Cannon Road Elementary School

www.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/cannonroades/

Norman L. Coleman, Principal Elise M. Burgess, Assistant Principal

Principal’s Newsletter

November 7, 2012

Upcoming Events

November 12 / EARLY RELEASE – Students dismissed at 1:00
Parent Teacher Conferences
Flu Mist Clinic for Students 1:00 – 3:00
November 13 / EARLY RELEASE – Students dismissed at 1:00
Parent Teacher Conferences
Cultural Arts Assembly for all students – BMX Riders 9:45 – 10:45
November 14 / Report Cards Distributed
November 16 / Portrait Make-up Day – Rm 166
Vision & Hearing Screening – Health Suite
November 19 / Vision & Hearing Screening – Health Suite
November 21 / EARLY RELEASE – Students dismissed at 1:00
November 22 & 23 / SCHOOL CLOSED – Thanksgiving Holiday

Dear Parents,

As the weather begins to change and the days become increasing colder, it is important to make sure your child is properly dressed for the season. Our staff is consistently reminding students about wearing their coats to and from school and during recess. Children are bringing the necessary materials to school, but are choosing not to wear them at the appropriate times. Please speak with your child about the importance of this matter; flu season is upon us and we want all children to remain healthy during this time.

Also, if you have not already done so, it is a good idea to have an emergency plan for your child should school be dismissed early due to weather, no heat, no power, etc. Montgomery County Public Schools will announce publicly as soon as possible, any change to the school day and the Cannon Road main office will also send a Connect-Ed message to inform parents of the change.

Thank you for your continued support of our students, staff, and school programs.

Sincerely,

Mr. Coleman

Giant Bonus Bucks

It's that time of the year again--time to re-sign up your giant cards to reflect the schools of your choice. If you want to sign up so that Cannon Road gets bonus money, please call the school or go to the following link:

https://www.giantfood.com/bonuscard_aplus_pin.cfm

We are school No. 0873. Thank you for your continued support of this program.

Principal’s Newsletter Grade Level News

Kindergarten

A huge thank you to all the parents and guardians who assisted with the Harvest Celebrations and the PBIS Dance, the students had a fun filled day.

Since the farm trip was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy, the kindergarten teachers will be planning another field trip in the Spring and the money ($11.00) you paid will go towards paying for the upcoming Spring field trip. More information about our Spring field trip will be sent home in the near future.

We have just begun the second quarter of our school year and the students continue to develop their text vocabulary, improve their oral language skills, concepts about print skills, phonemic awareness and phonics skills as well as read and write their high frequency words. During this quarter we will be reading for literary experience. We will read fiction and nonfiction texts to continue to expand your child’s experience with literature. We will continue with our guided reading groups supporting your children as they make progress through the varying levels of text. They will continue to use reading strategies taught to them and learn new ones. One example of a reading strategy is to re-read the text when it doesn’t make sense with the picture or when it doesn’t sound right.

In the area of writing we will continue to write to express our personal ideas using drawings, symbols, letters or words. We will also use new vocabulary words, add details, organize, rewrite and edit our ideas to help us communicate our ideas to others. We will use our writing rules. Writing rules include using a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence, ending our thought with a period and putting space between our words.

We have just begun our second math unit. The students will count and compare quantities. They will continue to count to 100 by ones and tens. They will compare groups with more, less and equal quantities. They will use numbers to name positions as they further develop their understanding of ordinal numbers. They will represent quantities in a variety of ways all the while continuing to build on their number sense.

In the area of science, we will begin to understand the life cycle of plants, and needs of living animals. In social studies we are beginning to recognize human made and physical features of the earth (mountains, hills oceans and rivers), use the information from maps and globes to identify location.

In the area of social studies we will begin our study of maps and how they help us locate places. The will develop their understanding of physical and human made features of the earth. Physical and human made features include a variety landforms and bodies of water.

First Grade

Our first field trip of the year was outstanding. Our students were able to identify some of the ways in which animals depend on plants and on each other, which is part of the first grade science curriculum. The PBIS Dance Party and classroom Harvest Festival Party was fantastic and well deserved, way to go first grade! We have been working hard on expressing opinions and supporting our opinions in Writer’s Workshop. In social studies students are able to identify common US symbols and practices associated with US such as saying the Pledge of Allegiance and singing The Star Spangle Banner. In math students have been busy collecting, organizing, displaying and interpreting data on bar graphs and picture graphs. We are also working on using strategies to determine or clarify the meaning of unknown words and multiple meaning words.

Parents please lookout for leveled reading books that are coming home afterschool in plastic bags. Please make sure to read with your child. The cold weather is here, please make sure your child has the right clothing for outdoor recess, we will be going outside. Fall conferences are scheduled for Monday November 12 and Tuesday November 13. Have a terrific November.

Second Grade

The second graders have worked very hard this quarter! We have completed our Food Inquiry Project, with some students creating Photo Stories and others creating informative posters or booklets. During our project, the students conducted research to learn about the five food groups and healthy eating, using both educational websites and texts from the Media Center. The students worked very hard to complete their final projects, strengthening their skills in research and production and writing. In reading, we’ve been working on text features in informational reading. We’ve spent time looking at not only identifying text features, but using text features effectively for increased comprehension. We will continue to work on using text features as we go forward in quarter 2.

During the month of October in math, we worked on creating and interpreting information using graphs, continued identifying numbers ten more and less, one hundred more and less, and began representing and solving word problems using addition and subtraction. We will continue to work on our basic math facts all year.

