Mrs. Umberger's website! - Journal

Week of May 18th

5/18/2015

We only have a few weeks left of school and still so much to do! Field day, walking field trips, final assessments, and more!!
This week we will be taking our interim tests as well as some end of the year fluency and skill assessments. Upcoming events to keep in mind...We do not have school next Monday or Tuesday, and Wednesday is Field Day! If your child needs school lunch (Blackjack Pizza) please let me know before the end of the week. Thursday, May 28th is Movie Night and Friday we have our last golden ticket assembly. BUSY WEEK!!
As we prepare for summer, I've had a few families as if I offer tutoring over the summer. If you are interested, I do offer math tutoring for all grades at the public library a few days each week. Please send me an e-mail if you'd like more information! (shannon_umberger@dpsk12.org)

Week of March 23, 2015

3/23/2015

Thank you so much to everyone who donated to, attended, bid, or helped with the auction! The turnout was amazing and it was great to see so many of you there. Thank you for supporting our school!
We are starting new units in both math and science this week, feel free to stop by and see all the changes in our classroom! Our focus this year has been around discourse and getting students to explain their thinking and understanding in math. This is so crucial to helping students really understand how numbers work. We have worked really hard on giving each other helpful feedback. This has really given our class a chance to learn about respect and kindness as it takes time to understand each others reasoning and they have to be patient as they struggle to clarify and understand their thinking. It also benefits all of us by hearing the content verbalized in different ways and not just from me lecturing! We have also worked very hard on creating an environment where we are all risk-takers. Even when a students isn't sure about the work they are doing, they are willing to share it with the class. Often times as they are explaining their work to the class, their thinking changes and they re-evaluate and respond to other students feedback and develop a deeper understanding of the work they are doing. They are blossoming as learners and it has been really exciting to see!
This week in math we are starting our measurement unit. We will be working on a fun activity with our fifth grade math buddies on Thursday to practice measuring in inches and centimeters. They will also be introducing them to measuring area. We will be continuing our study after spring break, but this week our main focus is learning about the difference between the U.S. Customary System and the Metric System. We will be practicing measuring in both, and you will see this on their homework. Their homework isn't due until April 9th, so if you want to relax over break you still can!
In science we are transitioning to science this week to study the life cycles of plants. We started growing some herbs and tomatoes in our classroom AeroGardens. Hopefully when we get back from Spring Break we'll have some little plants to study!
Please remember to turn in your field trip forms the Thursday after we return from Spring Break (Thursday, April 9th). The $10 is not only covering our entrance fee, but bus fees and our Scholastic News subscription. Please let me know if you need a scholarship as I'd hate for a student not to attend! I know many of you have memberships to the botanic gardens, but we specifically picked this date as it's a Discover Day and they will have 11 stations set up for the kids to explore-this only happens one week a year so it will be a new experience they will LOVE!!
Thanks again for all your support in our classroom and school. If you have any question please let me know.

Week of March 2, 2015

3/2/2015

What a week last week was. I know things were very crazy and hopefully this week will turn out to be much less eventful. If you have questions about the lockdown that happened on Tuesday, please check the school website and/or facebook page as there are a few details explaining why.
This week we are continuing our study of fractions! On Friday, we made paper gumball machines to talk about fractions in sets. We are connecting our fractions to the division and multiplication units we have been working on. Our big question for the week is: How are fractions and division similar?
In social studies we will be transitioning to science. Next week we will start focusing on our plant unit. Our big focus is what plants need to survive, how do we use nonfiction resources and how can we compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
This week we have our Play 60 to win assembly at 9:00am on Tuesday, March 3rd. We will also be working with our math buddies again on Monday to celebrate Read Across America Day in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday!
Have a great week!

