Happy Thanksgiving

November 23, 2015
Dear Parents,

It's the week of Thanksgiving and thankful, thankful, thankful is how I feel!! When I look back at the last three months, I give thanks for the amazing students that I get to teach and learn from everyday. I am thankful for the wonderful parents that support their children and myself in the educational process. I am also very thankful to work with every member of the Oasis Academy Staff; the past three months have enabled me to learn and grow as an educator and a person!!

Math

Last week in math we continued our work with money. Students worked on reading and writing money amounts in words, making equivalent values of money using different denominations (1 quarter = 2 dimes and 1nickel), converting cents to dollars and cents (342 cents = $3.42), and converting dollars and cents to cents ($4.27 = 427 cents).

This week we will start a unit on geometry. We will complete our work in geometry before Christmas Break.

Since we have a short week, students will only have homework on Monday. Enjoy the Thanksgiving Break!

Here's the homework...
Mon. IXL--T.4 Count Sides and Angles
Tues. No Homework

Writing

In writing students have been working on writing a persuasive letter. This letter is being written to convince Judge George to spare Tom Turkey's life. As a class we brainstormed why reasons Tom Turkey should live. The students were very creative with their reasons. Then students followed the same format we have been using in our opinion writing--state an opinion, give reasons, explain reasons (details), and finally restate the opinion. Students are getting very good at following this format. Each letter follows letter format with a heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature. These will be up in the hall this coming week.

Language

Our work in language this week was all about words that need to be capitalized. We used the acronym MINTS to remember the words that need to be capitalized, M=months and days, I=the word "I", N=names of important people, places, and things, T=title of books, songs, and plays, and S=start of a sentence. This is a skill that we will continue to practice this week as well.

Projects

Students started designing lab reports that follow the scientific method. They will be determining how the solid or liquid they selected will change when heated and cooled. They will also be experimenting to see if the changes are reversible or irreversible. As a class we experimented with salt water, students were surprised to find that the salt water didn't freeze as was hypothesized. As students discussed the results, many students connected with the salt that is used in the winter to melt ice on the road and the salt that is added to the ice when making ice cream.

As we make our way to Thanksgiving on Thursday, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving that is filled with special memories.

Gratefully yours,

Anne Bloomfield

News from Mrs. Loop

Well this will be a quick and short week of school before Thanksgiving break.  Due to our short week I will not be meeting with students in reading groups this week. Instead I will be meeting with students in small groups or one on one to complete report card assessments of past skills that have been taught.  All students will asked to  determine an author’s purpose of various reading passages.  It could be to provide entertainment, information, or to persuade the reader.  They will also be asked to locate nonfiction text features in a book such as the glossary, index, and table of contents.  Students will need to use these parts of a nonfiction book to locate information in the book.  I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends.