Week of January 3rd

I hope your family is settling back into the regular routine after break! Here's what happened as we settled into ours at school.

Math:
 We wrapped up chapter 5 by reviewing graphing and learning about mean, mode, median, and range. The class is doing well and understand these concepts, but it is easy to get them mixed up. For that reason, I am moving the test to Monday so we can be sure that everyone has a little extra time. Our next unit is geometry and we will begin Tuesday. 
  We also took the Delta math screener today to determine which students need to continue working on mastering 4th grade math concepts such as subtraction with regrouping, multiplication, division and some fraction and decimal concepts. Students who have not met these targets will continue to receive additional support.

Writing:  
  These week we discussed and practiced using a variety of sentence types in our writing. We want to try out new sentence structures and not only use subject/predicate sentences. We wrote a couple short practice pieces with a group and on our own.

Spelling: 
This weeks skill is contractions and proofreading. Remember that students can go to Spelling City to practice the words for our lesson 12 word test on Monday. Look for directions for this in a past blog.

Reading:
We completed our genre unit novel, Sign of the Beaver. I will send home the remainder of their work for this unit next week. Next week we'll be working with nonfiction and include a variety of skills.
Please see the comments concerning reading homework in the homework section below.

Science:
This week we have been reviewing vocabulary and past concepts. We also began Lesson 5 which focuses on balanced and unbalanced forces. We did some role playing for this and had an arm wrestling session - this was a fun (and loud) activity which was actually suggested in the unit! - and the kids had great fun with it!

Homework
Math and Reading Homework is due Monday
  
* Additionally, reading 20 minutes is homework a minimum of 4 days each week.
Students are to complete at least one-two novels (depending on length)  that I OK each month. They may read this at home and at school. When the book is complete, they will be given a short activity to tell about their book.  
Reading frequently builds confidence in their skills, increases their speed and fluency, and builds vocabulary which is important to comprehension. The amount of reading in all subject areas that your child will be expected to do will only increase as they move through school.
 
Conferences
If you are coming to conferences, your child is welcome to come along if you'd like. If I requested a conferences for your child, please remember to return the pink form.

Dates/Upcoming Events:

- January 10:         Chapter 5 math test

- January 17 - 18:  Parent / Teacher Conferences

- January 18:         Spelling Bee

- January 21:         No School

- January 26:         5th Grade Release Time