Weekly Newsletter
It’s time to register for 2016-2017 school year! Log on to Gradelink and click Re-Enroll. If you register before February 29th, the price is over half off. Thank you to all the families who have already registered. I appreciate your support and I am looking forward to an incredible year to come!
A look at our week…
Religion: Next Thursday at 9am, the 4th grade class will be leading Stations of the Cross in the Church. All are welcome to attend! We will not be starting a new chapter in our Religion text, instead we will be focusing on the stations.
4th Grade Language Arts: This week we asked the question, “What traits do successful people have?” In the historical fiction selection Riding Freedom, a young woman faces great obstacles as she pursues her dream of driving a stagecoach. We also read about the obstacles faced by a man who drills for oil in the informational text Spindletop.
Next week’s…
- Target Vocabulary: reward, graduate, symbol, foster, disobey, confidence, patiently, confesses, ceremony, performs (Vocab homework can be found here.)
- Vocabulary Strategy: Suffixes -ion, -ation, -ition
- Comprehension Skill: Sequence of events—understand how the order of events contributes to the text
- Comprehension Strategy: Summarize— put the most important ideas into your own words
- Spelling: See Focus Wall(Homework assignment can be found here.) Please note: Starting this week, the challenge words will be included in our weekly Spelling tests and must be included in the homework.
- Don’t forget our class has a Quizlet account with the Vocabulary and Spelling words for both 4th and 5th grade at https://quizlet.com/class/2010370/.
5th Grade Language Arts: We started our week by asking, “In what ways can illustrations enhance a reader’s experience?” In the realistic fiction story Lunch Money, Greg is surprised to find himself teaching up with his rival, Maura, to create comic books to sell at school. Students had the opportunity to make their own “chunky comics” in class this week.
Next week’s…
- Target Vocabulary: impressed, admitted, produced, destination, original, concentrate, collected, rumor, suspense, compliment (Vocab homework can be found here.)
- Vocabulary Strategy: Reference materials
- Comprehension Skill: Story structure- examine details about characters, setting, and plot
- Comprehension Strategy: Infer/Predict- use context clues to figure out what the author means or what might happen in the future
- Spelling: See Focus Wall (Homework assignment can be found here.) Please note: Starting this week, the challenge words will be included in our weekly Spelling tests and must be included in the homework.
- Don’t forget our class has a Quizlet account with the Vocabulary and Spelling words for both 4th and 5th grade at https://quizlet.com/class/2010370/.
4th Grade Math: We will be finishing our long division movie theater partner projects this week and beginning Chapter 8 on fractions.
5th Grade Math: Chapter 6 Multiplying Fractions
5th Grade Accelerated Math: Chapter 8 Decimals- Addition and Subtraction
Social Studies: On Tuesday, students will be presenting their Christopher Columbus Voyage Reader’s Theater. We have been working in groups this week on writing realistic fictional scripts. The students are very excited to act these out! We will also continue with Chapter 4 on European Settlements. Students will describe the aims and accomplishments of English, French, and Dutch explorers. We will also understand the significance of the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
Science: We had a fun-filled trip to the Palomar Planetarium this week. Thank you to all the drivers. We will continue with Unit B Chapter 5 on the Solar System.
Upcoming Important Dates and Events (Tests are only added on a weekly basis and subject to change):
Wednesday 3/2: 8am Mass, Progress Reports, 2:30pm Dismissal
Thursday 3/3: 4th Grade Stations of the Cross at 9am in the Church
Friday 3/4: Spelling/L.A. 3.17 Test, 12noon Dismissal
Wednesday 3/9: 8am Mass, 2:30pm Dismissal
Thursday 3/10: 9am Stations of the Cross in the Church
For an up-to-date version of our school calendar please visit https://stmesc.org/students-and-families/school-calendar/.