February+24

=__**FEBRUARY 24**__=

__** ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPCOMING DATES :**__ **Sat., Mar. 3...Elementary Carnival; 5:30-8:30 p.m.**

__**Mon., Mar. 5...SCIENCE PROJECTS (CELL MODEL) DUE!! **__
**Tues., Mar. 13...Parent-Teacher Conferences, 4:00-8:00 p.m. __DISMISS at 1:30!__** **Thurs., Mar. 15...Parent-Teacher Conferences, 4:00-8:00 p.m. __DISMISS at 1:30!__** **Fri., Mar. 16...NO SCHOOL...Conference Comp Day** **Mon., Mar. 19-Fri., Mar. 23...SPRING BREAK!**

**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 have completed our multiplication unit. Please continue to add basic multiplication facts to your addition/subtraction fact practice. The week of the 27th will be a week of review and assessment. We will begin our geometry and measurement unit the first full week of March. =====

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Our cell project has been assigned, and all information has been sent home so this project may be completed at home. Parental supervision is fine, but please let this be your student's project. It's a great learning experience! __THE CELL MODELS ARE DUE BACK AT SCHOOL ON, OR BEFORE, MONDAY, MARCH 5.__ Each student will show and explain their model to their classmates, and the projects will then go on display for other grades to see! =====

We got busy with our "Chemical Tests" unit this week by studying five mysterious "unknowns". Each one is white, each one is commonly found in our households, and each one remains unnamed! Students set up their science notebooks with tables for recording observations, spent one day examining the unknowns just as they are, and then spent another day observing the unknowns after a few drops of water were added. Going forward with more tests next week, our ultimate goal is to put all our clues together in order to give "real" names to these intriguing unknowns! This is a great inquiry-based unit that's lots of fun, and your kids look very "scientific" with their goggles on as they are hunched over their test mats! :)

__**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. ====

Miss Schrader's last day was on Friday. We appreciated her help and wish her well in her next placement.

We had two of our friends return from Texas and Florida. Some of us decided that we would like to be traveling with them given the rainy/snowy weather we are experiencing today. :) We also had a friend report back from Singapore and India. Did you know that chewing gum in Singapore is illegal?

The Country Project is almost upon us! Please use the following link to find out more! Mrs. Volk's Google Site ==== 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 March 5th.

__**MRS. VOLK:**__
Thank you to everyone for the Iowa/ISU donations. We had some really cool items donated. Make plans to attend the carnival on March 3rd and support the elementary.

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. Sumdog is currently running a contest so sign on and play!

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!

There are only a few days left in the month of February so continue to read. 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 calendar is due next Thursday. The March calendar will be sent home next week as well. Our minutes will remain at 425 and it is our last Book-It month. Let's finish strong and all plan to read 425 minutes next month.

**__MRS. SKAHILL/MISS STEPHENS__**

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We had some great contributions to our ISU/ Iowa silent auction basket for next weekend's carnival! Thanks so much to all of you who sent things! If your child mentioned the cool metal cutout of Cy and Herky, here is the website for Gene Lehman's work: =====

@https://sites.google.com/site/lehmanmetal/
 * Although he can't do ISU/Iowa ones to sell because of copyright laws, he has a lot of other neat items available to order!**

**The February Book-It calendar will be due next week on THURSDAY, MARCH 1! 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!**

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.