Dr. Shaw's Weekly Newsletter
September 8th - 11th
Greetings Everyone!
It's been a great first four weeks of school, and I am sure everyone is looking forward to a nice long holiday weekend! September is going be very busy with the CogAT and Early Release. There is a letter in today's Friday Folder from Dr. Markham regarding the CogAT.
I've emailed out the code you need to register for a September conference with me. Please be sure to sign up sooner rather than later to get a time that is best for your schedule. This is especially important if you have younger children in other classes. That way you can book your time slots close to each other to make it easier on yourself. Mrs. Blankenship and I will be working together over the next few weeks to consolidate our conference data. Your child's conference will be with me, since I am the homeroom teacher. If there are any special concerns that Mrs. B has, she has likely already been in touch with you.
The Fun Run was a big success, though a bit steamy! I appreciate all that you did in securing the pledges with your child. We are in the process of collecting the pledges, so please send those in ASAP. The pledge reminder and collection envelope are in your Friday folder today. The PTA uses the funds collected to sponsor High Touch High Tech programs for all grade levels as well as the fifth grade day long celebration at the end of the year, Fifth Grade Fun Fest.
If you have not logged on to the Parent Portal to check out your child's grades, please do so! I will be grading the math and science assessments from Friday over the holiday. The social studies daily grade from Thursday is graded and the grades will appear in the portal on Saturday, the 5th.
Ice cream should go on sale midweek next week. It's still a $1.00 each, and must be paid for in cash. No charging of ice cream to lunch accounts.
We've had a few birthdays already this year. You are welcome to send in a treat for the 26 students in our class to celebrate your child's birthday. Please make sure the treats are in single servings already (i.e. cupcakes or doughnuts). I am on duty during our lunch period, monitoring the class while I eat. Therefore, I don't have time to cut and serve a full cake or cookie cake. As parents of the birthday celebrant, I would be happy for you to come in and serve treat during our lunch.
In math, we will wrap up our study of whole number multiplication and division next week with a math test on Friday. The daily grade from the 4th will be returned and we will review any skills that were problematic on the daily grade. The test will include mostly word problems for multiplication and division, so we will focus on discerning between the two. This test also covers the PEMDAS skill. Next up in math - comparing and rounding decimals, followed by adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing decimals.
In social studies, we will conclude our study of the causes of the Civil War with test on Thursday. A study guide has already been handed out and the class has had time to work on it at school. The rest of the nine weeks will focus on the war itself and Reconstruction.
In science, we will begin learning about the classification of plants and animals next week. There are no graded assignments in science next week.
In reading, the class will focus reading, retrieving, and consolidating information from two passages on the same topic. The class will continue to practice restating the question and citing text evidence. Restating the question stem is expected in all content areas. There are no graded assignments next week.
In grammar, the class will study the differences between compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences. They will also work on combining sentences for effect and clarity. A daily grade is possible by the end of the week, depending on how well the students are understanding the material. Stay tuned!
There is a writing narrative that will count as a test grade and a spelling grade next week. The spelling will only count for grade level appropriate words and students will not be penalized for spelling "rich" vocabulary words.
The Greek and Latin word roots for Dict/Scrip/Script are on Quizlet. There is a DG Friday.
Important Upcoming Events
September 7th - Labor Day Holiday - No School
September 11th - Midterm Progress Reports go home
September 16th - 18th - CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test)
Have a wonderful week! Enjoy the holiday weekend!
Dr. Shaw