Weekly News - Update

• Due to the professional development I attended this week I will not be sending home Friday Folders. They will be sent home next Friday. However, you child still should have brought home their papers for the week.
• It is time for end of the trimester testing. It seems like all we do is assess students. I have begun the Dibels Reading test and will continue this week. While testing students are working independently on leveled reading articles, fluency, weekly reading tests from the Trophies anthology, and creating their Young Author's stories. Also coming will be the Dibels Math CBM assessment which is taken on the computer.
• In Math we are slowly working our way through this difficult program. Thank you for trying to help at home. We are continuing to estimate, multiply mentally, round numbers and use tape diagrams (these will be used extensively in the middle school).
• Social Studies maps are just about finished and they will be hanging on the walls in the corridor. We will continue to read about Colonial America and lead up to the Revolutionary War. More information to follow. We will have a test on Chapter 5 next week.
• In Science students will be covering storms and weather. The topics will be: hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes, earthquakes and floods. Students will read several chapters in a book, chart the important facts (Main Ideas and Details), and present to their classmates.  
• Our class has been chosen to take the PARCC field test in March. It will be given online and each student will use a laptop. They have already been delivered to the school. At first the students and I were all a little upset because Common Core is so new and the Math program is so difficult. We had a community meeting to look for and discuss the positives that could come from this. Several students commented on how taking the practice test this year will help prepare them for the real thing next year. Other students commented that taking the assessment will let them see what types of questions will be asked. Finally students commented that taking the PARCC this year will be good practice and next year they won't be as nervous because they already know what the test and questions looks like.

Thank you for your continued support from the home front. Have a wonderful and restful weekend.