In science, we looked at various landforms on both land and on the ocean floor. We worked collaboratively to create and label landforms out of clay. We also had a wonderful field trip to Heyser Farm, where we learned how apple cider is made, toured the farm, and asked many questions regarding apple trees and the nutrients needed for their growth. In social studies, we learned about various American symbols, discussed their importance, and identified what they represent to our country. As many of the students had the opportunity to visit the White House last year in first grade, they had a greater understanding of the importance of the White House and what it symbolizes for America.

We’ve had a busy first quarter, and look forward to a great second quarter coming up!

Third Grade

It is hard to believe the first quarter of school has come and gone! Your third grade students have been incredibly busy learning and growing as students. Please note, report cards will be sent home this week! Please contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns.

In reading, your students have continued their study of non-fiction texts. Students identified text features and explained how text features can be used to help them better understand a book. The students have practiced identifying the main idea of a text by using supporting details. Students also were introduced to asking and answering questions based on the text. As we begin the second quarter of school, students will begin studying poetry and other literary texts. Please continue supporting your child in completing their 20 minutes of reading and reading log each night!

In math, the students learned how to determine the area of a shape through tiling. The students practiced finding the area of a rectangle as well as drawing rectangles with a given area. The process of finding the area of a rectangle allowed students to see how repeated addition and multiplication are linked together. Students have also learned how to use multiplication and division models to solve story problems and basic facts. The students have been using strategies such as drawing arrays, pictures, or repeated addition to help them with solving these problems.

Within science, students have compared speed and distances of moving objects through various experimentations. The students built a vehicle from given materials in order to test what variables impact speed. Third graders also enjoyed a visit from the Mad Science group, where students were able to create their own forces and motion kit.

In social studies, students learned about services and goods provided by individuals or businesses. Students were able to identify the difference between a service and good. We will switch our focus in the coming weeks to health education. Students will learn about medicine safety, consequences of tobacco use, and how to respond to emergencies.

Within writing, students have been developing an informative piece in correlation to their inquiry project. Each third grade classroom is researching an environmental topic (conserving, recycling, littering) and developing a written work. Students are gathering facts and support in order to educate others on their topic. The students will then present a group project to the other third grade classrooms explaining why it is important for others to take action. The students are very passionate about their research and projects!

Conferences are quickly approaching. We look forward to meeting with each of you and discussing your child’s academic progress on November 12th and November 13th. Thank you for your support and partnership throughout this school year.

Fourth Grade

Fourth graders have been busy at work as we wrap up the first marking period. Our new math unit (Multiplication/Division) will focus on learning multiplication and division facts, fact families, factors of a given number and multiples of a given number. Please help your child study Basic Facts at home every night!

We will begin studying realistic fiction stories in Reading, then move into historical fiction stories. We will also continue reading nonfiction material throughout the marking period.

In addition, all fourth grade students are involved in researching MD geographical regions and economics past and present. Students have been placed in cooperative learning groups and are responsible for working cooperatively together to prepare a report and present information as a group before Thanksgiving break.

We are continuing our science unit on living organisms and have been working on our understanding of ecosystems.

We have a field trip coming up on December 19th to the Smithsonian Museum. This is a wonderful trip, so be sure to mark your calendars now and plan on coming along if possible. We will need many parent volunteers to make this trip happen. Please look for more information after Thanksgiving.

Report cards have been sent home with your child. If you were unable to make your scheduled parent teacher conference, please contact your child’s teacher to make other arrangements.

Thank you for your continued support and help this year. We look forward to seeing you at the conferences.

Fifth Grade

Important Announcements

·  Parent Conferences November 12th and the 13th (Early dismissal will be on both days!)

·  Schools Closed on November 22nd and the 23rd

Parents don’t forget to check your child’s agenda book for their nightly homework assignments. Please confirm your conference day and time with your child’s teacher or schedule one. If a face-to-face conference is not possible for you, then please inform your child’s teacher so that a teleconference can be scheduled. Thank you.

Reading and Language Arts

We are concluding our work with informational texts and will be embarking upon the wonderful world of poetry. Our students will extend their knowledge and usage of such figurative language as metaphors and similes. This will aid them in their efforts towards extrapolating the poet’s meaning. In addition, they will also analyze the poet’s choice of words to discuss the feelings that are evoked in the pieces.

Writing

The students are continuing to write for personal expression, but filtered with poetry. Our students will incorporate many literary devices such as alliteration and onomatopoeia to convey humor and excitement. Each student will become more familiar with various types of poetry and will compose different kinds of samples.

Social Studies

In this discipline, we are focusing on the early history of our country. We are investigating the root causes of the French/Indian and the Revolutionary War. Our students will develop their understanding of the various taxes and frustrations that led the colonists toward war as well as study the struggles of how the settlers began to build a new nation that would eventually become the preeminent global power.

Math

In math, we are concluding our first (and longest) unit. We will begin our unit on geometry where we will initially focus on plane figures such as rays, angles, triangles, various 2D polygons, and congruency. For the second portion of this unit, we will investigate 3D figures, including their characteristics such as their number of vertices, edges, and faces.

Science

We have been studying force, motion, and energy in this discipline. After we bring this unit to a close, we will begin our next exciting unit on electricity and magnetism. In this unit, our students will investigate the basic properties of electricity and magnetism, such as electrons, positively and negatively charged ions; principles of attraction and repulsion; and how to construct electro-magnets.