Happy Friday Families!

I hope you and your family enjoyed the Thanksgiving break and the time off together!  Nothing recharges those batteries like spending quality time with family and friends!  It's hard to believe that today is already the first day of December!

MAP Testing information: We will be taking the Winter MAP tests on Monday and Wednesday next week. Students are excited, as they have been working hard on making progress towards the goals they set for themselves! We will taking the reading test on Monday, and the math test on Wednesday. Please be sure that your student has a good night's sleep and eats a healthy breakfast! 

Here are the targets we will focus on as we work through the beginning of the second grading period:

Literacy

* Our students recently wrapped up reading our classroom read-aloud text, The Road to Freedom. The story was narrated from the point of view of a young girl who is traveling on the Underground Railroad with her mother in hopes of making it North to freedom. Our students were highly engaged throughout text and had many great discussions related to topics raised within the story. Today we also read a reader's theater about Harriet Tubman and the important role she played in the Underground Railroad. 

Students received their December reading log projects today. They will be making a bookmark that highlights pertinent information about the book they are currently reading. Students were given an informational sheet today with the requirements. This sheet will also be posted on schoology in the literacy course. Bookmarks are due on January 8.

Writing

* We are currently using The Road to Freedom as a springboard for various writing samples.  We have practiced writing short-constructed responses and we are currently planning and writing an opinion paper based on topics/issues related to slavery from the book. Most of the students have completed their planning sheets and are in the process of composing their opinion essay. We are learning how to begin our papers with an effective "hook" that will grab the attention of the reader. We are also focusing on providing ample detail about our "big ideas" through our own thoughts and text evidence.

Spelling

* Our students are currently working through their Words Their Way spelling program. Most weeks, your child will bring home a new set of words to sort and use for homework tasks. Students complete homework assignments on Spelling City that contain the words to their current sort.

Math

* We are currently working on multiplying two-digit numbers by three-digit numbers using various strategies.  We will have a check-in next week to assess what we've learned.  Our students will start division at the end of next week and emphasize the partial quotients and long division algorithms to solve these problems.

Social Studies

* Last week we wrapped up our learning about slavery and how it affected the growth of Colonial America.  We will be diving into Government/Civics in the coming weeks and our students will start to discuss the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance and learn about other aspects of patriotism.

**Please note: We will not be having current event presentations next week. 

Science

* Our students recently learned information about the four main systems of Earth: the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere.  We’ve also been learning about the attributes and characteristics of each, as well as how they interact with one another. Yesterday we played "catch" with a blow-up version of the earth. We marked whether our thumbs were touching water or land each time we caught it! This helped students get a concrete understanding about how much of the earth is taken up by water versus land.

Upcoming dates to remember:

Monday, Dec. 4--MAP test--Reading
Tuesday, Dec. 5--Early Release @ 2:00
Wednesday, Dec. 6--MAP test--Math
Thursday, Dec. 7--Belmont Village after school trip (registered participants only)
Tuesday, Dec. 12--PTO Special Lunch-Urban BBQ