Last Week’s Happenings… Ms. Deming’s Weekly Newsletter September 27, 2015 Last Week’s Happenings… Fire Safety Someone from the Charlotte Fire Department came in to teach the students about fire safety. She encouraged the students to go home and create a fire evacuation plan with their family. She also encouraged students to know their addresses in case they every had to call 911. There were many students she called on that did not know their address. Reading Last week we began our literature unit. The students learned about how to walk in their character’s shoes in order to identify how their character is feeling, how to study their character’s actions in order to identify their character traits, and finally how to study their character’s motives. Fun Run Students received their Fun Run packet last week. The students are being asked to contact their family and friends in order to get pledges for them during the race. The class and student who raises the most will receive prizes! The students went to a Fun Run pep rally this week to get pumped! Personalized Learning We started personalized learning last week on Friday. The students are all in different standard based groups based on how they did on their pretest. August & September Birthday Celebrations Last week Landen and David celebrated their August and September birthdays. The students enjoyed some delicious treats! Science Experiment Students participated in a matter science experiment where they had to observe and feel different properties of the objects such as color, texture, size, whether it floated or sank.

Important Information and Reminders Happening This Week… Math We will continue with our addition and subtraction unit. Students were placed in a standard based group from the data collected on their pretest. The groups are… Addition Subtraction Addition properties/ patterns, and unknown equations Two step addition and subtraction word problems Once students show mastery on all these skills, they will be working on a project called “The Million Dollar Project” which ties in 4th and 5th grade standards. We have not set a date for the unit test yet. Please sign their personalized learning reflection sheet everyday this week. It will be in their take home folder and will let you know what they are working on in class. Reading We continue in our literature unit. This week students will learn how to infer character traits for the characters they are reading about and support it with text evidence, how illustrations of a text add meaning to the story, how to ask and answer questions about a text referring back to the text for details, how to make predictions about what their characters will do based on patterns that they see with the character, and finally why it is important to pay attention to the way that the other characters in the book treat the main character. At the end of each week students will have an informal reading assessment based on the skills taught that week. Writing We continue to work on our personal narratives. Students have completed the pre—writing stage of the writing process and they will begin with the rough draft stage this week. They will take the ideas they wrote in their graphic organizer and turn it into a draft. Students will learn how to revise and edit their drafts this week. They will edit their own and then peer edit with a partner. If time allows this week, they will begin publishing their first narratives. They will keep all published pieces in their writer’s portfolio’s, which are the binders they brought in at the beginning of the school year. Science- Students will learn changes in the 3 states of matter. They will participate in a science experiment to explore this. Social Studies- Students will continue to learn about changes in communities over time. Students will learn how technology has changed over time and how it has affected communication and transportation. Students also were assigned their first quarter project, which is a Social Studies project. Dates to know… -10/2 Rescheduled date for the PTA picnic 6:00 p.m. -10/7 Early Release Day -10/16 1st Quarter “Change Over Time” project due -10/16 Irwin Fun Run -10/22 First Quarter Ends -10/23 No School Teacher Workday -10/30 October Birthday Celebrations 3:00 (due to our recess time we can’t do 3:30) -11/6 Fall Enrichment Clusters begin (more information will be sent home. Students must sign up via a Sign Up Genius. The link will also be sent home as it gets closer). Vocabulary Dates: -List 1 words introduced 9/28-9/29 -Test on list 1 10/9 Spelling Dates: Group 1: New words introduced 9/30 and test 10/7 Group 2: New words introduced 10/1 and test 10/8 Group 3: New words introduced 10/2 and test 10/9 Notes from Ms. Deming  Math Super Stars – This is an optional math enrichment program. Students will be given a new sheet every week that is optional to complete. They will earn awards at the end of the year for participation. I am in need of a parent to grade these each week when I send them home. I will provide an answer key for you. Fun Run – Students received their Fun Run packets on Friday. Please look this over. Participation in this is optional, but highly recommended. Students are to get pledges from family and friends. On race day, which is October 16 they will try to run as many laps as they can. They will then collect their pledges based on how much money their family and friends pledged per lap. You will send the money into school. This is a fundraiser for the school! Important Information and Reminders Items still in need: -Cordless hot glue gun -Expo markers (any color) -1 pack of Mr. Sketch scented markers -2 staplers