Week of 3/3 Newsletter

Dear 4th & 5th Grade Families,

Happy March! I am excited to share with you that we will be going on a field trip on March 19 to the Santa Cruz Landfill. Please let me know if you are interested in driving and being a chaperone. We will plan to leave right at 8:30 and return to Mountain School by 12:35.

This Friday, 11AM, is the Spring Student Council Election! An information packet was sent home with your child on Friday and is due March 2 if he or she is interested in running for an office (4th Grade: Secretary and 5th Grade: Treasurer and Vice President). I will be going over speeches on Wednesday and students can bring posters to hang on Friday.

Students will begin practicing for the “Smarter Balanced Assessment” - the replacement for the STAR Test - this week. I encourage you to check out the sample test here if you are interested, the testing window begins in May.  There will not be student scores reported this year since they are still “testing the test” however I’d like the students to gain a comfort level with the interface and structure of the test to ease any anxiety. The 5th Graders will still be taking the STAR Science Test as well. If you have any questions, please let me know.

We are continuing to work with Fractions this week in both 4th & 5th grade, so please practice multiplication & division facts with your child as often as possible! We will be having a vocabulary test this Friday and the words can be practiced here. We are also learning how to write concise and informative summaries and the writing assessment will focus on those learned skills.

I appreciate your support both in class and at home, so THANK YOU! If you have any questions please contact me at rhonig@santacruz.k12.ca.us.

Best,

Ms. Honig