What is going on this week? 11/30/09-12/4/09

I hope everyone had an enjoyable week off! We have three more weeks left this quarter: Make sure your child is working on his/her AR goals. There is a new AR and directions are on this page to get to it so you can keep up with your child's progress.

Spelling from now on will be a little different. We will not be continuing spelling contracts, but we will have spelling tic-tac-toe. On Monday's students will receive a Spelling tic-tac toe worksheet (they will be different activities each week) and they will have to complete three activities with their spelling words in a row.

Language Arts: We will be working on reference skills this week as well as finishing up our expository non-fiction writing about explorer's.

Reading: We will work on biographies this week- I am looking forward to hearing what students have to say about the biographies they read over the break.

Science: We will be finishing up our Weather Unit.

Math: We will be continuing work with fractions.

This Weeks Happenings- November 16-20

Spelling Words
Prefixes: re-, un-, non-
1. reuse
2. restart
3. retell
4. resend
5. replace
6. uncork
7. nonexistent
8. unannounced
9. unpleasant
10. unchain
11. unfit
12. nonprofit
13. nonmetal
14. recall
15. nontoxic
16. unwelcome
17. reprogram
18. retrace
19. uninvited
20. reapply
** unchanging
** unyielding
** refinish

This Weeks Happenings- November 9-13

Spelling this week:
1. begin
2. vanish
3. bonus
4. legal
5. event
6. moment
7. motive
8. native
9. suburb
10. mimic
11. paper
12. pilot
13. raven
14. rival
15. relish
16. silent
17. solar
18. spider
19. super
20. virus
Challenge:
enemy
balance
chemical
fiber

Subject Area Happenings:

Reading: We will be working on mysteries this week and next

Language Arts: We will be integrating LA and SS. Students will write an expository paper on a explorer

Science: We will kick off our weather unit

SS: Explorers and we will have a Native American test on Wednesday

NEW!!! Online Version of AR

We have switched to a new on-line version of Accelerated Reader. Although the new version is on-line, the program will only allow students to take quizzes when they are logged into a computer on the school network. Because the new version is on-line, parents can check on their child’s quiz results and see his/her progress toward quarterly goals. The home login web address is https://hosted99.renlearn.com/50633/HomeConnect/Login.aspx. Once at this site, you simply enter the child’s user name and password. (If they don’t know it, email mfitzgeral@rockdale.k12.ga.us.)
From the homeconnect site for AR . . .
· You’ll be able to see your child’s accuracy for the quarter. We are aiming for the accuracy to be 80% and above.
· You can see your child’s progress towards his/her goal. This will show the number of points they’ve earned from all the books they have quizzed on for the quarter. Most upper grade classes don’t count points from books read aloud or by the class as a group, so check with your child’s language arts teacher for clarification on which points count towards independent reading/AR goals.
· You’ll also see the average book level students are reading. On the right side of the screen you’ll see the cover of the book they have most recently quizzed on and the results.
· “My Bookshelf” is a link located below the most recent quiz information. If you click on that, it will show a bookshelf showing the cover of all the titles your child has taken quizzes on since they began using the AR program.
· “AR Bookfinder” is a link at the bottom right on the homeconnect site. This link will allow you to search for a specific title, to see if there is a quiz available for that title, and to see what the reading level and point value are for that particular book. (NOTE: Hightower Trail does NOT have every book for which a quiz is available! However, if you obtain the book from another source, your child will be able to take that quiz.)
We used to have 10,000 quizzes. Now, with the new on-line version, we have 100,000 quizzes! Please visit the Hightower Trail Elementary Media Center website at http://www.rockdale.k12.ga.us/personal/mfitzgeral/media/default.aspx