<em><span style="color: #008000">Important Dates:</span></em>

<em><span style="color: #008000"> January 29</span></em><sup><em><span style="color: #008000">th</span></em></sup><em><span style="color: #008000">:  End of 2</span></em><sup><em><span style="color: #008000">nd</span></em></sup><em><span style="color: #008000"> Quarter:  NO SCHOOL</span></em>

<em><span style="color: #008000">Wednesday, January 27</span></em><sup><em><span style="color: #008000">th</span></em></sup><em><span style="color: #008000">:  African American Papers due</span></em>

<em><span style="color: #008000">Tuesday, February 2</span></em><sup><em><span style="color: #008000">nd</span></em></sup><em><span style="color: #008000">:  African American Projects due (related to the paper)</span></em>

<em><span style="color: #008000">Thursday, January 28</span></em><sup><em><span style="color: #008000">th</span></em></sup><em><span style="color: #008000">:  Math Unit 5 Assessment</span></em>

<em><span style="color: #008000">I pushed back the Science test for Wednesday due to multiple student absences.</span></em>

<span style="color: #008000">Every parent should have received the biography project.  We will work on it in the classroom Monday and Tuesday.  The assignment is due on Wednesday.  Please use the checklist and rubric as your guide.  If this is lost, please let me ASAP and I will provide you with another one.  Please understand that there are no excuses for a late paper unless your child was absent.  Your child will lose points for each day that it is turned late.</span>
<p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: #0000ff"><span style="text-decoration: underline"><strong>Instruction for the Week</strong></span></span></p>
<span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Literacy:</strong></span>

<span style="color: #0000ff"> We will continue to work on ISAT practice.  Students have worked on different reading strategies and are given practice problems to show how to answer different types of reading questions. We are also practicing extended response questions.  These are questions that require written answers.  They are scored on the basis that the student provides evidence of the text they read in their answer to the question.  This week we will practice how to answer these questions.  We will also look at different student answers and discuss what grade that student should receive.</span>

<span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Mathematics:</strong></span>

<span style="color: #0000ff"> This is the last week of Unit 5 in our Every Mathematics series.  Students will focus on how to read numbers with decimals, place value, and review for the Unit 5 assessment.</span>

<span style="color: #0000ff"><strong> Science:</strong></span>

<span style="color: #0000ff"> This week and last week, students learned how geologists differentiate between different minerals by conducting a scratch test and checking for hardness.  So far we have detected which mineral out of 4 different types is quartz.  This week we will figure out which minerals in our study are gypsum, calcite, and fluorite.   The students seem very interested our investigations!  Please spend some time with your child and ask them about what they are learning!</span>

Please feel free to email me any time you have questions or concerns.