Addition Regrouping Success! Can We Do It Again?

Wow! I am amazed by the children's growth in addition with regrouping! They took a pretest on Monday, January 31st and showed that they REALLY needed LOTS of practice with adding 3 digit numbers. By Friday, February 4th, most of the children demonstrated mastery, many even earning scores of 100% on the post test. Whew! I am so proud of them!

Thanks to all the parents too for encouraging extra practice at home on First in Math. I know that having the addition facts memorized really helped the children focus on the process of regrouping without having to figure out each fact.

Please help them continue their success by having the children work on First in Math at home again. This week we will attempt to conquer 3 digit subtraction!

To regroup or not to regroup? That is the question.

We will begin adding two 3 digit numbers next week. It is always a challenge for the children to analyze each problem and decide if they need to regroup or not. Previously all they had to focus on was trading 10 ones for one 10. That still remains of course, but now they also need to focus on trading 10 tens for 1 hundred. Whew! That is a lot to think about!

In light of all this critical thinking, it would be SO helpful if your child has all of the addition facts memorized. There is enough to think about without having to use fingers and toes to add each column. The First in Math site can really help with that goal in a fun way. I strongly encourage you to have your child go on First in Math for about 15 minutes each evening to work on the facts. Your child will thank you for your encouragement. While this post has been all about additon, subtraction is just around the corner!

Bullying Info from Ms. Armbruster

Jewish Family & Career Services

Bullying: A Community Response

Bullying

has reached epidemic proportions in our community. All one has to do is turn on the evening news or, even more disturbingly, listen to our children as we sit at the dinner table to understand how prevalent it has become. 66% of youth are teased at least once a month, and nearly 1/3 of youth are bullied at least once a month. 6 out of 10 American teens witness bullying at least once a day. For children in grades 6 – 10, nearly one in six — or 3.2 million — are victims of bullying

each year and 3.7 million are bullies.

(From

http://www.groundspark.org/ )

Jewish Family & Career Services, in collaboration with the Atlanta Rabbinical Association and the Anti-Defamation League is proud to present an important community program about Bullying.

The afternoon will consist of a panel of experts, moderated by

Bill Nigut, ADLSoutheast Regional Director, followed by separate break-out sessions for youth,parents and educators to speak honestly about the prevalence and impact ofbullying and how to take action against it.

January 23, 2011 from 3 - 5 pm

Congregation B’nai Torah (700 Mt. Vernon Highway Atlanta, 30328)

This session is intended for parents, educators and youth ages 10 and up.

RSVP to outreach@jfcs-atlanta.org or 770.677.9434

Free of charge and open to the community.

January Excitement

We have all enjoyed our first day back in school and excitement began bubbling for our January activities.

Today the children found out that they would be researching an animal (all to be done at school) and writing their very own hardback book about it, just like the books in the media center. The children will choose their animal on Wednesday, so be sure to ask about it tomorrow evening.

We will be visiting Safety Village on this Friday. I have everyone's permission slip, but wanted to remind you that we will be out of the building from @ 9:15-1:45. It is a wonderful field trip and I am so happy the children will get to experience it.

This is an unusual week due to the 4 day week and the field trip on Friday. We will resume spelling words/tests and homework notebooks next week. Look for the new spelling words in agendas this Friday. Meanwhile, there will be the usual Wednesday math homework and lots of free evenings for reading and writing responses as we kick off our 3rd quarter.

Keheley's Giving Tree

December 1-15

Keheley Elementary is sponsoring a Holiday Gift Project to assist local foster children and families.

We will have a holiday tree in the front atrium with ornaments that have a "gift wish" written on them. Parents may pick a paper ornament off the tree and buy the “gift wish” written on that ornament.

The “gift wishes” being requested are items such as: children’s hats, gloves, mittens, scarves, socks, pajamas, children’s books, movies, toys.

· All items must be new and unwrapped.

· All items must be donated by Wednesday, December 15^th

Thank you for your donations, you have helped a family in need!! J

Check Point Testing Information

We will be administering Math and Language Arts check point tests from the county on Monday through Thursday of this week, Dec. 6th-Dec. 9th. The second graders will be taking the tests with paper/pencil on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday we will be entering scores using iRespond.

The children cannot study for these tests as the tests are both formative and summative: some of the material has been taught and some has not. That is how the tests are designed.

The teachers will read the tests to the children in first and second grades. I will be encouraging the children to relax, do their best, and show off all they have learned.

Last Spelling Test of 2010

Dear Parents,
I wanted to let you know that the spelling test on Thursday, December 9th, will be the last test of 2010. It will also be the last test of the second quarter, and I wanted you to know that to encourage studying for Thursday.

You might want to have your child write the words in 2 different colors: consonants in red, vowels in blue. Or, you could have your child "count" the letters: consonants = 10 cents, vowels = 5 cents, and then have a total for each word.

I am looking forward to the most successful spelling tests ever!