March 4th

5th Grade Newsletter

March 4th , 2013

Upcoming Dates:
3/7/13- EARLY DISMISSAL, High School Girls Basketball in Columbia at 5 p.m.
3/12/13- End 3rd Quarter
3/15/13- DARE Graduation 8:30 a.m. (New Gym) More detail to come home soon!!!
3/21/13- 5th Grade Music Program. (New Gym) Students should dress nicely. Students should arrive no later than 6:45 p.m. Program starts at 7:00 p.m.
3/22/13 Spring Pictures (forms and information will come home soon)
3/25-29; Spring Break **Due to our 2 snow days... the last day of school has been pushed to Monday, May 20th**
Parents- The St. James School District will have a proposition on the April ballot of this year. It is called Prop KIDSS. For more information please click on this link: Prop KIDDS, or feel free to contact your child’s teacher with any questions you may have.
DARE- Permission slips are enclosed in the newsletter for those who have graduated from DARE. One essay winner from each homeroom will be chosen to read at the DARE Graduation on March 15th. Please make sure your child is here promptly on the day of graduation, as we will begin early. The earlier your child can get here that day the better. :)
Meurer/Siders—Math: Students will see their Decimal test results by the end of the week. We have already had our Geometry Pre-Test, students will work this week on Geometry skills- our post test should take place next week over Geometry. Students seem pretty knowledgeable with geometry skills! This week students will also complete STAR math testing and a Pre-Test for Fractions, this will be our last pre-test of the year!! After we get back from Spring Break, we will be in full force REVIEW for MAP!! The year is quickly slipping away!
Richards—Science: This week we will begin Chapter 11 over "Changes to Earth's Surface."  There will be no homework or tests this week.  Students can bring in pictures of landforms for extra credit this week.
Sandusky—ELA:Students will be working and completing their DARE essays this week. I will give them plenty of time to complete this work during class, but if your child happens to be absent or is not using class time wisely it will be homework. It’s very important for kids to try to be here everyday this week because we will be doing a lot of in class things with this essay that can’t be made up at home. Final Essays are due Friday, I must have them to grade over the weekend or it’s possible that your child may not be entered into the DARE Essay contest. If there is time with our essays we will look into text features and comparing and contrasting. Spelling Words this week (first 14 off the Spelling Bee list): abbreviation, actively, advertise, allowance, angel, application, astronomy, auction, avowal, bandage, barren, borrow, bristle, butcher, candidate.  
 Shultz-ELA: We are completing our Native American studies projects this week. DARE essays have also started. Feel free to work on those at home! The end of the quarter is March 12th--3rd quarter AR goals must be met by then. We are working hard to wrap up unit three and breaking down words to better understand them. If you are reading with your student, you might ask them to note words with prefixes and suffixes and to use that information to determine the meaning of the word!
Kemnitzer-ELA:
Reading- My students will be finishing up Unit 3 with some in class activities,  and sharing their essay information with the other students in class. The Indian tribe essay will be worth 50 points.  The points will be split up between their Language grade and their Reading grade.  We also will be Star testing this week.
AR- Students should have completed 90% of their 3rd quarter goal at this time.  Please make sure that your child is reading at least 30 minutes a night.  The end of 3rd quarter is March 12.
Writing- Students will be working on writing  a 5 paragraph essay about the material they learned in DARE class.  These essays will be judged so 1 student from each homeroom  will be chosen to read their essay at the DARE graduation.  These essays must be written at school.
Language - The students will be testing on verb tense and subject verb agreement on Wednesday.
Spelling - The spelling test  this Friday will cover words with 2 new prefixes: cir,circum and re.  The words are: circulate, circulatory, circumference, circumstance, circumscribe, restrict, reimburse, reassure,regain, recede, replenish, circuit, regress, retract, circumvent. The spelling and vocab test will be on Friday.
Have a great week!
Mrs. Kemnitzer