December in Review

Wow! We can't believe that December is coming to an end. We have had such a wonderful time the last four months

getting to know the children.  They are a unique group of students who have grown so much already.  We are excited to share some of the happenings that have taken place during the last few weeks.

Communities

We've been hard at work learning about the different kinds of communities.  We read and wrote about where you can live and how the different communities can affect so much in your life.  We truly immersed ourselves in this learning.  To wrap it up, students were allowed to pick a project of their choice to demonstrate their learning.  Some students wrote poems incorporating the senses for each community.  Others sketched from one line on the computer and turned that line to visually show what each community looks like and the things we can see there.  Students then wrote an informative paragraph to make their sketch.  Finally, others created a tri-fold to list important facts about each community and designed a cover to match.  Everyone loved having a choice in their project and really took ownership of their final projects.  

Multiplication/Division Fun

In math, we have begun a new topic- multiplication and division!  The students have really grasped the concept of equal groups, repeated addition, repeated subtraction, and sharing equally.  The kids have really loved learning about this new topic and we know they will continue to develop this important skill. Try to take the opportunity to work with your child and notice real world examples of multiplication and division.  For example.  We have 5 friends and each friend will get 3 cookies.  How many cookies will we need for our friends? 5 groups of 3 equal 15  or 5 x 3=15. 

Also, practicing skip counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's will be very useful in the upcoming unit!

Wondering

An important aspect of Reading Workshop is the idea of retaining the reading skills previously taught, while working on the current reading skill as well.  We have just shifted our focus from inferencing to wondering.  This is a very important part of reading.  Active readers have questions and things they want to know more about before they read, while they read, and after they have finished reading a text.  Children should not only ask questions, but notice when a wondering they had, has been answered.  We encourage everyone to practice the skill, but also the skills previously taught, to truly develop critical thinking while reading.  

Heroes
After finishing our fabulous poetry unit, we got started right away on our new round of writing-HEROES.  We started off by reading biographies about famous people and what makes them a hero.  We learned about Ruby Bridges, Harriet Tubman, Derek Jeter, Carrie Underwood, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Edison.  After reading books about each person, we wrote about what makes him/her a hero.  We focused on obstacles, challenges, and what accomplishments/achievements each person made which helps his/her stand out. Finally, students were asked to form an opinion and support that opinion with evidence. Next, we asked students to think of a person in their life and why he/she is a hero to them.  We know that this letter writing/opinion piece on a personal hero will sure be a hit! We can't wait to watch students learn, reflect, and form an opinion on someone important in their life.

Text Savvy

As students become even more immersed in the shared reading experience, we continue to dig deep into the same text for five consecutive days.  This has allowed our students to continually practice important reading skills that create good reading habits.  The Shared Reading experience is also a time to focus on things going on in the world. This month, we read Meltdown and The Best Present.  Please ask your child what happened to Sammy the Snowman from Meltdown or what is really the best present of all to them.  During the holiday season, we have talked about the importance of giving to others, as well as celebrating the things we are so fortunate to have in our lives. Friends, family, a wonderful school, and so much more are all things we feel are gifts-better than a present that comes in a box!

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

We wish you all a wonderful vacation and a happy and healthy New Year.  We hope that all our students and families enjoy their time together. Whether you sleep late, read a good book, see a movie, spend quality time with loved ones, or just relax.... We hope it is amazing! 

See you all in 2015!

We Are Thankful

As Thanksgiving approaches, we are so very thankful for our students-your children. Reflecting on the season of thanks, we are appreciative of our 19 reasons to be thankful this time of year. Read on to find out what special and unique qualities our children possess.  

"19 Reasons to Give Thanks"

Tara- Inquisitive nature and thirst for knowledge
Sienna- Kindness and compassion to all
Aahna- Bright smile and love of everything we do
Hannah - A good friend and a golden heart
Nora-  Always helping others with a happy face and positive attitude
Max- Eager to participate in all we do and make the best of every situation
Darren-Making us all laugh and smile each day
Risha- Giving her best effort in all she does
Carlos- His love of playing and creating
Josh- For always participating and setting a good example for others to follow
Caleb-His knowledge and adorable smile 
Knoel- Delightful personality and ability to work well with others
Leo- For being a happy go-lucky kid who brightens everyone's day
Matthew- Taking every opportunity to learn and grow
Manfred- For questioning and examining new information 
Sunny- For always putting forth her best effort in all she does
Solomon- For giving compliments to all and making everyone feel special
Tina- A bright spot in everyone's day and a lovable personality
Abby-Witty sense of humor and creativity

We would also like to acknowledge another reason we feel thankful  ... Ms. Schwarcz! She helps all students and teachers each and every day. We are SO lucky to have her as part of our team this year! Thank you Ms. Schwarcz!

A big part of our classroom community is YOU, the parents.  We feel so privileged to work in a community where education is highly valued and students are put first.  Thank you for...

• Reading with your children
• Checking or helping with their homework
• Sharing in the love for learning
• Participating in classroom and school-wide events
• Taking the time to chat or email with us 
• Keeping your child home when he/she doesn't feel well
• Getting materials and other assignments to school on time
• Allowing us to teach your children
• And SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much more...

From our table to yours.....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Stay tuned for our Monthly Review, coming mid December.  

October in Review

What a fantastic month it has been!

Wow! The month of October has flown by so quickly.  We have learned so many things and participated in so many wonderful events.  

Read on to find out what's been happening in the Marsen's room!

Class Trip!

Our class took a trip to Queen County Farm Museum, and we had a great time.  We learned all about the farm, took a tour, and even got to go on a hayride.  We loved learning about farm life, which will be extremely helpful, as we begin to learn all about different kinds of communities.  We will be sure to use our background knowledge of the farm when we learn about the rural community.  

