So much for getting a lot accomplished this month! The unexpected vacation was nice, but...

Since we missed most of last week, we will be reviewing and adding some of the things we didn't get to last week, to this week's schedule. Our spelling words will be the possessives that the children wrote down last week, but weren't required to memorize. I will give them to them out of order, but in context so that they need to know which one to use in a sentence.

We are scheduled to take another unit test in Reading. The test will be on the computer, so their results will be available immediately. We are also due to take the midterm math test this week and finish the writing prompt. All of this is followed by progress reports that will be sent home soon.

Rotations were delayed last week, but we will continue on schedule this week. We have time at the end of the year to make sure everyone gets through all the classes.

I hope we don't miss any more school days this week, but I heard there might be another storm coming. The children can always spend some time memorizing their math facts and reading, if it is too cold to play outdoors.

Sincerely,
Jackie Hamilton

Happy New Year! Thank you for all the gifts that I received for Christmas. I am so sorry that I wasn't able to make it in for the last day before vacation, but as luck would have it, I caught the stomach bug just a few hours before I would have left for school. I am so glad that Mrs Welbourne and Mrs. Murphy were able to carry on with making the gingerbread houses and ornaments without me and on such short notice. When I went back to school a few days after Christmas, it seemed like a fairy godmother came in and cleaned up the whole room! That was amazing and made me feel so good. I want to thank the children, too! The substitute said they were wonderful!

We are now into the winter months that can be very conducive to learning. I hope to see a lot of intellectual growth in the children, and I hope that they will put in a lot of effort for these few months.

This week in Reading, we will be talking about Myths, specifically, how people have explained the pattern of day and night. We will also be working on subject-verb agreement. Could you help out by listening to how your child speaks and correcting them when appropriate?

In Math we will finish Chapter 5 with comparing data and reporting large numbers. We will take the Chapter 5 test after a review day or two. Chapter 6 will focus on division, map reference frames, and measures of angles.

In Social Studies we are studying events that happened in the 1800's . We will cover slavery and equal rights during January and February. This is always a fascinating topic for the kids, and can lead to many interesting questions at home.

We will continue to plug away at life science and eventually get into physical and earth science.

There are still some conferences that need to be rescheduled. I will get in touch with you soon.

Sincerely,
Jackie Hamilton