January 25-29, 2016

General Announcements:

• Alex is continuing to collect clothing items and recyclables! Please continue to send in items for her drive!
• Please continue to collect Box Tops for our school.  Every box top equals money for our school!
• Girls on the Run registration began on Monday, January 11th.  Find out more about Girls on the Run at www.girlsontherunbham.org.

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

Important Dates for This Week

• Tuesday, January 26:  PTO Meeting/Parent Academy 6-7:30 p.m.  Dr. Kathy Murphy, our Superintendent, will be the key-note speaker.  Childcare will be available.  

Parent Academy Flier.jpg

Parent Academy 2016.pdf

Important Curriculum Dates

• Thursday, January 28th:  Social Studies Test
• Friday, January 29th:  DOL Test/Tween tribune assignment due

• Friday, January 29th:  Point-of-view assessment
• Friday, January 29th- Test on decimals- Rounding, comparing, and perhaps adding.

Looking Ahead

• Tuesday, February 2: BGIS Zaxby's Night
• Tuesday-Thursday (2nd-4th) - Scantron Global Scholar Testing schoolwide (Reading, Math & Science)

Curriculum News:

Math News:

Topics of Study –  
**Math- We are continuing with our math focus with decimals. We are finishing up with place-value, rounding, and comparing decimals this week. We will move into adding decimals and quickly use this knowledge to help us work on subtracting decimals. In the middle of February, we will be working on multiplying and dividing decimals. We created a Math Google Classroom site, and have our first math question for homework.
Homework: Math Computation

Science News:

Topics of Study –   
**Science- We are still engaged with the "stuff" that makes up everything in the universe. We will continue to study matter, and today we began to look at states of matter. This week we will use some hands-on activities to show that matter is conserved, despite it changing a state of matter.
Homework: Google Classroom and finish Experiment #1 conclusion.

Language Arts News:

Topics of Study -

**Reading-  Students will be working together to show what they have learned about Point-of-View.  They will work on their projects this week and present them on Thursday.  There will be an assessment on Friday on Point-of-View. We may also have a Cold-Read Assessment on Friday.

**Continue encouraging your child to read each night! Tween Tribune assignment will be due on Thursday.

**Vocabulary: None this week

**Language/Language IXL-  New DOL/IXL was handed out today. We will have our test on Friday.

Social Studies:

Topics of Study – We are gearing up for our test covering the American Revolution.  We will have our test on Thursday. Please encourage your child to go to our Social Studies blog and study, using the Quizlet link that I attached.  Our next unit will be about establishing a government.   

                   

We hope everyone has a great week!

January 18-22, 2016

General Announcements:

• We hope everyone had a nice, long weekend!
• Alex is continuing to collect items of clothing and recyclables for the 150th day of school project. There are collection boxes on our hallway.
• Please continue to collect Box Tops for our school.  Every box top equals money for our school!
• Girls on the Run registration began on Monday, January 11th.  Find out more about Girls on the Run at www.girlsontherunbham.org.

• Please check your child’s grades from time to time on INOW.  
• We could always use more pencils. If you are out and can grab some to send to school with your child, that would be great! :)

Important Dates for This Week

Important Curriculum Dates

• Friday, January 22--DOL Test Week 16
• Friday, January 22--Tentative date of Point-of-View Reading Assessment
• Friday, January 22-- Decimal Test

Looking Ahead

• Tuesday, January 26:  PTO Meeting/Parent Academy 6-7:30 p.m.  Dr. Kathy Murphy, our Superintendent, will be the key-note speaker.  Childcare will be available.  More details to come.

Curriculum News:

Math News:

**Math- We are just beginning with decimals. One area that I noticed many of our children need to review, is place value. We had focused on decimal place-value, but we will need to review place-value as it pertains to whole numbers. After spending some class-time review this, we will move into rounding fractions and placing them in numerical order. Soon, we will move into adding and subtracting decimals, and then using this knowledge to solve word problems associated with decimals.
Homework: Math Computation

Science News: 

**Science- We have been learning about matter and the "stuff" that everything in our universe is made from. Soon we will look for evidence- through experiments- of matter that we cannot see. In doing these hands-on experiments, we will look for ways to prove its existence. Then, we will move into the characteristics of matter.
Bonus Points: Students can log onto ScienceWorld by Scholastic and use the password "furhorse549" to read any article from any issue. With this interactive magazine, they can summarize the article on at least 3 slides, using Google Slides or PowerPoint. They can share their summary with me on our GoogleClassroom site and recieve 5 bonus points in science.

Language Arts News:

**Reading-  This week we are going to continue our discussion we started last week on point-of-view.  We will look at the difference between point-of-view and perspective.  Even though students do not have a reading log, they should be reading every night each week in order to prepare for the upcoming Book Talk on Fridays.

**Vocabulary: None

**Language/Language IXL-  We began DOL Week 16 today.  A test will be on Friday.  Continue to practice IXL skills each day for extra practice.

