Are You a Math Magician? BY: Noah Carrasco - Baby's First Year

R U T H L . C H A F F E E S C H O OL
I N S I D E T H I S
I S S U E :
Meet Miss
Salomone
Interview with
Ms. McBride
Exciting Rocks
& Minerals
2
3
3
Music Lessons 4
Teachers’
Corner
4
Just For Fun 5
4th Grade Globe
V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
Are You a Math Magician?
BY: Noah Carrasco
The 4 th graders at the Ruth L. Chaffee
Elementary School have been developing
their math skills through the process
of rounding and estimating. Mrs.
Dickinson, Ms Grimaldi, Ms. Lux and
Ms. McBride are incorporating some
fun teaching techniques through interactive
activities. One fun way Ms. Grimaldi
demonstrated this was by assigning
her students the ‘Jar Project’.
The assignment was to be completed
at home by having each student take
any size jar and filling it with objects
such as beans, marbles, candies, etc.
Before filling his/her jar each student
had to take an accurate count of his/
her objects and record this number on
a teeny piece of paper and tape it to
the inside of the jar’s lid before sealing
the jar.
The students brought their filled jars to
class and were given a recording
sheet where they had to record the
other students names, the object used
and their individual estimate of how
many objects were in each of their
classmate’s jars.
The purpose of the ‘Jar Project’ was
for the students to apply the skills that
they had been taught in the classroom
and allow them to enjoy a hands on
and fun lesson.
N O V E M B E R , 2 0 1 0
The 4 th graders used some interesting
objects for the project. Some of the
objects used were acorns, gems,
Legos, and coins. The jar containing
the most objects was submitted by
Omar. Omar filled his jar with 1,547
pieces of dried pasta, WOW!
The ‘Jar Project’ was a success and
definitely a FUN way to learn.
Other students explored the purpose
of rounding & estimating by interviewing
their teachers. The objective for
this was for the students to gain a better
understanding of the processes
and how they are applied in our lives.
All in all the 4 th graders at the Ruth L.
Chaffee Elementary School are gaining
valuable knowledge in math and
learning that you don’t need to be a
“Math Magician” in order to apply
what you’re being taught. Most of all ,
learning can be fun!
See page 5 to test your rounding skills.

P A G E 2
Welcome
Ms.
Salomone!
4 T H G R A D E G L O B E
Meet Miss Salomone
By: Brianna and Joseph
Miss Salomone is a student
teacher in Mrs. Dickinson’s
room. She grew up in Watertown,
CT. When she was in
high school, she moved to New
York. When she graduated college,
she moved to Newington,
CT. Last year Miss S. worked
as an intern in a Glastonbury
elementary school. She took
graduate classes at night and
taught in the day.
Miss S. wanted to teach school
because she loves children and
also loves working with teachers.
She would like to teach any
grade at any school in Newington.
Miss. S. loves to teach social
studies. When we first met her
she taught us social studies for
the entire month of September.
Miss. S. loves the school. She
loves all the teachers and kids at
our school. She shares ideas and
lessons with the other fourth
grade teachers. Miss. S always
helps the children when they are
stuck.
Miss. S is a great student teacher.
She is smart and caring. That is
why we love her!
Happy Reading!
Enjoy Our First Edition!

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1 P A G E 3
Interview with Ms. McBride
by Andrew and Delilah
Ms. McBride is a new fourth grade
teacher at Ruth L. Chaffee School.
Another student and I interviewed her.
This is what we concluded when we
put the facts together:
Ms. McBride grew up in Newington
and as a kid she went to John Patterson
Elementary School. After that she
went to John Wallace Middle School.
After she graduated middle school,
she went to Newington High School.
Then she went to school at Southern
CT State University. After that she
went to the University of Hartford and
received her Master’s Degree.
Upon finishing college, Ms. McBride
got her first teaching assignment in
New Britain. She taught kindergarten
for 1 year and then taught 4th grade
Exciting Rocks & Minerals
By Jason & Srikar
What is the mystery of rocks and minerals?
You will learn it in this article. One way to
identify minerals is by streak and hardness.
One of the hardest minerals is diamonds
which is used to cut steel. There is
powder left on the minerals. You can see it
if you rub it on a white tile. Minerals combine
together to form a new rock. They can
be any shape, size and color on minerals
like quarts, feldspar, mica, talc, diamond,
and apatite. Let’s find out about rocks.
There are three kinds of rocks. There are
for 1 year in New Britain too.
Then she came to Ruth L. Chaffee
and she is teaching 4th grade here
today.
Now Ms. McBride loves her new
class. She has found out that her favorite
subject to teach at Ruth L.
Chaffee School is writing. She likes to
teach writing because there are so
many different types of writing and
you can get creative with it. Ms.
McBride is a very nice teacher. I know
this because we are students in her
class. She is very supportive and will
help you when you are stumped.
Welcome to Ruth
L. Chaffee School,
Ms. McBride!
igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Let’s
learn how igneous rock is formed. Lava reaches
the surface of the earth and cools down and
becomes igneous rock. Sedimentary rock is
formed when sand and rock are layered in the
bottom of any body of water then the water
pushes it down and forms into sedimentary
rock. Metamorphic rock is formed when sedimentary
and igneous rock is changed by the
temperature and the pressure underground.

P A G E 4
Music is
Fun!
Music Lessons
By Mara Klin
4 T H G R A D E G L O B E
Music lessons are finally happening!
Many fourth graders are
playing instruments here at
Chaffee. This means fourth graders
have to be responsible. Students
will need to make good
practice habits, keep their instruments
in a safe place and remember
to bring them to school
on their lesson day. Lessons are
great. We learn something new
every time we go to lessons. Mr.
Balling, our music teacher, is
very nice. He teaches us very
well. Every student who plays
goes to the music room and
meets with the group they are
Teachers’ Corner
Welcome to our first edition of
the 4th Grade Globe. We are excited
to share the students’
learning with you. Each month
our goal is to publish a new edition
of our newsletter. Two students
from each of the fourth
grade classes will be our reporters,
editors and photographers.
We will have eight different students
each month. To be Green
in. The lessons are organized
and he fits in everyone who
plays an instrument. Music lessons
are very important. We
learn something new every time
we go. If fourth graders practice,
they can make it perfect. Mr.
Balling is teaching us about the
notes so we can learn them. Also,
Mr. Balling encourages us to
play great music. Good luck to all
the fourth graders with playing
their new instrument and learning
to make great music!
we are going to post the newsletter
on the Ruth Chaffee Web
site. If you still would like a paper
copy please contact your child’s
teacher. Your comments are always
welcome.
Fourth Grade Teachers
Mrs. Kimberly Luiz, K-4 Explore
Mrs. Terri Buganski, K-8 Computer
Resource Teacher

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1 P A G E 5
Just for fun
Picture from: http://sekolahcikal.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/funmath.jpg
What is 33 rounded to the nearest ten?
10
20
30
40
What is 4,086,780 rounded to the nearest hundred?
4,
10
0,
00
0
4,
08
6,
60
0
4,
08
6,
80
0
4,
08
6,
70
0
What is 3,563,039 rounded to the nearest thousand?