Welcome back from break! I hope you all had a wonderful time with family and friends. We stayed in town this year so it was a pretty low key break in the Martindale home. :) I am so excited for our second half of the year, it seems like this is when all of the foundational knowledge we have been working on really comes together!
English Language Arts:
This week in ELA we are going to be wrapping up our novel, Because of Winn Dixie. We won't be starting our next novel right away though. We are going to spend some time in ReadWorks working on thoroughly answering short answer questions. We are also going to begin working on our first opinion writing by creating a podcast! I love this unit, the kids always come up with some really creative ways to share their opinions!
I will be sending home your student's January Reading Calendar today. December Reading Calendars were due today as well. If your student forgot, no worries! I won't count it late until next week. :)
Math:
This week in math we are going to hit the ground running with Topic 6. This is a great unit to start with coming back from break because it is a great review of things we learned before break.
If your student did not pass the Topic 5 Celebration of Learning before break, they have until Thursday of this week to retake that test. It will be similar to that test, but the numbers will be different. Your student needs to tell me when they are ready to retake the test, I won't give it to them until they do because I want to make sure they feel confident when they retake it. :)
House Points for On Time Work:
I am going to be offering a house point to each house that all members get their work turned in each day on time. Because this is one of our Essential 44, I really want to reinforce these habits. This is also an expectation from here on out at Vision Charter School. My own kids are now in high school here and it is something that they are expected to do and are held to. I want to help my students be successful, not just this year, but in life and this is one of those things that will help them do that. :)
Please remember, your student should be in school on time every day. We start right at 8:00 in the morning and we have jam packed days. If your student is absent, it is their responsibility to get their work caught up. Even if they do the work, they are still missing out on the instruction, and there is no way to make that up. So please help your student be here every day. :)
