December 7, 2011

Thank you for everyone's flexibility with the unexpected school closing and the rescheduling of the Christmas concert! The students have been practicing hard and everyone is excited for the concert this Sunday at 4:00.

We have a spelling test on Friday of this week, and a states test on Monday. Now that we have begun studying the individual regions of the United States, the students will be expected to know the states in that region. They received a blank map yesterday and filled in the names of the five states they need to know for Monday's test (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island). They may not use abbreviations, but spelling will not count.

We are also getting close to being done with our units on nouns in English and weather in science, so those tests will be next Thursday and Friday. Study guides will go home tomorrow. In science, students have especially enjoyed using their instruments to measure the weather. We made anemometers, barometers, and wind vanes in class, and students have been using these, plus thermometers, to take daily measurements. Next week, the students will become meteorologists and use these tools to create their own weather forecast.

In reading, we have begun reading The Whipping Boy as a class. One of the main characters is a prince who is not allowed to be punished, so his "whipping boy" is punished in his place. We had an interesting discussion yesterday about what you would do if you could do anything you want and not get punished, and then who would act differently if they knew one of their classmates would be punished in their place. Students will also complete a project associated with this book where one of the options is creating a castle. Instructions on that will be sent home next week.

In preparation for Advent, the students have been creating a Jesse tree. So far, we've heard the stories of creation, Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. The students have done a great job summarizing the stories and creating symbols for the tree. Be sure to ask them at home what they've learned!