January+27

__JANUARY 27__
__** ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPCOMING DATES :**__  **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**

 **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:__
==== Our study of "Microworlds" continued this week as we discovered that some objects and shapes make good magnifiers (spheres, cylinders, and water drops), while others do not (cubes and windows). We learned the words "transparent" and "convex", and how they relate to magnifiers. We observed screen wire, burlap, and yarn with our magnifiers and with hand lenses. Then came the big day when the microscopes came out! We looked at microfiche, and pictures from newspapers and magazines (which are, amazingly, made up of millions of tiny dots!). Ask your child why the first microscopes, 400 years ago, were called "flea glasses"! ====

__**SOCIAL STUDIES:**__
==== Most of our 'friends' have been mailed out! Thank you for providing addresses to get our friends started on their journey. Recently our friends have visited Nevada, Washington, Japan, and Germany. It is great fun to hear from our flat friends and we appreciate our human friends helping us out. ====

==== 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:**__
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!

 Please encourage your child to read at home and turn in their January reading sheet next Wednesday. The reading sheet should be turned in even if they don't meet our goal. Any reading is better than no reading! Our goal for the month of January is 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. The February reading sheet will be sent home next week.

 **__MRS. SKAHILL/MISS STEPHENS__**  ** //Remember to have your child read for January's Book-It. This month's goal is to complete// **** //350 minutes of reading time AND the book report printed on the back of the calendar.// ** === ** //I'd like to see 100% participation from our class in January! (It's a great excuse to go to Pizza Hut!//!) ** ===

 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.

ziploc gallon bags
==== Clorox or Lysol wipes (we go through a lot of these!)  ====

paper towels
==== refills for Glade plug-in air freshener  ====