January 5th-9th Newsletter

^{Happy New Year and welcome back to school.  I hope that your holidays were fun and enjoyable.  It is good to have you back at school and I am looking forward to finishing off the rest of the school year with you.  We will be pushing a little harder and faster in order to get through the curriculum during the second half of the year.  I hope you are ready to do a lot of new things as we continue on through our 5th grade experience.}

^{Spelling Words}

^{(Spelling words with the prefixes: dis-, pre-, un-)}

^{disappoint, prepaid, unable, disapprove, prerecorded, unbeaten, discover, preset, unhappy, dishonest, preschool, unlimited, disorder, pretest, unsure, preoccupied, undercover, displeasure, distrust, prefer}

^{Alternate List}

^{unable, discover, preset, unhappy, pretest, unsure, disorder, preschool, dishonest, prefer}

^{Challenge Words}

^{unimportant, uninterrupted, unmistakable, unintentional, prefabricate, preposterous, presumptuous}

^{Learning the States}

^{Starting this week we will be studying the geography of the United States in addition to learning about its history.  This week we will be learning about the New England States that includes: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.  The students will be responsible for knowing the location of the state, the capital, and the nickname.  Each Friday we will have a quiz on the states that we are studying that week in addition, we will review the previously learned states.} 

^Capitals:

^{Maine- Augusta}

^{New Hampshire- Concord}

^{Vermont- Montpelier}

^{Massachusetts- Boston}

^{Connecticut- Hartford}

^{Rhode Island- Providence}

^Nicknames:

^{Maine- “The Pine Tree State”}

^{New Hampshire- “The Granite State”}

^{Vermont- “The Green Mountain State”}

^{Massachusetts- “The Bay State”}

^{Connecticut- “The Constitution State”}

^{Rhode Island- “The Ocean State”}

^{Math Tutoring}

^{Tutoring this week will be on Tuesday at 3:30 and Thursday morning at 8:00 a.m. I am sorry I am unable to meet after school on Thursday because I have a workshop that I need to attend.}

^Volunteers

 ^{If you are interested in volunteering in our class, please just let me know when you are available and I would be glad to have you help in our class.}

^{Curriculum this week.}

^{Math- Division of decimals.}

^{Language/Writing/Reading-  Writing a creative story.  Utah Writes Project.}

^{Science- Physical and Chemical change.}

^{Social Studies- The American Revolution, New England States Geography}

^{Home Practice of Writing Skills}

^{A great website to utilize at home to improve writing skills is utahcompose.com.}

^{I encourage students to use this site to improve their writing skills.  It is a great tool and gives immediate feedback.  The students know their username and password to access the site at home.  The site includes lessons, videos, and writing opportunities that are immediately scored.    Students are also given the opportunity to revise their writing in order to improve their score on the essays.  As an}

^{incentive I will award 25 extra credit points for every essay that scores 18 or higher.  I ask that you encourage your child to do as much writing as possible.  This is a great tool with a variety of topics to write about for the essays.}

^{Multicultural Night}

^{Multicultural Night will be held on January 29th.  We are looking for people that would like to represent a country.  The night is held in the gym and volunteers set up a booth or table and talk about the traditions and culture of a country.  If you are interested in participating please let the me or the  P.T.A. know.}

^{Contact Information:}

^{steve.greenhalgh@ironmail.org}

^{Home Phone:  586-3095}

^{School Phone: 686-2840}

December 15th-19th Newsletter

^{Math Tutoring}

^{Tutoring will continue this week at the regularly scheduled times after school. (3:30-4:15, Tuesday and Thursday)}

^{Testing, Testing, Testing}

^{This week we are completing our mid-year testing with the SAGE assessments.  Each test takes approximately an hour and a half in our lab.  So far, we have been working on the writing portion of the test. The kids seem to be doing pretty good considering it is just a few days before the Christmas break.}

^{No Homework Packet this Week}

^{There will not be an assigned homework packet this week due to the testing schedule.  However, there is a reading calendar to be completed for reading every day.  Class assignments not finished in the day becomes homework for that evening and is due the next day.}

^{Christmas “White Elephant Game” pm Friday}

^{On Friday, we will have a small Christmas Party.  We exchange “White Elephant” gifts on that day as part of one of our games.  If possible, I would like your child to bring an anonymously wrapped gift for the game.  The item does not need to be new.  It is intended to be a silly, prank style of gift.  If purchased, I ask that you spend no more than $ 1 for the gift.  I will have a few extra gifts in case your child is unable to bring one.}

^Volunteers

 ^{If you are interested in volunteering in our class, please just let me know when you are available and I would be glad to have you help in our class.}

^{Curriculum this week.}

^{Math- Division of decimals.}

^{Language/Writing/Reading-  Writing a creative story.  Utah Writes} 

^Project.

