January 9-13

Dear Parents,

I hope everyone has been surviving this cold weather! It’s been crazy! We’ve been trying to survive having inside recess and not being able to go outside and run around. Hopefully we will get some outside recess this week! Please make sure your student is dressed warmly when they come to school, especially if we have outside recess!

Here is what we are doing in class this week:

Reading: This week we will be doing a lot of testing. Students will take their next Unit Assessment on Wednesday. We will review for this on Tuesday and go over the test on Thursday. We will also start our next DRA tests. We will review summaries on Monday and then start our DRA testing. Their will be no spelling homework this week, instead we will do an independent Opinion Writing Essay. Students will receive passages, instructions, and the following prompt: Should chocolate milk be banned from your school? They will do a pre-write and then type their essay into Google Docs. They will need to revise and edit it on the computer and then put it into My Access. We did the same thing before Christmas with our Jacob Riis essays. They will have time in class to work on this when they are not working on a test. They should spend time at home working on it as well to make sure they can finish by Friday. It is due at the end of reading time on Friday. They should also be reading 20 minutes a night and filling out their reading logs.

Math: This week we will be finishing our Equivalent Fractions Unit. We will review on Monday and take our test on Tuesday. Please watch for their pre-test to come home as a study guide. Then we will start our measurement unit with converting measurements of time and finding elapsed time.

Writing: This week we will finish our Author Report. Those who are finished with their written report and poster will present when they are ready. All students need to be ready to present by Friday at the latest, that is when the report is due. Instructions for this are on my blog if students have lost their information page.

Science: We will learn about mineral replacement fossils as well as preserved fossils this week. The students have been filling out a graphic organizer on the types of fossils and we will finish that up this week. We will also continue to work on the fossils song.

Social Studies: This week in social studies we will be talking about groups of people who have come to Utah. We will start by introducing our Genealogy Project. Students will receive an instruction page telling them to answer specific questions about the first member of their family to come to Utah. My class’s projects are due on January 24^th and Mrs. Ditto’s class’s projects are due January 25^th. After this, we will discuss several cultural groups that have come to Utah and their points of view.

This week’s homework:

Read 20 mins each day and fill out a pink reading log

Opinion Writing Essay: pre-write, typed and shared in Google Docs, and in My Access

Lesson 6.1-P113, 6.2-P115, 6.4-P119, 6.5-P121

*Math, reading, and writing are due on Friday

Thanks!

Mrs. Wheatley