I hope that you all. had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I can't believe it's already December, and Christmas is only a few weeks away. Here's a heads-up on some of the fun events that will be happening over the next couple of weeks:
- December 2nd at 4pm - Mount Holly Christmas Parade. MID has participated in this parade for several years. Our Dance club and Basketball teams will be in the parade this year.
- December 4th - Early Release at noon. We'll also do our Reading Challenge Celebration that morning. The kids who've met their Learn2Earn goals will be watching the Polar Express and having popcorn and hot chocolate :)
- December 15th at 6pm - MIDS Christmas Program. The kids have been practicing their songs with Mrs Scroggs, and I've heard that Mrs. Edwards (our drama teacher) has a couple of surprises in store. The program will be held at Thrift Baptist Church
- December 18th - Class Christmas Party. This day is an Early Release day, and students will be dismissed at noon. We'll have our party that morning.
This week in...
Math: We're working on Unit 5 - Multiplying By One Digit Numbers. Each of the kids has their own work plan, based on the pretest that they took. Click here to see an example: Unit 5 Differentiated Work Plan. After someone takes a unit pretest, I grade it, and then assign work based on the problems that they missed. This way, they aren't spending time working on skills that they've already mastered. With each unit topic that they need to complete, they sit down with me to watch the visual learning segment and complete a few problems for that topic. Once they feel confident with it, they continue to work at their own pace to complete the assigned work and a brief assessment. They they move on to the next topic. Some kids may need to work on all of the topics in a unit, and some many only need to do two or three. I'm excited about the kids being able to move at their own pace, focusing on the skills they really need!
Reading: For the last couple of weeks, we've been talking about making inferences. This is one of the most important reading skills, because when we're able to infer we can understand what we're reading much more deeply. We use the equation TC + BK = inference. TC = Text Clues, and BK = Background Knowledge. When we combine the clues from our reading with our background knowledge, we can make a smart guess about what's happening in the story.
Writing: In Writing, we've published our writing pieces from November, and are adding them to our portfolios. We're also talking about what makes a good sentence, a better sentence, and the best sentences. Action parts also add to a good sentence (where, when, and why something is happening). For a good sentence, we want to include a noun, a vivid verb, and a describer (adjective or adverb).
Language: This week we're working on the difference between common and proper nouns.
Social Studies: We learning about the events leading up to the Revolutionary War: The Boston Tea party, the Intolerable Acts, and the first Continental Congress. By the end of the week we'll have talked about the battles at Lexington and Concord that set the war in motion.
Bible: Our memory verse this week is: I am not ashamed of the good news. It is God's power. And it will save everyone who believes. - Romans 1:16
Have a wonderful week!
