Jen Duggan, 4th Grade Teacher
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Week of December 5th...
Dear Families,
Welcome to December. This year is flying! I hope everyone had a good weekend. We did some Christmas shopping and put up the Christmas tree. Jim is still on restrictions so that task was left to Michael and I. WOW! That is not my favorite, but I LOVE, LOVE the cozy feel of the living room once it is up. J
· Math: Topic 5 test is tomorrow! We will then pre-test Topic 6 and the plan is to test Topic 6 on that last day before winter break.
· Congrats to Maya and Sophia for coming in 1st and 2nd in our classroom spelling bee. And to Victoria who is our alternate. They will represent us at the SPE Bee!
· Reading/Social Studies: This week our focus in reading will be on Native Americans. The students will also have nightly reading homework to keep practicing our close reading skills.
· Writing : Informational Text research starts this week. Students will be choosing a country to research using Culture Grams. We will then write a 5 paragraph essay to share our research and connect it to out theme, "How do we achieve common ground?" Again, my hope is to finish these before Winter Break. (This might be a lofty goal.)
· Battle of the Books: This is our last week of reading. All books are due next Monday. Competition starts next Tuesday! Students are going to meet with their teams today to plan "uniforms" and cheers. The uniform could be their green 5th grade t-shirt! They should practice these flash cards DAILY!
· Chat and Chew: Students were given a bookmark today about Chat and Chew. The directions to sign up are also on there. Any questions contact [email protected]. This is a great opportunity and I highly recommend the kids participating.
5th Grade Musical Information:
Costume Suggestions for the 5th grade musical
A Kid's Life
Everyone needs a small, pocket-sized flashlight and an OLD cell phone if possible.
The cast members are kids so they should dress in typical student clothing, however, I would like everyone to wear SOLID shirt colors, meaning no shirts with words or graphics please.
Grandma and Grandpa should wear "old people" clothing. Some options might include bib overalls, a funny hat, glasses, white hair, a shawl, or dress like senior citizens going on a cruise ship with flowered shirts, etc.
Mom might want to have a purse and dress more like a "mom".
Dad might carry a briefcase of sorts and dress more like "dad".
If you have any questions please email me at
We look forward to performing for you on December 13th at 6:00 pm!
- Mrs. Engle
- Twitter: If you have a Twitter account please follow us at @MrsDugganSPE. I post almost daily the fun things we are up to in the classroom!
- Grade Updates: I know a lot of you have been on Parent Vue checking grades. That is great way to keep up with what we have been working on. Please know that grades are updated each week by Tuesday at 10am. If you check on Monday they won't be updated and there might be missing assignments that aren't really missing. Same thing for a Friday. If you ever have questions about grades please let me know.
- Specials Schedule: (Today is a Day 5)
o Day 1: PE/Music
o Day 2: Computer
o Day 3: Art
o Day 4: Spanish/Music
o Day 5: PE/Spanish
Important Dates: (New dates bolded)
December 6th: Early Release: Students out 6pm
December 13th: 5th Grade Musical: 6pm
December 14th: Mrs. Walrod Lesson
December 15th: Spelling Bee
December 20th: End of 2nd Quarter: ½ day of School
December 21-January 3rd: Winter Break
January 4th: School Resumes
January 11th: Whole Class Pictures
January 16th: No School: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 20th: Inauguration Day
January 24th: Early Release: Students out 2pm
Math: Topic 5- Division-TEST TUESDAY
Reading: Native Americans: Chapter 2 and 3-Culture Trunks
Writing: Informational Text-Culture Grams
Word Work: Analogy
Social Studies: Chapter 2: Native Americans and Their Land
Science: What Are the Earth's Four Systems?
Intervention: Fraction Boot Camp/Genius Hour Presentations