Weekly Update Feb. 23-27

Announcements:

-Math Study Group:  We will have math group this Thursday, Feb. 26th as well as March 5th. As a reminder, if your student will be attending the study group, please write a note or email confirming this and informing me of where your student will be going at 4:30pm. Thanks so much!

-Preparing for Middle School: Mr. Burress and I are slowly releasing responsibility to the students to help them prepare for Middle School. Last week, they began walking themselves back from lunch. I am also changing our planner checks in the afternoon. They are now responsible to record the homework in their planners. If there are any issues with this and not completing the required homework, I will let you know.

-Spring Break: If you are planning on leaving early for Spring Break, please call me or send me an email so I can send the work home that your child will be missing. Thank you in advance!

What are we learning???

Math:
This week we will finish up Unit 5 with one more section about parallelograms and a review day. The test for Unit 5 is THIS Thursday, Feb. 26th and the Written Response will be Friday, Feb. 27th. The study guide for this unit is REQUIRED. They will be completing it as homework and the whole packet will be due Wednesday so we can go over it.

Science:
We are beginning our discovery of the circulatory system this week. The students will do several interactive activities with the heart as well as the system as a whole. There will be a quiz on Section 1 in their textbooks on Thursday, Feb 26th. They will be able to use their notes for the quiz.

ELA:
Reading - Book Club will continue to take place Tuesday and Friday. The students are encouraged to prepare for their discussions by doing some of the following: record interesting quotes, questions from the text, events in the story that are confusing, difficult vocabulary, predictions, etc. The book club project Artful Artist is due March 24th.

In our reading textbook, we will be reading an essay written by Anne Frank titled "Why?". Today, I will introduce the reading response that will be due on Friday.We will do a bit of research on Anne Frank and synthesize it into a paragraph on Wednesday.

Writing - We have begun our informational writing unit on teen activism. Last week, the students chose a cause and a teen activist to research. This week, we will continue to polish our research skills and collect information to cover the "big picture" of our topic. By Friday, they will have a flash draft of their essay. I'm thoroughly impressed with their energy and enthusiasm as they research a cause that they are passionate about! We have a class full of teen activists in the making! :)

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Ball

mball@gibraltar.k12.wi.us

Weekly Update Feb. 9-13

Announcements:

-Math Study Group: Please note the upcoming dates for the math study group: Feb. 12th, Feb. 19th, Feb. 26th. If there is any change in the schedule, I will let you know. As a reminder, if your student will be attending the study group, please write a note or email confirming this and informing me of where your student will be going at 4:30pm. Thanks so much!




* Congratulations to Levi, Payton, Alex, and Abbey for placing in the Patriot's Pen contest!

* The whole class for the awesome work you did on your thematic essays! What a great accomplishment to have TWO essays under your belts!

What are we learning???

Math:
Last week, the students showed their growing understanding of coordinate geometry through a mystery graph project. They had to design a picture on a 4-quadrant grid and record ordered pairs on a separate sheet of paper. Once they were finish, they swapped the ordered pairs list and graphed each other's pictures. It was a challenge, but they performed beautifully and stepped up to the task!

This week we will be looking at transformations on a graph and congruent figures. We will be completing a mini-project on transformations as this is a tricky concept for most students. Again, please know I have added several review games to the class blog to aid in the review and practice of these skills. The test for Unit 5 has been moved to Thursday, Feb. 26th and the Written Response will be Friday, Feb. 27th.

Science:
This week, we continue our investigation of the digestive system and nutrients our body needs. The students will be researching a specific nutrient, it's source, the benefits of it, and what happens when our body is deprived of that nutrient. There will be an open book quiz Thursday, Feb. 12th of what we've learned of the digestive system so far.

ELA:
Reading - The students have received their Book Club books and have already had their first discussion. The students are encouraged to continue to prepare for their discussions by doing some of the following: record interesting quotes, questions from the text, events in the story that are confusing, difficult vocabulary, predictions, etc.
In our reading textbook, we are transitioning to non-fiction short stories. This week, we will be reading "The Jacket" by Gary Soto and will look specifically at the order of events in a non-fiction text. On Wednesdays, I introduce 3 reading response options for students to complete. They are due each week on Friday.

Writing - Last week, the students finished their thematic essays! I was so impressed by how well they structured their essays and used evidence from the story to support their claim! This week, we will be competing a few free-writes and reflective writing. Next week, we will begin a new writing unit!

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Ball

mball@gibraltar.k12.wi.us

Weekly Update Feb. 2-6

Announcements:

-Math Study Group: We will NOT have group this Thursday. Please note the upcoming dates for the math study group: Feb. 12th, Feb. 19th, Feb. 26th. If there is any change in the schedule, I will let you know. As a reminder, if your student will be attending the study group, please write a note or email confirming this and informing me of where your student will be going at 4:30pm. Thanks so much!




* Jack for your energy and excitement you bring to the class!

* The whole class for the awesome work you did on your invention/innovation pitches! The "Sharks" were impressed!

What are we learning???

Math:
Due to the complexity of this chapter, we will be slowing down the lessons a bit more than other chapters. There are a lot of new concepts all being introduced at once. Please know I have added several review games to the class blog to aid in the review and practice of these skills. This week, I plan to teach 5.3-5.4. Through those lessons, we will learn how to construct circle graphs using angle measures and how to plot ordered pairs on a grid. The test for Unit 5 is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 19th and the Written Response will be Friday, Feb. 20th.

Science:
This week, we will begin the next unit on Human Body systems. We will start our investigations with the digestive system. To dive in, we will be discussing what we already know about this system and what questions we have about it. Later in the week, we will look more closely at how food is digested and what our body takes from the food.

ELA:

Reading - The students will be receiving their Book Club books this week. As a group, it is there responsibility to discuss and record what needs to be read by each Book Club session (every Tues. and Fri.). Last week, we discussed various ways to prepare for a discussion. Here are some of their ideas: record interesting quotes, questions from the text, events in the story that are confusing, difficult vocabulary, predictions, etc.

Writing - Last week, the students wrote their rough draft essays. This week, we will polish them up with special emphasis on the introductory and conclusion paragraph along with appropriate usage of quotes from the story.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Ball

mball@gibraltar.k12.wi.us