Mrs. Blankenship's News You Can Use
October 19, 2015
Curriculum Focus...No formal homework next week due to testing.
Grammar- We will have our combining sentences DG Monday. From there, we will move to an introduction of correlative conjunctions.
Writing-Writing with dialogue will be our focus. We will begin writing a narrative that requires the proper use and punctuation of dialogue. This assignment will be a summative grade when completed. The students will have a free choice of topic for this grade.
Word Study- Our next G/L roots are Pon/Pos/Posit and Sed/Sid/Sess. The DG will be Friday. A summative grade for spelling will also be taken from the writing narrative grade. The words are listed on Quizlet.
Please remember the ELA Classworks online assignment should be completed Monday-Thursday. There is an explanation regarding online use in this newsletter.
Math- We will launch into the world of fractions by first comparing fraction values, understanding how any fraction compares to 1/2, creating equivalent fractions. I have already taught several mini lessons on the skills. We will likely have a daily grade very early in the following week. I am assigning Classworks lessons via the eClass platform to support your child's learning of this topic. These lessons are great tutorials/reviews that can be done at home.
Social Studies- In social studies, we will continue chapter three, We've learned about the Transcontinental Railroad, homesteaders, and cattle trails. Next week we will learn about battles involving Native Americans.
Science- In science, we will begin a two week study of helpful and harmful microbes. This unit will include an experiment where we will grow bacteria on agar plates. The class will learn just how important it is to wash their hands properly!
Report cards are in today's Friday Folder! Please keep the contents and return the signed envelope Monday.
eClass and Classworks Initiative
As part of an accelerated and Bring Your Own Device team, your child’s teachers provide a variety of activities via eClass and Classworks to enrich and at times, remediate lessons taught at school. In an effort to implement the Gwinnett County eClass initiative and to prepare your child for the rigor of middle school, our team has homework activities that rely on access to the internet. While we know that county outages for eClass do occur, these are rare events and are made known to us. Individual outages also occur and devices may fail. Knowing this, we are requesting that we work as a team to come up with a “Plan B” for those rare instances. We suggest securing a library card from the Gwinnett County Public Library which would allow access to their computers. There is no charge for this service. Please also note that as of yesterday:
Mobile Device View - Users of the eCLASS C&I Tool that login with mobile devices will now see the full desktop view rather than the mobile view, This has been done to provide for a consistent user experience across phones, tablets and computers.
Hopefully, this will be a viable option for those who depend upon cellular telephones for internet access. Both Dr. Shaw’s and Mrs. Blankenship’s classes will be expected to access Classworks. This is a standing Monday-Thursday nightly assignment until a student has demonstrated mastery on the assigned skills. We are requesting that parents support this activity. Online usage and mastery is reported each day.
We have expressed to all students that if internet connectivity is a concern, students are invited to access their assignment during bus call on our classroom laptop. It is the student’s responsibility to request a laptop. Please note that due to Iowa testing, Classworks will resume Monday, October 26th as a homework assignment.
Thank you in advance for your support.
Respectfully,
Katrina Blankenship and Suzanne Shaw