Week of February 6-9

My husband had a heart attack a little over a week ago. I had a wonderful sub, Kim Sorensen, who took over for me. I apologize if I have seemed off task a little. He is doing well and things are getting back to normal. Please contact me with any concerns that may have been overlooked. Your children and you were so kind to us, writing cards and sending prayers and well wishes. Thank you ever so much!

Valentines Day Activities

 Candygrams: You or your children can send candy grams for Valentines Day. They are 75 cents each or $10 for an entire class. They must be ordered and paid for by Monday, Feb. 13th. Orders can be placed during lunch times. Student Council will deliver them on Feb. 14th.

Dance: There will be a middle school dance this week. You should have received an email with the details. Students must bring a signed permission slip either during the week or at the time of the dance.

Projects: We are learning about the Great Depression. Each student will build his or her own web page with information about the 1930s.

8th Writing: Students are writing a narrative about someone taking a journey, modeled after journal entries of by gone years. Final is due this Thursday.

6th Writing: Students are writing a narrative about the final days aboard the Mary Celeste. This is a real life mystery that has not been solved. Students are creating their version of what happened.

Reading: Students should be reading at least 20 minutes or more every night (30 would be better) and completing a reading log. We are reading No Promises in the Wind by Irene Hunt, a story about the Great Depression. We will be putting students into book clubs this week. Two to four people per club. They will read together, discuss and answer questions within their group.

November 14-17

Projects: We are spending the entire month on genetics and heredity; learning how DNA controls everything in our bodies; understanding chromosomes and traits; getting familiar with Gregor Mendel's work; drawing and understanding Punnett squares; making personal discoveries about our dominant and recessive traits

6th & 8th Writing: We are continuing our argumentative writing; each student has chosen a topic and is writing an argumentative essay with 3 claims and one counterclaim. This week we are focusing on the thesis statement and writing an introductory paragraph.

Reading: Students are increasing awareness of the Civil War by reading Two Miserable Presidents by Steve Sheinklin; they are also becoming aware of the use of child labor in the world through a partially fictionalized account of a real child slave in Pakistan, Iqbal, who was assassinated by the carpet mafia of Pakistan a few years ago.

STORES will be held this coming Wednesday, November 16th

Next week there will only be two days of school---Monday & Tuesday---due to Thanksgiving.

Week of October 24-27

Important notice: “Life Threatening Peanut and Tree Nut allergy.  All celebration snacks will be eaten outside of the classroom. Parents are encouraged to provide nut free lunches and snacks.”  Thank you! 

Parent Conferences will be coming up. You will be receiving an email for sign ups, soon.

Halloween News: 
     There will be a dance this Friday, October 28th, in the cafeteria, from 6-10 p.m. Cost is $5 if a  costume is worn and $7 without a costume.
     Students may wear Halloween costumes to school on Monday, October 31st---no masks or really horrible/disgusting make-up. We will have a costume parade.
     Our class will have an activity, but no food or candy since they will be getting so much when they go trick or treating that night.

STORES IS THIS WEDNESDAY! 

Projects: Students will be presenting their endangered species projects and testing on the ecosystems unit. The second quarter will be covering genetics and heredity.

8th Writing: Students will begin working on argumentative writing unit.

6th Writing: Students will begin argumentative writing unit 

Reading: Students will have a reading log to complete every night as I am finding that many are not reading every night and many do not have a chapter type book, which is what they are supposed to be reading for 20 minutes every night, Monday through Saturday. They will be graded on this weekly and will have a reading project or two to complete this quarter

Week of October 10-13

Important notice: “Life Threatening Peanut and Tree Nut allergy.  All celebration snacks will be eaten outside of the classroom. Parents are encouraged to provide nut free lunches and snacks.”  Thank you! 

Archery for Oasis students is being offered. Cost is $30. Practice will be from 3:30 to 4:30 on Mondays for 4th-6th graders and Tuesdays for 7th-12th graders. (in the dungeon). This is under the direction of Mrs. Lane and Mr. Lewis. Please contact them with questions. Thank you.

Projects: Students will be working in groups of 3  to prepare a slide show that explains their plan to preserve an endangered species. They will also create an infographic (on online poster) featuring major facts about their chosen endangered species. 
 
8th Writing: Informative writing--Students will use the writing process to write an essay, comparing and contrasting two similar animals. This week they will finish their informative poster (in Venn diagram form), write a thesis statement, chose block or point by point form to produce an essay on their two animals.

6th Writing: Informative writing--Students will use the writing process to write a cause and effect essay, based on our Civil War book Two Miserable Presidents. This week they will write body paragraphs using text evidence, will write their conclusion, type up a rough draft for revision & editing. Their final is due Thursday.

Reading: Students are being assessed for reading improvement. In addition, they are reading about the Civil War in book club groups. They complete study guides with each chapter and have quizzes. This week they are taking a vocabulary quiz on the early causes of division between the North and the South and also  learning about John Brown's influence in beginning the Civil War.

Week of October 3-6

Important notice: “Life Threatening Peanut and Tree Nut allergy.  All celebration snacks will be eaten outside of the classroom. Parents are encouraged to provide nut free lunches and snacks.”  Thank you! 

Archery for Oasis students will begin this week. Cost is $30. Practice will be from 3:30 to 4:30 on Mondays for 4th-6th graders and Tuesdays for 7th-12th graders. (in the dungeon). This is under the direction of Mrs. Lane and Mr. Lewis. Please contact them with questions. Thank you.

Projects: Students will be learning about ecosystems and will have a project assigned Tuesday (due next week) about creating a plan to preserve an endangered species.

8th Writing: Informative writing--Students will use the writing process to write an essay, comparing and contrasting two similar animals.

6th Writing: Informative writing--Students will use the writing process to write a cause and effect essay, based on our Civil War book Two Miserable Presidents.

Reading: Students are being assessed for reading improvement. They are also researching and learning about the Author to their recent Read aloud, Never MInd. They will be finishing their own version of a final chapter to the book and writing to the author.

September 26-29, 2016

Projects: This week we will be learning about ecosystems and the relationships between biotic and abiotic elements within systems

8th Writing: Students will complete 2 essays: one on the Electoral College and one on three items that depict themselves

6th Writing: Students are finishing an essay on the Electoral College

6th Reading: Students are writing a final chapter for their read aloud Never Mind. They are also reading Two Miserable Presidents in book clubs for social studies.

In addition, we are conducting some reading assessments which will probably take the next two or three weeks to complete.

Please remind your student to read at least 20 minutes per day. Thank you!

Important notice: “Life Threatening Peanut and Tree Nut allergy.  All celebration snacks will be eaten outside of the classroom. Parents are encouraged to provide nut free lunches and snacks” 

September 19-22, 2016

Picture Day is Tuesday, September 20th!

Projects: 
Monday-Test on Body Systems. 
Tuesday through Thursday-Study Photosynthesis = matter and the flow of energy.

6th Reading: 
We finished the read aloud Never Mind last week and have several big assignments to go with it:
writing a final chapter,
researching the author to compare and contrast his life to the life of the twins,
writing a letter to the author and
creating an ad to recommend this book to others.

6th & 8th Writing:
Informative writing about the Electoral College.

The third Wednesday of every month will be STORES. That means this coming Wednesday. Students will be allowed to buy and sell new, used, homemade items---no food or drink & no real money allowed. We only use class cash.