McNab Matters March/April 2014

Russell Schwartz, Principal Clarice Johnston, Assistant Principal

Calendar of Events Mar. 3: SAC meeting 2:15pm

Mar. 6: Kindergarten RoundUp

Mar. 6: PDQ Family Night 5pm

Mar. 13: Spring Pictures

Mar. 18: Book Exchange

Mar. 20: Early Release Day

Mar. 21: Teacher Planning

Mar. 24-28: Spring Break

Mar. 31 Return to Class

April 7: SAC meeting 2:15pm

April 10: School Tour 8:30 am

April 10: McDonald’s Family

Night 5pm

April 17: Dolphin’s Dolfit Day

April 21- 30: FCAT 3rd-5th

McNab Families, It is amazing that it is already spring! During your spring break, remember to take the time to relax and enjoy the company of family and friends. The end of the school year is fast approaching and will prove to be demanding on students, teachers, and parents. Use spring break to rest and prepare for the final weeks of school. We are excited for our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills on the FCAT Writing (4th grade only), Reading, Math, and Science (5th grade only) tests. FCAT dates are April 21st – 30th. We are all very proud of the academic growth of all of our students!!! Please remember that safety is essential at McNab. Students should never walk through a line of traffic without an adult walking with them. Drop off is in our car rider loop. Parents who park (or walk) to drop off their children should stay with them until they are safely on a sidewalk that leads directly to the front gate. Students should never be dropped off in the bus/teacher lot and then let out to walk through the lot unattended. Thank you. Also, McNab participated in a successful lockdown drill and a statewide tornado drill during February. If you eat lunch on campus, I would like to remind you that you should only be sitting and interacting with your own child(ren). It is important that we maintain an environment that students feel comfortable and that supports the work that faculty and staff puts in with each student. Enjoy your March/April and remember that we always welcome your questions, concerns and feedback. Thank you. Mr. Russ Schwartz

The Character Trait for March is SELF-CONTROL

• the ability to exercise restraint or control over one's feelings, emotions, reactions, etc.

The Character Trait for APRIL is

TOLERANCE • a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and

practices that differ from one's own.

KeepingUpwithKindergarten

During the month of March we experienced our fieldtrip to the farm at Tradewinds Park. The students were excited about seeing the farm animals, singing funny songs with Uncle Shelly, meeting Mrs. Wishy Washy, and searching for the mischievous Peter Rabbit. Back at school, we will use this experience to enrich and extend our study of animals. In mathematics, two-dimensional shapes, sides, parallel sides, vertices and corners will be our area of study. Then we move on to the study of three-dimensional shapes. Look for examples of spheres, cubes, and cylinders in your home and community. Of course, the students will continue to work with the numbers 0 to 20 (addition and subtraction), as well as solve word problems. As we move into the month of April, we will continue to explore the four seasons, weather, plants, and the water cycle. Beginning March 10th through March 19th, the students in Mrs. Ernst’s, Mrs. Ross’s, and Mrs. Shubert’s classes will participate in the Swim Central program for free swimming lessons to promote water safety, which is vital in our South Florida environment. The second session for the students in Ms. Dilione’s, Mrs. Hudanich’s, and Mrs. Yontef’s classes will run March 31st though April 11th. Please check your child’s backpack for information and permission forms for this free swim safety program. Most importantly, enjoy reading with your child each evening. Help your little reader to identify the main idea and key details of a story. Play a fun game of saying all the rhyming words that you can think of such as, cat, sat, hat; bet, net, pet; cot, pot, hot; pit, sit, hit, etc. Young children love to play with words that rhyme! Make it a fun time of reading together!

Phenomenal Fourth Grade We would like to start out by congratulating our students for their hard work and superior effort on the FCAT Writes test. These wonderful writers gave it their all and we are extremely proud of them. One down…two to go! We are continuing to prepare our students for the upcoming Reading and Math FCAT tests. During the next few weeks we will be focusing on Main Idea and Details, as well as Elements of Nonfiction in our reading series. Don't forget that Scholastic News is a great resource for reinforcing these skills with your child at home. In Math, our students continue to work hard with Fractions and Decimals and into Big Idea 3 with a focus on Area and Geometry. Helping your child at home counting money will also help with decimals and fractions. Our students will continue on their expedition into the History of Florida. Our trip to The Stranahan House was wonderful and the students enjoyed seeing first hand many of the things we had learned about Frank and Ivy Stranahan and their impact on our community. We are working on our next trip into the wild Everglades! We hope that your family enjoys Spring Break! Please remind your children to keep up with their reading each day and to log onto BEEP for Math Intervention/Animated Math Models, Megamath, and FCAT Explorer! The testing this year is a combination of FCAT and the new Common Core curriculum.

Please refrain from using your cell phones when dropping off and

picking up your students from school in the car loop. It takes all of us to

keep the children safe!

