WEEK OF FEBRUARY 2

Too Good For Drugs
During our 6th session of T.G.F.D., Deputy Seward shared a power point presentation about tobacco. Students learned different ways people use tobacco and how each of those uses negatively affects the human body. Students received a fact sheet about tobacco that should be shared and discussed with a parent.

P.R.I.D.E. Award
The fifth grade held their January P.R.I.D.E. Assembly on Friday, January 30. Congratulations to Anna, who was given the award for Positive Attitude this month! 

Grade Level Spelling Bee Winner
Congratulations to Gabrielle for finishing as runner-up in the 5th Grade Spelling Bee. Good luck at the district level spelling bee on February 9th. We will be cheering for you!

MAP Reports
Each student received his/her MAP report which now includes the winter scores for Reading and Math. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns as you look over the report.

Subject Update:

ELA (English/Language Arts)

• Spelling - The Lesson 21 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. *Students may only print 10 words "just in case" their cursive still needs work. Keep practicing correct letter formation at home!
• English - Students have learned that we use certain pronouns to take the place of nouns in either the subject or predicate. Next we will learn how to use I and me correctly, and work with possessive pronouns.
• Reading -We will continue to read various non-fiction texts to help us answer our three essential questions: What are forces of nature? How does a force of nature that is far away affect me? How can a force of nature be both destructive and constructive at the same time?

Science - As we begin our Earth Science unit, students will learn about weather and the water cycle. The first lesson will help us understand what causes weather.

Social Studies - Now that we understand how the English colonies were established, we will take a look back at how the Spanish and French began exploring and expanding their colonies in North America. This led to a struggle for control of the continent.

Mrs. Strong's Math Class - The students are working with formulas, which applies our work with solving algebraic equations. We hope to be ready for a Unit 4 Homework Review #2 on Tuesday, February 3; and the Unit 4 Test on Thursday, February 5. The concepts in this unit are new and challenging, but the students are really pushing themselves. There are some assignments posted in Google Classroom that provide some good review and practice if needed!

Mark Your Calendar:

Feb. 4 - Too Good For Drugs (Session #7)

Feb. 6 - PTO BINGO NIGHT (Mrs. Strong wants to see you there!)

Feb. 9 - District Spelling Bee

Feb. 9 - 12 - Conferences

Feb. 11 - Early Dismissal (11:00 a.m.)

Feb. 12 - Valentine Party

WEEK OF JANUARY 26

Too Good For Drugs
During our 5th session of T.G.F.D., Deputy Seward discussed how the decisions we make are influenced by friends and family, as well as our own personal values. Although students did not receive a homework assignment, I encourage families to share with each other about times when important decisions had to be made and how others influenced those decisions.

Our Spelling Bee Winners
Congratulations to Gabrielle for winning our classroom spelling bee, and kudos to Katie as runner-up! Both of these fine spellers will represent our class in the 5th grade level bee on Wednesday. We wish them the best of luck!

Subject Update:

ELA (English/Language Arts)

• Spelling - The Lesson 20 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. *Students may only print 10 words "just in case" their cursive still needs work. Keep practicing correct letter formation at home!
• English - Students will continue to work on writing, and we will begin our next grammar unit on pronouns.
• Reading -We will launch our next reading unit theme, "Nature's Fury." Students will complete a word sort and take a "gallery walk" as we start thinking about these essential questions: What are forces of nature? How does a force of nature that is far away affect me? How can a force of nature be both destructive and constructive at the same time?

Science - Ask your student about our Deadly Links activity that helped us better understand how people can affect ecosystems. Students should prepare for the Chapter 6 Test scheduled for Tuesday, January 26! Then we will switch from Life Science to Earth Science as we begin our look at weather and the water cycle.

Social Studies - We will compare and contrast slavery in the northern and southern colonies. Then we will wrap up our study of life in the English colonies with the Chapter 6 Test scheduled for Friday, January 30!

Mrs. Strong's Math Class - Students will continue Unit 4, learning how to solve algebraic equations. Students will learn how to "isolate the variable" and keep both sides of an equation "balanced."

Mark Your Calendar:

Jan. 27 - Too Good For Drugs (Session #6)

Jan. 28 - 5th Grade Spelling Bee

Jan. 30 - 5th Grade PRIDE Assembly

WEEK OF JANUARY 19

Too Good For Drugs
During our 3rd session of T.G.F.D., Deputy Seward discussed decision-making. Students learned how the decisions a person makes impacts their character and reputation in either positive or negative ways. During session 4, Deputy Seward discussed peer pressure and the difference between positive and negative pressure. Students learned and practiced many strategies for dealing with negative pressure, such as the "broken record" and "state the facts." Students received homework assignments at the end of these sessions that should be completed with their families.

Spelling Bees
Students received words lists for our upcoming spelling bees. We will hold a practice bee on Wednesday, January 21, and our official classroom spelling bee on Friday, January 23. The winner and runner-up from Friday's bee will continue on to our 5th grade level bee on January 28. Best of luck to our spellers! 

