WEEK OF FEBRUARY 1

Too Good For Drugs (T.G.F.D.) Program
Deputy K was not able to visit our classroom as scheduled this week. We will look forward to session #3 about decision-making next Thursday.


Subject Update:

• Spelling - Lesson 20 focuses on words ending in -ary.
• English - The students will finish their study of pronouns. The Unit 6 Pronouns Test is scheduled for Thursday, February 4!
• Reading - We will continue to work on making good connections to texts. We will also begin practicing some extended responses to our reading. February Book Project - The students will be exploring poetry during the month of February. There will be a "Poetry Ponderings" project introduced later in the month.
• Science - The students will learn about the water cycle and different factors that can affect it.
• Social Studies - Chapter 8 "The Road to War" brings us to an exciting part of our history. The English colonists become angry at their king because he is ordering them not to settle west of the Appalachians and wants them to pay taxes to help the country recover from debt. What kind of trouble will this cause in the colonies??
• Mrs. Strong's Math Class - The students will do a little more practice of comparing and ordering fractions. Then they will be learning how to relate fractions to decimals.

Mark Your Calendar:

Feb. 2 - No School (Teacher Institute Day)

Feb. 4 - T.G.F.D. Session #3

Feb. 4 - District Spelling Bee

Feb. 11 - T.G.F.D. Session #4

Feb. 12 - Valentine's Day Party

WEEK OF JANUARY 25

Too Good For Drugs Program
During Session 2 of T.G.F.D., Deputy K discussed different ways people communicate and the importance of good communication between family members. The homework due by next Thursday is a family game of charades to review about communication skills.


Subject Update:

• Spelling - Lesson 19 focuses on VAC words. VAC words have a single Vowel before a single Consonant in an Accented final syllable. You must double the final consonant when adding a suffix that begins with a vowel.
• English - The students will continue to learn about pronouns as they replace possessive nouns with possessive pronouns and use contractions with pronouns correctly. They will also learn how to avoid using double subjects in sentences and when you may use the pronouns we and us along with nouns in sentences.
• Reading - We will be introducing another important reading comprehension skill - making connections to texts. There are three types of connections that can be made while reading: text-to-self, text-to-text, or text-to-world. January "Scrapbook" Reading Project - The students should be finished with their books and working on the final product. All students received their scrapbooks and index cards to use for the captions and photos. Please remember that the book and project must be turned in by Friday, January 29!
• Science - Students will begin our next unit "Cycles on Earth and in Space." Chapter 11 tells us about weather and the water cycle.
• Social Studies - We will finish reading about the French and Indian War. Students should begin to prepare for the Chapter 7 Test scheduled for Thursday, January 28!
• Mrs. Strong's Math Class - The students have begun to learn about fractions in Chapter 12. This week, they will learn about equivalent fractions and how to reduce fractions into lowest terms (or simplest form).

Mark Your Calendar:

Jan. 28 - T.G.F.D. Session 3

Feb. 2 - No School (Teacher Institute Day)

WEEK OF JANUARY 18

Too Good For Drugs (T.G.F.D.)
Deputy K met with the students for their first session of the Too Good For Drugs Program on Thursday. He discussed the importance of making good decisions and setting goals for themselves. Students were asked to share information about the program with parents and set a family goal together. This assignment (with parent signature) needs to be completed by Thursday, January 21.

Classroom Spelling Bee
Congratulations to Nauris for winning our Classroom Spelling Bee. Also, congratulations to Nadia for being our close runner-up. Both of these students will participate in the 5th Grade Level Bee on Thursday, January 21. Best of luck, spellers!


Subject Update:

• Spelling - Lesson 17 is a review of lessons 10-16. As you may recall from the last review lesson, the students will be tested in a different way than our usual weekly tests. Students will need to apply the rules and/or spelling patterns from the previous 7 lessons in order to identify a misspelled word in a row of words. You may want to practice finding misspelled words in a similar format to prepare for Friday's test.
• English - We look forward to reading through the students' expository pieces and providing some constructive feedback. Meanwhile, we will dive into a new grammar unit on pronouns. Pronouns can take the place of nouns in sentences.
• Reading - The students will work on building vocabulary by creating words with roots and affixes. Students will determine the meaning of larger words by thinking about the meanings of roots, prefixes, and suffixes. January "Scrapbook" Book Project - Students should be finishing up their realistic fiction stories this week. Don't forget that the book and project must be turned in by Friday, January 29!
• Science - We will review Tuesday about ecosystems to prepare for the Chapter 6 Test on Wednesday, January 20!
• Social Studies - The students will learn about the French exploring and claiming the land around the Mississippi River.
• Mrs. Strong's Math Class - We will be doing some work with prime factorization and learning a neat Venn Diagram method for finding LCM and GCF that I recently discovered. We hope to begin Chapter 12 on fraction concepts at the end of the week.

Mark Your Calendar:

Jan. 18 - No School (M. L. King's Birthday)

Jan. 19 - Check Student Progress on ParentConnect!

Jan. 21 - 5th Grade Level Spelling Bee

Jan. 21 - T.G.F.D. Session 2

WEEK OF JANUARY 11

IOWA Testing
The students will be taking the IOWA series of tests from Monday, January 11 through Thursday, January 14 during the morning. Please remind students of the importance of doing their best on these assessments!

Too Good For Drugs
We will be starting the "Too Good for Drugs" (TGFD) program which is sponsored by the DuPage County Sheriff's department. Officer David Kovotsky will visit our classroom weekly to discuss issues such as making good choices, peer pressure, and substance abuse. Students will earn a participation grade for Science/Health by completing assignments on time and demonstrating appropriate behavior. More detailed information will be sent home after our first session on Thursday afternoon.

Classroom Spelling Bee
We will hold two practice spelling bees and one "official" classroom spelling bee this week. The official classroom bee will determine a winner and alternate for the 5th Grade Spelling Bee on January 21. Students received information and word lists before Winter Break.


Subject Update:

• Spelling - Lesson 16 focuses on words spelled with ch or rh.
• English - The students have completed an expository organizer about their favorite place for a vacation. The next step will be to develop their ideas into a complete essay.
• Reading - We will continue to work on clarifying information as we read. We will reinforce this skill as we read and take notes in Science and Social Studies. January "Scrapbook" Book Project - Student book choices have been approved, so they should now be dedicating about 20 minutes each night for reading. Remember that the project and book need to be turned in on or before January 29!
• Science - The students are learning ways that humans affect ecosystems. This helps us understand the importance of protecting our environment. We should be ready to test over Chapter 6 the week of January 18.
• Social Studies - We are reading about the Spanish colonies in Florida and New Mexico. We will discover that this led to uprisings between the Spanish and the Native Americans living on that land.
• Mrs. Strong's Math Class - The students have learned about multiples, factors, divisibility rules, and prime and composite numbers. It is important that students understand the difference between multiples and factors! We will review early in the week to help students prepare for a quiz over the concepts from Chapter 11, Lessons 1-4 on Friday, January 15. Students will have 2 days to review at home since they will be completing IOWA math tests in class on Wednesday and Thursday.

Mark Your Calendar:

Jan. 11-14 - IOWA Testing

Jan. 14 - Too Good For Drugs (TGFD) Session 1

Jan. 15 - Classroom Spelling Bee

Jan. 18 - No School (M. L. King's Birthday)