NAEP testing is tomorrow! This is a national test that our students have been selected to take. I do not think that students will receive their results. They don't need to be worried or anxious about the test, but they do need to be to school on time, eat a healthy breakfast, and get plenty of sleep.

Stanford testing is all week next week (except Wednesday). Please make sure students get plenty of sleep, eat healthy breakfasts, and arrive at school on time.

Valentine's Day is just around the corner. This will be our second class party of the year. We will celebrate the afternoon of Monday, February 14th. Students may bring valentines for their classmates, but they must bring a Valentine for all the kids in the class. Your child should have a list of all the students in our class in their binder. Your child will also want to bring some sort of box to gather their valentines in. This does not need to be a huge, elaborate box. A shoe box is probably just the right size. Students will probably want to decorate it (but again, nothing elaborate- we don't want to cause an extra stress at home). Students can bring these boxes Friday, Feb. 11th or on Valentine's Day.

So things to remember for Valentine's Day:

• A decorated box
• Valentines for classmates (optional)

Reading: Students finished Owl in the Shower a couple of weeks ago. Their tests will be coming home on Friday. We are now getting back into our Daily 5 routine. During Daily 5, students may be silent reading, reading with a partner, listen to reading on the computer, or working with me or Ms. Peavey and forming reading goals.

Math: We have moved on to Unit 6. We are not doing the lessons in order for this unit. Last week students learned how to do traditional long division. We are taking a little break from division now and working on measuring angles with half and full circle protractors.

Science: This week we are finishing our land and water erosion unit. We have planted seeds in our land and water tubs. We will conduct some river erosion experiments to see if having plants on the cliff help prevent erosion. We will be having our final quiz on Friday (nothing too huge or scary).

Upcoming Events:
Wednesday, Jan. 26- NAEP test
Friday, Jan. 28- Class Store, Class Scavenger Hunt Reward, Quick Cookie Dough Assembly
Monday, Jan. 31- Reading Stanford test 1
Tuesday, Feb. 1- Reading Stanford test 2
Thursday, Feb. 3- Math Stanford test 1
Friday, Feb. 4- Math Stanford test 2

Ask your kids about:
-the "voice" they used to write with (special lesson with Mrs. Fung)
-the different types of erosion
-how a full circle protractor is similar to a clock

Reading: Our reading groups are finishing up There's an Owl in the Shower this week and next week. They will be taking a test on their comprehension of the test and a few of the reading skills we've been learning next week.

Math: Students are becoming experts in multiplying large numbers in many ways. In December they learned partial-products (I don't think this was a favorite for any of the kids) and lattice. Today, we learned traditional multiplication. We will continue practicing these methods and at the end of the unit they will get to choose which method they like the best and focus on that one.

Science: Now that we are done with government, we have moved on to our next science unit: Land, Water, and Erosion. This is such a fun, hands on unit. Each group will have their own land and water model tub in which they will enact out what happens on a much larger scale in real life. But this week we are just focusing on the basics- water cycle, observing the land materials we will be using in our model, etc.

Upcoming Events:
Friday, Jan. 7- Dad's Day at Lunch Recess
Thursday, Jan. 13- Science Fair Assembly

Ask your kids about:
-the water cycle
-how to do lattice multiplication

After a quick intro into government, our class went to Olympia, our state's capitol. There we went into the Supreme Court, talked about a real law that was brought before the court and made a decision as a class, similar to the decision the Supreme Court Justices made. We were also able to go into the legislative building and view all sorts of fun things. Here are some pictures from our students.