This Week in LL38....

I hope everyone stayed warm this weekend.  It was tough having indoor recess so many times last week after the warm weather the week before.

Immigration- Living Voices
We are very lucky to have a presentation called Living Voices visit Farley tomorrow.  NYC based performer Elizabeth Rainer will present Island of Hope and The New American.  The presentation combines a solo performance from Ms. Rainer along with historical film and sound.  The Island of Hope shares the tale of how one Jewish-Russian family escapes oppression in the old country and sails to a new life in the new world. The New American performance explores the journey of an Irish family from the turmoil of the old country, to the promise of America.  
     This program fits nicely with the immigration unit that we are finishing up in class.  It will be fun to talk with the kids about the different perspectives of the immigrants as they came to America!

Math Workshop
We are moving on to comparing fractions on a number line.  We spent some time last week thinking about benchmark fractions that we will be able to use to compare fractions.  Ask your child what he/she learned about comparing fractions to one benchmark, 1/2.  We will continue to practice comparing fractions with like denominators this week.  If you are trying this out at home, it will be important for your child to "talk out" his/her thinking around where the fractions belongs on the number line.  Having discussion around your child's reasoning will be very helpful for your child as we move forward.  You can do this by having your child answer the question "why do you think that?"  

Writing Workshop
      The students worked hard at adding to their narratives.  They are working toward their deadline of this Friday to have their story completed.  We will spend some time this week working on revising and editing.  It was great to see the kids working so hard towards achieving their writing goals.  Ask your child what his/her goal is and what he/she is doing to work towards meeting that goal!  Next week the kids will share their stories as published authors!

I hope everyone has a great week!
~Jen