March 16-20

Good afternoon, parents!  I hope you’re enjoying this beautiful day!  Everyone was very cheerful and upbeat today.  We even enjoyed lunch outside at the picnic tables!  Tonight is a light homework night and I told the kids that part of their homework is to play outside! 

PE

We started a new PE rotation today.  Please make sure your child comes to school in the proper clothing for PE.  Thanks!  :o)

Accelerated Testing

Please keep in mind that the deadline to sign up for accelerated testing at North Middle is next Tuesday, March 24^th.  Testing dates are Saturday, March 28^th and Monday, March 30^th.  These tests are for science, social studies, and language arts only.  Math placement will be administered here at school near the end of the year.

BizTown

This Wednesday, you will receive a field trip permission form in your child’s Wednesday folder for an upcoming Economics-based field trip to BizTown.  This is an amazing and authentic experience that is coming up for our kids to run businesses in a realistically modeled town!   For this trip we will need LOTS of volunteers-29 for the whole 5^th grade, so if you’ve been looking to chaperone a field trip this year, please sign up!  It’s really a neat experience and a lot of fun!

Conferences

If you would like to schedule you a spring conference, you are invited to do so.  Just go to Volunteer Spot and choose a time.  Don’t forget to enter your name.  The link is:  http://vols.pt/zUJYxE.  I am requesting that all parents who would like a conference, please schedule one no later than this Friday, March 20^th.  If you do not schedule a conference, but I feel that one is needed, I will contact you.

Scrimmage Testing

This week, we will have our first round of scrimmage testing in preparation for the KPREP Test at the end of the year.  Please make every effort to have your child here on time this Thursday and Friday in order to take the scrimmage test.  We will begin right after Related Arts.

A Look at What’s Coming Up This Week

Reading:  In ELA, we have moved into a new unit called Exploration.  Last week, the kids read and analyzed stories to find the moral.  This week, we are analyzing stories with tyrants to compare and contrast how different characters react to the tyrants.  Today after reading an excerpt from Alice in Wonderland, the kids gathered several different lessons learned from Alice as we examined her reactions to the Queen of Hearts.

Writing:  As a part of our Exploration unit, the kids will be exploring abstract artwork (Dadaism and surrealism) to interpret the artwork and write a story from it.  They will also be creating their own Dadaist or surreal artwork and authoring a story to go with it.

Word Study:  For word work today, we examined the prefixes for the metric system and brainstormed words we knew that started with those prefixes.  This helped the kids to learn their meaning.  Later this week, we will study conjunctions.

Math:  During math, we are working on measurement and data analysis.  This week the kids will work with stem-and-leaf plots, line plots, and they will also learn to calculate area and perimeter.

Social Studies:  The focus in social studies this week is on the Bill of Rights as we learn the meaning and value of many of the amendments.