Week of September 10-14

What's Happening in Mrs. Whitley's Class

Room Mom Correspondence
If you would like to receive correspondence from our room mom, Beth McBride, please send her your name and e-mail address at captainmcb@aol.com. She is sharing the job of room mom with Liann Moeller. I'm lucky to say that we will have 2 wonderful ladies helping out this year!

U.S. Regions
This week we are going to begin a short unit on the 5 regions of the United States.  If you have any paraphenalia (postcards, pictures, souveniours) that your child would like to share, please feel free to send it in.  We will begin with the Southeast and Northeast regions Monday and Tuesday, continuing into the Midwest Wednesday, the Southwest Friday, and finally the West next Tuesday. 

MAP Testing
During 3 different Friday sessions beginning this week, the kids will take a MAP test each Friday for approximately 1 hour to assess their math, reading, and language skills.  These tests will help to provide useful information so I can better meet their needs as learners.  If you'd like to know your child's score, I will be sharing this information at Parent-Teacher conferences this fall.

Upcoming Tests:
Weekly Facts Quiz:  Please keep practicing those math facts!  I promise it will make all the difference if the kids know their facts!

This Week's Learning Plan
Social Studies:  This week we will begin studying the 5 major regions of the United States.
Math:   A unit on place value will precede our upcoming unit on mathematical operations with whole numbers and decimals.
Word Study: This week's focus will continue to be on figurative language including similes, metaphors, rhyme, alliteration, and onomatopoeia.  We will also delve into synonyms and antonyms.
Writing & Reading:   Wrapping up the 6 traits of writing, students will write biopoems and short reports about the people they researched in biographies.  We will also read and explore idioms as we study how language is used in reading and writing.