Hello Everyone,

**Important Announcements:

CAASPP testing is on the horizon and with that added spiral review and practice in math and ELA. Please be sure your student is here, and if they do have to miss that homework and practice are picked up for them so that they do not fall behind.

Upcoming Dates:
Mt. School Auction: Saturday May 5 @ 5-9 p.m.
Spring Concert: Friday May 18 @ 5:30-7:30
CAASPP testing: Week of 5/21 in the morning M-F
Open House: Wednesday May 23 from 7-8
Memorial Day: Monday May 28 NO SCHOOL

Curriculum Updates:

ELA: we will be reading/analyzing our mystery book. 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: Which Way Freedom, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, Harriet Tubman, Abe Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Many Thousand Gone by Virginia Hamilton, Johnny Tremain.

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: Decimals. 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: We will begin the Environments unit next week. 

Social Studies: History Alive curriculum and Houghton Mifflin. We will be going into the Modern era as well as studying the branches of government.

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

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.

Warmly,

Mrs. Young