Friday, August 29, 2014

Voyagers’ Weekly Memo
            September 1-5, 2014
General Announcements:
  • Thank you so much for all of you who came to our Parent Night on Tuesday night!  We enjoyed seeing you, and we are thankful to have your child in our classrooms!  We are all looking forward to a relaxing weekend.  Please remember that we are out of school on Monday for Labor Day!  Roll Tide!  War Eagle!  Enjoy a football game or two :)
  • The students seem to be doing well with writing in their agendas.  Please remind them of the importance of this routine.
  • You have received a letter with your child’s iNow information. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!  You have the ability this year to check your child’s grades on iNow.  You will find this very helpful.  We will send graded papers every other week, but you will be able to check grades every week.  We will always try to have grades entered within a week of an assignment being given.  iNow will also show you what your child’s average is in each subject at any given time.  When this letter comes home, please read it very carefully and contact us if you have any questions.  
  • Your child brought home yesterday or today a magazine order packet.  This is our biggest fundraiser at Brock’s Gap, and we encourage you to sell these in support of Brock’s Gap!  
  • We will have Student Council speeches and election of officers on Thursday, September 4th.  Campaigning may begin on Tuesday and run through Thursday.  We are proud of all of our 5th graders who are running for office.
  • Thursdays are Spirit Days in support of the Bumpus Middle Schools Bucs. They will play Mountain Brook at 5:00 (7th grade) and 6:45 (8th grade) at Hoover High next Thursday.  Hoover High School plays Mountain Brook High School next Friday.  Please remember that the Brock’s Gap Activity Card will get your child into the games!  GO BUCS!
  • Please see the following link to see copies of Brock’s Gap eNews: Brock's Gap eNews
Coming up this week:
Math: Topics of Study – We will be working on important mathematics vocabulary as well factors and multiples through completion of Number Puzzles.  We will learn two games related to factors:  Factor Captor and Factor Top-It.  Students will use factor trees to determine prime factorization of a number.  We will have our computation test on Friday this week rather than earlier due to the short week.  This test will also review the Number Puzzle concepts that we will cover in class on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Important Dates – Computation and Number Puzzle Test on Friday.
 Science: Topics of Study – We have been learning about Earth’s spheres (Geosphere/Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, and Atmosphere). Now, we are ready to begin our study of ecosystems.   We will learn about biotic and abiotic factors, producers, consumers, and decomposers, communities, and populations.  We will building our own ecosystems and school and need supplies!   We could use any of the following items: potting soil, gravel, grass & mustard seeds (or seeds of any kind).  Thank you so much!!!!!
Important Dates- No Science Quiz this week! Grades will be taken on classroom activities. Next Science Quiz will be Tuesday, September  8th.
Language: Topics of Study– Next week will be a “Reading Week.” Our reading strategy is Questioning and Summarizing. We will use these strategies in our weekly reading, “The Special Powers of Blossom Culp.” We will have a vocabulary test (Friday) on words that we will discuss within the story: exception, dainty, grasp, peculiar, sprawl, recollection, flounce, fascinate, mention, vast.
We will begin working on Verbs this week. Weekly practice will take place in class. We will have a test on Friday.
 Homework:
Reading log (complete nightly)
Vocabulary Sheet (define words and write sentences)
Vocabulary test (Friday)
Grammar test (Friday)
 Social Studies: Topics of Study – We will complete the movie Brother Bear on Tuesday.  We will begin our study of explorers on Wednesday.
Important Dates – No tests or quizzes.
  Sheryl Ponder        and     Stephanie Watson