Week of February 2, 2015

2/2/2015

This week in math we are continuing to learn about multiplication. We have learned a variety of ways that you can show multiplication and strategies for figuring them out. In our classroom we have a large multiplication table that each student has contributed to. They were asked to solve a multiplication problem on an index card and show two different ways they could solve it. We all had a lot of fun adding to it, and most of the students asked if they could do more than one! We aren't quite done, but I anticipate we will be by the end of the week. Feel free to stop in and check it out-if you can't, here is a sneak peek! :)

What else is going on in our classroom? The past few weeks we have had a fire safety assembly, vision and hearing screening and a visit to the smoke trailer to practice fire safety. Both classes are working hard to earn pebbles for a class party. We have had a few compliments in the hallway for our great behavior-I'm sure they are hoping to earn more! Next Tuesday is our 100th day of school. We won't have a large party but we do some fun in class activities around the day (no need to plan a project!). We will, however, be having a Valentine's day party on Friday. We are asking students to decorate their own boxes at home and they can choose to bring cards to pass out to their classmates if they'd like. I will have extra bags in case anyone forgets. You will be getting a class list in homework folders this week if your child would like to address cards. We will be having a breakfast party with a few crafts in the morning!
If you would like to order from the book order this month, please have your order (online or turned in) by February 19th.
Reminders:
Thursday, February 5th is PJ day to raise awareness of homelessness in Denver. Each child may bring in $1 or a can of soup to wear their PJs instead of uniform for the day.

Week of January 19, 2015

1/16/2015

Don't forget that we don't have school on Monday, January 19th in honor of MLK Day. We are continuing our study on multiplication. Your child should have brought home a multiplication flip-book to show some of the strategies we are using to help us solve them. Please ask your child to demonstrate of few of them! Here are the main ones we are using:

Repeated Addition
Skip Counting
Fact Families
Equal Groups
Area Models
Arrays

We are also continuing our study of maps. Some Flat Stanley's have been traveling really far! Thank you for your participation.
Have a great week!

Week of January 12, 2015

1/13/2015

I am so excited for this week! Not only do we have new math groups, but we get to continue our work with multiplication. We have been working with arrays for a few days and will begin repeated addition. I thought we would be able to start it last week, but time flew by and I ended up waiting until this week. We have been watching some BrainPop Jr videos to help introduce multiplication. If your child is struggling on their homework or if they would like to watch them again here is the link:

https://jr.brainpop.com/math/multiplicationanddivision/

The username is: dpsroberts
The password is: dpsbrainpop

Week of January 5, 2015

1/5/2015

It's hard to believe Winter Break is already over! I hope you were able to spend time relaxing and enjoying time with your families. My family was sick a large portion of the time, but it was relaxing nonetheless. I did have some good news over break, as of right now I won't be needing surgery for my leg (yay!) and although I'm not in the clear things have been healing better the past few weeks. I hope for this to continue as I'd rather avoid surgery if possible! I will be out again on Wednesday as I have another xray and appointment for a new cast as well as getting my wheelchair repaired.
Today I was able to spend the day going over data and getting our classroom ready for the new year. It was very strange writing '2015' on the board (and I admit...I didn't write it correctly the first time!). This week I am looking forward to hearing where all of the students Flat Stanley's went on for adventures over break. Don't forget that and the How-To recipes are due on Thursday!! We will be having our potluck NEXT Thursday (Mrs. Jackson will be e-mailing more information about that later this week).
For math we will be starting my FAVORITE unit- multiplication and division! We will be practicing arrays and repeated addition this week and next.
In social studies we are sharing our Flat Stanley adventures! Each day a few students will have the opportunity to share with us their journal entries and show us on our large map where they went. I love hearing about all the fun things you did over break and look forward to all their adventure stories.
We also have a 'Destination Imagination' assembly this Friday. What a fun opportunity for students!

Week of December 8, 2014

12/8/2014

I apologize for the lack of posts over the past few weeks. As many of you have heard, I managed to break my leg over Fall Break. I found myself adjusting to a variety of casts and the website took a back seat.
Over the past week we finished up our money and estimation unit. That's not to say that we won't continue reviewing these important skills over the school year, just that they won't be our main focus for awhile. We have also taken our Winter Interim tests along with our mid-year benchmarks for computation and application. It's hard to believe that Winter Break is just around the corner!!
We have learned a lot about different types of maps, map scales and compasses. We are now reading about the adventures of Flat Stanley. If you are not familiar with the story, here is a quick summary:

