WEEK OF DECEMBER 15

Thursday Treat!
Some parents from our classroom have volunteered to organize a pizza party for us in celebration of all the hard work the students have accomplished in 2008! Parents will provide cheese pizza and drinks for the class on Thursday, December 18th. Thank you in advance to the parents who are helping to create this wonderful treat for our classroom!


Subject Update:

Science and Social Studies (Homeroom)

• Science - The students will learn about waves as we begin to explore how the ocean moves.
• Social Studies - We will be starting Chapter 7 which tells about Spain, Great Britain, and France, as well as the Native Americans, struggling for control over the continent of North America. The first lesson will focus on the Spanish expanding New Spain by establishing colonies in Florida and New Mexico.

Language Arts Block

• Spelling - We will do a variety of activities with a holiday word list - no test!
• English - The students will continue to learn about writing an expository essay. We will focus on developing an attention grabbing introductory paragraph.
• Reading - We will ask "thin" and "thick" questions as we read to help us understand non-fiction texts. Ask your child to explain the difference between thin and thick questions.

Math Classroom

• Math - The Chapter 6 Test is scheduled for Monday, December 15th! The rest of the week will be spent on enrichment activities with decimals, as well as some beginning activities of multiplication with decimals.

Mark Your Calendar:

Dec. 15 - All School Concert (1:15 p.m.)

Dec. 16 - 5th Grade Bowling (9:00 - 11:00 a.m.)

Dec. 18 - Classroom Pizza Party Lunch!

Dec. 19 - All School Movie at the Tivoli

Dec. 20 - Jan. 4 - Winter Break

.

WEEK OF DECEMBER 8

Prairieview Holiday Service Project
Please remember that we are collecting for the service projet through Wednesday, December 10th! We still need donations towards our cancer patient family as well as for Family Shelter Service. Please consider sending a cash or gift card donation - I can take these and shop for specific items still needed for our family. If you have already contributed, thank you for your generosity!

Subject Update:

Science and Social Studies (Homeroom)

• Science - The students are learning about the ocean. We have read about the salinity of ocean water and how temperature and water pressure change with ocean depth. We have also learned about the different levels of the ocean floor. We will be completing an activity to help us better visualize these levels, and will find out about some changes that can happen over time to the ocean floor.
• Social Studies - We will review about everyday life in the colonies to prepare for the Chapter 6 Test on Tuesday, December 9th! Then we will move on to Chapter 7 - "The Spanish Move North."

Language Arts Block

• Spelling - Lesson 15 focuses on the suffix -ery.
• English - The students are learning about expository writing and how it is different from narrative writing. We will be color coding the parts of an example expository essay to help students understand the components and organization of a well-written paper.
• Reading - We will be reading some non-fiction texts as we work on the reading strategy of self-questioning. Students should be asking themselves questions about the texts they read before, during, and after reading.

Math Classroom

• Math - We continue our work with decimals in Chapter 6. We are learning how to round, add and subtract, and estimate with decimals. We will also determine whether we need to estimate or find an exact answer when problem solving.
  

Mark Your Calendar:

Dec. 15 - All School Concert

Dec. 16 - 5th Grade Bowling

Dec. 19 - All-School Movie at the Tivoli

.