Testing is FINISHED!!!

Now that testing is finished, we can finally return to an almost normal school week. We will have some disruptions to the day due to concert practice. There will be homework during the week. There will be NO homework on the night of the concert.

Testing...

This week begins the 6-8th grade portion of the NJASK testing. Students will not have homework in my class, but should take the time after school to review previously learned material to refresh their minds for the testing. I hope they go to bed at a nice hour and eat a healthy breakfast each morning. Keep in mind the high pollen count outside. If your child goes outside to play after school, please have him or her shower before bed to help clear the pollen from them and prevent an interrupted night of sleep.

Practice over the break!

Math class - make sure to practice your multiplication and division facts over the break!!! Don't lose the facts you've spent time learning! Writers - practice writing about your vacation. Make sure to write in a sequential way by using transition words and keeping on topic! Readers - Read over the break! Your brain will thank you for it! Have a fabulous break!!!

April Fools!

Yes, we didn't get all of that snow that was predicted on all the forecasts! I know we are all happy about that. There are only a few weeks left until state testing and we need all of our days to prepare. I will be sending home work packets for the Spring break to help students practice the skills they learned so far. This week, we continue to work on reading fluency, vocabulary development, sight word recognition, and making inferences while reading. In math, the class is working on multiplication and division. We will be using the calculator to work with larger numbers. Next week, we will be focusing on using our fact skills to assist with geometry.

Getting down to business

Students finished their novels and constructed a poster response to the novel he/she read. They will be displayed in the hall. For the next month, we will be fervently working on polishing our reading and writing skills to prepare for the NJASK testing. We finished up learning about writing checks in math class. We'll be working on a variety of skills over the next few weeks. These include multiplication and division; fractions; measurement; geometry; and probability. We have missed several math classes due to the inclement weather and assemblies held during math time. We know we can work hard to get all of the knowledge into our brains! Hopefully we have seen our last snow day until next winter! As a result of the last two snow days, there are calendar changes that will go into effect. We will be going a few days longer in June. We will be getting out of school on June 22. The ESY program will start on June 27. Remember, the program is 1 hour shorter this year. It runs from 8:30-11:30. See you there!

Middle of March Madness

March is flying by!
Language Arts 1:We are almost finished with our novel Island Book One: Shipwreck. We've been learning a lot about boats, tenacity, and relying on your strengths to get through tough situations.
Language Arts 2: We are almost done with Sweet Valley Twins Book 2. We're building vocabulary and working on reading fluency.
Math: We are learning more about the record keeping of check writing. Students are applying their skills with adding and subtracting decimals to manage a checkbook register.
Science: We are learing about forms of energy.

Reminder

Friday, March 11 and Monday, March 14, will be 1/2 days. The students will be dismissed at 12:30. There will be no lunch served either day. The teachers will remain at school for professional development.