Monday, November 14, 2016

Updates and announcements

We are academically racing towards our Thanksgiving Break! We have so much learning to do and I am proud of our students’ perseverance.

Our Winter Concert is this Wednesday. Take note as this is mandatory for all students. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Several students forgot their signed folders this weekend. We will need these at school to fill up with this week's work, so folders will be sent home Friday. 

This week our 6 finalists will compete in the oral spelling bee. This will take place on Wednesday, November 16th. Finalists found out last Wednesday and already received their lists to study. It will be an exciting and suspenseful time in our class as they compete!

Winter dress code starts today.

Picture retakes are actually on November 18th (this Friday). They did not take place last week as originally planned.

If you would like to volunteer to help with traffic duty, please reach out to me individually.

Our week in learning

This week in grammar we will continue to review complex sentences and dependent clauses.  We will be taking a grammar test on Thursday covering conjunctions, independent, and dependent clauses.  We will finish the week by learning about persuasive writing with a fin Thanksgiving activity.

We are delving deeper into Where the Red Fern Grows. This week we will continue to focus on comparing and contrasting characters.  Students should have chosen their projects for the 100 Point Project and hopefully have begun working on getting some of the work completed.  This project has a TENTATIVE due date of December 9th.

Students will recite, “I Hear America Singing” next Tuesday and we have our next roots quiz on Wednesday!

To deepen our understanding of cells, we will be learning the difference between prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells. Then, we will begin learning about the various organelles found in eukaryotic cells. There will be a ton of brand new vocabulary so I suggest that students make flash cards of the new terms and study them daily.

This week, students will learn about Michelangelo and his great works. Students will also take a look into proper etiquette as described by Machiavelli and Castiglione. Students will be taking home passages from The Courtier and The Prince to read and annotate on Tuesday for our socratic discussion on Thursday. These passages are very difficult and should be read with a parent or older sibling to ensure understanding. W e will also discuss the Renaissance in other parts of Europe and study guides will be sent home. The Renaissance test will be Tuesday, November 22nd. If you plan to be gone, please plan to have your child take the test early.


This week in math we will be learning to use our knowledge of fractions in word problems.  Out Unit 3 Test will be on Thursday and we will begin our new unit on Friday.  We will be having math groups from 8:45-9:45 on Wednesday.  Please let us know if you are able to help.