1. Last Week’s Happenings…
Ms. Deming’s Weekly Newsletter
October 5, 2015
Last Week’s Happenings…
Classroom Economist Report
On Friday, our classroom economist (Maya) gave her classroom economist report from our first class store that we had. She surveyed the students to see which items they wanted to keep at the class store and which items they did not wish to keep. She created a bar graph of the items sold and determine the items with the most demand and the least. Great job Maya!
Classroom Representative & Runner Up
This past week our classroom rep and alternate were announced. Aasha is our class representative and Liam is our alternate. Congratulations!
Our 1st Skype
Students participated in our first Skype call of the year. We skyped with someone who works at Streetside Classics. He shows the students cars that were built in the 1920’s all the way through the 1950’s. Students also researched items that we use everything and how they have changed over time.
Character Theory Brochures
Officer Baumgartner comes to visit!
A police officer from Charlotte Police Department came to visit to say thank you for the cards sent by the students on 9/11. The students were able to speak with her and ask questions that they had!
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.

2. 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. Students will learn that good readers identify the problem that their main character is faced with and study how they solve it. They understand that the choices made by one character affect other characters in the story, and finally they understand when a character changes throughout the course of a book. We will finish our literature unit the week of October 12th. Students will have a literature unit test that week. The unit test will cover character traits, feelings, motivations, referring back to the text for answers, and using an illustration to identify elements of setting, mood, or characters.
Writing
This week students will edit their personal narratives using a strategy called CUPS (capitalization, word usage, punctuation, and spelling). Students will then partner edit each others rough draft using a peer editing checklist. Students will publish their narratives this week by writing their story on publishing paper using their best illustration. They will also create an illustration to go with their narrative. Students will put their first narrative in their writing portfolio. Our next writing unit we will “up” the quality of our personal narratives.
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 people and events have changed Charlotte over time. Students will choose one person to research who have had a major impact on our society such as Martin Luther King Jr, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sir Walter Raleigh, or Gertrude Weil.
Dates to know…
-10/7 Early Release Day
-10/9 Irwin Spirit Night at Brixx Pizza (portion of proceeds go to Irwin)
-10/14 Science Test on Matter (study guide will be sent home this week)
-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 
Scholastic Book Orders – I sent home our first Scholastic book order with students on Friday. If you are interested in ordering books for your child, please send it in by this Thursday.
Parent/Teacher Conferences – I will be sending our a sign up genius for first quarter parent teacher conferences. I am going to try and send it out Monday after school. I would like to meet with every students’ parents/guardians this first quarter. Therefore, I would like for everyone to please sign up for a time.
Important Information and Reminders
-Expo markers (any color)
-1 pack of Mr. Sketch scented markers
-2 staplers
The following multicultural books for our next rdg unit:
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