Week of February 13-17

Classroom BOB Competition
Our classroom BOB winners were Whitley's Rockin' Readers:  Ainsley, Jeffrey, Lindsay, Tyler, Hayden, and Jillian!  Congratulations!  Everyone worked so hard to prepare for this!  Another opportunity to possibly compete at the district level will be on Wednesday when students who've read 7 or more BOB books have the opportunity to take the district test.

Helpful Math Website
The kids are really struggling with adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers.  Here is an excellent site that also has questions.  If you have the time, please look at this and do the problems at the bottom with your child tonight.  It will really help them with tonight's math homework.  Any support you can give is greatly appreciated.
http://www.mathsisfun.com/positive-negative-integers.html

Valentine's Day
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day!  Please send your child with a Valentine for each child in the class.  There is no need to send in a bag or a box as they will be making bags for their Valentines at the party.  The kids are welcome to bring in a sweet treat and drink for themselves, but we will stick to the food policy and refrain from sharing. 

PJ/Slipper Day
 On Wednesday, we will have a school-wide Pajama & Slipper Day!  Please send your child with a pair of tennis shoes for recess and bathroom breaks.

Parent-Teacher Conferences
Progress Reports come home February 29^th and that means it’s time for parent-teacher conferences again.  Please call the office to sign up for a conference on either Thursday, March 1^st of Tuesday, March 6^th.  My goal is to meet with every parent.

Reminder:  There is no school on Monday, February 20^th.

Upcoming Tests:
Math Test on Wednesday, February 22^nd

Here is what we’re learning next week.

Social Studies:  We are continuing our study of government as we delve into learning about the 3 branches and the checks and balances.

Math:  This week we are focusing on adding and subtracting positive numbers, learning to create and interpret line plots, reviewing the various forms of notation and reviewing how to use the rules for order of operations.

Word Study:  We will begin learning about synonyms.

Science:  This week’s focus will be the circulatory, respiratory, and nervous systems and how those systems work together.

Reading:  BOB competitions took place today and our classroom winners will go on to compete against the other 5^th grade classes on Wednesday.  We will continue learning about how the story elements are used by authors to create the structure of the text and how chapters, events, and characters fit together to create the entire story.