Week of January 7th!

Hi everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and Christmas Break! It is amazing to me that we are in the 2nd half of the school year. Time flies! This month we will begin gearing up for testing! State tests are just around the corner! This week we will work on the reading skill: context clues. We will multiply 2, 3, and 4 digit numbers. We will begin the Southeast Region of the United States. It is my very favorite region because of the history involved. This week we will just study the geography of the region and next week I will partner the children up to research an important event, person, or place in the Southeast. In spelling, the words will be short/long u's. In English we will review the parts of speech we have studied, as well as write to our pen pals.

I am doing something different this semester with regards to the 100 minutes and fluency book reading homework. I am making the homework take less time, but be more skill focused. Every Monday, I will send home a short reading story with 8 questions, as well as 6 math review questions. The work will need to be completed and brought back to class by Friday. I really encourage you to take the time to sit down with your child and work on this together. Let him/her read the passage to you, and then work on the questions together. This is just a suggestion. You can work on the math portion together as well. Your child may bring juice to school on Friday along with their homework. We will go over the homework together over juice! Remember, this is instead of the 100 minutes and fluency book. Please support your child in taking responsibility for this. I know homework is not always fun for either parents or kids, (I know....I have a child too), but we will do your child a huge favor in the very near future if they have a little idea about how to manage their home time and balance school, extracurricular activities, and fun. I am trying my best to make it as pain free as possible and also make it a learning oppurtunity. Please still encourage your child to read for pleasure at home as well. It is so important! My 5th grader does not have reading minutes required, but has other homework. I still make her read though. I have read to her since she was in the womb, but unlike her mom and grandma, she would a lot rather be doing something else! Once she gets going on a book however, she ends up, despite herself, liking it!! Maybe there is hope after all!