December 14-18

This week we are going to wrap up our semester with some fun activities!

To encourage our students to finish the week strong, we are going to offer a nachos party and movie this Thursday for all students who have all of their AR points, get at least a 70% on their math test, and have all homework/projects completed on time this week. We think this will help to keep them focused and responsible even though there is so much excitement and distracting things going on this week.

We will not have a new spelling list this week.

In reading we will finish The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and the project we are doing as a class for this book. The students are creating the pageant scene using butcher paper and paint. This allows them to focus on the details and descriptions in the story.

In writing, we will finish and present our short research project, "Christmas Around the World." Each student will present their poster and paragraphs to the class so that we can all learn how different countries and cultures celebrate this holiday. 

In math, we will continue practicing 2x2 digit multiplication. Several of our students really struggle with this. There are several ways to practice this at home, outside of homework. You can get on mcgraw-hill's ConnectEd website and watch videos or play games, you can also watch the "turtlehead method" video that we show in class. This is just a memorization strategy, but follows the traditional algorithm steps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hcKERTnNi0 

In Social Studies we will continue studying the geography of Missouri. We will discuss the different regions and how those regions came to be. We will do a quick team project where each team will make posters showing what they know about the different regions.

Reminders: 

Book project is due Thursday

AR points are due Thursday

Progress Reports will go home the first Tuesday in Jan after break 

December 7-11

In spelling this week we will follow the same pattern as we have previously. A new list will be sent home today and will be tested over on Friday. This will be our last spelling test until after Christmas break.

In math this week we will continue working on multiplying by 2 digit numbers. Miss Ussary's class should be able to access several games, mathbook pages, worksheets, and a video for each lesson at home if you have internet access. The website is http://connected.mcgraw-hill.com/school/m3f3. They've each been given a notecard with their password written down.

In science this week we will finish up our Ecosystems unit on Wednesday. Projects are due the 9th (Wed). We will present these on that day. Tuesday will be a work day in the classroom to allow for last minute questions and final touches. We will begin a short Social Studies unit on Missouri's regions on Friday.

In writing this week we will begin a short research assignment on Christmas around the World. Students will be given a map (poster) to take notes on different aspects of the different Christmas traditions. They'll fill it out, color it, find it on a map, etc. and present it to their class next week. They will do all the work for this at school.

In reading this week we will begin reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. With this story we will do several activities that will aid in reading comprehension, summarizing, describing characters in depth and theme.

Reminders:
*AR points are due next Thursday!
*Book projects are due next Thursday as well. Please let your teacher know if you need newspaper or wrapping paper!
*Spelling bee is December 10th at 1:30 in the multi