WEEK of January 31-February 4

Dear Parents and Students,
* Last week our class had the opportunity to use the Smart Responders with our SMART Board. The class truly enjoyed pushing a button instead of writing with a pencil! This week our class will be using this wonderful technological device to reinforce reading and vocabulary.
* As a class we will be finishing My Brother Sam is Dead and then each student can take their Accelerated Reader Quiz on Friday.
* On that note, the last day to take an A.R. quiz is on Monday, February 28th. This Friday I will send home your child’s A.R. progress update.
* Please make sure that your child schedules his/her interviews for the Family Heritage Project, which is due on Monday, February 28th. This is NOT a project that can be thrown together at the last minute. As a reminder, the assignment is posted on the blog. Students may e-mail, call, snail mail, or even Skype or Facebook chat with family members. They can even choose to meet face-to-face, the “old school” way.
* In Science our class will begin a new unit about the Body Systems. We will first be learning about cells, and move on to organ systems later in the week. As a fun home project, students will be creating their own edible cell. This project is traditionally a student favorite because it will be eaten after each student shares about it! Students will choose their days to turn it in on Monday.
* Room 12 will be learning Persuasive Writing this week with some fun projects that will bring their persuasiveness and creativity out in new ways. WARNING: they’ll probably utilize these skills to try to get that new toy they’ve been eyeing!
* I am pleased to say that our class averaged an 82% on our American Revolution Test. That is amazing! Way to go Room 12 ;>)
* Finally, I wanted to remind you that ANY assignment that is graded at a C or below can be corrected and returned for half-credit. Do not be discouraged when you get a lower grade on an assignment. It is all about learning, NOT A GRADE on a paper. As your teacher, I just want you to do YOUR BEST!

That is the update and this is Mr. Sweet signing out on a Sunday night,
Thanks for all of your support… I know it is NOT easy!

Mr. Sweet

HOMEWORK MONDAY
Reading-Ch.11 Sam
Math L108-Finish Evens+p.173+174
Do Science Page-Front + Back from Lesson 1 on pages 142-149 in book
Schedule Interviews for Heritage Report

HOMEWORK TUESDAY
Reading-1st half of Ch. 13
Math- Finish p.175+176 in wkbk
Science-Do Wkbk Page
Vocab.-Study words and definitions-Smart Responder Quiz Friday
Extra Credit-Due Monday

HOMEWORK THURSDAY
Reading-20min. A.R.
Math- Finish p.177
Science-Do Wkbk Page Front/Back CS63+65
Vocab.-Study words and definitions-Smart Responder Quiz Friday
Extra Credit-Due Monday

WEEK OF JANUARY 24-28

Congratulations to Kourosh and Roland who won the class Spelling Bee on Thursday! They will represent our class in the school-wide spelling bee next week.
The Study Guide for Chapter 8 has been posted for our test on Thursday, January 27th.

HOMEWORK MONDAY
Read Ch. 8 + Lit. Circle Job
Math - Finish L105+p.145-147 (Mean, Mode, Median)
Social Studies Test on Thursday-See Study Guide on Blog

HOMEWORK TUESDAY
Read Ch. 9 + Lit. Circle Job
Math - Finish L106-Odds+Ch.16 Lesson 3p.150/151 (HM Line Graphs)
Social Studies Test on FRIDAY-See Study Guide on Blog
(Day switch for test to give one more day of review)

HOMEWORK WEDNESDAY
Read Ch. 10+ Lit. Circle Job
Math - Finish L107-Odds+Ch.16 Lesson 3p.150/151 (HM Circle Graphs)
Social Studies Test on FRIDAY-See Study Guide on Blog
(Day switch for test to give one more day of review)
Study Vocab Words

WEEK of January 18-21

HOMEWORK TUESDAY
Read Ch. 3 + Summary
Math finish wkbk pages 159-162+ L 103 Odds
Writing Finish Frame
Choose Top 5 American Revolution Heroes for Computer Lab Project...We will select them tomorrow randomly.
Study Spelling
Return Field Trip permission w/$5

HOMEWORK WEDNESDAY
Read Ch. 4 + Summary
Math Finish L104 Odds+p. 157+163 front and back
Study Vocab Posted on blog
Return Book orders + Field Trip Forms + $
CORRECT + Return PE Muscle Test-Due Friday

HOMEWORK THURSDAY
Read Ch. 6 + Perspectives-Loyalist vs. Patriot
Math-Do Saxon Pre-Test
Study DLR For Test+Vocab Posted on blog-Test tomorrow
Return Book orders + Field Trip Forms + $
CORRECT + Return PE Muscle Test-Due Friday

Week of January 12-14

HOMEWORK WEDNESDAY
Reading-Finish Ch. 1 of My Brother Sam is Dead + Summary
Math-Finish L101+Coordinate Plane Activity
Study Vocab/Spelling words from Notebook/Flash Drives (Test Friday)
Review Heritage Project-Due Friday, February 28th

HOMEWORK THURSDAY
Reading-Finish Ch. 2 of My Brother Sam is Dead + Summary
Math-Finish L102 odds+Coordinate Plane Activity
Study Vocab/Spelling words from Notebook/Flash Drives (Test Friday)
Review Heritage Project-Due Friday, February 28th
Finish Social Studies Wkbk page 77

Dear Parents,
I hope everybody had a restful break with family and friends. Our vacation was a blast! Thank you so much for your kind gift of the credit card and all of the other thoughtful gifts. Wow, we were able to go out to dinner at BJs in San Jose followed by the Shark's game against the Canucks. I also got new basketball shoes to get back into shape. Building a storage unit in my garage and putting in Pergo flooring in our bedroom were some fun projects too. A HUGE thanks goes out to the Quinns who purchased our class a SmartBoard. I spent a lot of time preparing lessons and familiarizing myself with its functions over the break. It is good to be back and our class has hit the ground running using the Smartboard on many occasions together.

Here are some quick updates:
* Our class has begun a new unit of study in Social Studies about the American Revolution. We also began a book entitled My Brother Sam is Dead. Tomorrow I will be showing parts of John Adams, an HBO special. Today we learned about the Stamp Act and the Boston Massacre.
* In math we are learning about the Coordinate Planes and graphing.
* Tomorrow we will be taking a quiz on the ten vocab words from our book.
* Our next field trip is on Friday, February 11th to the UCSC Lifelab. I will send home the forms on Monday.
* Please check the blog for the exciting new after school classes being offered. School Newspaper, Life Lab Class, African Drumming and Ceramics.
* The school talent show tryouts are next Wednesday.
* Our next big report will be the Family Heritage Project, which will be due Friday, February 28th. That leaves a month and a half to complete this memorable project, which is always a class favorite. Check out the blog for the assignment. It is a google document.
* The class Spelling Bee will be next Thursday, January 20th so students can learn some of the words with the link on the blog.
* The last day to take an A.R. quiz is on Friday, February 28th.

That's it for now!

Mr. Sweet

"Where kind hearts and open minds rule."