Social Studies:

We will wrap up our discussion of the American Revolution and prepare for a test.  Look for study guides to come home this week.  We will have a test on Thursday, January 28th.  

                   

We hope everyone has a great week!

January 11-15, 2016

General Announcements:

• We welcome a few students to our classes! Alli Beth comes to us from Texas, Kiami comes to us from Tuscaloosa and Rahim comes to us from Erwin Intermediate. :)
• We have a student, Alex, who is running a drive collecting items of children's clothing and items to recycle. The clothes can be used, but in good condition. Please send these in as you can. We have large boxes on our hall that will be used to collect these items. Our goal is to have 150 items by the 150th day of school. :) A big thanks goes to her for organizing this event for our hall!
• Please continue to collect Box Tops for our school.  Every box top equals money for our school!
• Girls on the Run registration begins on Monday, January 11th.  Find out more about Girls on the Run at www.girlsontherunbham.org.

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

Important Dates for This Week

• Report Cards went home last week.  Please return one signed copy.

Important Curriculum Dates

• Friday, January 15:  DOL Test/IXL due

• Friday, January 15:  Vocabulary Test
• Friday, January 15:  Math Quiz on Decimals.

Looking Ahead

• Monday, January 18:  No School due to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• Tuesday, January 26:  PTO Meeting/Parent Academy 6-:30 p.m.

Curriculum News:

Math News:

**Math- We are starting decimals this week. We began by connecting our previous knowledge of fractions and place-value to decimals. After discussing and understanding the meaning of decimals, we will move into adding and subtracting them. Ultimately, we will learn not only how to add and subtract decimals, but how to multiply, and divide them. 
Homework: Unit #6 pages 19 and 22 and Math Computation

Science News:

**Science- We are still working on how to read and interpret graphs and data charts. We are specifically focused on our ability to look at patterns in data, and being able to make educated inferences about them. When we finish with this, we will move into dealing with matter. We will look at the characteristics of matter, in addition to volume, density, and mass- the whole time looking for evidence that matter is around us, even when we cannot see it.

Language Arts News: homework: Read!!! Read the Tween Tribune Article and take the quiz by Thursday; Study over DOL/complete IXL for Tuesday; Write sentences with each vocabulary word.

**Reading-  Our focus this week will be to analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities or differences in the point of view that they represent.   We will be reading two articles about Christopher Columbus.  

**Vocabulary: New vocabulary words came home today pertaining to the two Christopher Columbus articles.  A quiz will be on Friday.

**Language/Language IXL-  Our focus this week will be on conjunctions. The skills that are assigned for the students to practice will help them with this.  The test will be on Friday.

Social Studies: This week, we will discuss the Declaration of Independence and the beginning of the war.

                   

We hope everyone has a great week!

January 4-8, 2016

General Announcements:

• Happy New Year! We hope you and your family had a wonderful time enjoying the holidays together! It was great to have the kids back and to hear all of their stories of their time off!
• Report cards will come home on Wednesday, January 6.

• Please check your child’s grades from time to time on INOW and let us know if you have any questions during the 9-week period.  

Important Dates for This Week

• Wednesday, January 6: Report Cards for the 2nd 9 weeks will come home

Important Curriculum Dates

• Friday, January 8: DOL Test Week 14; Text Structure Test

Looking Ahead

• Tuesday, January 26: PTO Parent Academy  6:00-7:30

Curriculum News:

Math News:
**Math- We will be reviewing fractions this week. I wanted to make sure that they retained enough about adding and subtracting fractions, before moving to the next unit. Starting next week, we will be developing a better understanding of decimals, that ultimately, will allow us to add and subtract them. Later, we will return to decimals, and at that point of the year, work on multiplying and subtracting them.
Homework: Math Computation

Science News:
**Science- We will be looking at graphing data, and how to determine what changes and inferences that the data in graphs might be showing. After a few days, we will moving into matter, and specifically how to demonstrate evidence of its existence. Ultimately, we will find ways to measure mass, volume, and density of objects, all to determine whether that object will float or sink.
Homework: None

Language Arts News:

Topics of Study -

**Reading-  We will be discussing the 5 text structures of non-fiction texts this week: Problem and Solution, Cause and Effect, Sequence, Description, Compare and Contrast. We will do various activities where the students will be able to identify how a piece of text is written, using these text features. We will have a test on Friday involving what we discussed in class.
Homework: Students should read each night; Tween Tribune Article due on Thursday (usernames and passwords were handed out today); Crossword Puzzle due tomorrow (this is a vocab. review)

**Language/Language IXL-  DOL Week 14; IXL
Homework: Study DOL each night; Test on Friday

Social Studies:

Topics of Study – We will discuss the differences between being a Loyalist and a Patriot during the American Revolution. We will identify important Loyalists and Patriots of this time. We will compare and contrast the British Army and the Continental Army. We will begin discussing the battles of the American Revolution.

We hope everyone has a great week!