This Week at a Glance!

Monday we had our Celebration Assembly for the month of March. The students had a blast!

On Tuesday, third and fourth grade started MAP testing. To help encourage and support our students, Miss Pollock's class has become MAP Buddies with Mrs. McQuarry's class. Each day we will bring a special treat to help encourage them to do their best. The students are very excited to support our fourth grade buddies!

Thursday night is Harrison Night at Domino's...help us win a pizza party by eating at Domino's on Thursday night!

Student of the Month!

Congrats to Daniel! Our student of the month for March! Daniel has made huge gains in reading, writing, and math! He is always so kind to everyone, always willing to help his classmates and teachers, and just an all around great student! Way to go Daniel!!!!

Construct-a-Word

We have a new game to play in class and at home. It is called Construct-a-Word.
"Construct-a-Word provides a simple, engaging way for students to generate dozens of different words by first choosing an ending (for example -an, -ed, -at, -op) and then adding a beginning letter or blend. When a correct word is created, the word is stored in a Word Bank where students can read and review their words. For each ending, Construct-a-Word prompts students to create between 6 and 14 different possible words, adding an element of fun and discovery. It uses animation and sound to guide students through the steps of creating words, and employs prompts that are clear and easy to master. This interactive tool could be used individually or in small groups, either in one session or across multiple lessons" (construct-a-word website).

Here is the link to play at home:
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/construct/

If you know of any great educational games students can play on the computer, please share and post them here! :-)

Classroom Website

Have you seen the new classroom website? Students are very excited about the website, especially the games we have linked to the site! The new website is where you can find homework help, the weekly newsletter, student photo's, and more! This a new website and an opportunity to build communication between the school and home. I would love to hear any ideas you would like to see on the website! You can post your comments here!

Website: http://www.springfieldpublicschoolsmo.org/harrison/spollock/

This Week's School Happenings

This week we are looking forward to the following events:

Spring Book Fair!
The Spring Book Fair will start Monday, March 15 and stay open until after school Friday, March 19. Students will get to go shopping as a class on Thursday, March 18. You may send money to school with your child so they can shop at the book fair. The book fair will also be open Thursday night during the PTA meeting.

Grandparents Day!
On Wednesday, March 17, we will have our Spring Grandparents Day. Grandparents are encouraged to come eat lunch with their grandchild and then go shopping at the Book Fair.

Seussical Musical!
On Thursday, March 18, First and Second Grade students will perform at the PTA meeting. The students have been working hard on their Seussical Musical performance! I hope you can make it!

Math Benchmark

The third quarter is coming to an end (where has the time gone?!) and it is time to take our tird quarter math benchmark assessment. We will be taking the benchmark on Wednesday and Tuesday. It is important to review the concepts we have covered during the third quarter because they can be difficult to grasp for some. One of the more difficult concepts is time. Telling time to the minutes can be tricky. In class we have labeled the minute hand and the hour hand. The class also asked for me to tell them what time it is as we go through transitions as a way to start identfying the time. You can help your student with time by doing these same things. If you have an analog clock at home, label the hour hand and minute hand. Also, read the time as much as possible or ask your student to tell you what time it is. Another concept we have learned which has been tricky for some is counting quarters and making fewer coins. You can help your child at home by playing Coin Exchange (game rules are in MRB), creating a pretend store where student has X amount of money and can only buy certain items, or letting your student count change given and received while shopping. A few other things which will appear on the benchmark include: 3d shapes, polygons, symmetry, and measurement. A review page will go home Monday. If you have questions, comments, or strategies you would like to share, please post them here!