Week of 9-13
Remember Parent/Teacher Conferences are Monday, November 9th. My time is very limited, so I will have to keep each meeting only ten minutes. If you feel that you need to talk to me about your child's progress for a longer period of time, please schedule a meeting with me during my planning 8:30-9:15 or after school beginning at 3:15.
There is no school on Wednesday, November 11th in honor of Veteran's Day.
Please help your child make an art project using recycled material. Our school is focusing on recycling with our Go Global initiative. Once the art project is completed, please send it to school.
Because of excessive absences, I will be sending a letter home about make-up work. I understand that many students have been very ill, but getting the work together and sending it down to the table first thing in the morning is taking quite a bit of time. Please look for the letter to come home. I will attach the letter on this page, so you can read it here if you don't receive a copy tomorrow.
Please look for graded papers to come home the first day of the week. Occasionally, the papers will be a day later, but if that occurs, I will let you know. Many students aren't bringing back papers that need to be signed.
The Bridge to Terabithia is the book the class will be reading for the month of November. Students will create a brochure during school for their book report this month. The Reading Counts quiz is due on November 19th. The quiz is due earlier, so the students will have time to complete their brochures during school by November 30th.
Students should be working on Just the Facts on First in Math. I will be taking a grade on the multiplication and division portion of Just the Facts each week until the entire class achieves mastery.
If you would like to place a book order from Scholastic, you can do so online now. I will be sending a paper home that has all of the necessary information for you to do online ordering. The most recent order was shipped with several books either missing or damaged. As soon as I get the replacement books, I will be sending them home.
- Popcorn will be sold on Wednesday. It is fifty cents.
- Our specials are at 8:30. They are as follows: Monday--PE, Tuesday--Computer Lab, Wednesday--No School, Thursday--Music, Friday--PE
Math--We will be focusing on Algebra again this week along with review of multiplication. I will be taking a grade on the section on First in Math called Just the Facts. The students should continue practicing until they achieve at least an 90% on each section. We will continue doing review every morning along with an assessment every Friday. There will be a Math 4 Today assessment this week on Friday. The students have their assessment, so if you would like to review it with your child before Friday, please do so. The assessment must be completed on Friday during school, so when reviewing, please don't have the child write the answers on the assessment.
Reading--"The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" is our story this week. We will be doing vocabulary on Monday, and it will be due on Thursday. For vocabulary, students will write a synonym for each vocabulary word and use the vocabulary word in a sentence. They will complete the Reading Practice Book page for vocabulary, and I will collect that page along with the vocabulary. This is always a recorded grade.
The genre is poetry.The skill we will be focusing on this week is sequencing. Please encourage your child to use his or her book during the test on Friday. I always give open book Reading tests.
Language--We will be concentrating on prepositions and subject-verb agreement. The students will have a list of prepositions they will make a poem using, and there will be a quiz on prepositions on Friday. We will continue working on essay writing this week and using strong verbs and good transitions. The students will complete their personal narratives on Monday and will begin writing an expository essay on Tuesday. Students' peer edit the essays and make suggestions along with highlighting the skills we are working on during the week. We will be typing the essays on Writing Roadmap when the students have completed their essays during class.
Spelling--Lesson 11, we will have a pre-test on Monday. If a student makes a 100% on the pre-test, he or she will be exempt from the test on Friday. Spelling words can be located on Spelling City. There are games your child can play on Spelling City to reinforce how to spell the words for this week. Please encourage your child to practice his or her words on Spelling City.
Science--We will begin a project titled the Resilient Planet, and students will be working on research about ecosystems and how to help preserve them. Students will be given a mission to complete. The first mission the students will be working will include the following:
Understand the dynamics of ecology
Explain how limiting factors influence and carry capacity
Compare and contrast the major ecosystems of the world
Describe the processes of photosynthesis and chemosynthesis
Trace the flowof energy through an ecosystem
Discover how abiotic factors are distributed, stored, and recycled on the planet
Explain how abiotic and biotic factors influence the ecosystem.
Social Studies--Please check Mrs. Hatfield's schoolnotes page.
