Week of November 16 - November 20, 2015

Dear Families and Friends,

Report cards and parent conferences are complete and went very well. Including students in their conferences marks and important transition in ownership and accountability for most scholars. Congratulations to all students! Well done.

Jupiter Grades. Most of you and your children have logged in and changed your pass codes. If you have not had a chance to do this, please do so now. This will help you and your child monitor grades and assignments together as a team. This tool should be utilized to help your child develop as a life-long learner teaching them the value of responsibility and expectation as they grow as scholars. Jupiter Grades

Play: "13 Colonies."  We read through our play today for the first time and listened to all of the songs.  We will watch a kid's production of the play on video tomorrow to give students a complete sense of the play. Students will be asked to consider 3 different parts and 3 different songs/dances that they would most like to perform. Then, I will use fair sticks to select students for parts knowing that all students within our class are completely capable of doing a marvelous job in whichever role they may get. 

Play performance dates: Thursday December 10 at 7 p.m. for parents and friends and Friday December 11 at 11 a.m. for the school. Mark your calendars! You don't want to miss this wonderful event!

Parent help and volunteers needed: for filling in missing items for costumes, rehearsing lines, practicing dances and songs, assisting with the set and back stage, etc. I will put together a sign up sheet on google docs for those who would like to sign up to help. Thank you in advance! Your participation is greatly appreciated!

Shared Music and Scripts: I have shared the music with lyrics and the instrumental version along with a script of the play. Your child also brought home a script today which is to stay home and be used to read and practice from nightly. 

ELA/Social Sciences: We will read and do various activities that support our theme of learning about the colonies. Students will continue to work on their Native American Reports.

Art: Students will complete their tribal shadow boxes this week, and we will start to create set designs for our play with the help of Mary Beth in the Art department!

Read Aloud: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech.

Math: Despite our commitment to the play, we will continue to weave our math curriculum into our days. We are working on the multiplication algorithm, multiplication using mental math strategies with 10's, 100's and 1000's as well as the operations and properties. I hope to build a solid foundation with these skills. We have been working diligently toward this goal. A review of former concepts will continue as we dive into fractions in the next few weeks.

Writing and Grammar: We will continue to study subjects and predicates and use them in our essays and daily writing assignments.

Spelling: We have started our spelling packets and tests on Fridays. Please support your child with this new addition to our nightly home work. There is a place that requires a parent signature. Our words come from student papers and authentic pieces of their writing. The spelling packet this week is geared toward our play and the study of the colonies.

Nightly Reading: Please remind your child to read their lines and go over their script for nightly reading this month. This will help students reinforce and build confidence with their parts. 
Thank you for supporting both our classroom and your wonderful child!

Have a great week!

Warmly,

Mrs. Young