Hello Everyone,

    Happy New Year! I hope you all had a marvelous vacation filled with rest, relaxation, adventure, and memory-making experiences.  Thank you for your kind sentiments and generous gifts.  I feel honored and appreciated! 🎉

**Important Announcements/Field Trips:

Mountain Science Fair- Wednesday, March 7th:

Your child will receive a Science Fair packet to read over with you and begin planning for a project next Monday.  All students in grades 4-6 are required to complete science fair projects at home.  Clear guidelines and timeline are included in the information.   

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

THE SANTA CRUZ SYMPHONY FIELD TRIP: Tuesday February 20th at 11:00, Kaiser Arena

To inspire our students’ musical talents and aspirations we will participate in this fantastic event.

**A field trip form is in your child’s Monday folder.**

Santa Cruz County Science Fair: Saturday March 10th  (registration deadline: Fri., Feb. 9)

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:

HOLIDAY/ NO SCHOOL-- Monday, January 15th

SC Symphony field trip-- Tuesday February 20th, 11:00 @ Kaiser Arena
SCCOE Spelling Bee-- Saturday, January 27th at UCSC

HOLIDAY/ NO SCHOOL-- Monday, February 12th

HOLIDAY/ NO SCHOOL-- Monday, February 19th
Santa Cruz Symphony at Kaiser Arena--Monday, February 20th
READ-A-THON-- February 18th-February 28th
Mountain Science Fair-- Wednesday, March 7th

SC County Science Fair--Saturday, March 10th

Typing Club

Typing practice!! typingclub.com

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

Curriculum Updates: January

ELA: reading/analyzing our literature book: The Sign of the Beaver.  We are working on jots (note taking from the text and elaboration) and uncovering the problems that face our main characters and the life lessons taught in the text. In addition, we continue to honor our VIP each week and listen and respond to presentations by students. 

SC Symphony: daily musical compositions are introduced and enjoyed every morning in preparation for our SC Symphony experience on Tuesday February 20th and beyond.

Mindfulness: best practices in mindfulness are 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: Review of comparing fractions and lessons on adding and subtracting 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: Soils, Rocks and Landforms; science fair preparation.

Social Studies: American Revolution and beyond.

Writing and Grammar: summary writing continues throughout the year. Social Studies written report (expository), spelling, vocabulary, grammar and root word study.

Warmly,

Mrs. Young