Week of November 17th

It's hard to believe that this is the last week of school in November! We will be off for Thanksgiving Break next week. This will be an excellent time for your student to get caught up on any missing work for Quarter 2 as the end of the quarter is quickly approaching. When we come back after Thanksgiving, we will have 3 weeks left of Quarter 2, which ends right at Christmas Break. 

ELA:

This week we are going to really be focusing on how to answer short answer questions. I have noticed lately that my students do well with this when we practice it in isolation, but not so well when they are working on it in general. We will spend our time reading shorter passages and answering the questions fully. If your student gets their paper returned, they will need to erase the one marked wrong and redo it completely making sure they use RACE (restate, answer, cite, explain) and CUPS (capitalize, usage/understanding, punctuation, spelling). 

Math:

This week in math we will continue working on long division. Our math curriculum only has about 6 lessons total for long division and I just don't feel like that is enough for this abstract of a concept. We will continue working on it on our own using a packet I have created for my students. This will likely take us up to Christmas break, depending on how my students do with it. 

Thanksgiving Break Extra Credit:

Your student still will have reading homework for their reading calendar. However, they will have an opportunity for extra credit! If they complete 100 minutes of practice on assigned (or recommended skills if they complete all of the assigned skills), for both Language Arts and Math, they can get 20 extra credit points in each subject. 

Students are able to work for extra credit if they have no missing assignments. Any missing assignments must be completed before they qualify for extra credit. 

Week of November 10th

 We are cruising right through November and Quarter 2 so quickly! This is a great group of kids and you should all be proud of the wonderful young people you are raising. :)

ELA:

This week in ELA we are going to be reading non-fiction texts about Veteran's Day. We are also going to be interviewing a veteran tomorrow and learning about his time in the service. 

We finished up all of our suffixes last week in our Morpheme Lexicon. Today we started adding in prefixes. We will move through these quicker than we will the roots and bases since it is mostly a review for the students. 

Math:

We are continuing our work on long division this week. Students will be learning a few different strategies on how to solve these problems, just like with multiplication. The goal is for them to use the standard algorithm, but until their brains are developmentally ready for that they will have other strategies to use. 

Enrichment:

Your student had their first enrichment class last Thursday. We will have another this Thursday as well and it will go from 12:15-1:00. Students will have Enrichment classes on November 13th, 20th, December 4th, and 11th. To attend Enrichment, students cannot have any missing work. If they have work that is missing (including reading calendars and multiplication fact homework), they will use that time to get caught up in the hallway. 

K-5 VCS Food Drive:

Our food drive will be running from November 10th-13th. Elementary students need to bring items to the class. Please make sure the canned food that your student brings are non-perishable and not expired. The 3rd-5th grade class that brings the most will get a popcorn and juice party. Everything brought in will go to benefit our own VCS families in need!

Week of November 3rd

 We are firmly into the holiday season when things get busy! We have a lot going on at the school in addition to our regular academics. I will do my best to keep everyone updated here. :)

ELA:

We are working hard on our first essay which is a narrative essay. Students in 4th grade will learn how to write narrative, opinion, and informative essays. We are working on writing a 5 paragraph narrative that includes lots of details, actions, and dialogue! They are doing great so far and I am excited to see what they come up with!

We are continuing to work on how to write a short answer response as well. This can be tricky as it has several parts to it. We also are being careful to write things in our own words so that we aren't plagiarizing. 

Math:

I postponed our Topic 4 Celebration of Learning until today. With our book celebration on Thursday, I was worried students would be distracted and not show what they really know. That means we won't start Topic 5 until Wednesday. Topic 5 begins working on division. Again, students who do not have their multiplication facts down, really need to be working on mastering those!

Enrichment:

Your student should have brought home their Enrichment form on Thursday with the class they will be taken highlighted in yellow. If your student did not return a form they will be taking Mrs. George's Performing Arts class. 

Enrichment starts this Thursday and will go from 12:15-1:00. Students will have Enrichment classes on November 6th, 13th, 20th, December 4th, and 11th. To attend Enrichment, students cannot have any missing work. If they have work that is missing (including reading calendars and multiplication fact homework), they will use that time to get caught up in the hallway. 

Retro Roller Skate Night:

Tonight from 6pm-8pm our Middle School Student Government is partnering with the Nampa Rollerdrome to host our first skate night! Wear your best 60s, 70s, or 80s attire for a fun, FAMILY skate night! Admission is $8 and rentals are available for $3. VCS staff supervision is not provided so you need to plan to stay and have fun with your kiddos!

Guardian Gala:

K-5 VCS Food Drive:

Our food drive will be running from November 10th-13th. Elementary students need to bring items to the class. Please make sure the canned food that your student brings are non-perishable and not expired. The 3rd-5th grade class that brings the most will get a popcorn and juice party. Everything brought in will go to benefit our own VCS families in need!