Newsletter Info

Social Studies
A blue half sheet was sent home with your child today regarding an extra credit opportunity that is worth 5 pts. The sheet gives detailed information on the required 5 step process, as well as information on optional treats that can accompany the project. This is different than the thinking mats. The thinking mats are an in class art activity that we are working on as we finish our questions each day. Ask your child about their design. If you are a newsletter fan this week, tell your child to give Mrs. Z a high five at recess on Tuesday and say the code, "Responsibility!" This will earn them a success ticket.


Science
Our unit on Water will be coming to and end this week. The unit test will be Wednesday. Your child should bring their science notebook home on Monday and Tuesday night to prepare. Visiting the blog entries is also helpful. They need to be familiar with condensation, evaporation, how changes in energy (heat) can cause matter to change states, melting point of water, boiling point of water, freezing point of water, explaining data differences, importance of water, and the habits of good scientists (repeated trials, communications). We will play a round of Jeopardy in class on Tuesday to review at school, but reviewing their notes at home is also helpful. The test will contain multiple choice and short answer and will be worth 20 pts.

Pencil Sharpeners: Patterson Homeroom in Desperate Need
Donations of manual pencil sharpeners would be greatly appreciated!

Math Workshop
Our class is starting a new mathmatics unit about fractions called Finding Fair Shares. In this unit, students investigate the meaning of fractions and the ways fractions can be represented. One of our benchmark goals is for the students to divide a single whole or a quanity into equal parts and name those parts as fractions or mixed numbers. Take advantage of any natural opportunities to use fractions as they arise. You and your child can share and compare strategies for solving problems such as these: If you cut a whole pizza into 6 equal slices and ate 3 of the slices, what fraction of the pizza did you eat? If you want to share 10 cookies among 4 people, how can you share them equally? How much does each person get? The gas tank in our car holds 12 gallons, but right now it is only one fourth full. How many gallons of gas do we need to buy to fill up the tank? The students will have Homework Sheet # 23 assigned for the week. On Tuesday, they will have their February Calendar Math Quiz. It will consist of questions reading a calendar, knowing the difference between parallel and perpendicular lines, making a bar graph, and rounding numbers to different place values.