August 26th-30th

Upcoming Events

Monday, September 2nd ~ No School, Labor Day

Thursday, September 5th ~ Lower School Curriculum Night at 6 pm*

Friday, September 13th ~ Author Patricia Pollocko visits Second-Fifth Grade from 1-2 pm 

Tuesday, September 17th ~ School Pictures

Thursday, September 19th ~ Field Trip to Heartland Presbyterian Center

Friday, September 20th ~ Family Fun Fest 

Friday, September 27th ~ Spirit Day and Pet Blessing  

*We hope you are able to join us for Lower School Curriculum Night. Fifth grade will meet on the third floor in the commons for the presentation.

 Technology Use

We want to thank you for the feedback we received regarding the use of google docs. We understand that parents may not be comfortable with students using google docs to store their work, so students will not be required to use it. If students are not going to use google drive, it would be very helpful if they could bring a flash drive to school so they can ensure their work is saved. Students can keep this flash drive in their pencil pouch so that they will have it at school and at home whenever they need it.

Academics

In language arts, we completed our second set of Wordly Wise words. Students practice the words through our online program, and they took a test over the words on Friday. This is the last week students will complete this practice in class. Starting next week, students will be asked to complete their wordly wise practice at home. If students do not have access to a computer at home, they can speak with their language arts teacher about other options for completing the work. We also finished reviewing the six traits of writing and began our first writing project of the year in language arts. Students will be composing a personal narrative over the next week, and we will focus on the trait of ideas as we work through this writing piece.

Both reading continued to read their class novels and practiced their reading strategies as they read. Miss Laird's class read through chapter 5 of  Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Mrs. Nash's class read through chapter 15 of  Holes by Louis Sachar.

In social studies, students learned about the first civilizations to settle in both North and South America. They learned about how the Maya, Olmec, Hohokam, Ancestral Pueblo, and Mound Builders adapted to their environments to build powerful civilizations. Next week we will focus on Native American groups in four different regions of the United States.

This week in science we will complete the step by step look at the Scientific Method. We will begin to apply this knowledge by testing an already developed idea and hypothesis. We will also begin thinking about developing our own original idea and hypothesis to test using the Scientific Method.

Learning Objectives for our Current Units

Language Arts 

• Students will identify the six traits of writing and evaluate various writing pieces based on these traits. 

• Students will write narratives to develop real experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

• Students will spell grade-appropriate words correctly and will determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words.

Reading

• Students will compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details from the text.  

• Students will describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.

• Students will determine a theme of a story from details in the text, including how characters in a story respond to challenges.  

• Students will determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes. 
  
  

Social Studies

• Students will trace the development of the first North American cultures. 

• Students will explain how Native Americans adapted to varied environments.

• Students will identify ways Native Americans used natural resources.

• Students will understand how Native American groups governed themselves. 

Science

• Students will be able to determine or give examples of variables in within an experiment.  

• Students will be able to apply the knowledge of scientific method by following the steps in an already developed experiment.

• Students will be able to recall the meaning of hypothesis and identify a hypothesis. 

• Students will be able to understand the difference and relationship of observing, inferring, and hypothesizing.

• Students will be able to write a hypothesis using two variables. 

• Students will be able to explain the importance of variables in a hypothesis.