Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The Early Colonization Assessment that was listed in class news for tomorrow has been moved to next Thursday, December 17.  A study guide will come home on Monday afternoon, and the assessment will now include information on Geography of the Colonies, the four New England colonies, triangular trade, the Middle Passage, and the four Middle Colonies.  

Order forms for East Side Tiger totes are coming home today (Wednesday).  Please consider showing your East Side spirit and purchase a Tiger Tote for $8.00.  

Domino's Pizza Night is tomorrow night--Thursday, December 10.  A portion of your pizza orders will go straight back to the East Side PTA--so order in and enjoy some delicious pizza!

We will be taking a Class Photograph tomorrow right after specials!  Please make every effort to be in school tomorrow, so you don't miss our class picture! ALL of you are a special part of our class--our picture will not be complete without all 26 of our smiling faces!!

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Monday, December 7, 2009

Here's a look at what your child will be studying this week...

§       READING:  We will continue our book groups this week.  Please make sure that you're checking our homework page daily, as each reading group will have different nightly assignments. In whole group reading workshop, we'll continue to study story elements.  We'll examine characters, dialogue, and actions.  

§       SPELLING: Students will be working on Word Sort #15, which focuses on spelling patterns for the -er, -ar, -or words.  Spelling lists were taped into each child's planner on Monday morning.  Please make sure students are following their nightly spelling homework assignments. SPELLING HOMEWORK WILL NOT BE DUE UNTIL NEXT MONDAY, DECEMBER 14.

§       WRITING: We will begin drafting our realistic short stories this week.  We will work through the Writing Process as we draft, edit, revise, and publish our realistic short stories.  Students will have opportunities to share their writing and ideas throughout the process, and Ms. Agnew and Ms. Mattocks look forward to conferencing with students throughout the week. 

§       GRAMMAR:   Students will study homonyms this week; including homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently) and homographs (words that sound the same and are spelled the same and have different meanings.  There will be a Homonyms Assessment on this Thursday, December 10. 

§       SCIENCE: In science, students will begin a unit on SOUND.  We'll be trying to solve the following problems:  What is sound?  How is sound made? What is the relationship between volume, pitch, and vibration?  We'll be doing hands-on lab activities throughout the week.  Students will be given directions for a sound project, which will require them to make a musical instrument at home.  This project will be due next week, and will take place of a written exam on sound. 

§       SOCIAL STUDIES: Students will continue their study of early colonies this week.  We will be focusing on the New England Colonies all week, which include Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire.  Notes about the colonies are posted under Homework Resources/Downloads.  There will be an assessment of the New England Colonies on Thursday!!  Please review notes each night!

§       MATH:  We will focus on classifying quadrilaterals this week.  Quadrilaterals are four-sided, four-angled polygons.  We will investigate the characteristics of squares, rectangles, rhombuses, trapezoids, and parallelograms.  A Quadrilateral Study Guide has already been posted to the Homework Resources/Downloads page of our website.  

§       Additional Class News:

o      IN-HOUSE FIELD TRIP:  Our in-house field trip is this Friday, December 11.  We will be watching and hearing history come alive as Captain Sadler takes us back to Colonial America. 

o      CANNED FOOD DRIVE:  East Side's Student Council is hosting a Canned Food Drive.  Please send in canned and/or boxed food with your student to deposit in the food collection bins at the entrance of the school!

o      CLASS PET:  Our adorable class pet, Tuck the turtle, is willing to travel home with his favorite classmates on the weekends, now that the trailer gets too cold overnight for his comfort.  He is VERY easy to take care of, if you are willing to allow your child to bring home Tuck for the weekend, please e-mail Ms. Mattocks (Lindsay.Mattocks@cobbk12.org). 

Thanks for your support,

Ms. Agnew and Ms. Mattocks