<p style="text-align: left"><span style="color: #008000">Important Dates:</span></p>

<span style="color: #008000"> </span>

<span style="color: #008000">January 18</span><sup><span style="color: #008000">th</span></sup><span style="color: #008000">:  MLK Jr. Day!  NO SCHOOL!</span>

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

<span style="color: #008000">January 22</span><sup><span style="color: #008000">nd</span></sup><span style="color: #008000">:  I will be at an ISAT training focusing on writing and there will be a substitute</span>

<span style="color: #0000ff">Academic Dates:</span>

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

<span style="color: #0000ff">Wednesday, January 27</span><sup><span style="color: #0000ff">th</span></sup><span style="color: #0000ff">:  African American Papers due</span>

<span style="color: #0000ff">Tuesday, February 2</span><sup><span style="color: #0000ff">nd</span></sup><span style="color: #0000ff">:  African American Projects due (related to the paper)</span>

<span style="color: #0000ff">Thursday, January 21</span><sup><span style="color: #0000ff">st</span></sup><span style="color: #0000ff">:  Science Investigation 1 Test</span>

<span style="color: #0000ff">Thursday, January 28</span><sup><span style="color: #0000ff">th</span></sup><span style="color: #0000ff">:  Math Unit 5 Assessment</span>

<span style="color: #800080">Last week was the first time that students were able to enjoy the weather and have outside recess in a very long time.  The weather was finally out of the freezing levels!  With this, we have had several long conversations about proper behavior during recess.  We still have a few students who are have difficulty understand that we are to keep our hands to ourselves as well as not to throw snow at each other.  Please take a few minutes to discuss with your child that it is important to respect the rules of the classroom as well as the school-even when Ms. Prasad-Heintz is not around.</span>

<span style="color: #ff6600">This week is a short week!  We did not have school Monday due to Martin Luther King Jr. day.  I will not be in school on Friday due to a 3</span><sup><span style="color: #ff6600">rd</span></sup><span style="color: #ff6600"> Grade Writing Workshop; however there will be a substitute.</span>

<span style="color: #ff6600"> </span>

<span style="color: #ff6600">Students will begin to work on writing a biography of a famous African American that they will choose from in class on Tuesday.  They will write about the important details of this person.  They will be given time to work on it in class, but will also need to work on this activity at home as well.  The information will be sent home on Wednesday.</span>
<p align="center"><span style="color: #800000">Instruction for the Week</span></p>

<span style="color: #008000">Literacy:</span>

<span style="color: #008000">We will continue to work on ISAT practice.  Students work on different reading strategies and give practice problems to show how to answer different types of reading questions.  In Writer’s Workshop, students will work on the 6+1 Traits of writing to improve their pieces.  These traits include:  ideas, sentence fluency, organization, word choice, voice, and conventions.  This week, we will focus on ideas.  Students will also learn how to peer edit.</span>

<span style="color: #ff0000">Mathematics:</span>

<span style="color: #ff0000"> This week in Math, students will focus on decimals, learning place value that includes the tenths, hundredths, and thousandths.  Children will also continue to work on ISAT Math practice that focuses on Geometry and Measurement.</span>

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

<span style="color: #0000ff">Students have just completed their first investigation on Mock Rocks.  They all did an excellent job!  Through this activity, students learned about properties of rocks, how to observe and describe them, the difference between a rock and a mineral, and ways to find out the make up of rocks.  This week, we will focus on exploring properties of a group of minerals, investigate the hardness of minerals as well as use scientific thinking processes to conduct investigations.  Please ask your child what they did in the first investigation and ask about the minerals in this second investigation.</span>

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