Dear Wonderful Families,

This is a busy time of year. Please read through the whole update.

Holiday Fun!
Wednesday, December 20th: Secret Santa gift
exchange. The gift exchange will be $5 or less.
If you are wanting to donate towards our party,
here is a sign up for food:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0f44adae22aaf
f2-secret
If you are wanting to volunteer at our Secret Santa
Gift Exchange party, please email me in advance.
Thursday, December 21st: Cozy reading with hot
chocolate. Both classes will be able to share their
Hero`s Journey Creative writing during this time.
Then, they will have board game time.
Deskorating was a Blast!

 Units of Study
Language Arts- The Great Depression
While the students are reading the novel, Bud, Not Buddy, they will be working on these skills and
concepts:
Figurative Language and Tone (Identifying and explaining the meaning)
Evaluate an Argument (Identifying a claim in a text and developing a claim)
Argumentative Writing (Developing research based claims)
Determining the central idea or theme

Social Studies - Ancient Rome

December 19th, our class gets to join 3rd Grade and engage in their Ancient Rome Living Museum
Ancient Egypt
Next stop, Egypt! We will begin this unit after Winter Break.

Science- Heat and Energy

During this unit the students will demonstrate their knowledge in multiple ways:
Hands-on Labs
Water Cycle Model (Work on in class, Monday, December 18th)
End of the Unit Assessment Wednesday, December 20th (attached is a study guide)

On Monday, the students will need to have a poster or

showbox to create their water cycle model. I will have tissue
paper, colored paper, cotton balls, etc. If they want something
in particular, they are welcome to bring in their own items.

The major concepts they will demonstrate knowledge on are:

Thermal Energy: Conduction, Convection, and Radiation
How molecules move during heat transfer
What causes the Water Cycle (Evaporation, condensation, and precipitation)
 Western Sierra Collegiate Academy Field Trip: January 10th

In order to get students thinking about middle school, Western

Sierra Collegiate Academy provides a shadow day where students
are able to see what a day in middle school is like. Students at
Western Sierra lead the stations, so our sixth graders are able
hear, from experienced middle schoolers, what the keys to success
at Western Sierra Collegiate Academy are.

Permission Slips are due: Wednesday, December 20th

Volunteers Needed
Science: I am looking for parent volunteers who would like to help run stations for Science Labs
throughout the year. There are a few labs per unit, and we generally have the labs at the end of the
day on Mondays and Wednesdays. Please email if you are interested.

Weekly Volunteers: During conference week, plenty of parents mentioned they would like to start
volunteering in the classroom because their schedules are changing. If you are interested in being a
weekly volunteer on any of these days, please email me:
Thursday, from 12:00-12:45: Work in small groups and monitor the class on Thursdays
Fridays, from 12:00-12:45: Help with grading while the students are at P.E.
Fridays, from 2:10-3:10: Either- grade while students are at the Eagle Rally, monitor during
Fun Friday, or help with Art Docent
Class Donations
From now until the end of the year, our class will be going through a lot of tissues. Our class
currently needs tissues, hand sanitizer, and wipes (not clorox wipes).

Important Dates
Dec. 20th- Secret Santa Exchange
Dec. 21st - Minimum Day
Dec. 22-January 5th- Winter Break
Jan. 8th- No School, Professional Development

Sincerely,
Mrs. Peters