Fish for Sale (or Adoption)

Our class "pet," Sapphire, needs a home for Spring Break.  I will provide a fresh clean bowl of water and fish food pellets.  If you live close to Young, I am happy to drop her (?) off after school.  If you are farther from school, I will leave her here for you to pick up anytime (I will leave her in the office).  Any child who is interested in this short term experience needs to write a simple note to me promising to care for her and only feed her 4 pellets per day and protect her from excited siblings or other pets at home.  The letters that are signed by a parents will go into a raffle and I will call home to check during lunch.



We are busily working on our weather projects.  The kids are working in groups on the following weather events: hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, lightning, thunderstorms, blizzards, and tsunamis (not related to weather).  If your child would like some additional work time with their group, the classroom is open for them tomorrow morning from 8:15 to 9:00.  I will have laptops available. They can come in through the front door, just tell them to ring the buzzer and check in at the office.  More time will be given to complete this during the day, but some of the projects are a little laborious! Let me know if you have any questions.



Tomorrow is the day Young is celebrating Read Across America Day.  Your child should bring a PRB and some comforts from home for some cozy reading time. 

We the People...

Oh, boy!!  The class gets to memorize the Preamble to the Constitution!  Jake P. won the DOJO of the Day for guessing the closest to how many words are in the Preamble!  Way to go, Jake!! Today, we covered how the Consititution came to be...and we weren't too happy about some parts of it (The 3/5 Compromise!). How can a human be only counted as 3/5 of a person?!  We had a great discussion about the earliest part of our history after gaining independence from Britain!  Not so easy to start a whole new country!

The outlook for the week is positive!  Everyone is excited for Spring Break! Also, the students earned a ton of DOJO points today (if you don't know what these are, ask your child).  Our goals include getting all work turned in on time, keeping materials where they need to be, and controlling our talking in the hallways and stairwells.  We will accomplish a great deal this week, knowing we will have a restful week as a reward (unless you are doing something STRESSFUL for Spring Break, then...I can't help you out). 

Here is what's up for this tomorrow/this week:

Reading
Please LOG this week in a thoughtful manner!  IF you have trouble logging and are making it up quickly the night before I check, stick it up on the wall next to your bed to log right when you wake up.  Also, be sure you are reading material that will help you GROW as a reader.  If you need some suggestions, let me know!   This week, we are reading content area material during our Daily 3 session.  We will have a focus strategy this week of using text features (titles, captions, etc.) and looking for cause and effect in our reading. Know those tomorrow!  We will have a random log check this week - be prepared for some DOJO!!

Math
Mrs. Grezlik's class - we have our PA math test tomorrow, so the homework is not due until Wednesday.  You have a sheet of order of operations as well as the reflection from your Transfer Task.  Our test will not be until the Wednesday (or Thursday) after break, depending on how far along we get this week.

Writing
Finish your newletter (time was given in class for this -follow the direction sheet) and GET SIGNED
Finish your biography paragraphs (BUT NOT YOUR  CONCLUSION!)

Social Studies
Memorize the Preamble by Friday (you can let me know when you are ready to be checked ANYTIME this week).

CHECK THIS OUT TO HELP!

Word Work
Test Wednesday (It is on Spelling City to practice)

What's the Weather?

It's been a week full of weather learning in our classroom! We are learning about our atmosphere, severe weather, climate, and the weather instruments that the meteorologists use to forecast the weather (that they don't always get right).  For instance, two days ago, there was an 80% chance of snow.  This morning, it was only a 20% chance.  Then, at 2:00 this afternoon, it was a snow globe outside!  Weather is an ever changing event! 

Here's what is due tomorrow:
Science - Weather test over chapter 8 - use your notes and the questions in the book.

Math - my group has a quiz tomorrow over what we've worked on this week
The other two groups have a sheet of work as well.

Tomorrow we will begin putting our research to work for us as we turn what we've learned into a report about our Revolutionary War figure!  If you don't have enough information in any section, you were directed Wednesday to do some online research at home.

