Week of December 17th

Hi Everyone, 

     This is our last week of school of 2018!! That means that we are already half way through the school year. The 2nd nine weeks ends on this Friday 12/21. Students do not return to school until Tuesday January 8th. On Monday January 7th I will finalize report card grades. 

     Please ask your child about needed supplies. As we have reached the mid-way point students are beginning to run out of glue. If possible purchase your child a craft bond glue stick. Many of the regular glue sticks do not have a strong bond and student work sometimes falls out of journals. Many students do not have headphones. Headphones are a needed supply since we go to the computer lab at least once a week. We also use the lab top cart at once a week with Mrs. Chin for Genius Hour. The headphones in the lab are in short supply and I do not have extra headphones in the classroom. Students are also out of pencils and many have lost their scissors.

     A big CONGRATULATIONS goes out to Samaikhya for winning the 4th Grade Spelling Bee!!

      This week in math students will take the module 4 test on geometry. We will then work on a culminating project, Geometry Snowman, to finish the unit. 

     Students will be receiving  a Winter Math Packet this week. The packet contains work that matches the standards that we have worked on so far this year. The packet is optional, but I encourage all students to complete the work. Students may get help from an adult or older siblings to answer questions, but the student must complete the work themselves. The completion of the packet is optional. Students that successfully complete the packet with a grade of B or higher will earn 25 tickets. 

     This week in science we will begin learning about heat energy. Students will learn that heat moves from warm places/objects to cooler places/objects until the temperature of both are the same. Students will also learn that heat moves in 3 ways; conduction, convection, and radiation.

     We will not cover a new lesson in social studies this week. Students do have a vocabulary homework assignment. 

      I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone Happy Holidays. What ever you celebrate enjoy this time off. I hope that you get to spend tons of time with family and friends. 

Ms. Johnson

Week of December 3rd

Hi Everyone,

     We have another full week of school. And today would have been the perfect day to be home with a good book. Hopefully today is the only day with so much rain. 

     We have an illness make its way around the classroom. Students have had fevers, headaches, sore throats, and upset stomachs. Remember that a student must be fever free for 24 hours without medication before they can return to school. With testing happening this week we want to keep from spreading our germs as much as possible. 

     We will begin mid year testing this week. Please see the schedule below:

Mon. and Tues. (3rd & 4th) Achieve 3,000 and i-Ready Reading testing with Ms. Billiard
Wed. and Thurs. (5th & 6th) i-Ready Math testing with Ms. Johnson
Fri. and Mon. (7th & 10th) District ELA Scrimmage-students will test in their homeroom 
Wed. and Thurs. (12th & 13th) District Math Scrimmage-students will test in their homeroom 

Please make sure that students are getting plenty of rest and eat a filling breakfast. We want our students to show what they have learned so far this year. 

     This week in math we will learn how to find the measure of an unknown angle using the known measures of the angles around the unknown angle. This work will be done without the use of protractors. Students will do work like what is shown below.

 

Students will have to use information such as:

*circles equal 360 degrees

*straight lines equal 180 degrees 

*right angles equal 90 degrees

*a quarter of a circle equals 90 degrees

*three quarters of a circle equals 270 degrees

     

     This week in science we will finish up our work on sound energy. We will then begin working on how the kinetic energy of wind and water can be used to help us create clean energy. We will take our test on unit 7 next week. 

     

     Students did a great job last week with their annotated notes for social studies. Students will take annotated notes for this weeks lesson, chapter 4 lesson 1. When students take notes they:

*should include the section heading/subheading title

*should pull out a few important details from each paragraph

*not copy ever word

*should try to take the text and put it in their own words

*don't have to write complete sentences bullets are okay

Week of November 12, 2018

Hi Everyone,

     I am sorry for the confusion with the Sway newsletter. I found out today that Sway presentations can only be shared with faculty, staff and students within the DCPS network. So I will continue to update this blog with our weekly newsletters.

 I would like to again thank all of the Veterans in our JBE community. A big THANK YOU to Mrs. Elliott (Edward) and Mr. Stuver (Gaia) for presenting to our classes on last Thursday. 

This week in math we will take our test for Module 3. The test will cover the following material:

*prime and composite numbers *factors and multiples

*area and perimeter *multiplication strategies

*division strategies *patterns

*balanced equations

The questions will include multi-step problems. Students are allowed to choose the strategies that work best for them when they solve problems. The algorithms for multiplication and division are not allowed in student work. Please see the photos below for examples of the strategies that we discussed in class.

On Thursday we will begin Module 4. In this module we will work on geometry. During this unit we will learn geometric terms like point, line, line segment, and angles. We will also learn about the different types of triangles. Students will also learn how to use a protractor to measure angles. Here are some videos that you and your child can watch.
            
