Jefferson Journal
Saturday, January 16, 2021
Greetings from Principal Hutchinson
Dear Jefferson Families,
Please see the linked video to hear more about next week's change in schedule.
Video from Principal Hutchinson
Next Week, we will join the entire district by moving to the hybrid schedule. This will mean that your child's virtual school day will be from 8:05-12:05. Students will return at the invitation of their teachers for small groups and conferences between 1:50-3:05. Your child's teacher will be able to give you the specific details about how the schedule will be adjusted in their classroom.
Although Jefferson is not beginning our hybrid program on 1/19/21, it is important that we continue to prepare for phase 4 when we will return to the building. Therefore we ask that you log into the Powerschool Parent Portal and verify your child's cohort assignment. If your child will be in a hybrid cohort, it is important that you complete the Parent Agreement Letter of Compliance With Covid19 Guidelines, which can be found in the forms section of the PowerSchool Parent Portal. If you are having difficulty with accessing the Parent Portal, please see log in directions below. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Mr. Rivera arivera@sosmd.k12.nj.us, or myself, khutchin@somsd.k12.nj.us at any time. Additionally, if you child may need a district Chromebook to participate in Hybrid instruction please reach out to Mr. Rivera to make arrangements to secure a device.
Additionally, this week's newsletter we will be highlighting upcoming topics for Language Arts and Mathematics. Additionally, and we have a message from our Class of the Week 3BO.
Wishing you and your family an enjoyable weekend.
Language Arts
Dear Jefferson Families,
In Reading, students will continue exploring mysteries, thinking about how all mystery books go and identifying patterns. Students will identify theories about their mysteries, asking themselves “ What’s the same across all mysteries?” and “How do mystery books go?” Students will look for patterns at the start, the middle, or the end of their mystery books. They will also learn that when strong readers run into trouble, their partner is their “go to” helper. Students will practice this by using phrases like “Maybe it will help you if...” with their partners.
In Writing, students will continue elaborating on their ideas for persuasive essays with reasons and examples to support their opinions. They will organize their evidence into categories and give specific examples so the reader can visualize their writing. Students will be reminded to think about their audience while writing and how to best convince the reader about their opinions.
Mathematics
Dear Jefferson Families,
In Math, students will continue using what they know about the relationship between multiplication and division to solve multiplication and division facts. They will practice solving real world multiplication and division problems, using the UPS check strategy (understand, plan, solve and check). Students will complete a post- assessment, showing everything they know about multiplication and division. Students should continue to practice their multiplication and division facts at home to strengthen their fact fluency!
Language Arts
This week was all about focusing on character traits and character change. In reading, we read stories closely, paying attention to a character's behavior and using patterns in their behavior to identify their traits. We also tracked a character's journey across a story, looking out for the little signals that point to change. Next week, we will discuss how character change relates to theme.
In terms of writing, we practiced writing long about characters, describing their traits and how their traits change or don't change across a story. We began to practice using evidence from the text to support our thinking. We will continue this work next week. We will also practice writing long about theme. Then, we will begin planning our literary essays. We will select a short story to focus on, and we will work to develop an original claim/thesis statement about one aspect of that story.
A recent highlight of our ELA work is most definitely practicing our new skills with the short film "Piper." We will be using this film as a mentor text to help us further understand character traits, character change, and theme. This film is only about 6 minutes long and can be accessed via Youtube and Disney+. We encourage you to chat with your child about the film and how we are studying it in reading and writing workshop.
Mathematics
Dear Parents and Families,
This past week, the fourth graders began to learn about fractions. We reviewed concepts covered in third grade, such as the terminology - Numerator, denominator, simplest form, like denominator, unlike denominators. The students then learned how to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators. Next week, the students will learn about Mixed numbers and Improper fractions.
Fractions is an important foundational unit for 4th graders. You can assist your child at home by showing them recipes. Ask your child to double the recipe. (They can do that by addition). If you notice a fraction in your house, point it out to your child and ask for what the meaning is.
In addition, we want the students to keep up with their multiplication and division skills. In class we review these operations, but you can have your child practice at home too.
Some great websites to use are:
Thank you for all of your support.
Sincerely,
The 4th Grade Team
Language Arts
As we continue with Book Clubs, students will be working on reading their fiction books and writing about their reading. Students will also work on revising their writing, adding the components of what makes powerful writing about reading. We will continue to identify multiple main ideas and to notice patterns within their story. Writing these ideas down helps to develop their goal of becoming a stronger reader.
In Writing, we will be starting our Literary Essay Unit. We will begin by revisiting what they already know about this unit from previous years. Then, we will talk about comparing themes across two texts. We will model identifying themes with books, short stories, songs, and short films. When students are comfortable identifying a theme, they can then compare themes across two texts.
Mathematics
Recently, fifth graders have been working on identifying the least common multiple (LCM) and greatest common factors (GCF) to prepare for work in the upcoming fraction units. Next week, students will review basic fraction concepts such as identifying fractions and the meanings of a numerator and denominator (part and whole). We will be ordering and comparing fractions and finding common denominators. These learning objectives will prepare us for adding and subtracting fractions in the weeks to come.
Ms. Bonanne's Third Grade Class (3BO)
In 3B we are focusing on our mystery unit and learning how to become amazing mystery solvers. Students are identifying Crime solvers, motives, culprits, red herrings, alibi's and accomplices. The student's will even be creating their own mysteries for their classmates to solve! Our class is having so much fun reading and making theories on our different mystery books.