Thursday, April 18, 2013

The Week of 4-22-13

Next Thursday, April 25th, the kids will not be in school due to teacher in services.  Please plan on your child being home that day.  The canoe trip has been officially slated for May 10th.  This will be the second Friday of May.  Chaperones are asked to be at the school by 8:30, the bus will leave around 9:00, and we should be back by 1:30 p.m.  Look for slips to go home with the kids for bus fares next week.  We wanted to hold off on charging for the buses until we knew if we needed two of them or just one.  It looks like we'll need the two we reserved from the district.  Progress reports will go out again on either Monday or Tuesday of next week.  One change to the late work policy this quarter is that no copies will be made for missing work.  Late work will be accepted, but for half credit except in the event of an absence.  The book fair is coming to Marshall!  Hopefully you have received information on this already.  If not, a second announcement is going home on Friday, April 19th. 

Reading News

This week, we looked at making inferences and decoding the meaning of new words using context cues.  Students also learned a new method to take notes from informational text.  Look for more note taking skills next week!  We will also be working on reading test strategies as the students prepare for the second round of District Reading Tests.

Writing News

This week, we worked on the pre write of our persuasive essays.  These essays will be five paragraphs long, with introduction and conclusion paragraphs.  This week, the students selected from a list of 101 topics, selected an effective opening strategy, and outlined their introductory paragraphs.  Next week, we will write the introductory paragraphs and revise them, plus mp out our body paragraphs.

Math News

This week we worked on ratios and started chapter 7.  Next week, we will learn how to calculate rate and work on figuring the percentage of a whole number.

Science News

We have completed all of our testing on the prototypes of the balloon cars.  Students also went on line this week, selected a balloon car design they intend on building, and delegated who is responsible for which supplies.  These supplies need to be in the room by Monday, April 22nd as we will start building the cars next week in time for the big race on Monday, April 29th. 

Social Studies News

We are covering the chapter on Central America and the Caribbean.  We looked at the cultures of both regions, and compared and contrasted them.  Next week, we will look at Cuba and its history, then study Guatemala.  In both countries, the United States played an important role in shaping them and their current government systems.  Both countries were at one time major exporters of sugar, fruit, and other farm goods. 

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