February 10-February 21

Valentine's Day is this Friday. Students are asked to bring in a box, envelope, bag, or holder for the valentines they receive. They can decide how elaborate or simple their holder will be. Please have your child bring in 21 valentines, one for each person in our classroom. 

Also when entering your child's minutes for the Six Flags Read to Succeed program please use the following code: vbydb   Minutes need to be entered into the site by March 31 to receive a complimentary ticket.
Read to Succeed Link

Language Art

The students did a great job of learning a fact is that can be proven true and an opinion is someone’s own thoughts, feelings, or beliefs. Our next focus skill is theme. Theme is a life lesson, meaning, moral, or message about life or human nature that is communicated by a literary work. Identifying the theme of a story is a more challenging focus skill. It requires the reader to identify a main idea in the story. Then extend the idea to the real world and even your own life. There will be an assessment on theme at the end of the two weeks.

This week we will also introduce the new Spelling/Vocabulary words for Lesson 9. These are
words I often see misspelled in everyday writing. By studying these words for the next two
weeks, I hope to see them spelled correctly in everyday writing.

Math:
Our next unit will start with the study of fractions. Lessons will include decomposing fractions, adding and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators, word problems, and mixed fractions. Many students are working on a new game called Prodigy. Once students have mastered Reflex Math (multiplication and division facts) they will go onto a more challenging game that has them apply their facts into new concepts. I have asked the students to keep fresh on their facts by using Reflex Math at least once a week still. Once they have mastered those facts I don’t want them to forget all they learned.

For each unit a Family Newsletter goes home for parents. Unit 5 newsletter was sent home on Friday since we will start the first lessen to the unit on Monday. If you misplace your newsletter you can always use this link to access the letter. This link will give you all the units for the year. Everyday Math Family Letters

Home Links (In case your child forgets his/her homelink at school)

Science:

For the next six weeks we will be going back to our science curriculum, Mystery Science. Our first unit we are learning about is waves of sound. This will help students develop the idea that sound is an actual thing, a wave of vibrations traveling through the air. This past week we introduced our first lesson and created paper cup telephones with a partner to see how sound waves travel through each cup and the string. Students goal was to work on creating a clearer sound over a greater distance by using different materials. Students were engineers for the day creating two more experiments that tried to create better communication with their partner. Students began to understand how important vibration is in order to hear your partner. This upcoming week we will continue learning more about sound, waves, and communication. Throughout this unit, students will engage in the process of inquiry: beginning with observations, debating a range of possible causes, and reasoning to possible conclusions. By the end of this unit students will begin to make sense of how sound and music work.

The next few weeks we will focus on mastering this Science standard:

Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength and that waves can cause objects to move.

SEL

In the next few weeks we will be focusing on calming down strategies and managing anxiety. Even though it's a few months away, I often see students using these strategies during state testing (IAR test). Students will decide on a stop signal, name their feeling, and decide on a way to calm down. Some calming techniques we will practice and discuss are taking deep breathes, counting until we have relaxed, and using positive self talk. Hopefully  

  

Important Dates:

• Tuesday, February 11: 100th Day of School! (Grades 1-5)
• Monday, February 17: NO SCHOOL, Presidents Day Celebrated
• Wednesday, February 19: Discovery Science
• Thursday, February 20: CCSD21 Board of Education Meeting, 7:30 PM
• Friday, February 21: Spelling/Vocab Assessments
• Friday, February 28: Book Talk Due AND PTO Bingo Night, 6:00-9:00 PM