I want to thank all parents for coming to our conference on time, and getting them all in during the days allotted. It was great to see everyone again, and to meet a few new faces. Your involvement in your child's education is what makes Vintage and great school, our classroom function well, and your child successful. The collaboration of teacher/parent/student instills the importance of education into each child.
This past week we took our end of Unit 2 assessment in Language Arts. The Community Projects were also due this past week. I must say how impressed I am at the creativity that went into these models. Due to the short days, we did not have time to really set them out and look at them yet. However, I have blocked time out in our day this Monday to clear our desks and step up the Room 19 Community. Pictures to come!
Usually we would be starting Unit 3 this week, but we will be putting the new unit off until we return from Thanksgiving break. This is because the district has asked us to assess the students in writing. This past week we did a practice writing of an opinion piece to prepare the class.
This week we will be finishing up Math Topic 12 on Fractions. I know I had explained before, and to a few parents during conferences, but I want to remind you of the situation again. With the new Common Core Standards, we had to rewrite the pacing for Math, taking out lessons, and adding others. Then, we were suddenly given the district Math assessment and saw it was on fractions, a topic we were not going to cover until after Winter break. So, we moved things around and started working on fractions right away. This Thursday we will be taking the District Math Assessment. When you get some of the homework, you will see that it will ask to put a fraction in simplest terms. I have not been able to teach this, since we have not learned about division yet. When you see this on the homework, just have them write an equivalent fraction. I'm sorry for any confusion this may cause, and I know the situation can be frustrating, bear with me.
We have finished Unit 2 in our Social Studies about the California Native Americans. In class we will be working in groups on informational posters and giving presentations. However, I will be sending home a take-home test to measure individual understanding. This is an open book test and consists of 12 multiple choice questions. This should not take long to do.
This Friday is a minimum day, and NASA Night begins at 5:30. Due to these situations, we will be unable to attend Science Lab on that day. To make sure we keep on top of our new investigation of energy, I am sending home a page for homework over the break. This should take no more than 30 min to fill out, so I'm not asking for too much of your break time. Instructions and examples come with the sheet, but if you have any questions, please email me.
On a final note (pun intended), we are continuing to work on our holiday program songs. I realized that I did not include the names of the songs in my blog last week, so let me make up for it this week. We are singing "Holiday Lights" and "Kindled by the Flame."