Week of February 9-13

WOW! What a beautiful day! We hope you were able to get outside a little to enjoy it. It seems as though winter has just completely passed us by this year. 

Here is a look at what we are doing in our core classes this week:

Language Arts: This week, we’re picking up where we left off with our Spinelli novel work from last week. Rather than push onwards to the next set of chapters, we’ll be meeting in our reading groups to discuss the content of last week’s reading, practice using RACE to work through our Comp Q, and perform some comprehensive character sketches for each book’s protagonist(s). Since we’re working with the same chapters from last week, there will not be a vocabulary quiz this week, but students should certainly expect one next Friday.

We’ve also been practicing effective revision and peer editing techniques to channel towards the final drafts of their D.A.R.E. essays, which are due by the end of the day this Friday. Today, after looking for areas of concern in their own drafts, the students focused their editing and revising skills towards another student’s draft. This allows them to know how an outside audience is receiving their writing while also having the opportunity to help each other along in their writing process.

Math: This week in math we are continuing our work with decimals. Our main focus will be on finding patterns, using these patterns to solve problems involving modeling as well as real-world applications (such as buying in bulk). We will also continue working on comparing, ordering, and finding relationships between decimals and fractions. Our toothpick project will be taking place this week. That is always a great way for students to understand the depth of our number system.

In your child’s agenda, you will find a list of topics he or she might want to review (this is not required) using Khan Academy based on their performance on the weekly quiz from Friday. Please see the blog post from February 2-6 regarding login information and the “assignments” in Khan Academy. You can find this list on the far right side of this week in their agenda, and you should be able to find the quiz in their math section of their binder.

History: By now, the students should have already conducted their relative interview and taken some solid notes. If they haven’t yet, then they should really coordinate with you all to help get that finished in the next few days.

From here on out, the students will continue to work on this project in class (whether they’re working on a poster board or a slideshow presentation), and while they may do some work on this at home, we’d encourage that they do the bulk of the project here. The students will have ample time to complete it during the school day, so taking it home shouldn’t be necessary. That means that they should be bringing any and all supplies that they need to class every day or be leaving their materials in their locker/homeroom.
Science:  Students are continuing their human body booklet as we learn about the respiratory system this week. With the weather beginning to turn for the better, we are hopeful our garden teams will make more progress in their research and planning as well.

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