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.)