Week 16: December 1, 2014

 Dear Room 19 Families,

I hope everyone had a wonderful break! I know I feel rejuvenated after spending time with my family, reading, and just relaxing. We are starting back full throttle.

The next three weeks before Winter Break are extremely busy. Please discuss with your learner how important it is to be focused and on task these next few weeks. We will have AIMS Reading Fluency testing on Monday, STAR Math testing on Thursday, and I will be doing individual Leveled Reading Assessments with every student between now and December 18. These assessments take at least 20 minutes per student and are done one on one. During this time it is imperative that students are studying outside of school, as this will have to be done during some of our small group work time. Please note, tutoring has also concluded for the year. I will not be tutoring after school in December. Students can use this extra hour they will have at home to get on Lexia and Moby Math.

Our learning this week continues with:

•   Reading-Unit 2, Lesson 13 in Journey's-They Called Her Molly Pitcher (Narrative Nonfiction)

◦                      skill: Conclusions and Generalizations

◦                     strategy: analyze/evaluate

◦                     word work focus: regular and irregular verbs

◦                     fluency skill: pauses

◦                     New Novel Assignment: Due January 5^th

◦                     Reading Quiz Friday

•   Social Science-  We have concluded our Unit on Explorers and will starting Colonization on Tuesday! Students will start memorizing the 50 states starting with the first 13 colonies! This is a great unit and I am looking forward to seeing Room 19 inquirers learn more about our great country’s history.

•   Writing-Students will be using their flowcharts from their research to draft informational texts. We will be writing, editing, revising and publishing our informational texts over the next three weeks. This is a huge portion of writing grades. Check in with your student nightly and look over his/her writing journal for progress. Your help is imperative in learning and growth. Our teamwork is what allows our students to blossom!

•   Math-We are starting Unit 6: multiplication and division of fractions. Students not only have to know how to do this algorithmically, but also need to understand why it works. We will spend this week, just looking at different models of multiplying fractions.

Assessments this Friday will consist of:

•   Monday: AIMS Testing

•   Thursday: STAR Testing

•   Friday: DMR Quiz

•   Friday: Lesson 13 Reading Quiz

Other Announcements:

•   Tuesday: Dads/special person for lunch

•   Thursday: Cookie Dough Pick-Up

Students should be using online resources every week!

Online Resources for Students:

https://www.ixl.com/signin/crookedcreek

http://www.mobymax.com

http://www.lexiacore5.com

http://www.myon.com

Username: Student ID #

Password: Last name

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful week!

srahrig@msdwt.k12.in.us

317-259-5478 ext. 12219

Week 15: November 17, 2014

Dear Room 19 Families,

This week is very busy at Crooked Creek, especially for Room 19 Learners! We will continue to work on academics this week, but also have fun activities planned for the end of the week as we celebrate Thanksgiving as a school community and Grandparents Day! 

Our learning this week continues with:

• Reading-Unit 2, Lesson 12 in Journey's-Why Can't you Make Them Behave, King George?
•  skill: fact and opinion
• strategy: asking questions
• word work focus: figurative language
• fluency skill: rate
• We are trying something different this week and the after break for stations. You will not see a Stations Packet in binders.
• Novel Assignment: Due Monday December 1 *THIS IS THE MONDAY AFTER BREAK! 
• No Reading Quiz this week. There will be a vocabulary check on Thursday.
• Social Science-  Students are becoming excellent navigators of maps. We will continue this week learning and reviewing explorers. Tuesday night a study guide will go home for Thursday's Explorer's Test.
• Writing-This week we are pausing our research to do some writing about being thankful and prepare for our Gratitude Luncheon on Friday. 
• Last week students turned in a flow chart to organize research. I will be looking at these and passing them back by the end of the week. How they do on the flow chart is a good indication of how much work they will need to do over break on extra research. On Monday, writers should come in ready to draft. We have had several days of guided research and planning/outlining. If your author did not take advantage of this time, he/she will have additional work to do over break. 
• Math-We are currently in-between units. This week during math we will be doing Order of Operations and reviewing our previous units standards. When we come back from break we will start Unit 6, which is multiplication and division of fractions. 

Assessments this Friday will consist of:

• DMR Quick Check on Thursday
• Lesson 12 Vocabulary Check
• Explorers Test Thursday

Other Announcements:

• Thursday: Thanksgiving Feast, we will eat lunch at noon and choir will be preforming. 
• Wednesday-Friday: Room 19 will be showing gratitude by helping around the school. Please sign and return your student's permission slip as soon as possible. Although this learning is not apart of our curriculum it is just as important. Being kind, helpful and caring is what makes the world a better place to live. Thank you for your support and donations as Room 19 students take action! 
• Friday: Grandparents Day and Gratitude Luncheon

Online Resources for Students:

https://www.ixl.com/signin/crookedcreek

http://www.mobymax.com

http://www.lexiacore5.com
http://www.myon.com
Username: Student ID #
Password: Last name

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful week!

srahrig@msdwt.k12.in.us

317-259-5478 ext. 12219

Week 13: November 10, 2014

Dear Room 19 Families,

This weekend, I had the privilege of attending Marion Universities Fourth Annual Neuroscience Symposium as an honored guest. Four of Room 19 students even spoke as our lunch keynote! Wow! Room 19 learners are the best! We had such a great day of learning today and put our brains to work! We reviewed procedures and put a new one in place to help calm our amygdala so we can work within our executive functioning prefrontal cortex. See what your learner remembers about our brain conversation this morning!

