Math Test Tuesday

Students need to:

• Read and understand numbers in scientific notation.
• Understand and use powers of 10.
• Understand and use exponential notation.
• Order and compare positive and negative numbers.
• Tell whether a number sentence is true or false.
• Understand and use parentheses in number sentences.
• Add and subtract positive and negative numbers.
• Understand and use order of operations.
  

Don't sign up for the Ning!

Sorry! I just found out that they're going to start charging a monthly fee to have a ning. ($25 a month, which is not in my budget.) So...I am creating a similar site for us that will be free. So hold on and don't join yet. If you already have, don't worry about it. Our Ning will simply be erased. We won't be charged anything.

Spring Cleaning?

NHS is sponsoring a flea market for the village of San Pablo. If you are going through the traditional “spring cleaning” of sorting and purging, we would love to have any of your old clothes, shoes, kitchen items, books, and/or games. You can bring any of your used items to Mrs. Richert’s room, B6, between April 23^rd and May 14^th. We will be taking these items to the San Pablo school for our annual flea market. All proceeds for the flea market go to the Ark of Hope foundation.

We are also holding a class competition for nursery through 12^th grade for the most donations. The class that donates the most items per person will win a pizza party.

Thank you for your help and support!

NHS

Join our Ning

We began working on our mega-unit in social studies on slavery, the Civil War, and Civil Rights. I've invited the kids to join my ning, where we will work together later on on civil rights. You can check it out on http://civilrightsinteramerican.ning.com/
If you'd like to join, let me know and I'll send you an invitation.
Nings are great tools for collaborating. I'll be teaching them step-by-step how to use the ning to build background knowledge, communicate with others in their groups (not yet formed), talk about big questions, etc.
In the meantime, students may customize their pages. I encourage them to join with their first name and last initial.

Week in Brief

Tuesday: Rock 'n Roll Spirit Day
Tuesday and Wednesday: Science Practical Test
Wednesday: Twin Day
Wednesday 7:30-9:00: Math Morning
Wednesday 10:00-10:40: Spanish Libro Leido Concurso
Thursday: School colors day
Thursday: Science Written Test
Thursday 1:30-2:20: All-school pep rally
Friday: Spelling Test

Also please note that I will be absent Thursday and Friday as I will be scoring 6+1 Traits papers on Thursday with the Intermediate team and on Friday with the Secondary team. Mrs. Carol O'Hara will be my substitute teacher. Your children will be in good hands.

Science Test(s): Levers and Pulleys

Tuesday and Wednesday: Practical exam. Students will be asked to set up a particular pulley arrangement and a particular lever arrangement and respond to questions about those set ups. This will happen one-on-one.
Thursday: Written exam.
To do well on the test students need to know the following terms and what they mean:

• Load, fulcrum, effort, lever arm, force, mass, Class 1 lever, Class 2 lever, Class 3 lever, single-fixed pulley, single-moveable pulley, single-fixed/single-moveable pulley system (effort down), single-fixed/single-moveable pulley system (effort up), and Newtons.

To do well on the test students need to be able to:

• Read and explain a spring scale
• Explain the relationship of the number of load bearing ropes in a pulley system to the amount of effort.
• Explain the relationship of the distance a rope is pulled to the distance a load is lifted.
• Diagram levers.
• Explain what type of levers different objects are: hammers, nutcrackers, etc., etc.
• Analyze which pulley systems may or may not work.
• Give examples of different classes of levers.
• Understand the different types of advantages.
  

Voice Threads and The Young Man and the Sea

Please go on Voice Threads and discuss your opinions on what is going to happen in the book. Your grades will be based on making reasonable predictions and using text evidence to back them up.

Math Test Monday

Students should:

• Know definitions and how to find the minimum, maximum, range, median, and mode.
• Understand that a smaller sample of data can give inaccurate information. (Skew the data.)
• Be able to add and subtract fractions with like and unlike denominators.
• Be able to find a common denominator.
• Be able to read, interpret, and construct stem and leaf plots.
• Convert between fractions, decimals, and percents.
  

Assessment Weeks

These two weeks are weeks of assessment for IA:

• Yesterday and today 5th grade students took the 6+1 Writing assessment. These will be assessed April 22nd, and the grades will be sent home soon after.
• Tomorrow, Thursday at 7:30am, is our Language Usage MAP test.
• Next Wednesday, at 9:10am is our Reading MAP test.
• Next Thursday, at 7:30am is our Math MAP test.

Spelling Test Skill Focus

Writing contractions and unpacking contractions:

For example: Write contractions by combining the following words = they, will, is, it.
For example: Write the longer forms of these contractions: we've = we + had