A common, yet effective option for establishing and

maintaining communication with parents and caregivers is

through newsletters. Here, you will see two examples of
newsletters that I have created and sent home for 1st and
5th grade students. The newsletters I wrote, provided
reminders of important dates and events coming up, but
more importantly they served as a way to inform
parents/caregivers on what the students had been working
on over the past month or week. I showcased major content
areas such as reading/writing, mathematics, social studies
and science. I made a point to highlight the amazing
progress and success we were having, but also took the
time to encourage parents to ask their children about what
we had learned, as well as reinforce some necessities such
as homework completion, and reading group duties.

Newsletters can be very impersonal, so one way I have
balanced this, has been through direct notes to and from
home and school. My 5th grade students were all assigned
"Home-School Notebooks". These notebooks acted as a
preliminary agenda, and traveled to and from school. The
students were required to get their notebooks signed by their
caregiver. Each time the notebook left one setting for
another, caregivers and I had the opportunity to write any
questions, comments, or concerns to the other.

When I write my newsletters my primary goal is to keep
everybody informed so the caregiver and I are on the same
page in terms of curriculum and the larger class
setting. When I write to a caregiver personally, my goal is to
inform the parent about their child. Through these two
communication tools, I have been successful in
strengthening the home-school connection, thus promoting
education beyond the school setting.

Week 29






This week in room 215 has been very eventful! We have
started a new math unit, finished a portion of our science
unit with plants, and we have started writing poems
centered on topics that we have really big feelings about!
The biggest change though, has been the introduction of
Dinosaurs! All week our read aloud books have focused on
answering questions the kids have been asking about
dinosaurs. We know an incredible amount already, and we
will continue to learn more as we prepare for the fieldtrip to
the Museum of the Earth!

In other news, I (Mr. C) will be leaving next week due to the
winding down of my Graduate Program. My time at Cayuga
Heights has gone by so quickly, but it has been so amazing.
The children have taught me a tremendous amount, and
they are an amazing bunch. Thank you for the opportunity
to get to know such a fantastic group of children, and I wish
you and them the best of luck in second grade!


This week in Room 215...
Reading
-Word Work: A new word was added to our word wall very. New word works
practice writing 7-word sentences and practicing writing and using the words very,
over, your, its.
-Art: This week, we have painted and cut out Tyrannosaurus-rex papers that stand
Good News
From
Mrs. McKees Class
G
o
o
d

N
e
w
s

f
r
o
m
M
r
s
.

M
c
K
e
up on their own!
-Read to Self: Reading groups and independent reading have continued.
-Poetry: Our new poem this week is "May Time Magic by Mabel Watts


Read Aloud: All of our read alouds have been about Dinosaurs!
Writing
We have continued working with poetry
We have started writing about things we have Big Feelings about.
We practiced remembering with our sense
We are continuing to use the List Poem structure



Math
We have started a new unit with Numbers up to 40!
We have just started to learn about the base-ten system and place
value. We know all about the ones place and the tens place

Science
We have continued being botanists by observing our wheat, rye
grass, sunflowers, alfalfa and garlic plants!
We learned why alfalfa doesnt grow back when it is cut! The leaves
are gone and no sunlight is absorbed!
We took time to learn the National Flowers of the different countries
represented in our classroom! Now we know some fun facts about the
Dahlia, Rose, Ceibo, Lotus, Rose of Sharon, and Tulips!

Other News
Our class is now at a total of 19. A friend has moved away. We were sad to learn
he moved, but we wish him luck at his new school.

Dates to Remember
We have some exciting Fridays to look forward to in
May! We will have theme days on each of the Fridays in
May as a whole school community. The first is next Friday,
students are encouraged to wear blue (our school
color). There will be more information about the other days
coming soon!

May 2: bulldog blue
May 9th: school kindness
May 16: pajama day
May 23: go green
May 30: reading marathon

Barley Bulletin
Friday News from Room 308
BJM Elementary School
Christine Barley
Friday February 28, 2014
Important Dates:
March 6
th
: School Wide Morning Program
March 8
th
: BJM One Human Family Dance

March 19
th
: Science Fair





Mathematics
We have just started a new unit on
decimals! The unit focuses on
decimals up to the thousandths
place, or the 3
rd
decimal place as
we have called it. Throughout the
upcoming weeks we will be learning
how to order and compare
decimals, convert decimals to
fractions, add and subtract whole
numbers with decimals, and
multiply and divide decimals by
whole numbers.

We have received brand new math
workbooks, textbooks and Math
Boxes for this unit. Math Boxes
will be due daily but time has been
permitted during class for
students to accomplish the
necessary work. So far, we have
kept a great pace with the Math
Boxes and many students are
already ahead!

Reading
We finished with our literature
groups just before break ended. I
was very impressed by how
insightful everyone was as we
created theme posters and had in
depth discussions about the
growth of the characters. Even
more impressive is that students
consistently made connections
between their literature group
books and our Social Studies unit!

As we approach the end of
February, we are transitioning
away from reading and determining
themes in stories, to creating our
very own personal narratives. We
have already practiced our
descriptive writing abilities and we
will be incorporating this strategy
into the narratives. I am looking
forward to reading the interesting
stories everyone is bound to
create!

Social Studies

With our American Revolution unit
at a close, I am pleased to
announce that everyone has a firm
understanding of the major events
that led to the Revolution. During
our last days of the unit, we
worked as a class to create a
comprehensive timeline of the
events leading to the Declaration
of Independence and it came out
beautifully!

Now, we have taken on a new task
during Social Studies: Current
Events. Over the past week we
have asked students to find
current event articles from all
types of sources. Once we finish
summarizing these articles, we are
going to have a mini PowerPoint
workshop. Students will be given
an opportunity to play with
PowerPoint and create some tech-
savy presentations for their
current event articles. Once
everyone has finished their
presentation, we will take turns
sharing and discussing each
current event.

Other
On March 8
th
from 6pm-8pm BJM
is holding a special dance to help
raise money for the 5
th
grade field
trip to NYC!
The dance has a One Human Family
theme, and will feature special
performances, great music and
delicious foods! I encourage you to
join us for a time full of friends,
family and fun.
Should you have any questions or
concerns, please feel free to
contact me. Remember the best
way to share information is to
write me a note in your childs
Home/School Notebook.

Yours;


Mrs. Christine Barley
Mr. Ryan Conklin
Ms. Mary Darcy-Martin