Our week in learning 12/18

This quarter has been a whirlwind, and the semester is nearly through! Your child has memorized poems, written descriptive, narrative, and persuasive essays, conquered fractions and geometry, and taken charge of note-taking and presentations in history. I can't wait to continue our learning in January.

In math this week, students will take their final two tests of the year. These tests are cumulative, covering units 1-5. On Monday, students will work in groups while taking a multiple choice test, and on Tuesday, students will work individually to complete the final test.

This week in science, students will conclude their lab with Ms. Chaudhury and review the parts of the cell in preparation for our plant cells unit that will begin next quarter.

On Tuesday, students' poetry packets are due. We have worked on these in class, and I have been impressed with their ability to identify rhyme schemes, rhythm, and poetic devices, as well as creating their own! Also on Tuesday, students will recite the poem "The Snowstorm" and take their final roots test over roots 26-50.

On Wednesday, we will clean out our desks and the room and celebrate the end of the quarter with a Where the Red Fern Grows party. Please note that we will be watching the movie Where the Red Fern Grows. If your child is uncomfortable with any of the content, he or she is welcome to temporarily step out of the room (supervised).

Please send your child to school on Wednesday with a bag that is large enough to hold the entire contents of their desk, preferably a reusable grocery bag. We will completely empty desks and leave backpacks, notebooks, and textbooks in the classroom over winter break. These must be hung up in the back of the room by the end of the day, with desks empty and clean. Cleaning crews will only sanitize the tops of desks over break, not the insides.

On we go to semester two!

Our week in learning 12/11

 The last full week of the semester is here! Students are busy preparing to present their history 
units, state brochures, and "The Snowstorm" recitations. This week, we are wrapping up our 
science unit on mitosis, and have finished reading Where the Red Fern Grows and presenting
 the 100-point literature projects. Students will begin bringing home graded work to stay as they 
start cleaning out their desks for the end of the semester.

This week in science, students will review for and take their mitosis quiz, which will take place 
on Tuesday. Students will be expected to know the order of the stages of mitosis and what happens 
during each stage, as well as how mitosis differs from binary fission. On Thursday and Friday,
 students will conduct a bacteria-growing lab in which they will practice their scientific investigation 
skills.

In grammar this week, students will work on their persuasive essay final drafts and will participate
 in a writing workshop on Wednesday, going through each step of writing an essay and conferencing 
with a teacher after each step. They will use the AZMerit rubric as their guide. On Thursday and 
Friday, students will identify each other's arguments and persuasive techniques as they present 
their essays to the class. Next week students will take their cumulative roots quiz.

This week in History, students will be presenting their Feudal Japan chapters as a groups on Monday 
and Tuesday.

Students have finished the 50 states unit and will demonstrate their knowledge by creating 
a brochure for a randomly chosen state. States will be chosen and information given on Monday. 
Their final brochure is due for presentation on Wednesday, 12/13. We will present on their states 
until Winter break. We will present on a volunteer basis, so students who will be absent the last 
week of school must present on Thursday or Friday.

This week in Math, students find the area and perimeter of odd-shaped figures, explore the 
area of a triangle (½ x base x height), parallelograms, and the surface area of rectangular prism, 
cube, and cuboids. Their last test of the quarter will be on Monday, December 18th. There are  
no math groups this week.  

Our week in learning 12/4

The antepenultimate week of school this semester has arrived! This busy time of year brings many projects. I will continue to post important due dates on the right-hand side of the blog for your reference.

This week in language arts,

students will take their mid-year grammar test on Tuesday.

Students will begin their next writing project this week on Persuasive Writing. They’ll write an essay as a turkey to a farmer entitled “Wait, wait! Don’t Shoot!” As pre-writing and rough drafts come home, please help your child edit for spelling and grammar errors.

This week in science, students will consider the benefits and harm that eukaryotic protists can potentially bring to mankind, incorporating these viewpoints into a class discussion. Students may use this web site as a resource for the discussion worksheet: https://www.ck12.org/biology/protists-and-disease/lesson/Protists-and-Human-Disease-BIO/

Additionally, students will learn about how prokaryotic organisms choose to live together in a colony. Finally, students will be introduced to the stages of mitosis. They will take a short quiz over mitosis next week.

In literature this week, students will finish Where the Red Fern Grows. The 100-point project and packet are due on Thursday. Students will present their projects to the class on Thursday and Friday.

In history, students will study Feudal Japan, working in groups to present the unit to their classmates.

In math, students will continue the geometry unit by finding the area of perimeter of a rectangle and using the formula 1/2 base x height to calculate the area of a triangle. Math groups will take place on Wednesday.