Quick Announcements

Just a few more things to get you up to speed!

• Return the February calendar for Fargo Force minutes! March will be our last month, and we want to finish strong!!!
• March is also REDHAWKS READING month. Students can "double dip" with their minutes for both reading incentive programs. For Redhawks, students will earn a different prize each week. Weekly prizes are completed by reading 200 minutes. Each week that students meet their goal they earn a base
• 1st = Pizza Hut personal pan pizza
• 2nd = Subway 6 inch sub
• 3rd = Redhawks poster
• 4th = Free DQ Blizzard & a free ticket to a Redhawks Game
• As in baseball, you can't get to second if you haven't gone to first. So students need to be sure to be tracking their reading daily and bringing in their tracking sheets every MONDAY!
• March is reading month, and to celebrate here is what we're doing the next few days:
• Wednesday - Hat's off to reading, wear your silliest hat!
• Thursday - turn off the television and read!
• Friday - Cozy up with a good book! Wear your pjs to school!
• Tuesday (the 12th) - Read with a family member
• Wednesday - Reading is EVERYWHERE! Wear a readable t-shirt.

I'm sure you've noticed that mastering multiplication and division is taught very differently now than when we were all in school. Many of us are the product of the "drill and kill" method of mastering facts, and many of us grew up without a true understanding of what multiplying really meant, or we figured it out on our own later. Thankfully students are taught and encouraged to understand strategy prior to memorizing nowadays. We have spent tons of time discussing strategies for multiplying, and boy can our kiddos figure out problems. (ie: 2x4 is the same as 4+4. 2s facts are the same as doubles in addition! 4x4 is the same as (2x4) x2. Multiplying by 4 is the same as doubling a double!) Now that we have such a great understanding of what it means to multiply (combine equal groups) and divide (share equally), we just need to practice them to get them quick and fast. In this we need your help!  Be sure to practice multiplication and division facts at home 3-4 times each week until your child can use strategies quickly! Be creative! Make it active! There are also games online, apps for phones and ipads, etc, and don't forget to utilize the time you spend driving around quizzing any fact you can thinking of!