News from Mrs. Drudy's Class
"We exist so children can excel."
September 8, 2017
Next Week's Reading Focus
Big Idea: Landmarks
Essential Question: How do landmarks help us to understand our country's story?
Next week our class will be focusing on how landmarks help tell the story of our nation’s history. We will read about and discuss some famous landmarks in the United States.
Spelling List
Next week's spelling words have a focus on the long o (spelled o, ow, o_e, oa, oe)
Phonics Words
1. coast
2. float
3. toad
4. coal
5. soak
6. gold
7. sold
8. scold
9. slope
10. broke
11. note
12. bone
13. slow
14. show
15. foe
Core Words
16. every
17. found
18. still
19. between
20. name
Challenge Words
21. goes
22. program
23. window
24. growth
25. folk
Next Week's Share Topic:
My Grandparents: Sunday was Grandparents’ Day. Who are your grandparents? Do they live nearby? If you see them often, what kinds of things to you like to do with them? Feel free to share pictures or drawings of them with us.
Idioms, and Similes, and Metaphors, Oh My!
In language arts, we've been learning how good writers spice up their writing with figurative writing. We've learned about similes, metaphors, and idioms. Be sure to ask your child about the funny figurative language book, You're Toast!
We've also been discussing different sentence types. Students know that we can make our writing more interesting by using a variety of sentence patterns including declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory. Have your child give you an example of each.
Digital Citizenship
Our district recognizes that Digital Citizenship is a topic of growing concern among parents and educators in this increasingly digital age. In class we have discussed staying safe in this technology-driven world. We encourage you to talk to your children about the importance of digital citizenship on an ongoing basis. Below are some resources to help you start the conversation, and keep it going.
http://www.netsmartz.org/Parents
http://www.netsafeutah.org/parents/parent_communicate.html
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/parent-concerns#
We are addressing the following academic standards during our Digital Citizenship study:
- "Discuss basic issues related to responsible use of technology and information, and the consequences of inappropriate use."
- "Identify the impact of technology (e.g., social networking, cyber bullying, mobile computing and communication, web technologies, cyber security, and virtualization) on personal life and society."
- "Evaluate the accuracy, relevance, appropriateness, comprehensiveness, and biases that occur in electronic information sources."
- "Understand ethical issues that relate to computers and networks (e.g., equity of access, security, privacy, copyright, and intellectual property)."
Midterm Progress Reports
Enclosed in today's folder you will find your child's midterm progress report. I have been reminding the students on a regular basis that, "As good as we are, we can only get better, " and, if the grades are not as high as they wish they'd be, then that's the area they will need to provide the most focus. Please understand that these particular grades are not a good representation of your child's performance, mainly due to a lack of grades in the grade book. For the first couple weeks, we were focused upon building community and learning classroom routines and procedures. After that, we were fully immersed in NWEA testing, an interruption to our normal routine. For some students, the language arts grade is lower than they'd desire. This is because their beginning of the year writing was rusty, and many students simply exhibited that "summer slide" that teachers all-too-often observe.
Please note that there are no scores listed in the area of social studies, and this is intentional. We have spent the first half of this grading period focusing primarily on science: The 2017 eclipse and those amazing rocks.
Please sign and return the midterm report in the Friday folder on Monday.
U Tutor
Should you desire academic assistance for your child, you may wish to consider the U Tutor program. Thanks to a Union County Foundation Community Action Fund and Lilly Redesigning School Counseling Grant, a “walk-in” tutoring program for UCCCJSD students is being offered free of charge. Information about this valuable program is listed below:
Monday – Thursday
(1st semester: September 11 - December 19)
(2nd Semester: January 8 - May 17)
Tutoring will be closed the day before any scheduled break (for example, Fall, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring break, etc.)
3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
UCHS Library
***Student tutors available every day for help in various subject areas.
Monday: Math teacher available
Tuesday: Science teacher available
Wednesday: Science teacher available
Thursday: Math teacher available
Coming Up
Title I Parent Meeting Sept. 13 @ 6:00 p.m.
Corner Market Sept. 12 @3:30-6:00 p.m.
PTO Meeting Thursday, Sept, 14 @ 6:30 p.m.
School Picture Day Sept. 21
Our Weekly Related Arts Schedule
Monday Art
Tuesday P.E.
Wednesday P.E.
Thursday Computer
Friday Music and Library
**Remember...your child must wear gym shoes on the days we have P.E.