Room 20 Classroom Notes January 6-10

Happy New Year! We have much to do! We will finish up a few projects from 2013 this week and hit the ground running learning about explorers in Social Studies, Variables in Science (and doing several experiments), and starting an informational essay after we complete our imaginative pieces. In math, we finish learning about volume within the next two weeks and, after which, will have our Unit 3 test. For the informational essay, it will be about a specific explorer during the age of exploration. This was a very complex time in history and it is my intention to tell the whole story, both positive and negative. While some of the explorers helped their countries gain more power, it was often on the backs of native peoples or African slaves. It should be a fascinating look at history. Students will also be asked to cite sources for a detailed and accurate bibliography. Something new: We will begin returning some of our homework the next day. Weekly essays and spelling will always be due on the last day of the week. I would like to see math homework done and returned the next day. Please make sure your child knows YOU know. This is an expectation in middle school and I want to move toward that model for our daily homework. Thanks for your support.