January 10-14th

This week I am excited to say that we have started our science project "What's the matter?" I have sent the project syllabus home with each student. Please look over the assignment and sign and return it so you can be aware of what we are doing for this particular project. Yesterday we started talking about what matter is comprised of and how to classify it. We completed yesterday's class with an experiment on density. We also reviewed the six stages of the scientific method. Ask your child if they can recall any of the steps. The final product will be in February. I am not setting an official due date because I want to see if the students will want to expand on any of the concepts covered. I will give you at least a couple of week heads up before it is due.

In math this week we are continuing to simplify fractions, average numbers, and divide. Tomorrow we are going to log on to a wonderful website called Khan academy and watch math instructional videos. Afterwards, each student will form a group and create their own instructional video of their own.

Our language arts program is doing excellent. The students have been very focused during our writing time. We have established new writing norms such as only talk when absolutely necessary. The class is really taking it on. I even had one student Landon exclaim, "Can I keep writing instead of going to lunch?"

Also, don't forget that next Monday we have no school due to the observation of Martin Luther King day. We have started doing brain gyms to get our bodies ready for learning. One of the key components to this program is drinking enough water so every child needs to have a water bottle that they remember to bring every day.

Welcome Back

I hope that all of you had a wonderful winter break. I want to especially thank everyone who contributed to the great gifts that I received for the holidays. This Monday we had a staff development day and one of our goals was to improve our communication with our blogs. I will try to be more specific in upcoming goals and assignments.

In language arts we are studying our first 10 Wordly Wise lessons and we will be having our midterm vocabulary test. All missing assignments need to be completed and students need to study previous lessons. For writers' workshop we have started a new program that I learned from a teacher at High Tech Middle School. We will be setting new "norms" and discussing the five stages of the writing process. Our publishing date for the next assignment will be in five weeks on February 4th.

For math this week we are working on simplifying fractions. We are also reviewing division and averaging numbers. Starting this year, every week students will be required to complete 2 math basic skills review sheets.

Since we were unable to present our explorer project before the break we will be doing that this week. Next week we will start our new science project "What's the Matter?" I will give more specific details next week when we begin the project. Each student will be given a syllabus that will need to be signed to keep everyone in the loop.

Also, we will change our lunch time to 11:30 on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. This will make the bay less crowded for our class. Mondays will remain the same time due to Camps.