Week of May 24

                

Water Bottles:

This weather is starting to warm back up...quickly! I always allow students to have a water bottle with them at all times. Since students are not able to drink from the water fountains this year, it is helpful to send your student in with a water bottle each day (they are always welcome to leave it here each night and fill it with the water bottle filler each day).

Scholastic Book Order - Orders due online by Thursday May 27:

This will be our last Scholastic Book order of the year! Ordering books is completely optional but is a fantastic way to grow your at-home library collection at a low cost and have plenty of books for summer reading.

Each book that is ordered helps our classroom to earn free books for our class library and the students LOVE to see what new books we receive each month.
If you are ever interested in ordering books as a gift and want me to set them aside for you to pick up, please let me know.
You can click the following link to place an order through our class ordering page: https://orders.scholastic.com/L63HX

Classroom Needs:

As we get to the end of the year, our classroom supplies are starting to run low. If you are able to donate any of the following, it would be greatly appreciated!

-Water Bottles

-Clorox/Lysol Wipes

Charging computers each night:

I would appreciate your help in gently reminding your child to have their computer charged and ready for the school day each morning. We've had many coming to school recently without their computer or with computers that aren't charged. Thank you for helping with this!

M-STEP Testing:

We will finish up our M-STEP testing this week; we may have to finish this test on Thursday and Friday depending on the completion of the test on Wednesday. Our schedule is:

-Wednesday May 26: M-STEP Math Assessment

Daily Student Health Screener:

Click here for a checklist of symptoms and situations to keep a focused eye on this year. The teachers are logging daily health checks, as well. We are doubling down on health and wellness in efforts to protect our ability to meet for in-person learning. Thank you for your cooperation on this.

Mrs. Bawks' Brown School Family Blog:

Please don't forget to take a peek at Mrs. Bawks' Brown School Family Blog each week. CLICK HERE to read it.

Important Upcoming Dates:

Wed. 5/26 - Late Start - school begins at 9:45am

Fri. 5/28 - All books checked out from the Media Center need to be returned by today.

Mon. 5/31 - NO SCHOOL (Memorial Day)

Wed. 6/2 - Late Start - school begins at 9:45am

Fri. 6/4 - Popcorn Friday!

Thur. 6/10 - 1/2 Day of School (Dismissal at 12:34pm)

Fri. 6/11 - Last day of School: 1/2 Day of School (Dismissal at 12:34pm)

This week's learning:

Positivity Project (P2): This coming week we will be focusing on the character strength of Creativity: "You come up with new and original ways to think about and do things."

ELA & Writing: This week we will continue reviewing many of the essential skills that we've learned this year (main idea and detail, nonfiction text structures, text features, making inferences, making judgements, etc). We will also be starting a mini unit to study Greek Mythology.

In writing this week, we will continue researching for our informational writing. Students will use websites, books and other sources to find more information for their subtopics.

Math:  This week, we will continue our final unit of the year. Our lessons for the week are:

Monday: I can find the area of rectangles using fractions and mixed numbers.

Tuesday: I can multiply fractions by whole numbers to solve number stories.

Wednesday: M-STEP Math Test

Thursday: I can solve number stories by converting decimals to fractions.

Friday: Catch-up Day

Looking to extend your child's learning in math at home?

I highly recommend having them work on Khan Academy (we use this in class)! Students have access to the assignments that I've put onto Khan Academy for them (they use these during our math workshop time) and they can also work on their "course mastery." Khan Academy will continue to work them through 4th grade concepts and beyond (for those students who are ready to begin learning skills beyond the elementary level) and provides video explanations to help them work through the content. They also have courses to practice reading and language arts, computer programing (Pixar in a Box has historically been very popular with students in my classroom!), growth mindset, careers and much more!

Science: This week, we will conduct research on different sources of energy, including “burnable fuels” like coal and natural gas, and “alternative energies” like solar and wind power. Students will examine the pros and cons of using different energy sources for a small town.

You can support your child’s learning at home by playing a fun and educational game from NASA Climate Kids: https://climatekids.nasa.gov/power-up/! 

Social Studies: This week we will focus on learning about how our federal government is organized. Big ideas from these lessons are:

• The Framers of the Constitution were afraid of giving one group or one person in government too much power. 
• They limited the power of the federal government by separating or dividing power among three groups or branches of government.  
• The three branches are known as the legislative branch, the executive branch and the judicial branch.
• Each branch has a different function and its own special powers.

Homework:  Homework each week consists of reading 20+ minutes at home (this can be a library book, magazine, newspaper, online book, etc) and practicing multiplication and division facts 1 through 12. Mastering multiplication and division facts is vital to our learning this year.

Thank You,

Mrs. Hassenger