Happy New Year!!!
I hope all of you had a pleasant, relaxing winter break with your families and friends. Just as hard as it is to believe that 2010 has come and gone, the first semester has nearly come and gone as well! The marking period will end on Friday, January 14th, and the third marking period/second semester will commence on Thursday, January 20th. We have much to accomplish between now and then!
Math
We will be wrapping up the end of the first semester by studying volume, and assessing the students' skills in geometry and measurement. The homework that will be coming home over the next week and a half will be a combination between volume practice and review of geometry and measurement. When I say "volume" I mean we'll be very lightly focusing on the subject. Students will be able to estimate and measure the volume of various containers using "standard square units" (cubes). This is simply to introduce the concept of volume/capacity and how it is measured. Students will be shown a few different ways to calculate volume - counting the cubes one by one, creating a repeated addition problem, and multiplication. The purpose here is to show the students various methods to calculate, we'll have a greater focus on multiplication in the spring.
The students will be coming home with their math textbooks. I ask that these books come to and from home and school everyday until the quiz on Wednesday, January 12th. This quiz will be assessing the students on the skills they learned in Unit 6 in the text book, pages 410 - 489. There is a GREAT study guide for the quiz on pages 488 and 489, this would be a great tool for you to use with your child when it came time to review vocabulary and other various skills learned throughout the unit.
When the second semester begins, we'll be studying data collection and data analysis. Students will be able to conduct surveys and present the data in various types of graphs. Some of their homework assignments will be to collect some information from home for the next day's lesson. I know some of you have your student keep his/her homework packet at home during the week, and some keep it in the Home-School Folder. If you could please make sure that these homework assignments come into school I would greatly appreciate it. I will indicate on the homework page if it needs to come in before the end of the week. Thank you!!
We will also be continuing the Mad Minute this week, which will give us two more quizzes before the end of the marking period. Be sure to check out the "Funbrain Math" link under the "Helpful Links" section of the blog. There are many fun games and practice activities to help students master the basic facts - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division!!
Spelling
Compound words will be our last spelling exploration of the first semester! This time, students will be coming home with 30 words - 15 assigned and 15 of their choice. The quiz for this exploration will be on Friday, January 14th. We'll begin our next exploration when the students return on Thursday, January 20th. Their new spelling lists will be coming home as early as Friday, January 21st, and as late as Monday, January 24th. We'll be spending most of the remainder of the year exploring a variety of prefixes, suffixes, and root words.
Reading/Language Arts
I would first like to applaud the students for their hardwork on their holiday traditions presentations! It was so great to listen and learn about the many different traditions among our students' families. The presentations were great, the students really let their creativity flourish! Way to go!
Poetry will continue to be our unit of study until the end of the marking period. The students have been having such a great time with poetry! I'm so glad they're enjoying it so much because I really enjoy teaching it! We're going to be continuing to learn about the different poetry elements, and reading and writing various forms of poetry.
Science
The moon phase calendar will be collected this Thursday, January 6th. We are going to be having a field trip to the Earth, Space and Science Lab (ESSL) at the end of the month. This is SUCH an exciting field trip!! The students get to have a lesson in the planetarium, have lunch at the lab, and have the opportunity to check out the rest of the science center. Field trip permission slips will be coming home soon!
Thank you so much for your continued support and communication! I hope you and your families have an excellent 2011!!
:) KM
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