Happy President's Day!

The news of President's Day is a welcomed event in my household. No, not because any of us have the day off. We are very thankful for our freedoms and those before us who made our country great. But, because it is a sign that the end of tax season is that much closer. Yes, my husband is a tax accountant, however I am not sure who this is the hardest on; my husband, my two daughters, or myself! :) 

News of the week:This week we will not have a new story or Text Talk book, which the students will be tested over. Instead we will be using a lot of extra valuable time with our Animal/ Rainforest research. We will also take some time to dive into some lessons about weather before reading Tornado Alert and Storm in the Night in the upcoming weeks.

Math- Last week we ended our 2nd trimester finishing up our unit on measurement. This unit has a lot of information piled into it, which the students really enjoyed. We will revisit measurement in May. This week we are starting our Geometry unit. Students will begin learning about 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes, lines, angles, polygons, and congruence. 

Reading/Writing- We will be using this time to read some books about weather and have some much needed time to work on our Animal reports. So far we have taken our research information and created notes, a poster, and a T-chart (used with Write Tools). Our next step is to turn our T-chart into Number Notes (also Write Tools). Our goal is to publish (have the students use the mobile lab to word process) a multi-paragrah report. I am hoping to have enough time before conferences to have each child create 2 to 3 PowerPoint slides to present to the class and to their families at conferences. 

Text Talk- We do not have a Text Talk book this week so we will be using the time to work on our Rainforest ABC books. 

Science- This week students performed a scratch test to see which minerals were the hardest and which were the softest. They are in the middle of determining what minerals are found in Granite. They will complete a series of tests including another evaporation test (with vinegar) to see what materials are there but our eyes can't see. While trays are evaporating (and Mrs. Clark's room begins to smell like an Easter egg factory!) they will be taking a look at the water cycle and how our weather depends on evaporation (transpiration), condensation, precipitation, and collection.

 *Second Trimester report cards will go home Thursday in brown envelopes. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns as conferences are student-led and a month away yet! :)

Have a great week! 

Mrs. Jodie Yuska