February 16th, 2018
Good Evening parents/guardians!
What a great week at “The Creek” we had! We spent a lot of time focusing on learning new material and getting ready for the International Festival next weekend! I hope to see a lot of parents and scholars there. We also took our class group picture, which is a favorite keepsake of mine.
Please take advantage of having access to PowerSchool and check your scholar’s grades often. This helps hold them accountable and keeps you up to date on their progress! To log into PowerSchool, you can use your scholar’s login information or get a parent login from the school office.
Important Dates:
February 19th: Snow Day #2 Make-Up
February 22nd: RCE Basketball Game at Home (4:30pm)
February 24th: International Festival (11:00am-2:00pm)
February 26th: Book Fair Begins
February 27th: 3rd Quarter Progress Reports Sent Home
Here is a recap of what we engaged in this past week of school, as well as what we will be learning next week!
Math:
We spent our week reviewing all things fractions. The scholars have worked hard on sharpening their adding and subtracting fraction skills, as well as practicing multiplying and dividing. Our stations were focused on these standards in order to prepare the scholars for their all fractions operations assessment next Tuesday, February 20th. Fractions make up the largest portion of the Math EOG, so it is imperative to practice these skills often and consistently.
Next week we will spend a day reviewing before the fractions assessment. We will move into our unit on volume. Volume combines many of the skills the scholars have been taught and they are able to use them to solve real-world problems.
Science:
This past week we started our unit of study of on Cells. We spent a lot of time comparing and contrasting multicellular and unicellular organisms. In order to deepen our learning of cells, we watched a video and utilized reading passages to learn new terminology. We took a quiz on Cells and your scholar’s grades were stapled into their agendas.
Next week we will begin to learn about Body Systems. We will be examining the different systems within our body and how they function separately and together. Systems we will study include respiratory system, circulatory system, nervous system, skeletal system, digestive system and muscular system. Your scholar’s Africa project is due on February 20th and will be recorded as a formal grade.
Reading:
We began reading our new Historical Fiction books, we discussed point of view and perspective. We will looked at scenes from the book from different perspectives and other characters’ points of view. During Close Reading, we focused on relationships between events or ideas by discussing cause and effect and understanding why one event may cause another to happen.
Block 1 will continue to work in Literature Circles to read, discuss, and analyze their historical fiction books. We will focus on RL 5.1, making inferences by bringing our own perspectives and personal stories to the books we are reading. We will also accumulate details while we are reading to form our ideas about the book. We will use our read aloud book: Elijah of Buxton, literature circle books in block 1, and our new book: Wednesday Wars in block 2 to complete this work. During Close Reading this week, we will focus on poetry.
Scholars will continue to work on their assigned International Festival Projects. The end product will be a slide show presentation of each country. The project is due Tuesday, February 20 and will be peer graded on Wednesday. We hope you are able to join us at the International Festival on February 24 to view your scholar’s final product.
Reading homework: Please have your child read 30 minutes (or more) each night and log the title of the book read and number of pages read into his/her agenda daily. This provides us with a record of your scholar’s reading so we can ensure he/she is reading “just right” books at an appropriate speed. Looking for ways to help your child with his/her reading homework? Please click here to view questions you can be asking your child about his/her book to check for understanding. Our focus this week is on RL 5.1, RL 5.2, and RL 5.5.
Social Studies:
Scholars began looking at the thirteen colonies, understanding that they were categorized into regions. Scholars took notes on each colony and identified the differences in each colony: people, economy, and government.
We will focus on preparing for the International Festival by finalizing our slideshow presentations. Scholars will also work to research facts and create postcards to decorate the hallways with information about Africa.
Writing:
Scholars worked to draft their historical fiction stories by using the rubric as a guide.
Scholars will continue to draft their historical fiction stories by using the rubric as a guide.
I hope you have enjoyed your weekend and have a great week!
What a great week at “The Creek” we had! We spent a lot of time focusing on learning new material and getting ready for the International Festival next weekend! I hope to see a lot of parents and scholars there. We also took our class group picture, which is a favorite keepsake of mine.
Please take advantage of having access to PowerSchool and check your scholar’s grades often. This helps hold them accountable and keeps you up to date on their progress! To log into PowerSchool, you can use your scholar’s login information or get a parent login from the school office.
Important Dates:
February 19th: Snow Day #2 Make-Up
February 22nd: RCE Basketball Game at Home (4:30pm)
February 24th: International Festival (11:00am-2:00pm)
February 26th: Book Fair Begins
February 27th: 3rd Quarter Progress Reports Sent Home
Here is a recap of what we engaged in this past week of school, as well as what we will be learning next week!
Math:
We spent our week reviewing all things fractions. The scholars have worked hard on sharpening their adding and subtracting fraction skills, as well as practicing multiplying and dividing. Our stations were focused on these standards in order to prepare the scholars for their all fractions operations assessment next Tuesday, February 20th. Fractions make up the largest portion of the Math EOG, so it is imperative to practice these skills often and consistently.
Next week we will spend a day reviewing before the fractions assessment. We will move into our unit on volume. Volume combines many of the skills the scholars have been taught and they are able to use them to solve real-world problems.
Science:
This past week we started our unit of study of on Cells. We spent a lot of time comparing and contrasting multicellular and unicellular organisms. In order to deepen our learning of cells, we watched a video and utilized reading passages to learn new terminology. We took a quiz on Cells and your scholar’s grades were stapled into their agendas.
Next week we will begin to learn about Body Systems. We will be examining the different systems within our body and how they function separately and together. Systems we will study include respiratory system, circulatory system, nervous system, skeletal system, digestive system and muscular system. Your scholar’s Africa project is due on February 20th and will be recorded as a formal grade.
Reading:
We began reading our new Historical Fiction books, we discussed point of view and perspective. We will looked at scenes from the book from different perspectives and other characters’ points of view. During Close Reading, we focused on relationships between events or ideas by discussing cause and effect and understanding why one event may cause another to happen.
Block 1 will continue to work in Literature Circles to read, discuss, and analyze their historical fiction books. We will focus on RL 5.1, making inferences by bringing our own perspectives and personal stories to the books we are reading. We will also accumulate details while we are reading to form our ideas about the book. We will use our read aloud book: Elijah of Buxton, literature circle books in block 1, and our new book: Wednesday Wars in block 2 to complete this work. During Close Reading this week, we will focus on poetry.
Scholars will continue to work on their assigned International Festival Projects. The end product will be a slide show presentation of each country. The project is due Tuesday, February 20 and will be peer graded on Wednesday. We hope you are able to join us at the International Festival on February 24 to view your scholar’s final product.
Reading homework: Please have your child read 30 minutes (or more) each night and log the title of the book read and number of pages read into his/her agenda daily. This provides us with a record of your scholar’s reading so we can ensure he/she is reading “just right” books at an appropriate speed. Looking for ways to help your child with his/her reading homework? Please click here to view questions you can be asking your child about his/her book to check for understanding. Our focus this week is on RL 5.1, RL 5.2, and RL 5.5.
Social Studies:
Scholars began looking at the thirteen colonies, understanding that they were categorized into regions. Scholars took notes on each colony and identified the differences in each colony: people, economy, and government.
We will focus on preparing for the International Festival by finalizing our slideshow presentations. Scholars will also work to research facts and create postcards to decorate the hallways with information about Africa.
Writing:
Scholars worked to draft their historical fiction stories by using the rubric as a guide.
Scholars will continue to draft their historical fiction stories by using the rubric as a guide.
I hope you have enjoyed your weekend and have a great week!