Pleasant Valley School
October 2022 Newsletter
News from Miss Sheets
Welcome Back! I’m so excited to have all our students back this year. Our current enrollment for the year includes: 3 First graders, 2 Second graders, 1 Third grader, 1 Fifth grader, 1 Sixth grader, and 2 Eighth graders. We are off to a great start and settling into our class routines. I’m excited for all the new things that we will be learning this year!
Calendar: All scheduled events are posted to the google calendar.
Planners, Blue Folders, and Reward System
Please check your students planner and folder every night. I will be using them as a communication area for homework or other information that I need to let parents know about. Please feel free to leave me comments as well.
Our behavior reward system is through Class Dojo. Thank you for signing up. I will be using Class Dojo for event notifications, journal posts of what we are doing at school, as well as awarding points for awesome behavior at school. Students will be able to turn in points at the end of each month to shop in the student store.
Parent - Teacher Conferences: Conferences are November 4. Please click below to complete a Google Form to let me know when you would like to come visit and learn about all the wonderful things that your student is doing at school.
Looking Back - Back to School
School Events
Oct. 19 - Pumpkin Patch and Central School Field Trip
Oct. 20-21 - No School: MFPE Conference Days
Oct. 29 - Fall Harvest Festival
Oct. 31 - Class Halloween Party
Nov. 2 - Fall MAP Test
Nov. 3 - End of 1st Quarter and Traveling Medicine Show
Nov. 4 - No School: Parent-Teacher Conferences
Nov. 8 - School Picture Day
What Are We Learning?
1st Grade
Unit 1 - Numbers Within 10
Addition and Subtraction
Reading
Finishing - UNIT 1 THEME: My Neighborhood
- Essential Question: What is a neighborhood?
- Reading Workshop: Know about different types of fiction and understand their elements.
- Phonics: Reviewing alphabet sounds
- High Frequency Words: Week 1) a, I, is, his, see; Week 2) we, like, the, one, do; Week 3) look, you, was, by, are; Week 4) have, they, that two, up; Week 5) he, as, to, with, three; Week 6) where, here, for, me, go
Starting on 10/24 - UNIT 2 THEME: I Spy
- Essential Question: How do living thinks change?
- Reading Workshop: Read informational text and understand its elements.
- Phonics: Consonant Blends and Digraphs - ck, sh, th, ing
- High Frequency Words: Week 1) help, little, come, my, saw; Week 2) walk, she, what, take, jump; Week 3) this, use, from, think, blue; Week 4) goes, make, her, too, all; Week 5) four, five, ride, your, part; Week 6) know, many, after, into, don't
Science
Topic 2 - Light
How can I use light?
Social Studies
Topic 2 - Geography of the Community
Big Question: What is the world like?
Arts
In music, we are reviewing our bell notes from low middle c to high c. In art, we are working on shapes.
2nd Grade
Unit 1 - Numbers Within 20
Addition, Subtraction, and Data
Reading
Finishing - UNIT 1 THEME: You are Here
- Essential Question: How do different places affect us?
- Reading Workshop: Read realistic fiction and understand its elements.
- Phonics: Long and Short Vowels; Consonant Blends; Digraphs and Trigraphs: ch, sh, wh, th, ph, tch; Endings: -s, -es, -ed, -ing; r-controlled vowels: ar, or, ore, oar
- High Frequency Words: Week 1) which, each, than; Week 2) called, long, most; Week 3) more, things, sound; Week 4) great, before, means; Week 5) follow, form, show; Week 6) also, large, small
Starting on 10/24 - Unit 2 THEME: Nature's Wonders
- Essential Question: What patterns do we see in nature?
- Reading Workshop: Know about different types of informational text and understand their features and structures.
- Phonics: Contractions; Long a: ai, ay, ea; Digraph: ie; Long e: ee, ea, ey, y; Long o: o, oa, ow; Compound Words
- High Frequency Words: Week 1) different, between, even; Week 2) kind, change, air; Week 3) animal, point, study; Week 4) letter, answer, page; Week 5) near, food, try; Week 6) country, city, school
Science
Finishing - Topic 1 - Properties of Matter
Essential Question: How can different materials be used?
Social Studies
Topic 2 - People, Places, and Nature
Big Question: What is the world like?
Arts
In music, we are reviewing our bell notes from low middle c to high c. In art, we are working on shapes.
3rd Grade
Unit 2: Multiplication and Division
Concepts, Relationships, and Patterns
Reading
Finishing - UNIT 1 THEME: Environments
- Essential Question: How does our environment affect us?
- Reading Workshop: Know about different types of traditional tales and understand their elements.
- Unit Academic Vocabulary Words: competition, solve, custom, occasion, organization
- Words of the Week: Week 1) fierce, baring, flexing, crouching, swipe; Week 2) preparations, magnificent, brooded, rejoicing, satisfied; Week 3) dreams, amazing, bored, discovery, proud; Week 4) shield, lack, exposure, nomadic, landscape; Week 5) pouch, globe, murmuring, mountainside, footpath
- Word Study: Week 1)Words with VC/CV; Week 2) Inflected Endings; Week 3) Base Words with added endings, Week 4) Vowel Digraphs ee, ea, ai, ay, ow, oa; Week 5) Diphthongs ou, ow, oi, oy
- Week 6 Project: Write a letter about park safety.
Starting on 10/24 - Unit 2 THEME: Interactions
- Essential Question: How do plants and animals live together?
- Reading Workshop: Know about different types of informational text and understand their elements.
