September 23 Newsletter

 September 23, 2013  

Upcoming Dates:

• 9/26; Memorial Library Visit- Meet a Veteran
• 9/27; No School, PD Day
• 10/11; End of 1st Quarter, AR Goals due

Specials Week 7

Cursive- Week 6

HOMEWORK- Students will need to be able to identify the 7 continents below on a blank map. Spelling will not be counted, but teachers will be checking for capitalization at the beginning of the the continent’s names.

Veteran’s Day Service Learning Project- If you have a Veteran in your life, we would love to see pictures of them in uniform. We will be putting together a slideshow to show at our Assembly on November 11th. The easiest way to get us the photos is to take a picture of the picture (camera, iPad, phone,etc.) and email it to either bsandusky@stjschools.org or ruffman@stjschools.org. If you send in an actual photo please know that we will do our best at getting it back to you, but cannot guarantee it will make it back home.

MATH: This week we will expand on our previous lessons by having students read, write, and compare decimal numbers through the thousandths. Students will learn how to write decimal numbers in standard form, expanded form, and unit form.

Writing is an important component of math, and we encourage this every day by doing journal prompts at the beginning of class. We are using the Read-Draw-Write problem solving steps to complete our journals. Our expectations for journals are as follows:

1. Write the entire word problem in your journal.
2. Read and Underline key words. Circle the question.
3. Draw a model/picture/chart/graph.
4. Write a number sentence.
5. Write a solution statement.
6. Explain how you got your answer (like you are explaining to a kindergartener).

ELA: Students will be completing a Performance Task on Tuesday of this week. This assignment is going to take the entire class period and drive part of our instruction for the next few weeks. It is a very involved process, so we are asking if at all possible for your child to be here that day. If it has to be made up they will be missing another class period (and instruction) to do so.

***Extra Credit and Test Practice--we are sending home a study guide/test practice for our Unit 1 Posttest. Students will earn extra credit in both language and reading if they complete these 13 questions before their Unit 1 test.

Mrs. Kemnitzer and Mrs. Shultz: Be looking for a study guide for our unit 1 post test. We will take the test on Monday the 30th. This week, we will review capitalization and punctuation. We will also be practicing a “performance task” which will simulate what they will experience in testing at the end of the year. Grades will not be taken on the results of the task, but on effort in completing it.  Please remember, if you ever have questions or would like to contact Mrs. Kemnitzer or Mrs. Shultz you can do so by writing a note in the red folder, calling us at 265-2300 x4292 or emailing dkemnitzer@stjschools.org and kshultz@stjschools.org.

Sandusky: This week we are reviewing parts of speech and capitalization. We will be participating in the Performance Task and Unit 1 Post Test this week.

Engelbrecht:Next week we will be reviewing theme, working on a performance event, and introducing verb tense. We will be testing over Unit 1 on Wednesday and Thursday. These skills will be tested: conflict, summarizing, theme, context clues, figurative language (idiom, simile, metaphor, and personification), punctuating titles, homonyms, synonyms, and antonyms.

SCIENCE: In Science, we will continue our unit on Force and Motion.