Updates and announcements
We are well into our semester
and learning lots!
Please remember to keep particulars
of the dress code in mind. Our most recent “tip” for the staff was to remember
that hair piece for girls must comply with the dress code. This means small
pieces of school colors are allowed. Please no large flower crowns. J
This week, we are studying
slavery and the middle passage. Even though it is presented for scholars at the
5th grade level, it is still sensitive and explicit material. Please
have a conversation at home if you see it best.
Our week in learning
This week, students will begin the week
with a lesson on appropriate ways to use quotations in their research essays.
On Tuesday, they will begin a simple sentence outline of their essays, and on
Thursday and Friday, they will begin writing their body paragraphs. We will
compose most of the first body paragraph together in class on Thursday. On
Friday, we will spend the period composing the second body paragraph--students
will complete the third body paragraph for homework over the weekend. Next
week, students will compose their introduction and conclusion, rough draft, and
final draft.
Students will read through chapter 14
of The Secret Garden and continue adding to their character charts and journal
entries. Journal entries are assigned every chapter or every other chapter, and
are expected to be a full paragraph in length (5-9 sentences). Entries 1-10
will be collected for a complete grade on Friday, and should be neat, showing
good effort, with complete sentences and thoughtful answers.
Students will be reciting their
poem, “The Poison Tree”, on Wednesday and their weekly roots quiz will also be
on Wednesday.
In science this week, students will finish researching their
vascular or nonvascular plant and present their research to the class on either
Tuesday or Thursday. Each student will be graded separately on his/her
presentation, and a group grade will be given for the worksheet presented to
the class. All students are required to take notes on each of the
presentations, as some of this information will be on the unit test. On Friday,
we will learn about plant life cycles.
This week in history, students will continue to learn about the
age of exploration. We will cover the English, French, and Dutch explorers.
Please note that we will be covering the slavery chapter and the middle passage
later on Friday this week. This is sensitive material and students should have
a discussion at home if needed. Study guides will go home on Monday, January
22nd and are due Monday, January 29th. The Age of Exploration test will be on
Tuesday, January 31st.
In math this week, we will continue learning about decimals.
Students will be dividing decimals, changing fractions to decimals using long
division, and multiply and divide decimals by 10’s, 100’s, and 1000’s. Graph
paper is very helpful to line up decimals and keep their work organized. We
will be using some in class, but it might be useful to have some at home to use
with homework. Math groups will resume this Wednesday, January 24th, 8:00-9:00.
