Week of February 21-25

 Wow, I can't believe it. We're already in the middle of the 3rd nine weeks. The time is really flying by now. Pretty soon we will be in the 4th quarter and it will be over. I can't believe the time has gone by. 

In reading and ELA, students are taking an assessment on our Daily Language Arts (Reading) 4 Today. This will always be completed on the Monday after unless we do not have school. They also have a sheet that lists what the assessment consists of, which are the skills from weeks 5 and 6. We will be focusing on weeks 7 and 8 this week. The assessments on Monday, Feb 28th, will focus on rhyming words, capitalization, adjectives, contractions, and plural nouns. We will also continue with our reading of James and the Giant Peach chapters . We will text on those chapters Friday, February 25. We will cover different skills as we go through the chapters.

With writing, students are working on introductory paragraphs with a hook, thesis, and 3 short details. This week, we will incorporate the body paragraphs with the use of transitions and text evidence. In math, we are working on plotting fractions on the number line, fractions greater than one (improper fractions), measurement to the nearest quarter of an inch (1/4, 1/2, and 3/4), and mixed numbers. In science, we are working on the soil unit. We will not test this week but they will have quizzes throughout. Remember, science and social studies are always open notes.

Below, you will find information from the district and pictures from our Valentine's activities.

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ORDER 2021-22 YEARBOOK

Purchase your copy of this year's yearbook through Parent Portal.

SOAR REGISTRATION CLOSES TOMORROW Feb. 22

SOAR (Summer Opportunity for Academic Readiness) is a FREE, in-person extended learning camp for Richland Two students currently enrolled (2021-2022 school year) in pre-K through 11th grade. Log into your Parent Portal account and register ASAP! Read details about eligibility, focus and more about SOAR here.

Valentine's Day 2022

Week of February 14-18

 We' re almost halfway through February and close to interim time. We are working on the novel James and the Giant Peach, have finished our first unit on fractions, tested on rocks, and will continue to work on Black History for our social studies until. 

In math, will be completing a mini drop-in unit on mixed fractions and how to plot them on the number line.Students should know whole numbers as fractions in terms of copies of unit fractions. (Example: 1 = 4/4 = ¼, ¼, ¼, ¼) Students should understand that mixed numbers are iterations of unit fractions on a number line. Students should not refer to a fraction with a larger numerator than the denominator as an improper fraction. It should be referred to as a fraction greater than one or with multiple copies of a unit fraction. (EX: 4⁄3 is 4 copies of ⅓ ) Students should understand that a fraction such as 8⁄3 could be put together on a number line using 3⁄3 3⁄3, and 3⁄3. We should be in this unit for 7 days, so the test will not be until Thursday, February 24. Please practice the vocabulary and they can go to the Big Ideas or Khan Academy to practice. Even though homework is not mandatory, once again I STRONGLY encourage it. Homework suggestions are written in their agenda books daily.

In reading, we are reading James and the Giant Peach, along with the novel they are reading their small reading groups. We will test on Chapters 1-6 for James and the Giant Peach on Tuesday, February 15th. I will also incorporate some vocabulary into it. They will be allowed to use the novel and they will definitely need it because they will have to find text evidence for some of the answers. For practice, when they are reading at home, refer to last week's post with questions you can use before, during, and after reading.

In science, we will move on to soil. Of course, any quizzes or tests in science and social studies will be open notes. This can only be successful if they have copied the notes. If they have their notes, they should make no less than a high "B".

In social studies, we have learned about Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks, Booker T. Washington, Daniel Hale Williams, and Harriett Tubman. For our Black History Month finale, we, as a school, are reading Ruth and the Green Book and will be highlighting Gabby Goodwin (15 year old here in Columbia making 6 figures selling bows - Confidence by GaBBy Goodwin).

I will start having readers on Friday in March. There will be a sign up calendar that I will send out at a later date with days and times you can sign up. Be sure to have your book selected because the sign up will also ask for that as well.

Last but not least, Coach Lally has partnered with the American Heart Association for the Kids Heart Healthy Challenge. You can donate if you are able and willing. This is the message you will see once you click the following link: Heart Healthy Link

Our School is Heart Healthy!

 

Our School Has Heart!

Join us in learning about heart health and raising funds to protect all hearts – especially other kids’! Through fun activities we’ll discover ways to take care of our hearts and brains while practicing kindness, gratitude and learning ways to de-stress. Plus, we have the chance to earn PE equipment for our school!

Week of February 7-11

Last week was awesome!! Please make sure your heroes have studies the fraction math vocabulary and reviewed the lessons we completed in Chapter 10. The test will be Thursday. We will continue into Chapter 11. Another good place for them to build their math skills is through Khan Academy. We have been using that site frequently along with the Big Ideas lessons. Make sure they are reading at least 20 minutes a day at home. The information below has been proven through research.

 The Benefits of Independent Reading

Builds background knowledge
Deepens vocabulary knowledge (students with the broadest vocabularies stand the greatest chance of                 scoring well on tests that measure vocabulary and comprehension)
Builds reading stamina (stretch their brains for longer, challenging works)
Students should read fiction and nonfiction 
Students that read 10 minutes a day encounter 600,000 more words a year than students who do not                     read
Students who read 20 minutes a day read over 2 million more words a year than a nonreader

Plus, remember this is the year they have to pass the reading and writing portion of the state test. They can always bring their reading notebooks home to see what we have covered as well as incorporating it into their at-home reading. Scroll down to see questions you can ask them to answer when they are reading at home. 

Unfortunately, one of our classmates fell and broke his arm last week. The kids were so caring and concerned about him, so we ended up having a Google Meet with him. They were so glad to see that he was okay. Thankfully, he was able come back today.  

Also, be sure to check out some of our pictures from our writing analysis to our top notch volunteer parents who came and read on World Read Aloud day. I told the that  we will start having a guest reader (at least one) each Friday. This will be so encouraging to let our babies see our love of reading. I will send out a sign-up tomorrow, be on the lookout for it. Thank you to Mrs. Murphy-Jamison, Mrs. Stoutland, Mrs. Athens, Mrs. Jackson, Mrs. Brown, and Mrs. Ramya Smith for taking time out of their day to come and read to us.

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Writing Analysis

Our World Read Aloud Readers