Weekly Update: February 17th

Reminder: We have NO SCHOOL on Monday, February 17th due to Presidents' Day!

Many of our Badger students are still battling colds. We could use your help to replenish our classroom tissue supplies and Clorox wipes.  Thank you for the donations that have come in thus far.  If your child has missed school, they have missed work in all classes, and should plan to stay after school.

Another reminder about absenteeism:  Students are responsible for any and all work that was assigned and assessed in every class.  We are spending a great deal of time reminding kids to complete work.

Class Updates: 

Social Studies: Students spent the week working on an in-class research project. They were instructed to pick any topic relevant to Ancient Rome and research it. The end results should have been a slideshow displaying their research. Check the gradebook to see how your child did!

Science: In science we have finished through page 57 in the binder. This week we are moving onto chapter 3 of Traits and Reproduction. We will be reading articles about twins and the corpse flower as well as using the spider simulation to study sexual reproductions affect on genes.

Literacy:  We have begun Latin Unit 8, and the Mastery test is scheduled for Friday, February 21st.  Several students have spoken to me about taking the test early, as they will be out on Friday.  This is perfectly fine, as long as they cans stay on Thursday.  If not, they should be prepared to stay and  to take it on Monday, March 2. In honor of Presidents' Day, we will discuss the power of rhetoric this week, and learn to recognize the techniques used in some very famous speeches! 

English: Students are in the middle of reading The Giver right now and recently learned about literary hooks, cliffhangers, and allusions.  We also discussed point of view and how it impacts a text.  Next week we will continue reading and review similes, metaphors, and personification.  Ask your student what he or she enjoys most about the book!

Math: Students finished their test on Circles last Thursday!  We are moving onto surface area and volume of right rectangular prisms.  First we will begin discussing and creating nets of different 3-D shapes then move on to surface area.  Students will review rectangular prisms before moving onto triangular prisms and pyramids. 

Weekly Update: February 9th

Reminder: Progress reports went home Wednesday, February 5th!  Please review your child's progress report and return the signed envelope.

Many of our Badger students are still battling colds . We could use your help to replenish our classroom tissue supplies and Clorox wipes.  Thank you for the donations that have come in thus far.  If your child has missed school, they have missed work in all classes, and should plan to stay after school.

Class Updates: 

Social Studies: We spent the majority of the week learning about Ancient Roman culture. Next week, we will begin an in-class research project. Students will be able to pick any topic about Ancient Rome and investigate it further and ultimately create a slideshow showing what they have learned. 

Science: We have been using the spider simulation in Amplify and K-nex to study and model how proteins create structure and genes provide instructions for building proteins. We have completed through page 43 in our binder and have read/annotated articles A and B in the back of the binder about spider silk and hemophilia.  Instead of collecting binders I will collect some binder pages each week to check class work progress. Students should be sure to complete all binder pages each week as assigned. 

Literacy:  These last two weeks have been jam packed in Literacy! We completed Latin Unit 7 and began our unit on the power children have had to change history. Our students watched an educational documentary The Children’s March this week and saw how brave the children of Birmingham, Alabama were in 1963! We read Alice Walker‘s short story called The Flowers, and kids did a fabulous job with Rapid Research of important terms! Ask your children what they learned! On to Latin 8, and more close reading about children in history! 

English: Students did a wonderful job creating and submitting their character change cartoon projects a couple weeks ago.  Their designs were creative and well executed!  We've switched gears a bit in English the last two weeks - moving from our classic literature unit to our science fiction unit, which focuses on The Giver. We are currently five chapters in and the suspense is starting to build!  

Math: We are finishing up our circles unit.  Students spent the past week learning about radius, diameter, circumference and area of a circle. This week we will continue on with learning about complex shapes.We have a test this Thursday, study guides will go home Monday.  

One of our team teachers celebrates their birthday on Monday, we lost track of the how old they are so we are celebrating age advancement instead!  Happy Birthday …..