Week of September 20

Hey all!  This is a busy week coming up, with lots going on at school.  Please be sure to pay close attention to the "Classroom Happenings" portion of this for all the details and dates!  Here we go...

Classroom Happenings:

• College & Career Week.  This is happening this week!  A flyer came home with the details on Friday.  It's all here, too!
• Monday, September 20:  College Wear
• Tuesday, September 21:  Oaken Bucket Day (IU vs. Purdue)
• Wednesday, September 22:  Dress for Success (Career Wear)
• Thursday, September 23:  School Picture Day (This is for those who did NOT get their picture at Meet the Teacher Night, or are wanting retakes)
• Book Fair.  This week is also the Book Fair.  A flyer came home on Friday.  Our normal library day is tomorrow (Monday) if your child would like to purchase books.  
• E-Learning Day.  Remember, this Friday, September 24 will be an E-Learning day.  Make sure your child gets onto Google Classroom to complete any work assigned to them for the day.
• Counseling Permission Slips.  A slip will be coming home with your child tomorrow for a lesson that will be completed by our counselors.  Permission is required for your child to participate in the lesson.  Please be looking for that to sign and return.

Language Happenings:

We are continuing to work through our novel, Freak the Mighty.  We are moving very slowly through the book as we discuss and talk about what is happening.  The kids are really enjoying this story so far and it has hooked us quickly and we are already curious to see how the story will play out.  Continue to check in with your child about homework over this book.  Most nights they will have at least a few questions to answer over what we have read and discussed in class.  These questions will be due back the next day.

Science Happenings:

This week we are really digging into Qualitative and Quantitative observations.  We will end our week with a quiz over this.  Friday, we had the chance to engage in a fun little experiment to help us practice making qualitative and quantitative observations.  We put 5 skittles into warm water, then watched what happened.  In our journals, we recorded our qualitative and quantitative observations... of course we had to end class eating some skittles, too!

Have a great week!

-Sarah

Week of September 13

 Hey all!  Sorry for the delay in the post this week.  We were without internet yesterday so this didn't get to happen!  Here's what's going on this week!

Classroom Happenings:

• Grades and Assignments:  Each afternoon during FIT time we remind the kids to get on PowerSchool to check their grades and see what work (if any) they are still missing, so they can work to get those items completed and turned in.  As we continue to make them more responsible for their assignments and scores, check in with your child and ask to see how they are doing!  Your accountability of their work in the classroom really helps, too!

Language Happenings:

We have finished our Narrative Writing unit and I'm working now on grading those stories.  This was a HUGE undertaking and will count towards a very large part of their grade thus far.  Check back in at the first of next week to see how your child did with their story.

This week we began our first novel study and are reading "Freak the Mighty" in class.  We will be taking this VERY SLOWLY as we work to really understand the plot and master our ability to cite the book as we answer comprehension questions about the text.  Moving forward, your child will now have NIGHTLY HOMEWORK they will be expected to complete.  This will be comprehension questions over the pages we read in class each day.  This homework is counted for a grade, so be sure to check with your child that they are getting these questions answered each night.  It will also be their responsibility to bring their homework sheet AND the book from school to home and back to school the next day!  

Science Happenings:

This week is the start of a new week as we begin talking about overservations and inferences.  We discussed today that observations are something we make using our 5 senses.  Inferences are what we then assume is happening or going to happen, based on our observations.  We also talked about the 2 types of observations we can make:  Quantitative (observations using numbers) and Qualitative (observations that look at little details like colors and shapes).  We will continue to look at various scenarios and pictures this week to work on our understanding and ability to make observations and inferences.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!  Keep reaching out if you need anything!

-Sarah

Week of September 7

Welcome back to a quick week!  I hope everyone had a restful and relaxing Labor Day weekend... unless your family is like mine, we actually labored and painted all the exterior trim and gutters of my house!  It was a busy morning, but lots of hands made for light work and we spent the afternoon cooking out and in the pool!  With only a few days left this week, I just have a bit to share.  Here goes:

Classroom Happenings:

• Continuing with Responsibility.  We have talked a lot this week about the expectations for your child to keep up with their assignments and grades.  They know how to access Google Classroom for any missed work from an absence, as well as how to check PowerSchool for their grades to see what they have not yet completed or turned in.  Continue having nightly (or bare minimum, weekly) conversations with your child and have them show you their Google Classroom work and PowerSchool grades.  Checking in shows them that you also think school is important and that you care about how they are doing!  It might also motivate them to stay on top of their work!  It's a win for everyone!
• Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser.  Thanks to everyone who has worked to raise money for this!  As a reminder, these envelopes are due back by this Friday, September 10.

Language Happenings:

This is the final week of our big narrative writing project!  We have spent a LOT of time in class working on these stories and the final drafts are due on Friday!  We will be having a little publishing party in class that day as we share our stories with each other and celebrate the work that went in to them!  These last few days this week are being spent on the editing process.  Today and tomorrow the kids are doing some peer editing in stations as they critique and help each other better their work.  CHECK IN WITH YOUR CHILD AND ASK TO SEE THEIR STORY!  They also have a rubric to help them as they do their final revisions to aide them as they work towards their final product.

Science Happenings:

Last week we finished up our unit on science tools and equipment.  Overall the kids did well on their test last week.  This week we are digging in more to the scientific process and we will have a quiz over those steps on Friday.  Ask your child if they can name the 6 steps of the scientific process.  Today, we walked through those 6 steps as we did a little Skittle experiment to see how water temperature effected the disolving proecess.  We will continue to work through this process with a new experiment tomorrow!

Enjoy the rest of your week, and as always, please reach out with any questions or concerns!  Thanks for reading!

-Sarah