Happy Holidays!

We have had a productive week and I know everyone is ready for a break.  There's no homework over the break except for optional extension projects any student wishes to complete.  The project details are on classroom; please contact me via email if your child needs his or her password.

Some students are learning African Dance and Drumming during Genius Hour.  We will continue through January and perform in February!

 

We are still working on fractions!

 

Students worked really hard on their Electoral College Opinion papers.  I'm looking forward to reading them all.  (Yes... I REALLY am!)

Have a restful break and I'll see you in 2017!

Classroom Needs

Headphones - Some students still don't have headphones.  They need them for various assignments and those who don't have them have been reminded multiple times.  Students who didn't have them for today's task were informed that moving forward, students who aren't prepared will get a warning.

Pencil top erasers - We are out of erasers and could use another box.

Football and/or recess balls - At the beginning of the year we had a generous donation of recess equipment.  We still have some items; however, some of them were deflated, kicked over the roof, or lost.  Any donations would be greatly appreciated.

T3W5

ELA - Students are finishing up their opinion summative essays and we are continuing our novel study with Gathering Blue. We are also reading various non-fiction articles so we can work on summarizing and understanding text.

Math - Students took the end of module assessment on adding and subtracting fractions. This week we are moving forward with multiplying and dividing fractions.
Science - Students will continue inquiring into magnetism, electricity, and electromagnetism.
Social Studies - Students will begin working on their geography projects. They will continue inquiring into imperialism, innovations, and immigration.

Homework: T3W5 homework, Lesson 2, Lesson 3, Lesson 4, Lesson 5, Irregular Verbs Game

Upcoming Assessments
Opinion Summative Essay - Wednesday, December 7th
Science - Thursday, December 15th
Social Studies - Friday, December 16th


Tybee Field Trip
-If you misplaced your Tybee forms, you can print another copy. Tybee Forms
-If you want to put your hat in the running to help chaperone, the forms are due on Friday, December 9th.

F.AVE Book Out at Little Shop of Stories
Support the F.AVE media center and a beloved local business at the same time! Do your holiday book shopping at Little Shop of Stories from 10 AM - 8 PM on Tuesday, December 13th, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the F.AVE Media Center!

Need ideas for great books to buy your child this holiday season? Go to the F.AVE Media Center Book Recommendations website or visit the F.AVE Book Club website to see lists of recent award winners and possible future winners as well!


Spanish Announcement
Queridas familias de F.AVE, We are rapidly approaching the end of our third term! During the week of December 12 - 16, students will be assessed in Spanish over Writing and Listening.

Please be on the lookout for our mid-term vocabulary quiz in the red communication folder. It is very good indicator of your child’s progress this term and which areas he or she may need to work on before the end of term assessments.

And as always, for extra, at-home review, please visit our Quizlet page and practice Term Three activities:  https://quizlet.com/subject/fourfiveacademy/

¡Gracias!
Maestra Wagner
hwagner@csdecatur.net
http://favespanish.weebly.com/

T3W4

I hope everyone had a restful Thanksgiving Break.  Our next few weeks are going to be busy, so please see below for the details.

Events

Atlanta History Center Field Trip -- Monday, Nov. 28th 

MAP testing -- Tuesday, Nov. 29th - Thursday., Dec. 1st, @ 12:05pm - 1:15pm

Village Gathering -- Friday, Dec 2nd @ 8:00am

Celebration of Learning -- Friday, January 6th @ 1:45pm

Homework:  T3W4 Homework, Spelling/Vocab

Homework Help Resources:  Lesson 12, Lesson 13, Lesson 14, Adding Fractions, Solving for the Missing Fraction, Adding Mixed Numbers

Last Week's Notes & Events

Math - We are still working on adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers.  Students took the mid-module assessment on Wednesday and we went over it on Thursday.      This week we are going to finish up with fraction addition and subtraction.

Social Studies -- Last week we discussed the Battle of Greasy Grass (Little Bighorn) and the Trail of Tears.  This week we are shifting focus from internal migrations to immigration.

Reading/Writing -- Students began their opinion summative essays and we are continuing our work with analyzing literature.

 

Science -- Students inquired into how different configurations of a battery and wires could make a battery light up. 

 Explorations -- Mr. Barracano came and taught an exploration about directing film.  It was awesome!

Thanksgiving Luncheon -- Thank you to everyone who came out!

T3W3

My apologies for the late update.  On weeks when report cards are due I get a little behind on everything else.  That being said, we have a lot going on during this week before a much needed Thanksgiving break.

Announcements

Thanksgiving Luncheon:  (TOMORROW!)  Thursday, November 17th at 11:05am

Thanksgiving Break:  November 19-27, 2016

Movie Night:  F.AVE Movie Night is coming up soon, Friday, December 2^nd from 6:45-9:00 p.m., and the Movie Night committee is excited to announce that a limited number of scholarships are available! If you are interested, please email Kerri Shannon (Movie Night co-chair) at kerridshannon@gmail.com. Confidentiality will be maintained throughout the process. The scholarship deadline is Friday, November 25^th.

Reading

In our literature study of  we are continuing our work in understanding symbolism, themes, character motivations, and plot elements.

We discussed the symbolism of beasts in other texts and compared/contrasted that to text evidence from Gathering Blue.  In analyzing the dysfunction of the community, students decided that the beasts symbolize fear, danger, control and death.  To close we contrasted the beasts of Gathering Blue to the lack of beasts in The Giver.  They decided that the theme of "control" was the commonality between the two texts.

Students discussed the different types of conflict in literature and found text evidence of each type.  For the extension, some reading groups compared and contrasted Kira's conflict in Gathering Blue to Jonas's conflict in The Giver.

Social Studies

Students are exploring various types of migrations along with their economic and cultural impacts.  Next week we are going to move beyond internal migration and begin inquiring into immigration from places outside of the United States.

Math

For the past several weeks we have been working on adding and subtracting fractions.  Students took the mid-module today and tomorrow we are going to move onto 

Writing

Students began their summative opinion essays today.  In light of recent political events, students are going to research the Electoral College and make an argument for or against it.  We discussed the organizer, sources, and the basics about the Electoral College.  Their papers are due on Wednesday, December 7th and they will have class time to complete their essays.

Science

This term we are completing several activities about electricity and magnetism.  Georgia Power came this week to talk about different types of energy and students were able to see what types of materials were conductors and insulators.  In class, students explored how static electricity works.