Dear Parents,

I hope everyone is staying dry.

Congratulations to our new student council officers and class reps: Isabelle, Luke and James.

Sick Days and Absences: When your student misses a day or more of school it is highly recommended that you come in and pick up the homework and missed classwork for the day/week. In a week, we have 7.5 hours of instruction in math alone.

**Important Announcements:

Science Fair- Wednesday, March 1st:

Your child received a Science Fair packet to read over with you and begin planning for a project last week.  By now all families should have reviewed this packet with their children. All students in grades 4-6 are required to complete science fair projects at home.  Clear guidelines and timeline are included in the information.  Please follow the attached calendar to keep on schedule.

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/ and SC County Science Fair Link provide helpful resources for project planning.  Please contact me with any questions.

Santa Cruz County Science Fair: March 11th  (registration deadline: Fri., Feb. 10)

SC County Science Fair Link  We encourage students to enter their projects into the Santa Cruz County Science Fair. Please view the website with your child to consider whether she or he is interested in this opportunity.  The website includes helpful ideas as well as guidelines for projects. If your child is interested in participating, he/she is strongly encouraged to begin a project as soon as possible.

Upcoming Dates:

DATW w/ Micha Scott Final Performance-- Thursday March 2nd, 2:20-2:35

HOLIDAY/ NO SCHOOL-- Monday, February 20th

Science Fair-- Wednesday, March 1st
Report Cards-- Monday, March 20th

Typing Club

This week we begin typing practice!! typingclub.com

We will be typing in class each week.  Please let me know if computer access is a problem.

Curriculum Updates:

ELA: we are reading/analyzing our literature book: The Birchbark House in class only. This book should not travel back and forth to school and home; rather, the AR book is for that purpose.  In addition, we continue to honor our VIP each week and listen and respond to presentations by students and practice writing friendly letters. We also have introduced Lucy Calkin's reading lessons as part of our aligned writing program here at Mountain School.

Read Aloud Books: Kit Carson, Walk Two Moons, Lovina's Song, The Tiger Rising, By the Great Horn Spoon, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr., Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks, Abraham Lincoln,....

SC Symphony: daily musical compositions are introduced and enjoyed every morning in preparation for our SC Symphony experience on January 26th and beyond.

Mindfulness: best practices in mindfulness are being incorporated in our classroom this year.

Harmony: best practices school-wide curriculum for building a strong social-emotional community within our classrooms.

AR Reading: Accelerated Reader continues to be an important part of our reading program.  Students are reading appropriate AR books found through the AR book find link and then quizzing on them within 24 hours of finishing their book.  It is critical to support your child in book selection (most books are in our school and classroom libraries) and to remind them to read, read, read whenever the opportunity arises--in the car, while waiting for an appt., to and from school, before bed time, on a Sunday in your jammies, etc.  These books should travel to and from the classroom in a daily fashion for classroom DEAR (drop everything and read) sessions as well as nightly reading homework and beyond. Students have a goal of 14 points for the second trimester.  Each book has a certain amount of points it is worth.  This information is listed with reading level and appropriateness (grade school, middle school, high school, for example).  Points per book range from 3 to 5, generally, with longer books being worth more points.  On an average this is going to mean your child is reading anywhere from 3-5 books a Trimester. That said, help your child select books that are on their reading level (their latest DRA2 level), and have high interest for them.  This will allow them to accomplish reading books from start to finish successfully.

    

Math: Fractions. Please check your child's planner for specific page numbers. POM solving and presentations (problem of the month) continue. The next MARS task will be introduced this month as well.  

Science: "landforms" and science fair preparation.

Social Studies: explorers slideshow presentations.

Writing and Grammar: summary writing continues throughout the year. Personal narratives, grammar and root word study.

Santa Cruz Young Writer's: social justice and fairness theme.

Warmly,

Mrs. Young