I hope everyone had a nice weekend! It was nice to have some pleasant spring-like weather! I enjoyed being able to see some of you at the Barnes and Noble book fair on Saturday afternoon. Thank you for supporting our school! My children, Will and Clara, loved hearing some of the SPES teachers read books!
*Important Announcements*
*Family Learning Night: Henrico County will be hosting a Family Learning Night event at Henrico High School on Tuesday, March 19th, from 5:30-8:;30 pm. Please see the attached flier for more information: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zrVFdMbXkRbICfYNTF-nbJv8oAGeuddn/view
*Virtual Lesson with the Virginia Museum of History & Culture: On Tuesday of this week we will have our next virtual lesson with the VMHC.
*Recorder Reminders: Please remember that students should be practicing their recorder at home throughout the week. Your child has the Recorder Karate music in his or her Music Folder and should be practicing the next song in order to earn the next belt. As Mrs. Garcia explained in the letter sent home with recorders, you can record a video of your child performing a song and email it to her so that your child doesn’t have to “test” in music class. Doing this really helps cut down on the testing line in class, and your child can do it in a much more relaxed environment at home. Thank you for your support with this!
*MAP Assessments: As a reminder, students will take the Reading MAP test on Thursday, April 18th and the Math MAP test on Wednesday, April 24th. The students have been working on their growth skills in class, using both the Reading and Math sections of “My MAP Learning Path” on Study Island. Thank you for encouraging your child to work on this at home also, if possible.
Below is the link to the NWEA website and their Parent Toolkit:
https://www.nwea.org/parent-toolkit
*What Are We Learning In Class?*
*Reading:
This week we will begin a study of poetry. We will learn about a variety of terms and vocabulary associated with poetry, and how poetry can be organized into stanzas, or verses. We will also learn how to read poetry to understand the author’s message. We will also begin a new reading comprehension activity called the “Daily Reading Review.” Students will read one passage over the course of 2 days and answer about 10 questions each day. This will allow them to focus on using a variety of comprehension strategies on one passage. We will do one “D.R.R.” each week in order to help us prepare for the Reading SOL test in May.
During small group rotations, students will meet with me in small groups to work on comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency strategies using leveled texts. Students will also read to self and work on their writing.
*Math:
The students did a good job on the weight/mass unit last week. This week we will spend a few days studying capacity/volume using both customary units (cups, pints, quarts, and gallons) and metric units (liters and milliliters). Students need to know the approximate size of the units and then how to convert between units in US Customary only (not metric). Students will take a short capacity assessment on Thursday 3/14.
Later in the week we will learn about how to find the perimeter and area of shapes and objects.
*Social Studies:
We will continue our Civil War unit this week (VS.7b & c). This week we will learn more about the key battles that took place here in Virginia, including the final event which was the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, VA. Students will take a short matching quiz on the Civil War leaders and terms on Tuesday 3/12.
The class will take the Civil War VS.7b & c Test next Wednesday, March 20.
*Science:
We will begin our next science unit on Monday – Animals & Ecosystems (4.5). Topics we will learn about will include:
- the organization of ecosystems and different niches that organisms have
- consumers, producers, and decomposers
- types of consumers (herbivores, omnivores, carnivores)
- food chains and food webs
- structural and behavioral adaptations
Students will need to make flashcards for the vocabulary in this unit. The due date will be announced in class and written in your child’s homework agenda.
Have a great week!
-Mrs. Jacobsen