WEEK OF JANUARY 4

Happy Holidays!
I wish you all a safe and healthy holiday season. I hope you are able to spend some quality time with family and friends, and may you return to school refreshed and ready to learn in 2010!

Reminder From the Lunchroom
Please be advised that beginning January 4, 2010, there will be a price increase for school lunches. The new cost will be $2.50 per meal.


Subject Update:

• Spelling - Lesson 15 focuses on words ending in -ery.
• English - The students will continue working on expository writing. We will review the structure of an expository essay when we return from break. Then we will work on developing our own expository writing pieces.
• Reading - We will introduce another reading strategy in January - clarifying. We will also provide students with information about our January reading project. If you want to plan ahead, students could look for a good realistic fiction book to read after returning from break!
• Science - Students will be learning about primary and secondary succession of a forest. We will watch a neat video to help us better understand the changes over time as a forest develops.
• Social Studies - As we begin Chapter 7, we will hear about the struggle between the Spanish and other Europeans for control of North America.
• Mrs. Strong's Math Class - The students will be starting Chapter 11 on number theory. This short chapter will provide us with more skills necessary for working with fractions. We will practice finding multiples and factors of numbers and learn the difference between prime and composite numbers.

Mark Your Calendar:

Jan. 4 - School Resumes

Jan. 11 - 14 - IOWA TESTING!

WEEK OF DECEMBER 14

Prairieview Holiday Service Project - Thank You!
Thank you to each of the families who supported our service project in some way. We were able to provide a number of gifts for each member of our "adopted" cancer patient family. I am overwhelmed by the generous spirit of our school community!

Bowling and Tivoli Movie Day Reminders
Your child may choose to bring money the day of bowling for purchasing food and drinks from the snack bar. Please think about the amount of money you send with your child - we have lunch scheduled soon after we return from the alley! Also, although we will be eating lunch early on the day we go to the Tivoli for the movie, school lunches will be available.

Note From the Lunchroom
Please be advised that beginning January 4, 2010, there will be a price increase for school lunches. The new cost of a school lunch will be $2.50 per meal.


Subject Update:

• Spelling - We will not have a spelling lesson this week.
• English - Students will be reviewing how to write a strong introductory paragraph for an expository writing piece. Then they will learn how to write the body and concluding paragraphs. We will focus on the structure of the piece before Winter Break, and work on developing our own ideas for an expository essay when we return in January.
• Reading - We will finish reading the novel, Night of the Twisters. The students will continue to practice asking "thin" and "thick" questions before, during, and after reading. We will end with some small group discussions to think more deeply about the characters and events of the book. On Friday, we will play a new game called "Vocabulary Taboo" to review the words we learned while reading!
• Science - The students are working on storyboards to show how a wild animal might adapt to an unknown object entering its habitat.
• Social Studies - We will work on map skills this week. Students will practice locating places using latitude and longitude.
• Mrs. Strong's Math Class - The students will be reviewing certain skills which will help when we move into fractions after Winter Break. It may be a good idea to brush up on basic multiplication (and division) facts over break - it will help greatly when it comes to finding equivalent fractions and determining if fractions are in lowest terms!

Mark Your Calendar:

Dec. 17 - 5th Grade Bowling (a.m.)

Dec. 18 - Tivoli Movie Day

Dec. 19 - Jan. 3 - Winter Break!

WEEK OF DECEMBER 7

Prairieview Holiday Service Project
Please notice the reminder flyer sent home with your child Thursday. Several students have mentioned that they plan to bring items on Monday, but as of now, we have only a few gifts in our collection box. If you are not able to shop for a gift, please consider sending a cash donation which would allow me to shop Tuesday evening for any items still needed for our family. Thank you in advance for your generosity. Donations are due Tuesday, December 8!!

Parent/Teacher Conferences
I hope that all of you found our time together as informative and productive as I did. Thank you for your insight and requests for suggestions that can be done at home to ensure the success of your child! Please remember that you may contact me at any time to discuss questions or concerns that arise as we continue through the year together.


Subject Update:

• Spelling - Lesson 14 focuses on words formed by joining prefixes to roots.
• English - Students will be finishing up their study of nouns. We will review plural nouns, learn about singular and plural possessive nouns, then prepare for the unit test. The Unit 2 Nouns Test is scheduled for Friday, December 11!
• Reading - We have introduced an exciting story entitled, Night of the Twisters, by Ivy Ruckman. The students will continue to practice the skill of self-questioning, as well as review the other reading skills covered so far this year, as we read this novel. Since we are reading a book together this month, there will not be a December book project.
• Science - The students will review the ideas from lesson 1 early in the week. Then they will begin a small project based on the picture book, The Great Fuzz Frenzy. This humorous story involves a group of prairie dogs that must adapt to a strange object - a tennis ball - being dropped into their tunnel. The story clearly shows the habitat of the prairie dogs and some of their unique behaviors while adapting to something new in their environment. The students will be challenged to develop a story board to show how another wild animal might adapt to a strange object entering their little corner of the world.
• Social Studies - Students will review all about colonial life as we prepare for the chapter test. The Chapter 6 Test is scheduled for Wednesday, December 9!
• Mrs. Strong's Math Class - The students will "evaluate" addition and subtraction problems to determine if they should use mental math, paper and pencil, or a calculator to solve. Then we will learn how to decide if an estimate or exact answer is needed when solving word problems. The Chapter 6 Test is scheduled for Thursday, December 10!

Mark Your Calendar:

Dec. 8 - PV Holiday Service Project Donations Due!

Dec. 17 - 5th Grade Bowling

Dec. 18 - PV Tivoli Movie Day

Dec. 19 - Jan. 3 - Winter Break!