^{Science- Physical and Chemical change.}

^{Social Studies- The American Revolution}

^{Home Practice of Writing Skills}

^{A great website to utilize at home to improve writing skills is utahcompose.com.  I encourage students to use this site to improve their writing skills.  It is a great tool and gives immediate feedback.  The students know their username and password to access the site at home.  The site includes lessons, videos, and writing opportunities that are immediately scored.    Students are also given the opportunity to revise their writing in order to improve their score on the essays.  As an}

^{incentive, I will award 25 extra credit points for every essay that scores 18 or higher.  I ask that you encourage your child to do as much writing as possible.  This is a great tool to use and has a variety of topics to write about for the essays.}

^{Grade Printouts}

^{I will be sending home grade printouts home on Thursday  so you can keep up to date with your child’s progress.}

^{Multicultural Night}

^{Multicultural Night will be held on January 29th.  We are looking for people that would like to represent a country.  The night is held in the gym and volunteers set up a booth or table and talk about the traditions and culture of a country.  If you are interested in participating please let the  P.T.A. know.  They have forms available.}

^{I hope that all of you have a very Merry Christmas and a safe holiday season.}

December 8th-12th Newsletter

^{Math Tutoring}

^{I am unable to tutor this week after school.  I am sorry, but I have other teaching obligations.  If your child needs some extra help, I would be happy to help them before school.  Please have your child set up a time with me if there are concepts that they are struggling with at this time.  Tutoring will continue next week at the regularly scheduled times after school.}

^{Spelling Lists for the Week}

^{Spelling List}

^Possessives

^{bicyclist’s, bicyclists’, child’s, children’s, grandfather’s , grandfathers’, grandmother’s , grandmothers’, principal’s, principals’, sister’s, sisters’, uncle’s, uncles’, today’s}

^{Alternate List}

^{Same list as above.}

^{Challenge List}

^{multiplied, zeros, equation, create, comprehend, wreckage, senior, vaccination, repetition, preference}

^Volunteers

^{If you are interested in volunteering in our class, please just let me know when you are available and I would be glad to have you help in our class.}

^{Curriculum this week.}

^{Math- Multiplication of decimals with zeros in the product, story problems, chapter test, division of decimals.}

^{Language/Writing/Reading-  Writing an argumentative essay.  Utah Writes Project.}

^{Science- Physical and Chemical change.}

^{Social Studies- Establishment of the 13 Colonies, The French and} 

^{Indian War}

^{Family Movie Night}

^{On Friday night the P.T.A. will sponsor a Family Movie Night at 6:30 in the gym.  The movie and popcorn will be free.  Everyone is invited.}

^{Multicultural Night}

^{Multicultural Night will be held on January 29th.  We are looking for people that would like to represent a country.  The night is held in the gym and volunteers set up a booth or table and talk about the traditions and culture of a country.  If you are interested in participating please let the  P.T.A. know.  They have forms available.}

^{Homework Essay}

^{In our homework this week, the major focus will be on writing an argumentative essay on children and cell phones.  The students are required to fill out the organizers, do a first draft and have it checked by an adult, and write a final draft in their best penmanship.  The essay will be turned in on Friday and we will type it in the computer lab on the Utahcompose.com website.  (The emphasis will be on supporting their}

^{opinions with facts and reasoning.)}

^{Contact Information:}

^{steve.greenhalgh@ironmail.org}

^{Home Phone:  586-3095}

^{School Phone: 686-2840}

December 1st- 5th Newsletter

^{Welcome Back}

^{I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving Break.  I sure appreciate the pictures that were sent to me of your kids reading to their turkeys or hams.  I had a good laugh.  I hope you understand that some of these unconventional methods are just crazy ways of trying to get kids to read more when they are at home.  I appreciate your support and all that you are doing to make this a great year for kids and myself.  For your information, there are two reading calendars, one for the PTA that is handed in at the end of the month, and a weekly one for our class.  The monthly calendar is used to tabulate the total minutes read by our students and families.  We are shooting for a goal of 3 million minutes.}

^{Math Tutoring}

^{If your child is having problems with Math, I will be tutoring students on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school from 3:30-4:15.  This week we will be focusing on the multiplication, addition, and place value of decimals. The tutoring is designed for those students that need extra help in those areas.  Please remember that permission and transportation are required since it is after school.}

^{Spelling Lists for the Week}

^{Spelling List}

^{Irregular Plural Words}

^{children, feet, men, oxen, traffic, halves, phenomena, deer, geese, mice, sheep, wheat, loaves, quizzes, dozen, media, moose, teeth, women, nuclei, wolves}

^{Alternate List}

^{children, feet, men, traffic, deer, geese, mice, sheep, dozen, teeth, women, wheat, quizzes, moose, oxen}

^{Challenge List}

^{minister, disagreement, Connecticut, responsibility, government, cooperation, proprietors, rebellion, voyage, immigrants}

^Volunteers

^{If you are interested in volunteering in our class, please just let me know when you are available and I would be glad to have you help in our class.}

^{Curriculum this week.}

^{Math- 12 Times tables, Multiplication of Decimals, Multiplying using expanded form, Multiplying money, Mid-chapter checkpoint.}

^{Language/Writing/Reading- Author’s point of view, language mechanics, bold and highlighted text, vocabulary, Informational text. Utah Writes Project.}

^{Science- Physical and Chemical change.}

^{Social Studies- Establishment of the 13 Colonies, The French and Indian War}

^{Contact Information:}

^{steve.greenhalgh@ironmail.org}

^{Home Phone:  586-3095}

^{School Phone: 686-2840}