The Jungle Book
Mrs. Knueven's Classroom Newsletter
Upcoming Events
1/13 WTW Quiz
1/16 MLK, Jr. Day - No School
1/19 NWEA Math Assessment
1/20 NWEA Reading Assessment
1/20 Unit 9 Wordly Wise Test
1/20 WTW Quiz
1/27 WTW Quiz
1/31 Unit 4 Math Test - tentative date
Curriculum Corner
Writing
Most students have finished typing their draft of their persuasive essay. We will spend the next two weeks editing, revising, and publishing their essays.
Reading
Over the next two weeks, we have quite a bit of mid-year assessment that we need to complete. We will do a couple short reading activities, but will not be starting anything new quite yet.
Language Arts
Wordly Wise: We will begin learning unit 9 this week. 9A & 9B will be due on Thursday. The unit 9 test will be on Friday, January 20.
Words Their Way: We will continue splitting into our small groups for spelling this week. Tic-Tac-Toe activities will be due on Thursday, which will also be their quiz day. We will not have Words Their Way next week.
Math
We started unit 4 before break and will finish this unit around the end of the month. The major concept in this unit is multiplication! Students will learn several methods for solving multiplication problems. These methods probably won't look like what you learned in school! There are videos on the EDM website if you would like to watch what your student is learning. On the test, I will never ask students to use a specific method as long as they have a method that they understand and can use correctly!
Science
We will be starting our unit on heat and electricity this week. We will be covering the first two lessons this week, which focus on static electricity, electric current, circuits, conductors, and insulators.
Some Help for One of our Classmates
Avery Irwin's mom, Tanya, has stage 4 breast cancer. In May, they found out that the cancer had metastasized to the bones and lungs. Just before break, they found out that the cancer is now in her brain. The doctors have estimated that she has 3-6 months to live.
Avery did share that information with our class before break, so you may have heard at least some of that from your child. Because of student confidentiality, I wanted to make sure I had the family's permission to discuss this diagnosis before sending any information out.
I have received a few e-mails wondering how you can help. Due to the cancer and her treatments, Tanya is not able to cook for the family right now. A friend has set up a meal train. If you would like to contribute a hot meal, you can sign up at the following website:
Last name: Irwin
Password: team
The family has also listed some of their favorite restaurants on the website:
Fox Pizza
Flapjacks
Pie 5 Pizza
Olive Garden
Cracker Barrel
BW3
MCL
Chili's
El Rodeo
If you would like to donate a gift card to the family, feel free to send them in to school and I will send them home with Avery.
We have only discussed this very briefly as a class. After Avery told other students, they had some questions. I did confirm that Avery's mom was very sick and that we needed to do our best to love and support Avery over the next few months. I know cancer hits close to home for some families. Mrs. Cox is ready to support individual students or our class as a whole as she is needed.