January 12th - January 16th

Upcoming Events

Monday, January 19th ~ No School, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Tuesday, January 20th ~ President Outline and Thesis Statement Due

Wednesday, January 21st ~ President Research Paper Introduction Paragraph Due

Monday, January 26th ~ Presidents Research Paper First Draft Due

Friday, January 30th ~ Presidents Research Paper Final Copy Due

Thursday, February 5th ~ Noon dismissal Professional Development, Word Masters Challenge

Wednesday, February 11th ~ Presidents' Celebration at 2:00

Friday, February 13th ~ "Starring Abe Lincoln" Cultural Arts Event at Union Station Station, Valentine's Day Party 2:30

Academics

In language arts, we continued with our work in our Presidents Unit. At this time, all students have completed their research by writing note cards from each of their sources.  We then used this research to develop outlines and write thesis statements. Completed outlines are due Tuesday, January 20th. We will write the first draft of our research papers next week. Please refer to the Presidents Packet students have for other due dates or note the dates listed above if you have any questions regarding this work. 

We also continued with our study of Word Masters Round 2. Students may begin studying their packet of words to prepare for the Word Masters challenge on February 5th. 

In reading, Mrs. Nash's class began a literature circles unit. For this unit, students are reading one of the following novels: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop, and Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell. As they read, students will be completing a different role each day to prepare for a discussion they will have with their Literature Circle group the following class period. In reading Miss Laird’s class is about to finish Watson’s go to Birmingham. We are currently working in stations to reinforce the important events, plot and character traits. At the end of next week we will take a test over the book.
 
In social studies, we used some of our time to complete our research for our Presidents work. We also started our next unit of study, which will focus on the American Revolution. One of the skills we are working on as we work through this unit is determining the main idea from nonfiction text. We will develop this skill as we create a timeline of the American Revolution. 

In science, we are working on the muscular skeletal system. The students learned how the muscles and bones work together and created a model elbow. This helped them to see how the muscles work together and how they move our bones. We are now working in small groups to learn about different important elements of the muscular skeletal system. Some of the groups include: joints, types of muscles, what can go wrong with bones and muscles, and voluntary vs involuntary muscles.