I hope you are recovering from all that delicious food this Thanksgiving! I know our class is pretty stuffed with awesome curriculum coming up. Listed below is some of the concepts we will be covering this week.

Please continue reviewing with your child their reading take home books! We have been working on different books at their level during class, and these are great books to read for their reading log.

Reading- Cause and Effect Text Structure, Non-fiction articles, and verbs!

Writing- Starting our next research project regarding winter holidays!  Your child will be researching and gathering information about different cultures and ways that they celebrate winter traditions. Keep an eye out for a rubric coming home soon!

Social Studies- Studying how historians learn about the past. Discussing the difference between primary and secondary sources.

Science- This week in science we explored the mystery, “How can you predict when it’s going to storm?” We learned about differences between fair weather clouds and storm clouds, and the role of wind direction in determining whether a rain cloud will pass overhead. You can continue to support your child’s curiosity by looking at clouds together and asking, “What kind of clouds do you think those are? I wonder if it will rain…” Ask your child if they’d like to show you their Storm Spotter’s Guide, a small book they made to help them remember how to use the clouds to predict the weather.

Math- Measuring weight using grams and kilograms, estimating the weight of common objects using grams and kilograms, and solving word problems involving metric weights.

Spelling- content words: weight, kilogram, cause, effect, and primary

spelling pattern /ou/: found, pound, ground, sound, and noun

Leader in Me- Our class will develop personal mission statements this week.  Habit 2 teaches us to have an end in mind. A personal mission statement provides direction for achieving our end in mind. A personal mission statement is like our motto. It states what our life is about; it’s like a blueprint to our life. Ask your child, “what is your personal mission statement?”

Upcoming Events

Friday- Book Order due if ordering

Due to popular demand, our whole class should be now registered in Mrs. Baloga’s Google Classroom. On Mrs. Baloga’s Google Classroom, you will find the links to all of the songs from the hit Christmas program, Jingle Bell Jukebox! Feel free to practice these songs over the weekend, while celebrating with family.

If you are not registered in Google Classroom for Mrs. Baloga’s blog, please join the class using the code

9GUCA92

Happy Almost Thanksgiving!

Good Evening Parents,

Sorry this is finding you so late! Today we discussed solving word problems involving time by using number lines. This can sometimes be a rather abstract concept for students to grasp. If you need help, please review the video online.

All K-12 students (ages 5–19) attending a Leader in Me School (in over 50
countries) are encouraged to participate in the largest and most inspiring student speech contest in the world for a chance to win a $1,000 USD leadership grant!

Students will be asked to create a 5 minute video based upon a leadership topic that they would like to share. This is completely optional, but I thought it might be a cool opportunity for our students to create an inspiring message!

See the pdf below for more details!

2019 LIM Speech Contest

Happy Almost Thanksgiving Everyone! I’m so thankful to such a wonderful class this year. This week is relatively short due to Thanksgiving. Make sure to spend time with your family this week.

Listed below are some items that we will be focusing on this week.

Reading- Comparing characters’ point of view (looking at how different characters view different events/emotions/etc.) and reviewing nouns. There also will be NO reading log this week.

Writing- Finishing up opinion writing regarding whether or not we should eat turkey for Thanksgiving

Social Studies- Early Michigan History- investigating sources

Science- Different types of clouds and how we can predict weather that is about to occur

Math- Word problems about time using number lines and reviewing multiplication facts

Spelling- No spelling this week!

Upcoming Events

Tuesday: Rough Draft (checked by parents) due in class. Please make sure your child has checked their spelling!

Wednesday-Friday: No school Thanksgiving Break

Our annual Barnes and Noble book fair is coming up! It will be on Saturday, December 8th! Please come and support our choir at this event!

Listed below is the flyer with more specific times

Barnes and Noble Flyer

Thank you so much parents for the dedicated PTA potluck dinner tonight! It was scrumptious! There was a couple of reminders that I wanted to send out tonight.

• Battle of the Books slips are due tomorrow if your child is interested
• Popcorn Friday is tomorrow
• Last day for any test retakes will be this Tuesday

Today your child learned about elapsed time. Listed below is the math video to help with this challenging concept. Students are only expected to try out problems 1-2 and 5. The other problems are just for extra practice if you desire.

Today your child reviewed telling time to the nearest minute and reviewing multiplication facts for 7-9. Please continue working with your child on these concepts. I have provided for you some helpful videos for telling time, as well as the multiplication facts for 7-9

Today your child practiced reading time to the nearest minute. Please review with them this skill of reading time on an analog clock as well as using a number line to solve time story problems. If you need any extra help, or if you would like extra practice, please watch the video below. I have also included a link to a fun Scholastic song and video to practice reading time. Have fun!

Scholastic Study Jams- Telling Time

Just a friendly reminder of the conferences this week. If you cannot make the time, please just let me know. I look forward to meeting with you!

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Thursday, November 15, 2018