Week of 9/17/07 - 9/21/07

Dear Parents and friends,

We’ve had a marvelous week! We wrote "Snapshot" sentences, "Souper" paragraphs, and Aztec postcards. We also studied parts of sentences and met Mr. Morton. Finally, after learning about the life and habitat of the Barn Owl, we began our owl pellet dissection.

HERE ARE SOME HIGHLIGHTS FOR NEXT WEEK (9/17/07 - 9/21/07)

SPELLING

Lesson 3 – Words with the suffix "er" and singular possessives

ENGLISH

Our study of sentences will continue with a focus on simple predicates, subjects in imperatives, and conjunctions. And, of course, we will end each lesson with a rousing chorus of "Mr. Morton".

READING

We have finished our study of paragraph writing. This week we will begin a novel study of the book, Kid in the Red Jacket. This book tells the story of Howard Jeeter, a boy who moves to a new town, and has many adventures, least of which, meeting a new redheaded friend. This unit will focus on the reading strategy of summarizing and the study of vocabulary in context.

“Bite into a Good Book” Program

Students should ALWAYS have a silent reading book with them at school! Don't forget that a book presentation is necessary to reach your goal!

SOCIAL STUDIES

Our first Social Studies TEST is scheduled for Tuesday, September 18th. The test will cover Chapter 4. Students were given "How to Study" sheets on Thursday, 9/13.

After an activity on map reading, we will begin Chapter 5, which focuses on the early colonies, including Jamestown. We will begin by trying to solve the mystery of the lost colony, Roanoke Island.

SCIENCE

We will be finishing owl pellets this week. There will be an open note QUIZ at the end of the week, tentatively scheduled for Thursday, September 20th. The quiz will include information from their video notes, the lab sheet, and the bone sorting sheet. Watch your child's assignment notebook for a final quiz date.

MATH

In this section, I will be writing about math for my math group. To read about what your child is doing for math, you will have to visit your child's math teacher's blog. You can do this by going to our District website: http://www.ccsd66.org/ , click on Prairieview, click on 5th Grade, then click on your child's math teacher's name. Their blog will come up. Find the teacher's math section to read about what your child will be doing in math class.

Mrs. Bell's Math Class:

The Chapter 1 TEST is scheduled for Wednesday, September 19th. Review for the test will be on Monday, and on Tuesday, there will be no math due to early dismissal. On Friday, we will begin Chapter 2 - "Introduction to Algebra".

SPECIAL EVENTS

The Magazine Drive, one of our district’s largest fundraisers, will be “kicked off” on Monday. Look for information to come home with your child.

Also, don’t forget about early dismissal on Tuesday, 9/18. Students will be dismissed at 11:00.

Finally, picture day is Friday, 9/20.

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Karen Bell