WEEK OF DECEMBER 15

Bowling Day
On our bowling day, December 17, students are encouraged to bring a sack lunch. Many students fill up on snacks at the bowling alley, so we want them to be able to bring home any food they do not eat from lunch.

Too Good For Drugs
Deputy Seward from the DuPage County Sheriff's Department visited our classroom on Wednesday for our first session of T.G.F.D. Students received a family homework assignment which you are encouraged to complete before our next session.

Subject Update:

ELA (English/Language Arts)

• Spelling - Due to many activities scheduled in our final school week before Winter Break, there will not be a spelling lesson.
• English - The students will review what a noun is, the difference between common and proper nouns, and how to spell plural nouns correctly. 
• Reading - The students will do a "close read" of a passage from the novel Touching Spirit Bear. Students should prepare for a vocabulary quiz over the words selected from this text on Thursday, December 18!

Science - We are learning the importance of predator-prey relationships. We will read the story Wolf Island to better understand how a change in the number of predators affects the number of prey (and other organisms) in an ecosystem. 

Social Studies - Products and signs must be at school Tuesday for our Trade Fair. They will receive a "reflections" sheet to complete after our fair. We will continue to learn about colonial life as we compare/contrast life in the cities, colonial towns, and Southern plantations.

Mrs. Strong's Math Class - Students are learning about multiplication and division expressions. This is preparing us for Unit 4 on expressions and equations using all of the operations.  

Mark Your Calendar:

Dec. 16 - Early Dismissal (11:00 a.m.)

Dec. 17 - Too Good For Drugs (Session 2)

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

Dec. 19 - 5th Grade P.R.I.D.E Assembly

Dec. 19 - PV Trip to the Tivoli

Dec. 20 - Jan. 4 - WINTER BREAK!

WEEK OF DECEMBER 8

Too Good For Drugs
On December 10, our class will begin the fifth grade "Too Good For Drugs" program. Deputy Seward from the DuPage County Sheriff's Department will be coming to our classroom on Wednesdays to discuss various topics of drug prevention. A letter explaining more about the program will be sent home after our first session.

Subject Update:

ELA (English/Language Arts)

• Spelling - The Lesson 15 pretest will be given on Monday. The students will be assigned homework during the week to practice their words, and a final test will be given Friday. *Starting next week, students may only print 10 words "just in case" their cursive still needs work. Keep practicing correct letter formation at home!
• English - The students will identify nouns in sentences, distinguish between common and proper nouns, and apply spelling rules to help them form plural nouns. 
• Reading - The students have completed their Sitting Bull projects. We will continue with our theme of challenges as we read an excerpt from the book, Touching Spirit Bear. We will begin with some "word work" to help us with unfamiliar words in the text. We hope to do an initial read through part of the text by the end of the week.

Science - We will learn about three types of symbiosis: mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. Students will play a match-up game later in the week to practice identifying these special ways plants and/or animals interact within an ecosystem.

Social Studies - Hopefully, the students have shared with you about our upcoming Trade Fair. Their idea "contracts" are due on Tuesday, December 9. Once ideas have been approved, students can begin production for the fair scheduled for Tuesday, December 16. The students will create a sign for their products in class, and they will receive a "reflections" sheet to complete after the Trade Fair.

Mrs. Strong's Math Class - Students will have a very short Unit 3 Homework Review #3 on Tuesday covering interpreting remainders and finding unit prices. Then we will review all the concepts from Unit 3 to prepare for a test on Thursday, December 11!  

Mark Your Calendar:

Dec. 10 - Too Good For Drugs (Session 1)

Dec. 16 - Early Dismissal (11:00 a.m.)

Dec. 17 - Too Good For Drugs (Session 2)

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

Dec. 19 - PV Trip to the Tivoli

Dec. 20 - Jan. 4 - WINTER BREAK!