"Stanley Lambchop and his younger brother Arthur are given a big bulletin board by their father to display pictures and posters. He hangs it on the wall over Stanley's bed. During the night the board falls from the wall, flattening Stanley in his sleep. He survives and makes the best of his altered state, and soon he is entering locked rooms by sliding under the door, and playing with his younger brother by being used as a kite. One special advantage is that Flat Stanley can now visit his friends by being mailed in an envelope. Stanley even helps catch some art museum thieves by posing as a painting on the wall. "

There are many different adventures that Flat Stanley is in and I have many available in our classroom, but as a class we will only be reading the original story and one other that each class can vote on. Each student has also created their own flat person that they will be taking on an adventure for Winter Break. This will be the only homework that I am asking them to do over the break, and I hope it's a fun one!
Our classroom Flat Stanley has already had his own adventure. On Friday we had our 'Fuel up to 60' assembly. Flat Stanley was able to meet Miles the Broncos mascot with me, Mr. Al and Mrs. Jackson. I can't wait to see all the fun adventures the kids come up with for their flat adventurers!

We will be having a literacy publishing/holiday party next Friday from 12:30pm-1:00pm. More information will be provided next week! We also have our school wide annual Holiday Outreach next Thursday, December 18th. We are working on signing up with our math buddies so that we can work together for our community.
As always, if you have any questions, please let me know. shannon_umberger@dpsk12.org

Week of November 17, 2014

11/16/2014

This past week we transitioned into new units in both math and social studies. We wrapped up our Earth Materials unit and began our maps and geography social studies unit. Before we fully jumped into math we did a fun science experiment called 'Dancing Raisins'. Make sure to check our photo page for lots of pictures we took during the class and talk to your child about what they noticed! We also began working with money and making change in math.
Don't forget that this week we have our schools McDonald's fundraiser on Wednesday night. I'll be working at the 5-6pm shift, so make sure to stop by! There was some info in our Thursday Notes about it this week: Please Join Bill Roberts and our neighborhood McDonald’s to help our school! 15% of ALL sales from this evening will go directly back to Bill Roberts PTA! Tell your neighbors and friends to eat at the Quebec Square McDonald’s on Wednesday, November 19th from 4-8pm to support our school.
Also, now that the weather is starting to get colder in the mornings please make sure that students are going to the cafeteria to meet our class. Students should NOT be walking around the building or in classrooms without before the bell rings.
We also have Fall Break coming up next week. I hope you are all able to spend some relaxing time with family and friends. Take care!

Week of November 3, 2014

11/3/2014

What a busy and fun few weeks we've had since my last post. Last week we met with our fifth grade math buddies and had our Halloween parties (pictures should be up by tomorrow)! I also had the opportunity to meet with most of you to discuss your child's progress so far this school year. If you were unable to make it to our conference days then I will be reaching out to you shortly with a few additional times I am available.
On Wednesday our fifth grade buddies shared some Halloween Safety books they wrote for our class and then helped us with some math word problems. It's hard to believe we are already in November...We only have 13 days of school in November and we have so many things to do! This week we are wrapping up our earth materials unit to get ready for our maps and geography unit. Each year second grade uses Flat Stanley to help us during our map unit. We will begin with reading a few of the Flat Stanley book series along with learning some basic map skills. We will be learning how to address envelopes as well so that we can mail off our Flat Stanley's to family and friends after the holidays. This next week as we prepare, I've sent some extra homework that you will need to help your child complete (we just need you to verify your addresses so we can get our envelopes ready!).
Don't forget that next week we have Monday, November 10th and Tuesday, November 11th off from school. Also coming up soon is our Fall Break the week of November 24th.
Book Orders this month are due on November 13th. For our October order, each student received a free book that was sent home in their homework folders on Friday. This month Scholastic is offering certificates for free books if we place an order over $50 (just in time for the holidays!).
Also, Thursday, November 20th is the annual Thanksgiving dinner. You can purchase tickets at the office to join your child if you would like. Our lunch is from 11:45-12:10pm.
As always, if you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at: shannon_umberger@dpsk12.org

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