Subject Update:

ELA (English/Language Arts)

• Spelling - The Lesson 19 pretest will be given on Monday (skipping the L. 18 review lesson). The students will be assigned homework during the week to practice their words, and a final test will be given Friday. *Students may only print 10 words "just in case" their cursive still needs work. Keep practicing correct letter formation at home!
• English - Students will be reading about "The Year in Pictures" in our next Time For Kids issue. Then they will choose an event from their own lives they would like to write about for our own collection of memorable 2014 events. Students can start thinking about an event and searching for a photo to use!
• Reading - We will review point of view to prepare for a quiz on Wednesday, January 21. We will also introduce our next reading unit theme, "Nature's Fury."

Science - The next lesson will help us understand how people affect ecosystems. Students will identify positive or negative ways they might affect the natural world around them.

Social Studies - Did your child show you his/her whirligig or bilbo catcher? We enjoyed creating some of the simple toys enjoyed by children of colonial times. We will talk more about everyday colonial life, and then compare and contrast slavery in the southern and northern colonies.

Mrs. Strong's Math Class - Students will continue Unit 4 simplifying and evaluating expressions, and understanding algebraic equations and inequalities. There will be a homework review over the lessons covered so far on Thursday, January 22. Then we will learn how to solve algebraic equations using properties.

Mark Your Calendar:

Jan. 19 - No School (M. L. King Jr. Day)

Jan. 21 - Too Good For Drugs (Session #5)

Jan. 21 - Mrs. Strong's Practice Spelling Bee

Jan. 23 - Mrs. Strong's Spelling Bee

WEEK OF JANUARY 12

Too Good For Drugs
Since we missed out TGFD session last week due to school being closed, we will make up that session on Tuesday, and then have our regularly scheduled session on Wednesday.

Subject Update:

ELA (English/Language Arts)

• Spelling - I rescheduled the Lesson 16 Test for Monday. Then students will be assigned homework during the week to practice Lesson 17 words, and a final test over Lesson 17 words will be given Friday. *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 continue to practice distinguishing between singular possessive, plural possessive, and plural nouns. There will be a quick quiz over those types of nouns on Tuesday. Then we will review all about nouns to prepare for the Unit 2 Nouns Test scheduled for Thursday, January 15!
• Reading - We will continue our focus on point of view and perspective. Students will determine whether a text is written in first, second, or third person point of view; and discuss how a story changes when written from different perspectives.

Science - We will continue to learn about primary and secondary succession of an ecosystem. We will discuss the similarities and differences between the two types of succession, and create notes to illustrate that information.

Social Studies - We will learn more about everyday life in the colonies. We will do a matching activity to see if we can identify certain ailments and the home remedy colonial people may have tried. We will also make two of the simple toys colonial children would have played with in their free time.

Mrs. Strong's Math Class - Students will continue Unit 4 on expressions and equations using all of the operations. Students will be reviewing order of operations, and translating numerical and algebraic expressions.

Mark Your Calendar:

Jan. 13 - Too Good for Drugs (Session 3)

Jan. 14 - Too Good for Drugs (Session 4)

Jan. 14 - MAP Testing (Math - 9:50 - 10:50 a.m.)

Jan. 16 - Favorite Sweatshirt Spirit Day!

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

Jan. 19 - No School (M. L. King Jr. Day)

WEEK OF JANUARY 5

Happy New Year!
I hope you had a wonderful holiday season with your family and friends. I look forward to an amazing 2015 as we continue our school year together.

PRIDE Awards
The fifth graders had their first PRIDE Assembly on December 19th to celebrate students from each classroom who showed Positive attitude, Respect, Improvement, Determination, or Empathy. Our classroom winner was Tyquan for showing empathy towards others. Way to go, Tyquan!

Too Good For Drugs
During our second session of T.G.F.D., Deputy Seward discussed the importance of communication. We learned that communication involves a sender and receiver of information, and that messages can be sent verbally and non-verbally. Once again, students received a homework assignment that should be completed with their families to reinforce the ideas from session 2.

Subject Update:

ELA (English/Language Arts)

• Spelling - The Lesson 16 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 this 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 learn about singular and plural possessive nouns. We will also distinguish between the use of plural nouns and possessive nouns.
• Reading - We will focus on point of view and perspective. Students will determine whether a text is written in first, second, or third person point of view. They will also discuss how a story changes when written from different perspectives.

Science - We will read the story, Wolf Island, to hear how populations of plants and animals can change when one population is removed. Then we will learn about primary and secondary succession of an ecosystem.

Social Studies - We will learn more about everyday life in the colonies. We will compare and contrast life in the cities, towns, and plantations, as well as life in the colonies to life today.

Mrs. Strong's Math Class - Students will begin Unit 4 on expressions and equations using all of the operations. Please note that we will only have Math on Monday and Tuesday due to our MAP testing schedule.

Mark Your Calendar:

Jan. 5 - Classes Resume after Winter Break

Jan. 7 - Too Good for Drugs (Session 3)

Jan. 7 - MAP Testing (Reading - 9:50 - 10:50 a.m.)

Jan. 9 - MAP Testing (Math - 8:15 - 9:15 a.m.)