February+10

=__**FEBRUARY 10**__=

__** ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPCOMING DATES :**__ =**__Thurs., Feb. 16...Silent Auction Items (Iowa/ISU) due for Carnival__** = **Thurs., Feb. 16...VMEPC; 7:00; Elem. Cafeteria** **Mon., Feb. 20...NO SCHOOL...Professional Development** **Thurs., Feb. 23...Spring Pictures** **Sat., Mar. 3...Elementary Carnival**

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__ CONFERENCE NOTE: __ Parent teacher conferences are scheduled for March 13th and 15th. We will be dismissing at 1:30 on both days, but this was not noted on the original school calendar. There is __NO SCHOOL__ on Friday, March 16th. =====

**If your child is going to be absent for a few days due to a family trip, please let us know with a note in advance so we may gather homework to send with you. We can't always have //everything// ready to go, but it's very helpful to the teachers and the office to be aware of extended absences ahead of time. Thank you!**

=== Both homerooms will have a "Homework Club" each quarter. We will keep a chart in our rooms, tracking which students return their homework packets on time each week. Students who consistently return their packets each week will be rewarded at the end of each quarter! ===

=== //We have been informed that the kitchen can no longer store items that need to be frozen or refrigerated. You will need to provide a cooler if your child is bringing treats that require refrigeration. Thank you for your cooperation.// ===

__**LITERACY:**__
We are continuing to introduce the 6-Traits of Writing. In reading, we are making predictions and connections. We are using context clues, identifying main events, questioning, inferring and summarizing. Please encourage your child to read at home.

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We are in the multiplication unit. Students will be learning strategies and concepts to help them understand and to help them multiply. For those students that are fluent in multiplication, we will be working with division concepts. Please begin to add basic multiplication facts to your addition/subtraction fact practice. =====

__SCIENCE:__
====On Monday we wrote reflections on our "Microworlds" unit and reviewed the parts of a microscope, in preparation for a quiz on Thursday. Almost every child received 100% and an A+ on the quiz...congratulations! On Tuesday we began learning about cells...the differences between plant and animal cells, the parts inside cells, their functions, etc. We were rather grossed out to learn that every person sheds about 72,000,000 skin cells a day...and those cells are just floating in the air around us!==== Stay tuned next week for news about an upcoming cell project!

__**SOCIAL STUDIES:**__
==== Mrs. Schrader has been working with the students in social studies. The objectives this chapter are to analyze the role of natural resources in creating new communities and to describe some ways that communities change as they grow. They will be discussing why natural resources are important to industry, and they will give examples of the ways factories changed communities. The students will be responsible for listing some of the reasons immigrants came to the U.S., and they will be describing how communities changed when large numbers of immigrants came to the U.S. Finally, the students will explain how the automobile changed how and where people lived and worked, and students will identify changes made during the last century to provide people with better transportation. ====

Unfortunately, we did not receive any flat friend updates this week. We did just receive some in the mail and hopefully we will be able to share them next week.

The Country Project is almost upon us! I will include a link to my google site that will provide you with further details as the date approaches. ==== Check with your child about Daily Detective. The purpose of this project is to not only help the students learn about the countries of the world, but also to help them research. Each day a new clue will go up on our 'detective board'. The students will be able to write the clue down and bring it home so that you can, if needed, help your child to identify the country. The clues start out very broad and as the week goes on, get more specific. Please ask your child about Daily Detective and each daily clue. ==== Daily Detective will resume in late February to coincide with our country project.

__**MRS. VOLK:**__
Book orders went home yesterday and are due on the 17th. Please remember that you can order on-line. The class code is GXPY2.

Valentine's Day information was sent home on Thursday. As a recap, our party will be on the 14th, beginning shortly after 2:40. Your child can bring valentines to pass out and they may bring candy. Please be sure that if your child decides to give valentines and/or candy that s/he makes one for everyone. We will NOT be decorating sacks or boxes to hold our valentines in class. Please do this creative project at home and send the sack/box to school on the 14th. If you are interested in helping with the party, please contact Lisa H.

Stacy Schrader is a student teacher from Grand View. She will be with us until February 24th. She is gradually taking over the subject areas and will be doing her full-time, bell-to-bell teaching beginning February 6th. Please feel free to stop in and meet her.

Your child has been registered for Sumdog.com. This is a site that will help your child practice their math facts. Each student was given a username and password. They are encouraged to use this site at home.

Please continue to encourage your child to complete and return their weekly homework packet. Some students are not returning their packets in a timely fashion, if at all. Please be looking for those each Monday and they are to be returned on Thursday. Thank you to those students who are completing and returning their packets each week. You are showing responsibility when you do so!

The February reading goal continues to be 425 minutes. Please feel free to use the list of questions that I sent home earlier this year to help you facilitate a reading conversation with your child. Thank you for your continued support at home.

**__MRS. SKAHILL/MISS STEPHENS__**

**<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Valentine lists have been sent home! Please have your child bring a Valentine for each person in the class so no feelings are hurt. We have 22 students. Treats attached to the Valentine cards are optional, but again, please include them for all if you decide to add treats! A Valentine "mailbox" or sack may be decorated at home and brought to school anytime now, and Valentines may also be brought anytime on or before Tuesday. **
 * __<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em;">PARTY ON TUESDAY!! __**

=== The February Scholastic book orders have been sent home,and are due Friday, February 17. You may write a check to Scholastic and send the order to school, or you may order online with the class code attached to the book orders. ===

//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em;">**Congratulations to the following students who met the January Book-It goal and earned a Pizza Hut certificate!** // //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em;">**Lily, Kennedy, Emma, Dylan, Claire, Alex, Connor, Jaeden, and Sydney.** //

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800080; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em;">**The February Book-It calendar has been sent home. This month's goal is 400 minutes (which averages out to about 14 minutes per day), AND the book report on the back of the calendar. February and March are the last two months in the Book-It program, so please encourage your child to read daily and fill in their calendars! Many of our students haven't met the goal at all yet, so let's finish the last two months with great participation by all!**

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Just a reminder: Spelling word lists are handed out at the //beginning// of each unit so they can be studied in preparation for the cloze test. Watch for the word lists glued into the planner. As mentioned previously, we won't be taking a cloze test every week...we work up to tests as we go through the word/phonics lessons in each unit.