* Thank you to all families for making time to come in to conference with me before the holiday. I really appreciate everything that you do at home to help your child!
* Please send back your report card envelopes sometime this week (if you haven't already).
* Billy is our MVP this week!
* The kids will have a chance to pick up Scholastic Book Club catalogs on Monday. These will be due back by Friday so that we can be sure to receive our orders before break. Please remember that orders are CHECKS or online orders only.
* A letter explaining the new spelling/vocabulary program was enclosed in your child's report card envelope. We will begin the new program with a general list for all students this upcoming week so that the students and I can get used to the routine and expectations. Next week, the kids will receive their differentiated lists.
*In writing, we will begin our "responding to literature" unit. We will be working with the novel, James and the Giant Peach, to study the author's craft and aspects of the story. Some of the journal prompts will direct students to write about the text in the novel, with a particular emphasis on character. This week the students will work to identify details that introduce the main character, observe actions of the main character, and practice describing an object.
* We will work with action verbs in grammar. The kids will need to identify/define the verbs in sentences. We will also talk about the importance of subject/verb agreement.
* In math we will spend the beginning of the week reviewing decimals to the thousandths place. We will also work with metric units of length (cm, mm, m, dm) and simple conversions. The kids will take a practice test and receive a study guide over Unit 4 on Friday. Our final test over the unit will be Tuesday of next week.
* In reading we will work to crack nonfiction features. The kids will explore using headings and subheadings to help them comprehend and search for information. We will also practice reading with a question in mind, and using text evidence to help infer the theme of the text.
* During our social studies time, we will continue to work with our Native American tribes. The kids will have time to search for additional information on the internet. We will add these new facts to their organizer about the tribes. We will study the facts of all tribes and regions. The kids will be asked to pick a new location for their tribe to migrate to. They will need to analyze how they can survive in their new environment and what adaptations will be necessary.
* We will also begin our science unit this week on matter. The kids will be using our classroom wiki both inside and outside of the classroom to keep track of questions and new learning they want to record along the way. This week we will work with the main question of "What is matter?". The kids will experiment with the properties of solids, liquids, and gases. They will also practice accurately measuring weight and volume.
* The Ivy Hill Education Fair is Friday, January 13th! This year the theme is the Invention Convention. We spent time in class talking about inventions other kids have made and the reason for inventing items. They had time to plan out their inventions and get some ideas from others in class. Although this is an option activity, we hope to see the final inventions and projects in January!
*Good luck getting back into a regular schedule this week!