Our learning this week continues with:

• Reading-Unit 3, Lesson 11 in Dangerous Crossing
•  skill: cause and effect
• strategy: visualize 
• word work focus: changing Latin prefixes
• fluency skill: accuracy and self-correction
• Friday: Stations Packet due
•  Unit 3- Lesson 11 Reading Quiz and vocabulary 
• Novel Assignment: Due Monday December 1
• Social Science-  This week we will be focusing on New World Explorers from England, Portugal, Spain, and France. We will look at who sponsored them and their motives for coming to the New World. Next Wednesday we will have a Social Studies Test over Exploration.
• Today and tomorrow we will be learning about our moon observations. There are not many Science grades on midterms, as most of our science will be happening this week and next-which is after midterm cut off. I will send home updates Science grades before Thanksgiving Break. 
• Writing-Students have completed research! This week we will be synthesizing research in a flow chart, writing a hook, and writing our first draft of our informational text. You can expect to see a draft in writing journals by the end of this week. 
• Math- Unit 5: We will continue reviewing fractions with a focus on problem solving with fractions. Each night, math homework will be a review of fractions in preparation for the Test. 

Assessments this Friday will consist of:

• Unit 5 Fractions Math Test
• DMR Quiz-Friday
• Lesson 11 Reading Quiz  
• Next week: Explorers Test Wednesday--this was a difficult one for students last year. A study guide will go home. Be sure to help your student practice good study skills. 

Other Announcements:

• Canned food drive ends on Friday. Please donate! It would be great if everyone brought in at least one can! 
• Our new chairs were too small! :( Don't worry, the company has been great. Chairs have been sent back and we are getting ones that will work for Room 19 learners! We are so excited! 

Online Resources for Students:

https://www.ixl.com/signin/crookedcreek

http://www.mobymax.com

http://www.lexiacore5.com
http://www.myon.com
Username: Student ID #
Password: Last name

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful week!

srahrig@msdwt.k12.in.us

317-259-5478 ext. 12219

Week 13: November 3, 2014

Dear Room 19 Families,

It is already November! Wow, how time flies! Last Friday I gave students Progress Reports. This was for them to reflect on their learning. Midterms, that need to be signed and returned, will go home next Thursday in take home folders. 

Our learning this week continues with:

• Reading-Unit 2, Lesson 10 in Journey's-Cougars
•  skill: main idea and details
• strategy: monitor and clarify
• word work focus: shades of meaning
• fluency skill: stress-syllabication
• Friday: Stations Packet due
•  Unit 2- Lessons (6-10) Reading Test and vocabulary 
• Novel Assignment: Due Monday December 1
• Social Science-  We will continue US History with Exploration of the New World. Students have been expanding mapping skills. Pull out an atlas or map with your child and explore. What are the cardinal directions? What do they notice? What is the map you are looking at show? What is the purpose? 
• I hope you and your learner are enjoying your moon observations. We have had some beautiful nights to see the phases of the moon. 
• Writing-Students have chosen a research topic for their informational text. This week we will be researching using three resources books, online, and myon texts. Students have had time to look in the school library and the classroom library for books on their topic. They have also had five nights to get a book if there was not a book in one in those two locations. (If students had trouble finding a book, they had to let me know in advance so that I would have time to check my public library.) Students will research using the "VIP" strategy. Check your author's writing journal to learn more about the "VIP" strategy. Check the We will be working on this from now through December. Please ask your students questions about their writing weekly, check out his/her writing journal and be sure they are on track! 
• Math- Unit 5: We will be reviewing adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, LCM, GCF, fractions as a set, fractions as a whole, converting fractions fluently between improper fractions to mixed numbers, and  problem solving with fractions! Whew that is a lot, but all has been taught and we are reviewing before our Unit 5 Assessment next Thursday. 

Assessments this Friday will consist of:

• DMR Quiz
• Unit 2 Reading Test 
• Next week: Unit 5 Math Fractions Test

Other Announcements:

• Last day for magazine sale turn in is tomorrow.
• Canned food drive starts this week!!
• And….WE GOT OUR GRANT FOR NEW CHAIRS!!!!!!!

Online Resources for Students:

https://www.ixl.com/signin/crookedcreek

http://www.mobymax.com

http://www.lexiacore5.com
http://www.myon.com
Username: Student ID #
Password: Last name

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful week!

srahrig@msdwt.k12.in.us

317-259-5478 ext. 12219