This Week is Christmas Spirit Week:

• Monday – Christmas Hat Day
• Tuesday – Red or Green Day
• Wednesday – Deck the Halls (Get Christmasy!)

Math: We will be going over the Unit 3 Math Review test today in class and students will have the opportunity to ask questions and try problems similar to the ones they missed.  Tomorrow, students will take the final test, answering only the questions they missed on the review test.  Please keep in mind that this test is hard and will continue to be difficult for students that do not study.

Reading/Social Studies: We will continue our reading of non-fiction texts, focusing on the branches of government.

• In order to allow students to have a hands-on experience with government, we will have a classroom government go into place when we return from break.  Students had the opportunity to give campaign speeches on Friday before the class voted for members of our Legislative (rule makers), Executive (rule enforcers), and Judicial (consequence makers) branches of government.  Students who are not elected will be given other classroom jobs so that all students are active members of our classroom community.  I have a feeling that we will have a few kinks that will need to be worked out in the beginning, but I think putting the classroom behavior in the students’ hands will be great in the long run.  Please let me know if you hear of any problems from your children regarding this new format we will be trying out.

Writing: Students have finished their final opinion pieces and will be using this week to work on refining their writing skills with additional Christmas themed opinion writing.

THIS WEEK:

• Monday
  • Students will be exchanging small gifts with their reading buddies this afternoon as well as just spending some quality time with them before the holidays
• Tuesday
  • All students have passed their multiplication fact quizzes and will therefore be invited to our pizza lunch celebration.  They will NOT need to order or pack a lunch on Tuesday.  Lunch will be provided for all students.
• Wednesday
  • Students will be participating in their holiday sock gift exchange Wednesday morning.  They will be allowed to spend the day shoeless, showing off their cool new socks.  If you haven’t brought in socks yet, you only have a few days left.
  • Our Christmas party will be held Wednesday from 12:40 until 2:10.  If at all possible, please avoid scheduling appointments during this time as I would hate for students to miss out on this fun time to celebrate with friends before break.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.