Mrs. McLeod's class will be having a CFA Writing Test on Friday, February 26, 2010 over the following skills: Singular/Plural Possessive Nouns, Pronoun Antecedents, Quotation Marks, Comparative/Superlative Adjectives, Adverbs, Interjections, Prepositions, Transition Words, Parts of a Friendly Letter, Run-on Sentence/Sentence Fragments, and Contractions.

Mrs. McLeod's class will be having two tests this week.  One will be in reading concerning "Compare/Contrast" and "Use of Text Features". The other one will be an open-book test on Chapter 6 in social studies. 

The students will also need to have a final draft of their writing pieces entitled "My Favorite Place" completed by Friday.  We have been working on these in class for a couple of weeks.  They will need to finish these at home.  Please have your child read their pieces aloud to you.  Feedback from a variety of sources is always beneficial.

Mrs. McLeod's 5th grade will be having two tests on Friday.  There will be a reading test on "Characterization and Point of View".  The students will be practicing these skills as the week progresses right up until the test.  Have them explain their homework sheets that pertain to these skills to reinforce their knowledge of these skills.  They will also be having a social studies test on the Southeast regional states and capitals, identifying where each state is located and the approximate location of each state capital on a map.  They have maps pasted in their spirals that they filled in and use of a Jr. Atlas for those who may not have completed those maps with total accuracy.

New genre groups for our AR Books will be assigned tomorrow.  So be sure and ask your child about that. 

Mathematics and Science Specialty School

You Are Cordially Invited to Attend Our Information Night at

Rippon Middle School on December 10, 2009 at 7 p.m.

Students within the boundaries of:

Fred Lynn, Lake Ridge, Potomac, Rippon and Woodbridge

Middle Schools are eligible to attend the Program at Rippon Middle School. Students attending the following elementary schools are eligible to attend Rippon: Antietam, Belmont, Elizabeth Vaughan, Kilby, Lake Ridge, Leesylvania. Marumsco Hills, Mary Williams, Minnieville, Occoquan, Old Bridge, Potomac View, River Oaks, Rockledge, Springwoods, Swans Creek, and Westridge.

 

 

The students have been assigned their AR book and specific genre of book, and I will be sending them to the library in groups since we don't have library as a class until next Tuesday.  The deadline for the completion of the AR book, AR test and genre activity is November 23rd.  Once again, I will not be requiring 2 AR books this month due to the fact that the students did not return to school until yesterday, November 4th and because of the Thanksgiving holidays coming up.  Next month will be the same story since we have the Christmas holidays coming up.  Therefore, I will not be requiring 2 AR books be read per month until after the first of the new year.  That does not mean your child should not try to read an extra AR book if they can.  In fact, I encourage them to read as many as they can because we have a reading incentive program with a school-wide goal in place.  However, I will not be requiring they do it with the completion of the AR test and genre activity.

Mrs. McLeod's 5th grade class will be having their final test on the Midwest, Chapter 9, in social studies on Friday, November 6th.  All students have study sheets that they have worked on in class outlining exactly what will be tested.

Also, we have begun our research projects on the Midwest region in social studies.  As stated in the syllabus sheet that came home last week in your child's Friday folder, each student in each group is responsible for researching information to answer a specific question about the Midwest.  The students were put into groups yesterday, and we began our research in the computer lab.  They will need to continue researching this information not only in any additional time we have in class, but also at home whenever possible.  In addition to information, they need to provide pictures when applicable to their question.  The groups will be responsible for deciding how they want to present the information that they pool together.  This may be in the form of a display board (like the ones done for science fair), a brochure, or a powerpoint presentation.  The group project deadline on the Midwest has been extended to November 12th rather than the 10th.  The groups will be presenting them on November 13th.

Finally, we will be having a comprehensive test next week in reading/writing on adverbs, prepositions, subject-verb agreement, conjunctions, interjections, conventions in writing (mechanics), transition words, character/plot development, and point of view.

Don't forget that November 11th is Veteran's Day and therefore a holiday for all students and teachers.

We will be having a test in reading on Parts of Speech (Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, and Adjectives on Friday.

We will also be having a test on Chapter 8 in Social Studies on Friday. 

Have your child study all notes in their reading and social studies spirals/binders and in the social studies textbook.

In language arts we will be working with nouns, pronouns, and verbs as well as our guided reading groups.

In writing, we will be working with onomatopoeia, hyperbole, and repetition to enhance our paragraph writing and help us to add details to our writing.

In social studies, we will be starting our unit of study on "The Midwest".  In about two weeks, after I have taught the unit, the students will be put into groups and given projects to do on this region.  Each student in each group will have a specific job or assignment to research, using all available resources here at school and at home.  Their information will then be pooled together and the group will come up with a visual aid that could be used to present the information.

The only quiz that is scheduled this week is in writing on Friday, October 16th.  The quiz will cover onomatopoeia, hyperbole, and repetition.  They will need to know how to recognize examples of each.  We will be practicing with these in class this week using powerpoint presentations and related worksheets.

Don't forget that Field Day is Monday, October 12th from 1:00-3:15.

Also Interims go out Tuesday, October 13th.

We will be having a test in social studies covering the "Unique Features of the 7 Continents" on Friday, October 9th.  The students need to study all notes in their social studies spirals concerning this content.  They will be receiving study sheets to work on in class and bring home to look over on Thursday night.

We will also be having a quiz on "Prefixes and Suffixes" as well as "Author's Point of View" on Friday, October 9th.  We have worked extensively on this in class using powerpoint presentations on the activeboard and in the computer lab.  We will be working on a study sheet and reviewing in pairs tomorrow.

AR Genre Books/Tests and Activity are due on October 21 (since the Book Fair was in the library all last week).