Week of September 19th

Our Learning
Reading: Students read an excerpt from Because of
Winn Dixie as they analyzed and assessed the charters,
setting, and plot then synthesized their understanding to
summarize what they had read. Individuals have also
been reading with me to find their beginning of the year
reading level. Testing will continue until October 7 th.
Writing: Students finished writing their Whoever You Are
responses which elicited many insightful thoughts. They
also learned 8 rules for turning singular nouns into plural
and they deciphered which nouns would fit which rule.
After participating in our timed Plural Noun Scoot
activity, students showed what they know on a quiz.
Math: This week we discussed the importance of wiring
our brains to become fluent in math through
memorization and repetition. We defined standard
algorithm and repeatedly practiced adding mutli-digit
numbers with multiple addends. Our focus will continue
next week with subtraction. In addition, students
competed in a Max Mansion challenge as they tried to
find the difference between large numbers through
visualization.
Social Studies: After reading their Texas Studies Weekly
(TSW), students voiced their understandings as we took a
closer look at our nations Bill of Rights. We will continue
our discussion on rights and responsibilities as we work on
our summative projects for our PYP unit next week.
Science: Ms. Williams did an awesome demonstration on
Friday which led to student understandings of the effect
positive/negative heat energy has on states of matter.
Students had to reevaluate their prior knowledge to fit
their new understanding into their current schema.

Happenings in

Spice World
Additional Notes
The Book Fair is open to students
next week 7:20-3:30. We are
previewing the books as a class
Monday morning. Afterwards,
students will be allowed to go to the
library during school hours ONLY IF
they have money on them. They
may go before the 7:40 tardy bell,
during recess, and after school. I will
also allow them to go at other times
throughout the day when the
opportunity arises.
In regards to homework, students will
be assigned one math worksheet
and one session of XtraMath per
night, a TSW due Thursday, and set
aside time for reading. Changes
may occur, but you can expect this
to be the norm for now.
Please check out my website for
pictures of your child learning!

Practice at Home
Students need to have their
multiplication facts through 12
mastered. They are now expected
to finish at least one session of
XtraMath per night MondayThursday at home.
Students will also be expected to
solve multi-digit addition and
subtraction problems using the
standard algorithm.

Upcoming Events
Monday, Sept. 26-Friday, Sept. 30 Spicewood Book Fair
Wednesday, September 28 Early Release Day (Student dismissal is at 12:00 p.m.)
Friday, September 30 KISS Cook Out
Friday, October 7 WatchDOGS (Sign up to volunteer.)
Monday, October 10 No School; Fall Student-Led Conferences