Third Quarter Newsletter

Happy New Year - 2010!

Joining us this semester is Taryn Hoffman, student teacher from the University of Arizona. We look forward to having her work with the students. An overview of what we will be learning this quarter is listed below

Reading:

This quarter in reading we will focus on books that have been banned or challenged in libraries. However, all books included in our study are not banned at the Painted Sky Library. Other book studies genres will include biographies, fantasy, and fiction. We will continue to read excerpts from The Reading Detective, to hone our reading skills. Jr. Great Books will be included to practice our interpretation and group discussion skills. Reading strategies also include vocabulary development, inference in text, main idea and character development, along with setting and plot development.

Math:

We begin the quarter finishing up fractions, decimals and percents, or completing a pre-algebra unit; Hands-on-Equations. This hands-on pre-algebra manipulative unit helps students understand the basics of algebra. The last quarter students will take an algebra readiness test to help place them in 6th grade math. Students will also complete Exponents and Negative numbers.

Unit 8 moves us back into fractions, but will also include ratios. This unit includes adding and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators, which they learned last quarter. Students will also learn how to multiply fractions and mixed numbers. Finally, we will complete a unit on coordinates, area, volume and capacity.

Science:

Science is full of adventures this quarter, from the vast to the minute. We will finish us the human body study and then focus on astronomy and space science. Our first star gaze was a success and we look forward to another one this quarter. The Painted Sky Science Fair coming up in February. Students will be encouraged to complete a project at home for the Science Fair. All information is on-line.

Along with astronomy and the science fair we will focus on Mixture and Solutions, which involves physical science standards. This is always a fun unit because students love to do experiments. We have quite a few planned and will carry this unit of study into the fourth quarter.


Suzi Cook
scook@amphi.com