Happy Mother's Day!! 

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 IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Class website: https://sites.google.com/site/smveg421/home

Class blog: http://smv421.edublogs.org/

Class photo album: http://smv421.posterous.com/

Class weather wikipage: http://weirdandwondrousweather.wikispaces.com/Ms.+Daemmrich

Our theme for this school year is Encourage one another and build each other up - Thessalonians 5:11.

***ALL LIBRARY BOOKS ARE DUE BACK NO LATER THAN TUESDAY, MAY 15TH***

Monday, 5/14 - Madison and Wisconsin Historic Museum field trip - wear uniforms, bring cold lunch and beverage in small backpack which the student will carry with them all day, battery operated electronics and cameras are welcome but it is the responsibility of the student to keep them safe  

Tuesday, 5/15 - library books due             

Wednesday, 5/16 - lesson 21 reading/language arts test; 4 spelling activities for lesson 21 due  

Thursday, 5/17 - chapter 20 religion test; Archdiocese Exemplary Recognition in Technology team visit    

Friday, 5/18 - field day - Coach Casey will be the guest teacher for me today

***PLAN FOR NEXT YEAR: MRS BRANDTJEN HAS ASKED THAT ALL STUDENTS HAVE ATHLETIC SHOES WITH ARCHES FOR PE CLASS NEXT YEAR - NO SKATER-TYPE SHOES THAT DON'T HAVE ANY ARCHES***   

Please send a water bottle (or two) labeled with your child's name so they can stay hydrated during the day.  Also, please send a HEALTHY snack (popcorn, crackers, fruit, vegetables, breakfast bar, granola bar, pretzels, cheese, etc but NO candy please) for morning snack time.

I typically update this page every weekend in preparation for the upcoming week.  I do not send home weekly newsletters.  I recommend you elect to be notified of any changes and updates via email by clicking on the "Be Notified" button at the top of this page.

Students have physical education class every Monday and Wednesday from 1:00 to 1:30PM.  Please remember to send their gym clothes and athletic shoes so they can participate.

 MAY BIRTHDAYS

Greg, John Paul and Drew will celebrate their birthday on May 24th.  Keegan celebrates his on May 31st.  

 ART

We're going to skip art this week.  We'll do a Safeguarding God's Children / Bullying lesson from the Archdiocese instead.   

 COMPUTERS

We'll split our time between social studies and math this week.  Students will act as mayor of a city and pick a committee to solve a problem.  Each of their committee members has their own agenda and the mayor has to find a balance to make the government work.  Students will have to rank city issues according to need and budget to try to make everyone as happy as possible.  Next they'll compose a newspaper article outlining the plan for their city.  These articles will be posted on our class blog.

In math we'll explore interactive probability sites and see how fractions and probability go hand in hand.

 K4 BUDDIES

We'll meet with our K4 Buddies each Thursday from 8:20 to 8:50AM.  Together we do math, letter, and art activities.

Our K4 Buddies will sit with us for Friday masses from now to the end of the year.

This year's buddies are: Bridget and Sienna and Adrienne; Greg and Karalyn; Annika and Emma and Marilyn; Jenny and Emmy and Mark; John Paul and Sebastian; Thomas and Andrew and Mikey; Maxx and Tommy; Louis and Mitchell; John and Kaitlyn; Erin and Edward and Ceci; Keegan and Jake; Hadley and Camille; Drew and Alex; Peter and Sully; Joe and Grant; Elizabeth and Ava; Sam and Jeffrey; Natalie and Caroline and Eloise; Luke and Finn; Lizzie and Audrey and Olivia.

 MATH

There is NO math test this week.  Tuesday, we'll add and subtract decimals (23.4).  Wednesday, we'll get introduced to probability (23.1).  Thursday, we'll write probability as a fraction (23.2).  Thursday, we'll also visit the computer lab to explore interactive probability sites and see how fractions and probability go hand in hand. 

This week's timed math fact practice tests are:  8-9 in subtraction;  mixed review in multiplication; 8 in division.

Each week, students will take a timed addition practice on Monday, a timed subtraction practice test on Tuesday, a timed multiplication practice test on Wednesday, a timed division practice test on Thursday, and a timed concept practice test on Friday.  Several have already made it to our Math Masters Multiplication Fact Mastery List!

 READING AND   LANGUAGE ARTS AND  WORD STUDY 

Lesson 21's r/la test is on Wednesday, 5/16.  Lesson 21 is concerned with multiple-meaning words, summarizing, theme, VCV word patterns and parts, and comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs.  My class will write a one-page summary of our main reading selection.  Lesson 21's four spelling word activities will be due Wednesday, 5/16.  The words are: event, humor, rapid, music, relief, planet, detail, unite, frozen, figure, siren, polite, hotel, protest, punish, defend, relay, habit, student, moment, rumor, jealous, license, image, and rival.  My class uses an app on the iPad to type in and audio record the weekly spelling words which they can then play word games with and test each other on the spelling words.  We'll also finish a multiple-meaning words in sentences activity using the Sock Puppet app on the iPad.

The May book report, due Thursday, May 31st, can be picked from any classic or award winning novel. 

Each child is asked to read for at least twenty minutes each day and can log their progress on their reading calendars, which are due the second school day of the following month.  

  RELIGION

The chapter 20 test is on Thursday, 5/17.   The required prayer for May, The Spiritual Works of Mercy, is due Thursday, 5/31.  Wednesday, we'll appreciate the power of prayer, learn how prayer helps us bring God's love to the world, and understand how prayer helps us live the Ten Commandments.  We'll take the chapter 20 test on Thursday.  We will have a 3-minute prayer retreat from the Loyola Press website when we finish the test on Thursday.  

Students will discuss and memorize fifteen prayers this year.  Links for words to these prayers can be found on our website.  In September: the Sign of the Cross, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be, Grace Before Meals, and the Guardian Angel prayer.  In October: the Act of Contrition and the Fatima prayer.  In November: the Hail Holy Queen prayer.  In December: the Come Holy Spirit prayer.  In January: the Prayer of St Francis.  In February: the Apostles' Creed.  In March: the Corporal Works of Mercy.  In April: the Ten Commandments.  In May: the Spiritual Works of Mercy.

  SCIENCE

There is NO science test this week.  We'll continue exploring heat, light, and sound this week.  We'll watch a streamed video about how light is split when is goes through a prizm before we try the experiment ourselves.    

Annika, Jenny, John Paul, Joe and Lizzie made our most recent contribution to the Weird and Wondrous Weather wiki.  Their observations and picture are posted on our page of the wiki.

 SOCIAL STUDIES

There is NO social studies test this week.  After our field trip to Madison and the Wisconsin Historic Museum, we'll begin exploring local, state, and federal governments.  Students will visit the computer lab where they will act as mayor of a city and pick a committee to solve a problem. Each of their committee members has their own agenda and the mayor has to find a balance to make the government work. Students will have to rank city issues according to need and budget to try to make everyone as happy as possible. Next they'll compose a newspaper article outlining the plan for their city.  These articles will be posted on our class blog.