The Billings Education Foundation provided the money for the NXT Mindstorms LEGO robotics kits and software we have in our room. They have asked for updates and photos of the kids in action. I sent them some photos to post on their Facebook page. You can view them by clicking on the link below. I do not subscribe to Facebook, so I have not seen them on the Internet. There are a few that I did not send posted below under “Science”.

facebook.com/educationfoundationbps

Reminder: Children can bring up daily grades (not quizzes or tests) if their grade is below a 79%. They need to get a parent signature on the original assignment and have the corrections turned in within 24 hours. The grade is then raised to a 79%.

Games, performances, & competitions: If your child has a soccer game, is in a play, or have a musical performance, I would love to try to come. Shoot me and email or voice mail. If it works out, I will attend. Just a note: I am not a cold weather attendee. I sat through my children's outdoor activities. Now, I can be picky about my attendance during foul weather. :-)  I had fun watching Spencer & Byron's football game "under the lights"!

REMINDER: Thursday, September 27^th NOON DISMISSAL

FYI: We will be having a “district wide emergency drill” sometime this upcoming week. Currently, this is all I know. Just wanted to give you a “heads up” in case your kids come home talking about it.

MMC—The Monday Math Challenge is designed to be a challenge for ALL students to work on at home with their parents. It is not intended to be optional. The only requirement is that the student works on it at least 20 minutes at home  Monday through Thursday evenings. That works out to 5 min/evening. I do check the assignment notebooks on Friday AM for a parent signature OR initials. Your child should be writing in:

“_______ has worked 20 minutes this week on the MMC.” You do not have to write that; you just have to initial or sign that they indeed did spend time on it.

Saturday Live Student Volunteers: Your child may have signed up to volunteer at the Poly Drive booth for 1.25 hours on Saturday, September 29^th. If they did, you will be getting a phone call to verify that you will be able to get them there for their assigned times (which have not been given out yet). Just a heads up.  J

Reading

5^th graders: We began the leveled readers. All of the students are reading non-fiction regarding exploration. We are working on similarities & differences, summarizing, writing good, complete sentences, and making inferences.

6^th graders: Reading books on Native Americans. Also summarizing and working on similarities and differences.

Language

More expository writing work. I am introducing the 5^th graders to the “stop light writing method”.

Next week’s LWR & definitions are at the end of the blog.

Spelling—words & sentences are listed at the end of the blog.

6^th grade: Unit 5 (words below & sentences below)

5^th grade: Unit 5 (words and sentences  below)

Math

Geometry: Finishing geometry.

5^th grade Social Studies

Chapter 1: We are done with map skills. A TEST will be given MONDAY. They have received their project assignment. Expect it to come home at the end of this week(to finish up). They will have in-class time to work but may need to take it home as well.

Science—Beginning robots! A few pics that are NOT on the Billings Foundation web site are below.

Practicing with the programming software.

A closeup of the computer screen with the programming icons.

Building the 'bot.

Proud "parents" of the first "baby 'bot".

LWR  for the week of Sept 24th^th

Focus: cycl, klept

Prefix:

bi-    two

tri-   three

Root:

biblio                book

cycl/o               circle

gen                    birth, produce, race

klept/o             to steal

mania               intense craving, loss of reason

meter               measure

phob                 fear

Suffix:

-ia                      condition

-ic                      like, related to

5^th grade spelling words for the week of Sept 24th

Unit 5  Vowel sounds: /ou/, /o/,  /oi/

BASIC WORDS

3 Dictation Sentences (note the commas!)

1.    One eighth of a cup is an ounce.

2.    At first, I felt awkward on skates.

3.    Will the cat pounce on the toy mouse?

scowl, pounce, coward, announce, sprawl, launch falter, haunt, naughty, saucer, August, auction, awkward, loyal, avoid, moist, destroy, poison, royal

CHALLENGE WORDS

poise, loiter, exhaust, assault, alternate

6^th grade spelling words for the week of Sept 24^th

Unit 5       Homophones

BASIC WORDS

3 Dictation Sentences

1.    Her dress was belted at the waist.

2.    Learning any skill takes patience.

3.    A monk performed a solemn rite.

NOTE: I will use the sentences that are in the book for the words below:  waste, patients, right, wright, muscle, mussel, principal, principle, summary, summery, sight, cite, site, stationary, stationery, coward, cowered

CHALLENGE WORDS

barren, baron, burrow, burro, borough

Real World Challenge Health—Keeping Fit

stamina, aerobic, resistance, repetition, flexibility, metabolism, alertness, dietitian