Terrific Third Grade It’s hard to believe March is upon us. We are beginning our rigorous preparation for FCAT. We are reading stories and reviewing skills and strategies to maintain and strengthen our comprehension skills. In Math, we are completing fractions and beginning to learn geometry, measurement – customary units of measure and the metric system. We will also be learning to tell time to the quarter hour and minute, and elapsed time (on a clock & a calendar). Some important things to remember: please make sure you are READING every night at least 30 minutes (silently and out loud) both of these are vitally important. Daily Reading is crucial to improve and maintain progress in comprehension and fluency. Remember to have a few chapter books with you to read over spring break. Don’t forget to study for your West Region states and capitals test, which is on March 6th. Please also remember to access WWW.FCATEXPLORER.COM, BEEP, our Math online textbook, and any other learning web sites at home to reinforce skills learned at school. Daily practice of all basic math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) is important to increase speed and accuracy. Parents, we rely on your help at home to make sure your child/children are completing their homework and taking care of their daily responsibilities. We look forward to our SEAS field trip to see “GEMS”, an exciting performance of modern pantomime on March 3. FCAT begins the week of April 22. Please get plenty of rest the night before, eat a healthy breakfast, and be on time!!! We know you all will do your very best!!! The third grade teachers want to wish all families a restful Spring Break, and a Happy Easter and/or Happy Passover. THANK YOU for your continued support.

Phenomenal Fifth Grade The students are busy preparing for the FCAT in April and should be going on FCAT Explorer at home to review as much information as possible before the test. We have moved into BIG IDEA 3 in our GO math series, which consists of graphs, units of measurement, geometry, and volume. The students will be given a math reference sheet with formulas and conversions to refer to in class, at home, and on the test as well. We have been reading a variety of non-fiction text and are analyzing a lot of the key text features such as captions, headings, graphs and charts. Please encourage your child to read on a daily basis. We are finishing our unit on Weather and will be moving into the Structure of Living Things. We look in depth at each body system, the parts, and the functions. We will then have time to review some of the digital lessons from previous grades to refresh for the test. Please have your child go on BEEP to view them as well. We will be going to JA BizTown on Monday, March 3rd. The students have been working hard in their business groups and are looking forward to the trip. An itinerary letter went home with information regarding the 5th grade field trip to Sea World. We will be collecting cash on Wednesdays only; however, you can pay on-line at any time.

Sensational Second Grade Second Grade is buzzing along! We are deep into 3-Digit Addition and Subtraction with and without regrouping. Next, we will work with time and money. We'll learn to tell time on digital and analog clocks and be able to identify time to the nearest minute, half hour, and hour. Practice at home with sports schedules, home clocks and watches, and favorite TV programs! Our budding scientists have finished a unit on Matter and are now studying Energy. We are learning about it forms, uses, and how the Sun can help provide natural energy. Lots of experiments, research, and digital labs will be used with our unit of study. In Social Studies, we've wrapped up an amazing unit on Native Americans and their culture. We are moving along in history to our immigrants. In this unit we will focus on who immigrants are, where they came from and reasons why they immigrated, and learn how Colonial America came to be. This should prove to be an interesting chapter of study and give students insight to their heritage! Finally, in Reading and Language Arts, we are studying poems, nonfiction pieces, and narratives that are both fictional and nonfictional. We will fine-tune our reading skills with practicing various strategies that help us infer, predict, find evidence from the text to improve our comprehension. Keep up the excellent work and good study habits because it's the path to Third Grade, our ultimate goal. Enjoy Spring Break, but read and write during the vacation to stay fresh. We are very proud of all our Second Graders, keep up the good effort!

Fantastic First Grade Fourth Quarter is fast approaching! Fabulous FirstGrade in almost over! In Math we will finish up theyearwithMeasurement,Graphs,andGeometry,whichincludes two and three‐dimensional shapes. Whew!!Whatayear!WecoveredsomuchinMath!In Reading we will conclude the year reading aboutanimalsandchildrenthatarelearningnewthings.Wewill also read about friends who work together inschool, making art, and playing sports. In April theentire Fabulous First Grade will complete the AnimalHabitat Project. This take‐home project involvesresearchingananimal,recreatingananimalhabitatbydecoratingtheinsideofashoebox.Yourchild’sprojectmustalsoincludeanillustratedcoverpage,afactsheet,a habitat drawingwith labels, and a story about youranimal.WatchtheHomeworkFolderforcompleteanddetailed instructions, which also includes a ProjectRubric to check off to make sure you have all therequired components for the assignment. Wow!Soundspretty grownup. Well, it is! Second grade isright around the corner and so is college for thatmatter. Help your child get off on the right footwiththis opportunity to teach him or her aboutresponsibility, attention to detail, and follow‐through.FunIntheSunisahappydaycomingupinMay. Theentire Fabulous First Grade will go outside to thecourtyardnexttothecafeteriatoplayboardgamesandtossaroundbeachballs.Donatedsnacksofjuiceboxes,bottledwater,andchipswillbeenjoyedbyall.

READING ACROSS BROWARD

All Reading Across Broward forms (Level 1 for Grades K-2; Level 2 Grades 3-5) will be due April 2, 2014. All forms must be filled out with first and last names; your teacher's name and they MUST include a parent, guardian or teacher's signature. To be able to receive a silver, gold or superintendent award, the FIRST five (5) books must be an award-winning book. Please give all forms to your classroom teacher on or before April 2, 2014.

NO LATE FORMS WILL BE ACCEPTED!

Please Remember:

School Starts at 8am and students are marked tardy if they are not sitting in their classrooms ready for instructions at that time. Also, when your child is absent for any reason, please call the front office to excuse them or bring in a doctor’s note if possible. Five unexcused absences cause a five-day letter to be generated by the state attorney’s office and you may have to meet with administration. Thanks for your cooperation!

Don’t forget to wear you McNab Mustangs shirt every Friday to show your

school spirit!!