Monday, September 29, 2014

I hope everyone enjoyed the short school week and long weekend and hopefully everyone was able to get out and enjoy the fair parade and or the Fort Bend County Fair!  Here is what is going on this week:

Math: We are studying how to multiply decimals and students are expected to be able to multiply them in a multitude of ways: using base 10 blocks, using pictorial representation, hundredths grids and the standard algorithm.  I have posted several videos to my Facebook class page.  If you are unsure of how to help your student on homework please take a minute to view the videos to see the different methods we are using.  We will also be multiplying with money this week and will end the week on Friday with a spiral review test over multiplication with decimals.

Science:  In science we are studying electricity and the uses of it.  We will be doing a hands-on lab this week.   We will also be discussing electrical circuits, conductors and insulators.  We will have an electricity assessment on Friday over this lesson.

Social Studies: We are moving rather quickly through History Alive as we have a lot of material to cover this nine weeks.  We have finished up Ch. 5 and are starting Ch. 6, Early English Settlements and will be taking a quiz over this chapter on Wed.  Please have your students visit the History Alive site and take the practice quizzes. Success on these guarantee success on the quizzes in class.

ELAR: We have finished our first written composition for the nine weeks and will be starting our second this week.  In reading, we are discussing foreshadowing and incidents in the plot that help to advance the story.  We will also be continuing our novel study on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Don't forget that progress reports go out this week and need to be signed and returned promptly. 

Also, we are currently in the process of earning Class Dojo points for good behavior and citizenship.  The students can use these to turn in for different incentives throughout the nine weeks.  Please encourage your student to practice great citizenship!
Have a great week!

Saturday, September 20, 2014

We had another great week here at Huggins.  Thank you to all of you who came out and supported the school at our first Spirit Night at Pepperoni's!  We had a great turn-out and all money raised from Spirit Nights comes back to benefit your students!

Here is what is going on this week:

Math: We are still working on long division and then will be moving into patterns with decimals.  We will have a Module 2 test on Wednesday over multiplication and division.  If you haven't had a chance to "like" our class Facebook page please do so.  I know, just from feedback from your students, that some of you are having problems helping them with homework because of the new methods we are using to help them decompose numbers and make it easier to multiply and divide large numbers. I have videotaped me working two different division problems and posted them on our class Facebook page to help you better understand how we are working the problems.  Some students are very familiar with the "old way" we learned also known as the standard algorithm method, but we still want them to understand the "why" behind the computation.  This is where the concrete and pictorial methods come in.  Please take a moment to look at the videos.  I am in the process of uploading them to my YouTube channel for those who don't have access to Facebook.

Science: In science we have finished up "Classifying Matter" and are now moving into "Uses of Energy".  We will be going to the Computer Lab to work on an assignment this week and then starting our unit on energy.

Social Studies: We have finished Chapter 3 in History Alive on European explorers.  Please have your students visit the tutorial page to take the practice quizzes.  We will have the Ch. 4 quiz on Tuesday.  (It seems to be a pattern so far for Tuesday but it has just happened to work out that way.) We will start Ch. 5: Routes of Exploration on Monday.

ELAR: We are starting our novel study on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and are finishing up our final drafts for our first compositions this week.  They are due by Thursday.  We have to write two major compositions a nine weeks grading period.  We will be talking about inferencing this week in reading as well.

Have an awesome weekend and don't forget that this is a short week.  Friday is a student/staff holiday for the Fort Bend County Fair.  I hope to see some familiar faces out at the parade at the fairgrounds on Friday! 

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me or call me at the school. Agendas need to be checked and signed daily. 

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

We have a BUSY week ahead of us with a lot of learning planned! 

In Math, we have finished our lesson on multiplication and have started on division.  We have showed the students a method using concrete math to help them see the visual on how we divide.  I will be posting a video on my class Facebook page to help parents with this method.  I know it is new and is something you have probably never seen before. We have a spiral review on Friday over everything we have covered.

In Social Studies: We are still studying Native American and why Europeans left for the new world. Please continue to remind your students to visit the History Alive tutorial page to help study for quizzes.

In Science: We are studying mixtures and solutions and how we separate matter by their physical properties.  The students have all been working on their note-taking skills and all new vocabulary can be found in their science journals. We have a test on Friday over Mixtures and Solutions.

In ELAR, we are working diligently on our rough drafts for the first composition of the year.  We are also starting a novel study with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. We are continuing our study of root words and making new words with affixes.

Don't forget that this Thursday is our first Spirit Night at Pepperoni's in Fulshear.  A part of the sales comes back to the school to benefit your children.  Please don't forget to mention Huggins while you are there!

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Once again we had a fantastic week last week and accomplished A LOT of learning!

This week we are studying:

Math: We are finishing up decimals and diving into multiplication with two-digits.  We will be taking a spiral review on Friday.

Science: We have started our unit on Matter and finished up Scientific Tools. Quiz your students on the differences between the different states of matter, how density affects objects (Do they sink or float?), and please make sure to log in to the STEMscopes website at:

https://n11074d41264.acceleratelearning.com/login

Several assignments have been assigned for homework and they are due by the end of the week.  The user name is first initial and last name (one word) and their password is "student". This website works best with Google Chrome.

Social Studies: We have finished up the geography refresher chapter in History Alive and are now in our Native American unit.  Please have your student visit the History Alive website at http://teachtci.tutorial.com (also use Google Chrome) to take the practice quizzes.  Student success on our quizzes is definitely impacted by the amount of time they spend taking the practice quizzes.

ELAR: We are studying "schema" and how to me thoughtful readers and to make connections in our reading.  Students should be reading 20 minutes every night in order to meet their AR goal for the nine weeks.

Don't forget:
Tonight is our Watchdogs kick-off at 6 pm for kids and dads! Come check out this wonderful program and enjoy some free pizza!

Thank you to everyone for coming out to our Parent Information Night last week!  Have a great week!

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Wow! What an awesome first week we had!  I am thoroughly enjoying getting to know your children!  I just know that this year will be nothing short of fantastic. 

Just a recap of last week:

Math: We talked about place value and decimals to the thousandths place.  We also reviewed standard and word form.  This week will continue to talk about decimals and how to order them.

Science: We have hit the ground running with our science and are studying the Scientific Method and the scientific process.  We did one lab and one observation teacher-led lab.  We talked about the different types of science tools and how to use them.

Social Studies: We talked about geography and how to read maps.  We have a History Alive quiz tomorrow. Please utilize the tutorial link I sent last week for your child to practice.  This will ensure that they know the proper material for the quiz.  This week we will be starting our unit on Native Americans.

Reading: We talked about picking "just right" books and started reviewing about why we read, metacognition and our schema.  This week we will continue to review these terms and will practice our reading strategies. Your student has already take the AR Star test to set their reading levels. They will need to read 30 minutes every night in order to meet their AR goals for the 9 weeks.  It is a reading grade.

Writing: We are in our Writer's Workshop and talking about why we write and the writing process.  We will continue to delve into the writing process and will begin the first of two writing compositions for the 9 weeks.

Don't forget to sign up for Remind to receive text reminders.

Tonight from 6 - 7:30 we will have our Parent Information Night.  This is strictly for parents only and there will not be any activities for students. 

Thank you for your continued support and I am looking forward to seeing you all tonight!