Active Citizenship!

We just wrapped our second social studies unit! We were able to reflect on what it means to be an "active citizen".  We were able to learn about rules, consequences ,American Symbols,voting, some recent National Holidays, and the three branches of government.   Our goal this year is to be the most active citizens that we can be!

Round One in Writing.... 
Personal Narrative
Writing in our classroom has been truly impressive so far.  It is clear that the students have a background in Writing Workshop because it shows in their creativity.  We were able to generate ideas, draft, revise, edit, and publish.  The writing was amazing, and we can already see growth in the children's writing from September until now.  We are currently immersing ourselves  in Poetry and began to collect ideas this past week.  The students are excited, and so are we!  We told them, "You're a poet and you didn't even know it!" 

Math! Math! Math!
Addition and Subtraction to 1,000 were two units the class met with success. By using manipulatives, songs, and visual aides, we were able to add and subtract three digit numbers with and without regrouping, up to 1,000.  Next on the agenda, using Bar Models to help us truly understand and solve math real world problems.  Bar models are truly essential in demonstrating an understanding of mathematical concepts. Our class already had a head start because of our knowledge of what's to come next. Everyone will be drawing Bar Models to all words problems in the next unit! GO MARSENS!


PARP 2014

The week long celebration of PARP was an outstanding one.  We kicked off the week with a funny Mad Libs activity about our theme this year, Travel Around the World! On Tuesday, we had fun sharing souvenirs from our own travels and telling about our adventures. Wednesday was BYOD to school, and we had a blast reading on our devices and exploring a variety of texts and apps using technology.   On Thursday, we had our special assembly,  Bob Jackson, and we loved listening to his music and watching the teachers dance on stage.  To culminate a fantastic week, we had PARB. Thank you to the family members that were able to attend this event.  All students had fun reading with an adult, whether it be a teacher, a friend's parent, or a family member of their own.  Room 13 loves PARP!

Halloween 
We had our first class holiday party, and it was truly fantastic.  We decorated bats that were festive and allowed us to get into the spirit of the season.  We also enjoyed delicious fruit and munchkins, and other yummy treats! Thank you to Mrs.Ianniello, Mrs. Kao, Mrs.Lesnick,  Mrs. Campise, Mrs. Grishman, and Mrs. Zeng for organizing the party, preparing the craft and snacks, and helping to make our celebration special and unique.  We can't wait to party again soon!

September in Review

New Beginnings

Wow! We can't believe one month of school has already passed.  We couldn't be happier with our new classroom family. We started out the month establishing important rituals and routines, getting to know each other, and having some serious fun!

Our First Class Picture!

Writing Workshop

Our students are learning what writing workshop in our room looks like and sounds like.  We had so much fun launching our first unit in Writer's Workshop; "How Writer's Work".  We have talked about what can go in a writer's notebook, created a heart map of things we love, and decorated our writer's notebook to reflect who we are and what we love.  We even had a lesson on how writing about nothing can still be SOMETHING! We are excited to build a love of writing in our classroom this year.  

Social Studies

We wrapped up our "All About Me" unit by comparing and contrasting ourselves to a partner using a Venn Diagram.  It was so interesting to find how buddies can be the same and different and still be great friends! We are starting our next unit on Active Citizenship this month.  We are proud to be learning about ways to be an active citizen in our country. For Shared Reading this past week, we analyzed the "Pledge of Allegiance!" Ask your child what the words they say everyday REALLY mean!

Wrapping Up "All About Me!"

Math-Numbers to 1,000

Our first unit of math focused on place value.  We learned the different ways to write a number, as well as how we can compare two, 3 digit numbers, using greater than and less than. We enforced these concepts by using manipulatives and place value mats.  We are looking forward to our next unit....Addition to 1,000!!!!!

Reading Workshop

Our students have been hard at work during our reading block of time. They are learning how to turn and talk to their partner to make learning more meaningful, as well as, practice the reading skills we are currently focusing on in our unit of study. Right now, we are making text-to-self connections.  Students are trying to connect to the text in a meaningful way, so that their connection, can teach him/her something about the text they are reading.  We make connections to see patterns and think about why these patterns are important.  Remember, when a student makes a connection, they need to bring it back the text!

Coming Soon....

Please be on the lookout for a "Genius Hour" alert in your child's folder. The students will be asked to pick a topic to research.  It could be anything they have a strong interest in learning more about.  They will then be asked to think about how they would like to research their topic of interest.  If your student will be bringing a device to school (ie. iPad etc.), we ask that the student come with Apps already loaded, to support their learning.  Other options would be to print out articles, bring books or magazines from the library, or even come with a list of websites on that topic. We are looking forward to our first Genius Hour, coming soon!

We would like to welcome a new 

"Pirate" to Team Marsen. 

We are excited to have Tara join our classroom family. 

Next Blog entry...the end of October!

Welcome to the launch of Team Marsen's blog.  A special place where you and your family (both near and far) can read, learn, and see what is happening in Room 13!  

When our newest blog is complete, we will send you the link in an email. However, you may always view previous newsletters by going into the archives. For example, old posts will be under the newest month's Archives. 

We would LOVE for you to read our blogs with your child.  This a great way to encourage the home-school connection.  Feel free to leave a post about how you feel about the information you read. We would love to hear what you think! Your post will NOT show up immediately, but rest assure, it will be up ASAP. 

In some blogs, you will see pictures, captions, and/or videos.  We will only be using first names, and we ask that you do the same when leaving a comment. 

Stay tuned for our first blog...COMING SOON!In the meantime, don't forget to follow us on Twitter @nrmartin4 and @crosen20!



Mrs. Rosen +Mrs. Martin= Blog Reporters