1. Last Week’s Happenings…
Ms. Deming’s Weekly Newsletter
October 25, 2015
Last Week’s Happenings…
Social Studies Project Presentations
Last week students presented their social studies project. We are about 2/3 if the way finished. We will finish presentations at the beginning of this week. Students will get their project rubric back in their Thursday folder this week! They all turned out great!
Posters
Students created their Genius Hour Help Wanted posters to hang around the school.
Ms. Couden’s Farewell Party
The surprise party for Ms. Couden turned out great! Thank you so much to those of you who stepped up to help out last minute. She was very surprised and appreciative of her party!

2. Happening This Week… Grammar
Math
This week students will take their addition/subtraction unit test. There will be a study guide sent home Monday night that students can use to study. Students will also be taking their multiplication pretest. They will take a unit pretest and a multiplication fact pretest. This will help us determine which facts (1-12) each child already has mastered and which ones they need practice with. We will be starting the actual multiplication unit next week. Please make sure students are practicing their math facts at home in order to gain fluency with facts If there are any students who earn a 100% on the pre-test they will be given a PBL to work on in class.
Reading
Next week we will begin our nonfiction reading unit. This week we will be teaching the students thinking maps. There are 8 different thinking maps that focus on different cognitive thinking processes: compare and contrast, define, describe, sequence, cause and effect, whole to part relationships, seeing analogies, and classifying. Students will be given nonfiction reading passages about various topics and they will have to create a thinking map on that topic after reading the article. This week students will also be working on their Wonder contracts. Students were given a choice board of activities to choose from dealing with the book Wonder. They have 2 must do’s and have to choose 3 activities from the choice board.
Writing
We will continue with our Upping the Quality of Our Narrative unit. This week students will brainstorm qualities of effective vs. ineffective narratives, they will learn how to write good story leads, they will learn that good narratives have some type of message or lesson that they can teach the reader, and finally students will learn to write their details out leaving the reader with no questions in their head!
Grammar
This week the students will learn about commands and exclamations. They will learn that command sentences end with a period and exclamation sentences try to show strong feeling and end with an exclamation point.
Science- We will continue with our energy unit this week. Students will learn about the different types of energy such as heat, light, sound and electrical.
Social Studies- This week the students will finish up our presentations. If time allows, we will also begin our next unit on citizenship. Students will identify the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
Important Dates to know…
-10/26 Second Quarter begins
-10/30 October Birthday Celebrations 3:00 (due to our recess time we can’t do 3:30)
-10/30 1st Quarter OWL Feather Celebrations 2:15-3:00
-10/30 FUN RUN money due
-11/6 Fall Enrichment Clusters begin
-11/6 Classroom Store
-11/6 First quarter report cards go home
-11/11 No School Holiday
Spelling/Vocabulary Dates:
Vocabulary Dates:
-List 3 words introduced 10/26 – 10/27
-Test on list 3 Friday 11/6
Spelling Dates:
Group 1: New words introduced 10/28 and test 11/4
Group 2: New words introduced 10/29 and test 11/5
Group 3: New words introduced 10/30 and test 11/6
Assignment Due Dates:
-10/26 Social Studies study guide due
-10/27 Social Studies unit test
-10/27 Math study guide due
-10/28 Math addition/subtraction unit test
Notes from Ms. Deming 
The TD department needs the help of parents of gifted students. This year is our TD department’s revision year. Please go to this link and compete the survey to help out the district and their plan for gifted education:
Students’ FUN RUN pledge money is due by this Friday, October 30. Please submit it by then!
We will be doing our class store next Friday, November 6. There will be an sent out by the room parent. Please begin sending in items anytime!
Important Information and Reminders
Still in need of:
-1 pack of Mr. Sketch scented markers
-The following multicultural books for our next rdg unit (they are all picture books. Let me know if you need the author):
The Librarian of Basra
Rain School
My Librarian is a Camel
Nasreen’s Secret School
A Day’s work
My Name is Yoon
That Woman Book
I am requesting that each student bring in a composition notebook for Genius Hour. They will need it for taking notes. Please send this in by Friday!