WEEK OF NOVEMBER 24 and DECEMBER 1

Prairieview Yearbook - Don't Miss Out!
Please remember that if your child wants a Prairieview Yearbook in June, you need to order by December 1st! If you cannot find the order form that went home, make a check payable to Lifetouch for $10 and put it in an envelope clearly labeled with the student's name, grade, homeroom teacher, and "Prairieview Yearbook Order."

Prairieview Holiday Service Project
Please notice the information sent home with your child (pink flyer) about our holiday service project. I have included a second hand-out (green flyer) which includes specific information about the cancer family we have been assigned and Family Shelter Service gift ideas. Thank you in advance for your generosity!


Subject Update:

Science and Social Studies (Homeroom)

• Science - Students will be starting Chapter 12 about the Earth's oceans after Thanksgiving Break. Lesson 1 will begin telling us about the salinity of ocean water and things affected by ocean depth.
• Social Studies - The students will continue to learn about life in the colonies and complete "circle books" to organize the key ideas from Lesson 3. Before the break, students will finish typing their letters to President-Elect Barack Obama in the hopes of sending them out by Tuesday, November 25. We have read in Time for Kids magazine that Mr. Obama is quite busy - I wonder if any of us will hear back from him?

Language Arts Block

• Spelling - There will be no spelling lesson the week of November 24th. After Thanksgiving Break, we will do Lesson 14 which focuses on forming words with prefixes and roots.
• English - We will begin working on expository writing. Expository writing is writing to explain.
• Reading - The students will continue working on inference activities. Ask your child about our "Guess My Character Trait" game. This was a fun way to practice identifying character traits inferred by an author's words.

Math Classroom

• Math - The students will learn about drawing conclusions as a strategy for problem solving. After Thanksgiving Break, we will spend all Monday's class reviewing how to read and write decimals, how to compare and order decimals, and how to problem solve using the "draw conclusions" strategy. The Chapter 5 Test is scheduled for Tuesday, December 2nd!

Mark Your Calendar:

Nov. 21 - End of 1st Trimester

Nov. 26 - 28 - No School (Thanksgiving Break)

Dec. 2 - 1st Trimester Report Cards

Dec. 1-5 - Conference Week

Dec. 5 - No School (Parent/Teacher Conferences)

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WEEK OF NOVEMBER 17

Prairieview Yearbook Orders
Your child brought home the order form for the Prairieview 2008-2009 Yearbook. Yearbook orders were not part of the registration materials at the beginning of the school year - if your child wants a yearbook in June, he/she must order one at this time. The cost per book is $10 (checks payable to Lifetouch). 5th graders - what a great way to remember all those friends you made at Prairieview!


Subject Update:

Science and Social Studies (Homeroom)

• Science - The Chapter 11 Test is scheduled for Tuesday, November 18th!
• Social Studies - Wow! What a great experience the trade fair was for the students! The "store front" signs were creative, the homemade goods showed off the many talents and skills of Room 207, and the bartering was quite strategic. As we continue in Chapter 6, we will read about everyday life in the colonies.

Language Arts Block

• Spelling - Lesson 13 focuses on the prefixes dis-, un-, in-, and mis-.
• English - We will learn about forming singular and possessive nouns. The Unit 2 Nouns Test is scheduled for Friday, November 21st!
• Reading - The students will make inferences about characters in stories. They will determine which traits best describe the characters by thinking about the details given (the actions done by the characters) in the text. Don't forget that your student should be reading at home to finish his/her biography and shape book project by December 1st!

Math Classroom

• Math - We will move ahead to Chapter 5 and the exciting land of decimals! Talk to your child about money and how one whole dollar can be divided into tenths (dimes) and hundredths (pennies). Students will learn how to read and write decimals as well as how to compare and order them.
  

Mark Your Calendar:

Nov. 19 - Kids on the Block Assembly

Nov. 21 - End of 1st Trimester

Nov. 26 - 28 - No School (Thanksgiving Break)

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WEEK OF NOVEMBER 10

Book Worm Angels
Please remember that our school is currently collecting gently used or new books for our "Book Worm Angels" book drive. You can check out the link on the Prairieview website for more specific details about this collection. All donations should be brought to school by Friday, November 14th!


Subject Update:

Science and Social Studies (Homeroom)

• Science - The students will review Lesson 3 before taking an open book assessment over the information. Ask your student to explain about the four different air masses as well as the difference between weather and climate.
• Social Studies - We are learning all about the different jobs people had in early colonial times. Many of these jobs depended on the resources of the particular region. The students also are learning about the triangular trade routes taken to transport goods between the 13 colonies, England, Africa, and the West Indies. We have talked about the demand for certain goods in England leading to the exchange of those goods for items needed in the colonies. The students will experience the ideas of supply and demand in their upcoming trade fair. Please remember that every student must bring something homemade to trade on Thursday, November 13th!!

Language Arts Block

• Spelling - Lesson 12 focuses on the use of the suffix -ous to form adjectives.
• English - The students will begin a unit on nouns. We will start by identifying nouns in sentences and distinguishing between common and proper nouns. Then we will learn the many spelling rules for forming plural nouns.
• Reading - We will be reading a story about Sequoyah to continue our practice of making inferences. The students are starting to recognize how important it is to provide specific details from the text to support their inferences. Don't forget that biography book choices are due by Wednesday, November 12th!

Math Classroom

• Math - The students will finish an enrichment activity called "Flipping Pages" which applies the "Predict and Test" problem solving strategy learned in this chapter. Then the students will complete a homework review over lessons 5-9. I have moved the Chapter 4 Test to Friday, November 14th!

Mark Your Calendar:

Nov. 11 - No School (Veteran's Day)

Nov. 14 - End of "Book Worm Angels" Collection

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