WEEK OF NOVEMBER 22 AND 29

Junior Achievement
During session 3, Mr. Blocker discussed production. The students had fun assembling ballpoint pens to better understand how to make a product as efficiently as possible.

Fullersburg Woods Talk
On Tuesday, November 23, a presenter from Fullersburg Woods will be coming to talk with the 5th graders about ecosystems. They will focus on food chains, the energy pyramid, and how everything in our world is connected. This fits in great with Chapter 5-6 of our science!

Paper Recycling Fundraiser Comes to Prairieview
We are happy to announce that we can now raise money for our district by recycling paper! Please collect any paper you are going to throw away or recycle (no cardboard) and either send it to school with your child or drop it off at the green and yellow "Paper Retriever" bin in the Lakeview parking lot (near the fence by the Prairieview playground). The bin is available for drop offs 24/7. The more paper we recycle, the more money we can make! Do something good for our schools AND the environment!

Holiday Service Project
The students of Project Challenge grades 3-5 are participating in a Lion's Club Holiday Drive. We are looking for donations such as new toys, new games, toiletries, and food for the needy families in the Darien area. If you wish to participate, you will need to bring the donations in by December 13. Remember that some of these families live right here in Darien. So let's help these families have a happy holiday season!


Subject Update:

• English - The students will finish up some work on expository writing. Then we will begin a unit on nouns. Students will learn how to identify nouns in sentences and determine if nouns are common or proper.
• Science - We will read about ecosystems changing over time and how those changes affect the organisms living there.
• Social Studies - The Chapter 6 Test is scheduled for Tuesday, November 23! Then the students will learn about the Spanish expanding New Spain during the 1500s and 1600s by establishing colonies in Florida and New Mexico.
• Mrs. Strong's Spelling Class - We will work with Lesson 12 words starting Monday, November 29. The students will be assigned homework during the week to practice their words. A final test will be given Friday, December 2.
• Mrs. Strong's Reading Class - We will continue to review summarizing, drawing conclusions, inferencing, identifying author generalizations, visualizing, and word work with vocabulary words using our realistic fiction novels until December 2nd. Next week, we will review main ideas and details using our skills workbook. Our work with extended response will continue as well.
• Mrs. Strong's Math Class - The students will complete some activities to review and enrich our knowledge of polygons and line segments. A Chapter 7, Lessons 5-7 Homework Review (open-note) is planned for Tuesday, November 30. Then we will get into congruence, transformations, and symmetry.

Mark Your Calendar:

Nov. 23 - Picture Retakes

Nov. 23 - 5th Grade Fullersburg Woods Talk

Nov. 23 - Junior Achievement (Session 4)

Nov. 23 - Report Cards

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 15

Looking Ahead to 2nd Trimester
Please remember that here at Prairieview, we suggest that students set personal goals for the grades they would like to earn each trimester, and then work towards those goals the entire trimester. Students are NOT given opportunities for extra credit assignments; however, teachers may provide bonus points on various assignments throughout the year. Also, the late
homework procedure for 2nd Trimester is as follows:
1 day late - minus 15%
More than 1 day late until unit test is taken - minus 25%
After unit test is taken - a zero is entered in the grade book

Junior Achievement
During session 2, Mr. Blocker discussed the three types of resources - natural, capital, and human. He also continued to talk about supply and demand. We look forward to next week when Mr. Blocker will share about production.


Subject Update:

• English - The students will continue to work on expository writing.
• Science - We will read about symbiosis and predator-prey relationships.
• Social Studies - We will be learning more about everyday life in the colonies, including how children studied and played, religion, and common meals. The Chapter 6 Test is scheduled for Tuesday, November 23!
• Mrs. Strong's Spelling Class - The Lesson 11 pretest will be given on Monday. The students will be assigned homework during the week to practice their words. A final test will be given Friday. *Please note that all pretests and tests must be written in cursive starting 2nd trimester! Some students may need extra practice of handwriting at home to ensure proper letter formation on these tests.
• Mrs. Strong's Reading Class - We will continue our work with extended responses using questions from our realistic fiction novel, The Kid in the Red Jacket. Furthermore, we will continue to review summarizing, drawing conclusions, inferencing, identifying author generalizations, and visualizing. We will continue our word work with vocabulary words as well.
• Mrs. Strong's Math Class - The students will learn about different types triangles, quadrilaterals, and other polygons as we move ahead in Chapter 7.

Mark Your Calendar:

Nov. 12 - End of 1st Trimester

Nov. 15 - Prairieview PBIS Recognition Assembly

Nov. 17 - Junior Achievement (Session 3)

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 8

Trade Fair Tidbits
What a creative group of students! I was amazed at the variety of handmade items available for trade at our trade fair. I hope the students shared some of their experiences with you and talked about how "supply and demand" affected their trading.

Conference Reminders
I will be sending an email reminder of your conference date and time soon. If you did not sign up for a conference at Curriculum Night, I will assign you a time that is still open. Please respond promptly so that I can make necessary changes to the schedule and offer time slots that become available. Thanks in advance for your help!


Subject Update:

• English - The students will be working on expository writing. This will allow students to practice and apply their skills in writing different types of sentences using correct grammar, capitalization, and punctuation.
• Science - Now that we have taken a close look at the barn owl, we will read about other organisms and how they compete and survive in an ecosystem.
• Social Studies - We will learn more about early colonial life as we read about cities, towns, and farms. The students will learn how these areas were alike and different.
• Mrs. Strong's Spelling Class - The Lesson 10 pretest will be given on Monday. The students will be assigned homework during the week to practice their words. A final test will be given Friday.
• Mrs. Strong's Reading Class - We will begin writing extended responses this week. The strategy for writing a good response is to remember the letters IEIEIE, which stands for Idea, Evidence, Interpretation, Evidence, Interpretation, and Extension. Fifth graders should be familiar with this technique. Furthermore, we will continue to review the skills of summarizing, drawing conclusions, inferencing, identifying author generalizations, and visualizing while reading the novel The Kid in the Red Jacket.
• Mrs. Strong's Math Class - The students will learn how to identify different types of lines (perpendicular, parallel, and skew). There is a homework review activity scheduled for Wednesday, November 10. Then we learn about different types of polygons.

Mark Your Calendar:

Nov. 10 - Junior Achievement (Session 2)

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

Nov. 12 - End of 1st Trimester