The Ross Report   December 11, 2009

Please send your child to school in appropriate outerwear.  Just a sweatshirt, sweater, or fleece doesn’t provide enough protection from the cold temperatures and wind during recess.  We will go outside at temperatures 32 degrees and above.  The children are already sharing with me that they are too cold.  If you need assistance in getting outerwear for your child this winter, please contact Mr. Sembello, the school counselor at 951-5700.

December 18^th Menu

Toasted Cheese

Chicken Nuggets

Chef Salad (if ingredients are available)

Literacy Block

Word Study:

The last word sort for 2009 went home on Thursday. The students have word study homework almost every day.  Day 4 homework is expected in writing from all students on Wednesday next week.  I was very pleased with the number of students who turned in their Day 4 homework this week.

Reading:

This week we read a realistic fiction story called “Big, Bushy Mustache.”  It is about a young boy who gets to wear a mustache in a school play about Cinco de Mayo.  He puts the mustache in his pocket to take home and loses it on the way.  He tries different ideas to fix his problem.  Finally, his mother and father help him out in an unusual way.  We focused on new vocabulary, problem solving, predicting, inferring, and the sounds of -ed.  Please remember that 20 minutes of reading at home is expected at least five days a week.

Writing:

We love working as writers.  Our class has no shortage of story ideas.  Unfortunately, our writing time has been cut a bit short because of very lengthy science lessons.  Our schedule will return to normal at the end of this science unit.

 Math

We have continued to work on Unit 5.  This week we learned about the characteristics of a polygon, the names of polygons, points, and line segments. A polygon is a closed figure with straight sides and no crossing or retracing parts. 

Science

We are continuing our Force and Magnetism unit.  We are using a new program called Seeds of Science, Roots of Reading.  It is a program that integrates reading and science skills through the use of scientific investigation. We wrote our first scientific explanation with evidence to support the statement: A force is a push or a pull.

So far we have learned these key concepts:

·          A force is a push or a pull.

·          Forces act between two objects.

·          Magnets attract some metal objects

·          Magnets do not attract objects that are not made of metal.

·          Magnetic force can act from a distance.

We have learned and used the following vocabulary words in our discussions:

·          forces    

·          scientists

·          evidence

·          observe

·          investigate

·          predict

·          attract

Dates to Remember:

December 21^st-January 1^st – Winter Break/No School!

January 4^th – Back to school!

January 15^th – End of 2^nd report period

The Ross Report can also be read on-line by going to schoolnotes.com and typing in our zip code (24060) and then clicking on Mrs. Ross.

Happy Hanukkah! 

Holly Ross                      

hross@mail.mcps.org