Week 26 Science Test!

Dear Parents,

This week we have a short week but a fairly eventful one. Tuesday will be a normal day, but the Trivium East Bard Competition will occur on campus from 6:00-7:00. The winners of the competition will go on to compete at Great Hearts-wide competition. Families and friends of all Trivium East students are encouraged to attend. Please come to cheer our on our brave competitors and show your school spirit!

On Friday we have our science test on the atmosphere and the water cycle. Students will be expected to know general facts about air and the atmosphere, specific facts about each layer of the atmosphere. There will also be some questions on the first two steps of the water cycle, precipitation and collection. This includes facts about the specific kinds of collection, namely, surface runoff and groundwater. I will not be including a study guide for this test. All students have very thorough notes on these topics and I will only be including questions on the test which students can learn/review by studying their notebooks. However, this is NOT AN OPEN BOOK TEST. I don’t mean to yell, but I don’t want there to be any confusion on this point. J Students who wish to get a good score on the test will need to study for it!

Remember, jump rope for heart is still going on. Students can collect money for heart research and turn it on to their P.E. teacher, or they can collect donations on line. At the same time, whether or not students are collecting donations, they should be sure to practice their jump-roping skills for our jump rope competition next week!

In math, we will continue to study fractions with a special focus on the relationships between whole numbers and improper fractions and also on the relationship between fractions and division.

This week students should be on the lesson “Adding and Subtracting Fractions” in RM. Students who are not there will begin to be assigned extra RM homework to catch up.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please be sure to message me through your Jupiter Ed account.

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt

Week 25 Fractions Test

Dear Parents,

I hope your students enjoyed the half day last Friday. This week, we have a full week of school on our normal schedule, but next week we do have Monday off for President’s Day, so mark your calendars!

This week in science, we will be having a quiz on the stratosphere and the troposphere. We will review states of matter and then start studying the water cycle. I am particularly excited for our discussion of condensation because we have an experiment on his topic that should provoke lots of interesting discussion. Of course, I can’t say too much here so that students don’t find out ahead of time, but it should be fun!

In math we will continue our study of mixed and improper fractions. We do have a math test on Tuesday for which the topic is proper fractions and mixed numbers. The information contained on the test should largely be a review of information learned in second and third grade, so students who study for the test should be confident of earning a good grade. I am still including a short study guide below. Please note that we will be using mainly vertical fractions on the test. I have  use horizontal fractions here because vertical fractions don’t work well on the blog’s interface.

Definition of fractions: A fraction is a number written with a numerator and a denominator.

Numerator: The top part of a fraction

Denominator: The bottom part of a fraction

Proper Fraction: A fraction in which the numerator is less than the denominator

Improper Fraction:  A fraction in which the numerator is greater than or equal to the denominator

Whole number: One of ordinary numbers we have been using to count, add, subtract, etc. since kindergarten

Mixed Numbers: Quantities which are compose of a whole number and a fraction such as 5 1/3 or 2 3/5. The whole number is called the whole part, and the fraction is called the fraction part.

Students should be able to read fractions correctly, and they should be able to correctly identify numerators and denominators. NOTE: Some students assume the numerator must always be smaller than the denominator because most of their previous experience has been with fractions less than one. Thus, when presented with fractions like 8/5 they will say the numerator is 5, the denominator is 8, and they will read it as “five-eighths.” These answers are, of course, incorrect.

Fractions equal to 1: Students should recognize that improper fractions in which the numerators and denominators are equal are the same as the whole number one. Such fractions are, therefore, equal to each other, and students should also recognize this fact. Students should be able to pick fractions equal to one from a list and give examples when asked.

Comparing fractions with numerators of 1: Students should understand that the greater the denominator, the more pieces a fraction has, but the smaller each piece is. Thus, 1/3 >  1/5  > 1/6 > 1/7 > 1/19 > 1/257. A good example is sharing a cake. You want to share a cake with the smallest number of people as possible because the less people you share with, the bigger your piece is!

Fraction Models: Students should be able to draw models of proper fractions, fractions equal to one, horizontal fractions, and mixed numbers. Fractions models should have equal pieces. The whole shapes sued to model mixed numbers should be equal to each other. When modeling fractions equal to one, students may NOT merely draw a single shape and shade it. They need to divide it into the correct number of parts and shade all the parts.

Students should be able to correctly read and identify numerators and denominators of horizontal fractions.

There will be at least one column multiplication problem and one long division on the test.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. Please send me a message through your Jupiter Ed account with any questions, comments, or concerns you may have.

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt

Week 24 Jump Rope for Heart!

Dear Parents,

On Friday afternoon, we had the exciting kick-off to our school’s annual Jump Rope for Heart event! Hopefully most of your students have told you about it by now, but we are encouraging  all our students to get involved. Jump Rope for Heart has two components. One is a fundraiser for the American Heart Association to aid in their research on heart defects, especially for kids’ hearts. Students will be asking their families, relatives, and friends for donations for the American Heart Association. The second component is a jump rope competition that will be held near the end of the month. All students should be taking care of their own hearts by practicing for this event!

 Regarding the fundraiser, our school has a goal of raising $6,500. Last year we raised over $6,000, so this is a very achievable goal.  If every student raised $5 for heart research, we would already be very close to our goal. There are quite a few prizes students can earn for raising anywhere from $5 to $150. However, the first two prizes are extremely easy for students to earn. The first prize is a lanyard with a zoo animal students can earn for bringing in a single $5 donation. The second is another zoo animal for their lanyard students can earn for getting one donation online. They should print the coupon they receive after the online donation is complete and bring it in to school.

Anytime students have donations or coupons; these need to go directly to the P.E. teachers at the beginning of the students’ next P.E. class. Neither the other teachers nor the front desk staff will be accepting donations or coupons. Last year, there was a great deal of confusion regarding which students had earned which prizes. By having only P.E. teachers accept donations and coupons, the matter will be simplified, and students will receive their prizes more quickly.

This week on Wednesday, deficiency notices will be sent to parents whose students are averaging C- or in any class. The deficiency notices are intended to help parents are understand where their students are struggling and to give students an opportunity to improve. Most of you should have a pretty good idea where how your students are doing in my classes. I have been sending their graded homework, quizzes and tests home on a regular basis, and I have also sent regular emails when students are missing assignments. If your student has received a lot of low scores and tests, quizzes, or homework, or if you have received multiple emails regarding your student’s missing assignments, there is a good chance they are in the deficiency range. However, if you have any doubts about your students grades, please feel free to contact us.

In math we will continue our study of fractions. This week we will place a special focus on mixed numbers, improper fractions, and the relationship between fractions and division. We will be having a math test next week. I will follow up with details by next weekend, at the latest. In science we will continue our study of the atmosphere, and hopefully the lab will be free for us to perform at least one experiment related to air this week.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. Please send me a message through your Jupiter Ed account with any questions, comments, or concerns you may have.

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt