Weekly Update, Sunday, December 13th, 2015

This is my last post for the year!!!  The next time your receive an update will be in 2016!  There is a lot going on this week, I'll start with Spirit Week!

Monday: Ugly Holiday Sweater Day (I just wear a regular sweater and put decorations on it.  Or a tee shirt if it's going to stay 70 degrees!)

Tuesday: Bell Day (Until the teachers go crazy)

Wednesday: Winter Wear (scarves, hats, gloves)  - I don't know how long those will stay on though if the weather says this warm!

Thursday: Winter Pajama Day

Friday: Holiday Bling Day  

Other important dates ahead:

Monday, December 14th: Interims go home.  Please check your child's agenda, if your child receives an interim, it will be stapled into his or her agenda and need to be signed and returned to me Tuesday.

Monday, December 14th: PTA Meeting @ 6:30

HOMEWORK OVER THE HOLIDAYS!!!  Each teacher will be giving her math students a math packet on Thursday that is to be completed over the holidays.  It IS optional.  Each teacher will discuss the reward for the students who complete the packet in class.  

This week in...

READING: We will be learning how to research nonfiction this week and applying what we learned about summarizing nonfiction to a group research project.  Students will be put into groups and given a natural disaster to research.  Students will apply what they've been learning about the main idea and supporting details to highlight relevant information.  Students will be assessed on their ability to summarize nonfiction, work in a group/team environment, and present information to a small group of students.

WRITING: Students will finish their Resolutions Essay this week during writing and edit and revise their own work.  Students picked three goals for themselves, and are working to write a five-paragraph essay that explains what their resolutions are, why they chose each goal, and how they are going to accomplish them!  There is no Word Study this week.    

VA STUDIES: Students will have their Colonial Life Unit Test on Wednesday, December 16th.  We will review over the next two days and students are encouraged to use their study guides and solpass.org to review.

SCIENCE: Students will have their Clouds Quiz on Thursday, December 17th.  Students will be expected to match descriptions of the following clouds: cumulus, stratus, cirrus, and cumulo-nimbus.  Students are also expected to know how clouds are formed and what type of clouds produce precipitation.

If you share these posts with your child, you can let him or her know that the Elf on the Shelf went on to join forces with the Union army and defeated the Confederate States of America to win the Civil War.  

  

Weekly Update, Sunday, December 6th, 2015

Request: Does anybody have the DVD "The Polar Express" and/or the book "The Polar Express" that I could borrow until Winter Break?  Also, any hand sanitizer is welcome!
                                                    

Picture day retakes: Please email me to let me know if your child will be getting his or her school photo retaken on Wednesday, I need to send you home a new form.

I made a boo boo, please forgive me!: On the Jamestown Unit test I goofed on the grading for standard related to the House of Burgess and the General Assembly, I've corrected the error in Phoenix and bumped everyone up to make up for this mistake.  My apologies!

Grading Update:  Pinebrook has adjusted the grading of formative assessments so that the highest grade a student may earn is a 3+ for formatives.  This change is effective for December, however I went back in to adjust the grades for November as well.  The reason for this change is so that the "3's" won't pull final grades down.  For the first quarter, I had to adjust about 85% of grades and overide what Phoenix calculated because of the new averaging progression and formula.  

Please send in any photos of your darlings!  Please also feel free to send in photos of any pets you have!

This week in...

Science:  Students did very well on the weather instruments quiz, things are going to get a bit more challenging as we begin to learn about fronts and clouds.  There will be a quiz on fronts on Thursday, December 10th.  Students should feel confident defining the following to feel prepared for the quiz: air mass, air pressure, cold front, warm front, and atmosphere AND how to label a cold and warm front.  We will discuss these topics this week.  The quiz on clouds will be on Wednesday, December 16th.   

Virginia Studies:  Students will continue to learn about Colonial Life in Virginia this week, specifically the economic terms debt, credit, money, savings, and barter.  The test on the Colonial Life unit will be  Tuesday, December 15th.  

Writing:  Students will continue to work on their Resolutions essays and will work to provide supporting details for each paragraph, as well as write strong topic and conclusion sentences.  200 Total Points of Word Study are due Friday, and the Word Study test will be on Friday, December 11th as well.  

Reading: Students will continue to identify the main idea in non-fiction by first identifying text structures in order to write a cohesive summary of nonfiction texts.

Mid-Week Reminders and a Request!

Attention!: Please make sure you are checking your student's Thursday folder, and other days as well! I have noticed several students have stacks of papers in their "Stay at Home" side of their home folder, many from SEVERAL weeks ago! Please make sure to empty them at home and read all important papers! Additionally, please review any questions that your student missed with them so they understand their error.  This is especially important for the Scholastic News Weekly reader questions.  

Just a reminder of a few upcoming events/dates:

Friday, Dec. 4th - VA Studies Weekly Due and Open Note Quiz, 100 Points of Word Study Due

Saturday, Dec. 5th - Pancake Breakfast and Holiday Shop 8-11am

Monday, Dec. 7th - Family Bowling Night

Wednesday, Dec. 9th - Picture Make-Up Day

Friday, Dec. 11th - Movie Night 6:00pm hosted by Teachers Makin' Tracks - Flyer coming home today!!!

Lastly, can anyone contribute Purell or any other hand sanitizer to the class?  I'll give you a Puma Paw ;)