*Social Studies test will be on Monday, November 2!

October 26-30, 2015

General Announcements:

• This week is our Book Fair at Brock’s Gap.  Students were given Book Fair flyers last week that indicated some of the books that can be purchased.  Students can go to the Book Fair before school beginning on Tuesday IF they have money to purchase something.  Our homerooms will go to the Book Fair on Wednesday.
• This week is Red Ribbon Week at Brock’s Gap. Today was WEAR RED day (also bring a canned good for the Firehouse Shelter); Tuesday will be PJ DAY; Wednesday will be SUPERHERO Day; Thursday will be THROWBACK THURSDAY; Friday will be PINK OUT DAY.  Students are allowed to dress up each day, but they will need to stay in dress code.
• In honor of our Veterans during the month of November, and in conjunction with our Veterans Day Program on Tuesday, November 10 at 8:45 A.M., we are asking for you to please donate unopened, travel- size toiletries that will be presented to the VA Hospital in Birmingham for Veteran patients and for the homeless Veterans program. We will have boxes in the lobby from Monday, November 2 thru Friday, November 13, 2015.
• A Sign-Up Genius came home for things we will need on Friday. We plan on having some "Fall Fun" on this day.
• Help Student Council “Scare Away Cancer” on Friday, October 30th by wearing PINK! We will be collecting money to make a donation to a local foundation that is passionate about finding a cure for Breast Cancer. Any amount will be accepted, but we are asking that each student at BGIS bring in at least a $1 donation. Thank you in advance, Student Council
• Please check your child’s grades from time to time on INOW.  

Important Dates for This Week

10/26:  Tombstone projects were due today

10/27:  PJ Day.  Your choices are the key to your dreams!

10/28:  Superhero Day.  Be someone’s hero and stand up to bullying and drugs.

10/28: Watson and Williams homeroom visit the book fair today

10/29:  Throwback Thursday. We will “throw drugs” back.

10/30:  Pink Out Day.  Scare away drugs, bullying, and cancer.  Promote healthy bodies.

Important Curriculum Dates

10/30:  DOL Test in Language Arts

10/29:  Cold Read Assessment in Language Arts

Looking Ahead

11/10:  Veteran’s Day program at Brock’s Gap at 8:45 a.m. (a letter was sent home last week about this)

Curriculum News:

Math:

**Math: During the middle of last week, I noticed some misconceptions and gaps by the students, concerning volume. I retaught those items last week and today. Tomorrow, I am giving them a retake of a previous test. I believe that we were able to make some strides in understanding some of the material that I did not do a good job teaching, earlier. Starting Wednesday, we will begin our new unit on fractions.
homework: Math Computation and IXL (due on Friday)
test: Tuesday on volume

Science:

**Science:  We have begun our look at energy transfer, starting with the sun. We are currently discussing how plants are producers of their own food. We will eventually understand and model food chains and food webs that show this transfer of energy from the sun to consumers (humans). This week, we will experiment and look for evidence or photosynthesis by trying to locate stored energy (starch) in plant cells.  

homework: None tonight

Language Arts:

**Reading:  We are continuing our study of the passage, “Trapped By the Ice.”  There will not be a reading comprehension test over the passage.  On Thursday, we will be have a “cold-read assessment.”  This means that the students will be given a passage they have not read and will answer questions about the passage.  

**Reading Log-These will be sent home on Monday and will be due on Friday.  Please reiterate the importance of answering each question asked, writing in complete sentences, and reading back through their writing to check for errors.
Homework: Reading Log due on Friday

**Language/Language IXL-  We are beginning Week 8 in DOL. Our focus will continue to be on verbs. Students will be given a DOL test on Friday.
Homework: IXL must be completed by Friday, but time is given to work on this in class

**Writing-  We will start Informative writing the 1st week of November.

Social Studies:

**We will continue our study of Colonial America this week.  A study guide came home today.  We will have a test sometime next week. I will update the blog when I decide when we will be ready.
Homework: Study for Social Studies test

                   

We hope everyone has a great week!