Dr. Shaw's Weekly Newsletter
December 7th - 11th
Greetings Everyone!
Thank you to everyone who attended the Holiday Lunch today! It was great to see our team families all together in one place! Hats off to the Jackson administrative, support, and cafeteria staff who work so hard to make this a memorable event. And a big shout out to the Northbrook orchestra- they were amazing!
It's time to finish strong! We had a pretty good week back after the break, but there have been some issues with behavior choices. Both Mrs. Blankenship and I realize this is an exciting time of year, but it is important that we stay focused on our work and maintain good work habits. Making good behavior choices is important as well. Please remind your son or daughter to finish strong!
Here's what is coming up in academics this week:
In math, we have wrapped up our last two new concepts and will review them Monday before a daily grade on Tuesday. The first involves interpreting multiplication of a whole number by a fraction as the "resizing" of the whole number and understanding a fraction as a division problem where the numerator is the dividend and the denominator is the divisor. The second fraction test of the quarter is on Friday, December 11th, A study guide will be given out early in the week.
In math, we are also continuing to review a little each day for our midyear district assessment, which is cumulative for the entire year. I am encouraging the use of the support site Front Row for the students to practice their math skills.
Don't forget about the accelerated math content on eClass. Very few students have taken advantage of this opportunity.
In social studies, we will continue constructing a review resource that will help us prepare for the midyear district assessment. Next week, we will revisit the causes of the Civil War and Reconstruction. There is a daily grade scheduled for Wednesday.
In science, we wrapped up our earth sciences unit and are now focused on reviewing, completing the study guide, and taking the unit test. The study guide has been handed out and is due Wednesday. The test is Thursday. We will integrate DA review into our instruction next week as well.
There are great resources on eClass for both science and social studies. I am adding a featured website to the landing page every week. Also, check out the links under the Resources tab that provide students with game based activities to review science content and an important Google map of places we have studied in socials studies so far this year. Students are responsible for identifying specific geographic locations in social studies.
In reading, the class will complete a daily grade centering on utilizing multiple sources for answering non-fiction questions. The students will also complete a story map next Wednesday for the book, Wonder. This will count as a daily grade.
In grammar and writing, the students will complete a daily grade Monday covering synonyms/antonyms. From there, they will continue to work on their Wonder perspective writing piece. This is for enrichment and will not be counted as a grade.
Students are encouraged to type their final copies as Mrs. B will be compiling all of the pieces for the team to create a wonderful collection of stories for them! The final copies are due December 15th.
The students will wrap up their research component for their science grade and create notecards for the speeches that will be given in language arts class the last week before the break.
One last word from Mrs. Blankenship...Please remember the ten minute nightly ELA Classworks assignment should be completed Monday-Thursday.
Upcoming Events/Deadlines
Book Fair Visit - December 8th - 12:30
Percussion Club and Chorus Performance - December 10th, 6:30 P.M.
Mid Year District Assessments - Week of December 14th
Drama Club Performance - December 17th - 6:45 P.M.
Last Day of the Term - December 18th
Winter Break - December 19th - January 5th
Students Return - January 6th
Have a wonderful week!
Dr. Shaw