Math/Science Week Dec 17-21st

Parents,

Well here we are, down to the last 4 1/2 days!  I know it is going to just fly by, but before we leave for Winter Break we must get a few more things in.

Being that it will be such a crazy week, we will not be diving into any new content this week.  Now that the kids fully understand the relationship between multiplication and division through our study of fact families last week, we will start to dive into a mixture of both multiplication and division word problems.  The students will have to thoroughly read word problems, decode them, decide whether it is multiplication or division, and use the strategies taught in class to solve for them.  I have tried to help the kids decode these problems by telling them this:
**If you are given a total and ask to break that total apart, you know it is division.
**If you are asked to find the total, then you know its multiplication.  

In Science this week, we will close our study of slow and fast land changes and forces that shape the land on Thursday.  We have now studied hurricanes, tornadoes, landslides, earthquakes, and volcanoes in great depth. Our weathering and erosion unit test will be this Tuesday, December 18th.  The study guide and flashcards SHOULD have come home last Tuesday the 11th in your child's red HW folder!  I will send the PDF file for these things as well just in case it evaporated!  After the test, the students will be put into groups on Wednesday and Thursday to create posters on the natural disasters that we studied.  It's a great fun way to close out the unit and the week ;-)

On Friday will be the Sing-a-Long in the morning at 9:30.  Parents are welcome to come and stand on the sides to observe.  From there, we will be heading outside to recess so that our parent volunteers can set up in the room for the Holiday Party. Our Holiday Party will begin at 11:15.  Kids will first be eating their lunch in the room as well as a holiday cookie and watching a holiday movie.   They will then have a craft to design and we will be releasing the kids at noon.

I hope every single one of you have a wonderful break and holiday with your beautiful children.  I'm blessed again this year with such a nice homeroom class and wonderful, supportive parents.  Thank you for all your help and support thus far this year  :-)

Love Always,
Mrs. S