Back to Normal

I decided to give the kids a little break this week and write a newsletter for them. 
_____________________________________________________________________________

Grezlik Gazette

March 11, 2013

     Finally, we have a "normal" week, with 5 full days of school (I hope!) and no big events going on.  Well, actually, there is a big event going on in our classroom.... our new weather unit!  Today, we had rain, sleet, and I did see some snowflakes this afternoon.  Three types of precipitation in one day?  That's March for you!

     We will spend a few weeks on this new weather unit.  Today, we learned about the many layers of our atmosphere.  We are putting some of what we learned in a poster and we will share those around tomorrow.  We will spend our reading time this week working in our science book, learning about all kinds of weather related information.  Other reading materials will be used as well and our test over chapter 8 is scheduled for Friday.  Time will be spent next week making some weather instruments and doing some experiments.  This unit will continue after Spring Break.

     Tomorrow we test over chapter 9 in social studies.  There are a number of sites we explored at the end of the day today in the lab that helped kids study.  We went over the study guide in class and had a great discussion!  Although we will move onto chapter 10 and 11, this will be our last test in social studies this quarter.

     During writing this week, we will continue our work researching our Revolutionary War figures.  This will include learning how to keep track of our sources by creating a "Works Cited" page.  One useful site we'll use is called Easybib.com.  Keeping track of where we get information from is responsible and necessary.

Written by:  Mrs. Grezlik

____________________________________________________________________________

Any student who prints this post, trims it, and pastes it in his or her composition book can turn in their clip and get a blind grab for some Dolphin Dollars.

Have a wonderful week!

Tuesday Test

Practice for the test on Chapter 9:

I created this set of flashcards to practice for chapter 9 terms, people, places, and events.
http://quizlet.com/20786297/revolution-flash-cards/

http://www.softschools.com/quizzes/social_studies/revolutionary_war/quiz414.html

http://military.discovery.com/battles-history/revolutionary-war-quiz.htm

This page has links to lots of quizzes about the Revolutionary War.  Just choose one lesson, click on the word quiz, and go to town!
http://www.mce.k12tn.net/revolutionary_war/american_revolution.htm

A Look Ahead

A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE IN 5G FOR MAKING IT TO SCHOOL EVERY SINGLE DAY OF TESTING THIS WEEK!!  NO ABSENCES!  YAY!!

Due Monday
Reading log assessment (signed by student and parent)
Newsletter (already graded but needs to be read and signed by parent)
Social Studies
 - Finish reading lesson 3 (time was given in class)
 - Finish study guide (time was given in class)
 - Chapter 9 test will be on Tuesday


My math group:
Monday - review of multiplication of fractions and mixed numbers/Transfer task
Tuesday - review of division of fractions and mixed numbers/Transfer task

Be sure to bring your personal reading book each day and keep up on your reading at home and logging your pages.

Almost Done!

It's been a weird week with the snow day and all the ISAT testing. I can't wait to get back to our normal routine. The kids have been doing really well during testing, remembering to pace themselves, use good test taking strategies, and seem to enjoy the perks of testing week; mints and gum, lots of brain breaks, and no homework. Speaking of which, I will collect and check reading logs tomorrow to get an idea of what you are currently reading. We will begin next week with conferencing and a reading review, so be prepared to write about what you are currently reading. I know many kids are choosing to begin the next genre project early, but I suggest just chilling out with one of your favorite genres or one of the books that someone introduced you to and read for pleasure.  Your last genre project isn't due until April 30. However, I appreciate that there are those of you who want to get your project chosen, read, and done. That's your prerogative!

Tomorrow is our last day of testing. If you happen to check the blog, please bring your personal reading book as we will all take time tomorrow to chill out and read for pleasure.  You can even bring a stuffed animal or pillow to be extra comfy as you do so. See, reading the blog gives you even more perks!!

SNOW DAY!!!

Snow day!  Snow day!! Snow day!!!

That's all!

Enjoy!

ISAT Reading Practice

Here is a great place to practice reading passage work online.  Choose which level you feel is appropriate, any year, and click on read the story.  After reading the story thoughtfully, take time to move through the questions.  Remember that you can go back to the text if needed.

ISAT PRACTICE READING SITE