Math Antics: Points, Lines, Planes       Number Rock: Angles Song

     This week in science we will continue to work on forms of energy. We will focus of sound energy next week.

Our social studies for this week will be a study of what colonial life was like for children. We will have our Colonial Kids Festival on Thursday. If you have not already done so, please send in $5 cash to cover the cost of the activities. We are also still in need of two volunteers to lead the activity that will take place in my classroom.

     

    Pilgrim Life with Scholastic News

Thanks and Have a GREAT week,
Ms. Johnson

Veterans Day Fun

     

     Let me again thank all of the Veterans for your service to our country I would like to send out a big THANK YOU to Mrs. Elliott (Edward) and Mr. Stuver (Gaia) not only for their service to our country, but also for helping us to learn more about their jobs in the military

Week of November 5th 2018

Hi Everyone,

     A special thank you to all of the parents that helped out with our Fall Festivals. The students had a great time!!

     The next three weeks of school are all shortened weeks.  We will be off on Friday 11/9, to honor our brave Veteran's. Let me say a huge THANK YOU for your service. In honor of our JBE Veterans and their families. We will have a special Flag Raising Ceremony on Thursday morning. The ceremony will be followed by presentations from our military members. Edward's mom will speak to my homeroom and Gaia's dad will speak to Ms. Billiards class. We have Wednesday 11/21 off for a weather day.

     On Thursday 11/15 we will have our Colonial Kids field trip here at school. We will have an expert on colonial times come to JBE to teach us what life was like for kids during 1600's. In order to provide for materials there is a cost of $5 per student. We are asking you to send in cash only. Please put the money in a baggie or envelope with your child's name on the outside. We will also need 2 volunteers to run the activities in my room and in Ms. Billiard's room. We would need you from 8:00-11:40. If you are able to volunteer please let us know. Students will bring home a letter on Tuesday. 
     
     This week in math we will review for our Module 3 Test.  The test is on Thursday. After we complete our test we will complete a short unit on balancing equations and patterns. We will then move to Module 4 which is on geometry.

     This week in science we will begin learning about energy. We will discuss the different forms of energy. Among these are kinetic energy, potential energy, mechanical energy, light/radiant energy, heat/thermal energy, and chemical energy.

     Due to the short weeks we will not complete a new unit in social studies. Last week we did discuss Fort Caroline.. It was established by the French in the 1500's.  Fort Caroline is located here in Jacksonville. It is open to the public 7 days a week from 9:00 until 4:45.  For more information about the fort and it's history please click on the link below.

Fort Caroline Website

     This week in technology students need to complete at least 45 minutes of i-Ready. We went to the computer lab today so students should have already completed at least 15 minutes of this work. Students should have also completed their science book assignment for What is Energy. Students also have an assignment on Brain Pop. The assignment is titled Forms of Energy.

Have a GREAT Week,

Ms. Johnson

Week of 10/29/2018

Happy Monday Everyone, 

     I hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather. I am enjoying the sound of my air conditioner not running all day long.

     On this Wednesday both classes will be having Fall Festivals. Please contact your classes room parents for information about times and needed supplies. Ms. Billiard and I are inviting students to wear there pirate outfits from the first day of school in honor of the occasion. Wednesday is also early release so please make sure your child knows how they are to get home. 

     On Monday's I take the students to the computer lab. I usually just assign i-Ready work for students. I know that students get bored with i-Ready since they are already using it for their homework each week. So sometimes I like to find other pieces of technology for us to work on in the lab. Today I assigned Brain Pop movies and quizzes. Many students were unable to complete this work in the lab because they either left their username and passwords at home, thought they had their username and passwords memorized or they never registered for their account. Students should have their usernames and passwords written down on a sticky note or piece of paper. I have advised students to put this in the bag with their headphones. At this point students should have a username and password for Brain Pop and Prodigy. They should also know how to access their science book online and how to get to our class page @ https://msjohnsonsclassrocks.blogspot.com. 

     As I sat down to grade last week's math quiz, I noticed that many students had calculation errors. So instead of grading their work I passed the quizzes back to students so that they could correct any mistakes. On tomorrow we will begin learning strategies for solving division problems. For division students will not be taught the long division algorithm. This skill has been moved to middle school. We will learn the area model for division, partial quotients, and multiplying up. Please see the examples below. 

Area Model for Division

Multiplying Up

Partial Quotients

     This week in science we will take a test on physical changes and chemical changes. Students were reminded to bring home their science books so that they could study tonight. Students will also complete labs were they will get to see some chemical changes in action. 

     We swapped lunch times with 3rd grade classes on last Friday to help them out with a scheduling glitch with their field trip to Sweet Pete's. Due to this change in our schedule we were not able to work on social studies. So we will cover both lesson 1 and lesson 2 in chapter 3 this week.