December 7-11, 2015

General Announcements:

• It is hard to believe that the semester is almost over and we have 2 weeks left until the holidays! Time is flying by!
• Please reinforce with your children that they need to finish the semester strong, as we are doing the same at school! We are proud of the growth we have seen in each child and can't wait to see how far they go by the end of the year!

• Please continue to collect Box Tops for our school.  Every box top equals money for our school!
• We are working on plans for a Holiday celebration with the students. We will let you know the details as soon as we have them ironed out.

• Please check your child’s grades from time to time on INOW.  

Important Curriculum Dates

• Wednesday, December 9th:  Reading/Vocabulary Test “In the Time of the Drums”

• Tuesday, December 8th: Social Studies Test (open notes)
• Friday, December 11th:  Week 13 DOL Test; Reading logs due; IXL due
• Friday, December 11th: Quiz on adding and subtracting fractions

Looking Ahead

• Thursday, December 10th: Classroom Geography Bee
• Monday, December 14th: Tacky Holiday Wear/Holiday Concert Assembly
• Tuesday, December 15th:  Reading/Vocabulary Test “Stray"

Curriculum News:

Math News:

**Math- In math, we will continue with adding and subtracting fractions, but within the context of word problems. We will also move into adding and subtracting mixed numbers and irregular fractions.
homework: Math Computation and Improper Fractions and Mixed Number Problems

Science and Math Tabs- Links to websites and games have been added. Just click the type of link you are looking for, and it should direct you to some helpful activities. 

Science News:

**Science- We are looking towards being a classroom of problem solvers as we focus on our next set of standards. We will be looking at ways that we can design and test methods for cleaning up accidents and disasters in our environment. This week we will talk about pollution and its many forms, then we will design ways to help reduce one form of pollution. At the end of this experiment, they will get to test their ideas.
homework: None

Science and Math Tabs- Links to websites and games have been added. Just click the type of link you are looking for, and it should direct you to some helpful activities. 

Language Arts News:

**Reading-  We started a new reading passage last week titled, “In the Time of the Drums.”  We are working on sequencing events and also remembering to quote accurately from a text.  Our test will be Wednesday, December 9th. We will begin a new passage called “Stray” on Thursday. This will be the last passage before the Holidays.

homework: comprehension test on Wednesday on the story, "In the Time of the Drums"

**Vocabulary: Students received new vocabulary words last Wednesday.  A test with these words will be on Wednesday.

homework: vocabulary test Wednesday; make sure activities are ready to be turned in (Monday-write sentences; Tuesday-illustrate words)

**Reading Log-Reading Logs came home today and will be due on Friday.

homework: logs due on Friday

**Language/Language IXL-  Our focus this week is using commas and quotations. We will also review when to underline or use quotation marks in titles.  The test will be on Friday, December 11th.

homework: IXL due on Friday; DOL test on Friday-look over what we go over in class each night

Social Studies:

We are wrapping up our studies of the causes of the American Revolution.  The study guide for the test will be the notes that they have taken in class, on their graphic organizer. This will be an open note test. At the end of this week, students will complete a digital storytelling project on a cause of the American Revolution.  Details to come.  Our in-depth study of the American Revolution will begin after our holiday break.  

homework: look over/be familiar with the study guide for the test tomorrow

                   

We hope everyone has a great week!