Dear Parents and Families,

Thank you so much for attending curriculum night.  It was wonderful to see you all again.  I hope it was helpful and I encourage you to continue to reach out with any questions you have as the year progresses.  I also encourage all parents, but especially new families, to mark their calendars for September 9^th to learn more about Spalding and Singapore in depth.

I can not believe we are already entering the 4^th week of school.  I can not believe that by the end of next week we will have been in school already for a month!

Parents this week students will be taking a computerized test called Galileo.  This is a benchmark test that matches the AZ Merit test and helps us know which areas will need the most focus.  Please encourage your child to do their very best.  This is data, just like the beginning of the year tests, so remind your child that it will not impact their grade if they are stressed!  We will be taking the tests on Wednesday and Thursday morning.  There is an English Language Arts test, as well as a math test. 

Heads up that next weekend is R&R so there will be no homework.  Remind students to work hard this weekend and next week so they can really enjoy this weekend knowing they “earned” it!

Upcoming Assessments:

Monday: none

Tuesday: Little House quiz, chapters 7-12

Wednesday: none

Thursday: none

Friday: none

Here is the plan for the upcoming week:

Literature:  We are continuing to read Little House.  We will be having a quiz on chapters 7-12 on Tuesday.  A study guide came home today (Friday, August 28^th).  The study guide should be completed over the weekend and turned in on Monday.  Monday night students will get the study guide back and will be able to study for the test on Tuesday!

Writing/Grammar: We will be reviewing sentence structure, as well as nouns and verbs.  We will also begin using our texts, “The Story of the World”, which we will be reading to practice summarizing and other skills.

Spalding:  In Spalding we will be finishing up our rule pages and beginning our word list.  We are going to start with our word list.  Every night the students will be expected to practice each word we went over in class twice.  The students should not simply copy the word and markings.  The assignment is for the parent (or older family member) to read each word and have the student write the word and complete the markings.  Each word should be practiced twice.  Go through each word once, and then go over each word a second time.  Although we are jumping into our word list, we are not having a spelling test this week.  We will begin our regular routine soon!  I will keep you updated.

Poetry:  We are continuing to work on Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”.  Poetry recitations will be on Friday.  Each student will be expected to recite the poem in front of the class.  I look forward to seeing each student’s first recitation.  We will continue this practice throughout the year and I am excited to see their growth!

History:  We are continuing our unit on Geography.  We will discuss the regions of the United States, elevation and political maps, and map keys.

Science:  We will continue our exciting unit on animal classification.  Next week we will discuss vertebrates and invertebrates.

Math:  In math we will be continuing or adventure with bar models.  The students should be bringing their textbooks home to help them with this new concept and to show you all how they work!  We will work on part-whole models as well as comparison models, estimation, and  comparing numbers, and word problems.  

Best,

Ms. Caro