of the test on Monday and the reading portion on Tuesday.

We will end our week with another Four Winds lesson on Friday afternoon.  All in all, it should be a busy week!