- Trade Book: Wetlands - Due Dec. 21
- Unit Academic Vocabulary Words: associate, prefer, features, investigate, avoid
- Words of the Week: Week 1) patterns, nature, repeat, sequence, symmetry; Week 2) predators, protection, immune, species, emerges; Week 3)depended, well-being, population, available, balance; Week 4) habitat, solitary, multiplied, eliminated, reintroduced; Week 5) interdependence, camouflage, adaptions, food chain, biodiversity
- Word Study: Week 1) VC/V and V/CV words; Week 2) r-Controlled Vowels; Week 3) Compound Words; Week 4) Syllable Patterns; Week 5) Contractions
- Week 6 Project: Create a scrapbook page to describe a beneficial relationship between a plant and an animal.
Science
Topic 1 - Motion and Forces
Essential Question: How do forces on an object affect its motion?
Social Studies
Topic 2 - Economics
Essential Question: How do people get what they want and need?
Arts
In music, we are learning how to play the ukulele. In art, we are working on shapes.
5th Grade
Unit 2: Decimals and Fractions
Place Value, Addition, and Subtraction
Reading
Finishing - UNIT 1 THEME: Journeys
- Essential Question: How do journeys change us?
- Reading Workshop: Learn about different types of informational text and understand their features and structures.
- Trade Book: Journeys in Time - Due Oct. 18
- Unit Academic Vocabulary Words: insight, wandered, passage, adventure, curious
- Words of the Week: Week 1) citizens, immigration, opportunity, processing, admitted; Week 2) astrobiologists, microbes, colony, radiation, sensors, rovers; Week 3) tide, course, leagues, fathoms, jaunts; Week 4) peering, via, traversed, girth, intersecting; Week 5) inspired, express, exhibit, imitated, compositions
- Word Study: Week 1) Suffixes: -ic, -ism, -ive; Week 2) Greek Roots; Week 3) Vowel Teams, Week 4) Syllable Patterns V/CV and VC/V; Week 5) Silent Letters
- Week 6 Project: Write a travel guide about a country you want to visit.
Starting on 10/25 - Unit 2 THEME: Observations
- Essential Question: How do we learn through our observations?
- Reading Workshop: Know about different types of informational text and understand their features and structures.
- Trade Book: The Tarantula Scientist - Due Dec. 21
- Unit Academic Vocabulary Words: expert, focus, visible, relate, detect
- Words of the Week: Week 1) marine, ecosystem, flying bridge, chlorophyll, nautical; Week 2) comeback, native, migrating, restore, fungus; Week 3) gingerly, ignite, sputtered, painstaking, gratified; Week 4) transmitter, iconic, nocturnal, burrows, fragmented; Week 5) sanctuaries, diminished, thrive, unfettered, cooperate
- Word Study: Week 1)Open and Closed Syllables; Week 2) Final Stable Syllables: -le, -tion, -sion; Week 3) r-Controlled Vowels; Week 4) Prefixes: il-, in-, im-, ir-; Week 5) Base Words and Endings
- Week 6 Project: Create a survival guide for visitors to a natural area, like a national park.
Science
Topic 2 - Changes in Matter
Essential Question: What evidence do we have that matter changes?
Social Studies - America's Past
Topic 2 - Age of Exploration
Essential Question: Why do people explore?
Topic 3 - Settling the Colonies in North America
Essential Question: Why do people leave their homelands?
Arts
In music, we are working through our instrument books to begin learning our first two stings. In art, we are learning about shapes within art.
6TH Grade
Unit 1 - Expressions and Equations
Area, Algebraic Expressions, and Exponents
Reading
Finishing - UNIT 1 THEME: Childhood
Essential Question: What are some of the challenges and triumphs of growing up?
Trade Book: Bud, Not Buddy - Due Oct. 18
Writing: Nonfiction Narrative - When did a challenge lead to a triumph?
Starting on 10/24 - UNIT 2 THEME: Animal Allies
Essential Question: How can people and animals relate to each other?
Trade Book: Where the Red Fern Grows - Due Dec. 21
Writing: Explanatory Essay - How can animals and people help one another?
Science - Middle School Physical Science
Topic 2 - Solids, Liquids, and Gases
Essential Question: What causes matter to change from one state to another?
Social Studies - Middle School American History
Topic 3 - The Revolutionary Era (1750-1783)
Essential Question: When is war justified?
Topic 4 - A Constitution for the United States (1776-Present)
Essential Question: How much power should the government have?
Arts
In music, we have started learning our first notes in our music book. We are continuing to practice making a good tone through the head piece of the flute. In art, we are learning about shapes within art.
8th Grade
Unit 2: Geometric Figures
Transformations, Similarity, and Angle Relationships
Reading
Finishing - UNIT 1 THEME: Rites of Passage
Essential Question: What are some milestones on the path to growing up?
Trade Book: Bad Boy - Due Oct. 18
Writing: Nonfiction Narrative - What rite of passage has held the most significance for you or for a person you know well?
Starting on 10/24 - UNIT 2 THEME: The Holocaust
Essential Question: How do we remember the past?
Trade Book: The Devil's Arithmetic - Due Dec. 21
Writing: Explanatory Essay - How can literature help us to remember and honor the victims of the Holocaust?
Science - Middle School Physical Science
Topic 2 - Solids, Liquids, and Gases
Essential Question: What causes matter to change from one state to another?
Social Studies - Middle School Montana History
Topic 3 - From Dog Days to Horse Warriors: 1700-1820
The Big Picture: "The arrival of Europeans brought both pressures and opportunities to the American Indian societies of this region. As forces swirled around the continent, guns and horses brought Plans societies new power." (pg. 43)
Arts
In music, we are working through our instrument books to begin learning our first two stings. In art, we are learning about shapes within art.
Contact
Email: teacher@pvsmt.org
Website: pvsmt.org
Location: 7975 Pleasant Valley Rd, Marion, MT 59925, USA
Phone: 406-858-2343