Important Parent Event

The Lower School will host Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Ireland, a member of the Project Safe Childhood unit, on Thursday, November 14th from 7:30 - 8:30 in the LS Library.  She will speak with parents of students in grades 1-4 about online safety for our children in an ever-changing technological world.  She will also lead our third and fourth grade students in a healthy discussion about the Internet, cyberbullying, and methods to keep them safe online.  We hope you can join us for this wonderful opportunity.

Halloween Tricks and Treats!

First something serious and then something fun (well, they all really are fun to do)! 

Now that the first quarter of this school year has ended we have all settled back into the routine of school and are now moving into more challenging material in our classes.  We all know how important it is in math to know your math facts automatically so I am sharing a link to an app that is free for a limited time and a blast to do around Halloween:
MathVSZombies

Also, here are a couple of links to websites where you can carve a pumpkin without making a mess!

Pumpkin Carving
Pick a Pumpkin to carve
Online pumpkin carving

Finally, here is a fun site with trivia about Halloween that isn't all scary (although some of it is)!
Fact Monster

Fall Break Festivities

I hope that you all had as good a fall break as I did!  My family and I visited friends in New England (traveling through Boston, Newburyport, and Keenebunkport)

Kennebunkport, ME

and were able to enjoy beautiful fall colors, learn some history, check out interesting architecture, and eat lobster everyday while up there:)  I am including a couple of photos for you to enjoy.

Plum Island, New Hampshire

Cemetery in Boston where Paul Revere is buried.

 
I also wanted to let you know that Sumdog has announced today that their app for the iPad is now free and includes the Snowball game for fun fact practice!

 Finally, this afternoon several 3rd graders, Mrs. Stephens, and our wonderful parent volunteers went to the Lichterman Nature Center to receive our prize money for Gobbelina, the Tango Turkey's win in the Best School Entry in their annual Scarecrow contest.  Mr. Andy Williams (Executive Director of the Center) said that, "the show must go on!" so a little rain didn't stop us from going and then spending time checking out the other scarecrows.  Thank you again to Mrs. Padron, Mr. McGown, and Mrs. DeLany for their help.  I would encourage you and your family to visit the Lichterman soon and enjoy its sights, sounds, and smells of fall!

Math Mania Fun!

What a nice evening we all had playing math games and learning about what goes on during our math lessons at St. Mary's!  I wanted to share with those of you that didn't come by the Think Tank some resources that parents might find helpful.  There are several places you can go to for help if you have questions or are having trouble understanding the way that the information is presented in the Everyday Math program:

University of Chicago information - This site is hosted by the University of Chicago (the developers of the Everyday Mathematics program).  This is a great place to go to watch video tutorials explaining the algorithms of the program and to find information about all of the Everyday Math concepts.  When you click on the grade level links on the left side of the screen you will find specifics about what is being introduced and the family letters.   There are also links to sites with games to build fact fluency (down farther on the left-hand side).  This is a great place site to use at home!

Everyday Math - This is a site that we used last year when we had a subscription to the Everyday Math (EM) online components.  We didn't find the online math activities a necessary part of our program, but it does have a couple of tutorials and explanations of the program that are nice (including a list of books involving math!).

Additional EM resources - This site is another part of the EM suite of products and it contains some links to free games.

You can also click on the Math tab on this blog for additional games and activities!

Math Mania Night

This should be a fun night of sharing!  I hope to see you there:)

I am including in this post an activity that you can do at home to practice addition math facts with a sibling, friend, or parent:

Play Egg Carton Addition

by Victoria Hoffman 

What You Need:

• Empty egg carton
• 2 “game tokens” (pennies, chips, or beans work well)
• Marker
• 2 pieces of white paper
• Pencils

What You Do:

1. Use your marker to put a number in the bottom of each egg cup in the carton. (If you have a math beginner, start by cutting your carton in half, so you only have six cups; if you’ve got a kid who’s surging ahead, go ahead and use all twelve!)
2. Put a bowl of game tokens (pennies, marbles or beans) in the center of your table or play area and place two pieces into the egg carton.
3. Each player takes turns shaking the carton and then writing an addition problem on their paper using the two number sections the pieces landed in. Let’s say, for example, that the two pieces landed in 4 and 6. The addition problem would then be 4+6.
4. The person with the highest sum after each player has had a turn would then take a token from the bowl in the center of the table. If a wrong answer is given, a token is returned to the bowl. In case of a tie, each child takes a token.
5. Continue playing until each player has collected five tokens. Do this a few times, and be prepared to see steady gains in your young mathematician’s adding confidence!

© Copyright 2006-2012 Education.com All Rights Reserved.

http://www.education.com/activity/article/Egg_Carton_Addition_first_grade/

Upcoming Events:

Here are some important dates to put on your calendar:

 
Monday, Sept. 16:   Family Fun Day posters due (optional)  - deadline has been extended to Wed.
 
Tuesday, Sept. 17:   Grand Turkey Chapel in the GLR at 8:15
 
Thursday, Sept. 19:  Class Picture Day
 3rd Parent/Teacher  Luncheon 11:30-12:30GLR
 
Sunday, Sept. 22:  Family Fun Day 
 
Sept. 23-27:  3rd/4th Grade CTP Testing (please get plenty of rest and eat a good breakfast to help you do your best!)

BIG News!!

Gobbelina, the Tango Turkey won the Lichterman Nature Center Scarecrow Contest in the Best School Entry category!!  We got the news late this afternoon and are so excited for her and St. Mary's:)  Here is a photo of her from chapel this past Tuesday right before she headed off to the Lichterman with Mr. and Mrs. Padron.  Some of the Third Grade students submitted design sketches and suggestions for materials that we could use and even more gave up their lunch recess time to work on our entry.  A very big thank you to our parent volunteers Mr. Will McGown, Mrs. Laurie Padron, Mrs. Melissa DeLany and Mrs. Donna Van Hoozer!  Finally, thanks to our students for your great ideas and hard work:)

Gobbelina, the Tango Turkey!

Third Grade Students who worked on Gobbelina.