Week of 2/9

Dear families,

I hope you have enjoyed your weekend! This is a busy academic week for the students, so let's go ahead and dive into what's expected for the week:

Upcoming Events

• Mon, 2/9: English Language Arts Benchmark Test #1 (multiple choice and short response); Young Americans performance at 1:00 in gym
• Tues, 2/10: English Language Arts Benchmark Test #2 (writing about reading)
• Wed, 2/11: Math Benchmark test; Step & Musical performances at 8:20 and 9:20; Progress Reports come home
• Fri, 2/13: Math homework due; Valentine's Day snack at 12:45 (no party)

Coming Next Week

• Mon, 2/16: NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS (teacher work day)
• Thurs, 2/19: Math Test (Coordinate Grids & Mathematical Patterns)
• Fri, 2/20: Field Trip to Atlanta History Museum for interactive Civil War exhibit

FYI: Benchmark Tests
The benchmark tests we are giving this week will help give the students an idea of what the Milestones tests will look like in April. You (and the students) should not worry - we've been testing them this way all year. Tests will include multiple choice questions and some writing questions. I believe that students are being well-prepared. These tests will inform us about student progress, but they will not be used as grades for report cards.

English Language Arts
In reading, we are continuing our study of the historical fiction novel, Number the Stars. We will read the next few chapters and students will write journal responses that are standards-based and reflect on what students have read so far. One of these prompts will be graded at the end of the week. We are focusing this week on the following standards:

• RL.1 Quoting from the text; inferencing
• RL.3 Comparing and contrasting settings and character responses
• RL.4 Figurative Language
• RL.5 Story structure

In language arts, students are working on perfect verb tenses. For example: 

• I had walked
• I have walked
• I will have walked

Students will have a small quiz on Friday over the perfect verb tenses.

Math
Students will love what we are starting this week! We are working on coordinate grids (only in the first quadrant, so we are only working with positive integers). Students will love playing games like battleship and cracking secret codes as we work on this unit! On Friday, we introduce the second part of our unit which is about mathematical patterns. This part is more difficult for students. We will test next Thursday.


Science
Students are with Mrs. Hawkins for the next three weeks as they discuss earth science!