October 10, 2011- Weekly Reminders

Weekly Spelling Words: This weeks words all have Greek roots. Understanding what the different Greek roots are, and what each one means will be very helpful!

telephone

phonic

microphone

homophone

democracy

pandemic

demography

academy

pathos

pathetic

empathy

dermis

epidermis

dermatology

history

historian

historic

prehistoric

cardiac

cardiology

CHALLENGE WORDS:

cacaphony

symphony

               sympathize               

Monday: P.E. Day (don't forget your sneakers!!!) Homework packets are sent home for the week. Please be sure that your child brings their AR book back to school with them on Monday! They all got to choose books last Friday, and are expected to take their test on Friday.

Tuesday: FCAT Parent Night starting at 5:30. We will meet in the media center at 5:30, where we will go over all of the things you need to know in order to help your child be successful on the FCAT Reading, Writing, and Math tests this year. This session will be over at 6:15, and dinner will be served in the cafeteria. Please plan on attending this informative night!

Wednesday: Weekly folders will be sent home. No grade reports this week. Next week's reports will include the grades from the Reading benchmark test, and the Chapter 1 Math test.

Thursday: Wednesday folders are due.

Friday: Reading Test, Multiplication Test, AR tests must be taken. New chapter books will be picked, and they should come home so that your child can get started on it.

Reading Focus: This week we begin our 2nd unit in the Imagine It! series. This unit focuses on "Nature's Delicate Balance." We will be reading stories in the next 6 weeks that have to do with nature, and figuring out what role we play in nature. Our story this week is called "The Snowflake: A Water Cycle Story." It talks about a snowflake and it's journey through the steps of the water cycle. For a great interactive website on the water cycle, click here. The reading strategies we will focus on this week are Summarizing, Making Connections, and Sequencing. This week at home, try having your child summarize what they are reading in their chapter books after every few pages. Using this strategy consistently is a key to reading comprehension.

Math Focus: We will begin Chapter 2 this week: Multiplication and Division Concepts and Facts. Students will learn to relate multiplication and division, and make area models and arrays. Please look for the parent letter for Chapter 2 to be sent home with homework this week.

Writing Focus: We are working on Narrative writing. (Writing to tell a story). Students will learn to plan their writing around a BIG MOMENT, and begin to structure their paragraphs based on what happened just before, during, and just after the big moment they are writing about.

Science Focus: We are learning all about scientists and what they do.

St. Augustine: There are still spots available for our St. Augustine trip in May. Please get your deposit in ASAP so that I can reserve your spot!

Parent/Teacher Conferences: I am still needing to meet with parents for our beginning of the year conference. Let me know a good time and date!

LOOKING AHEAD: The next PTO meeting will be on October 20th at 6:00. Spooky Science Night will be held immediately following the meeting. Hope that you will be able to join us for some fun!!!

Thank you so much for all that you do! Please let me know if you have any questions!!!