I hope you had a nice weekend! I attended the Harlem Globetrotters game to watch the Dolvin Chorus sing the National Anthem. I enjoyed cheering on my San Francisco 49ers! Super Bowl Bound!! I also took time for reflection yesterday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Please help encourage your students to continue following our big three: Show respect for myself, Show respect for others, and Be 100% accountable.
Please encourage them to continue utilizing their agendas as well as being responsible in showing you important notes and permission slips. We are working on taking initiative and ownership in our learning and other fun activities. If a paper must be signed by a parent or returned promptly, we are working together to find an appropriate time to share it with a parent, get it signed by the parent, and get it returned promptly. That being said, please return Jekyll forms ASAP. We have very important documents as well as payments being collected. Please help me to remind your students to check their binders each day for important papers!
Important Dates:
January 20- No School, MLK Holiday
January 23- Newspaper Day—Students may wear pajamas to celebrate the completion of our newspapers. We will be enjoying donuts and hot chocolate!
January 24- 5th grade panoramic photo
(Students must wear 5th grade shirt and blue jeans. We will pass out white t-shirts on Friday. Please have them wear a white t-shirt or undershirt for under their shirts. If they absolutely
don’t have blue jeans, please DO NOT purchase, just have them wear blue or black pants. )
January 27- 100th Day of School Celebration (Students may dress up to look 100 years old or represent 100 in their own creative way)
January 29- Lunch Bunch
January 31- First Jekyll Payment Due
January 31- January Book Review Due
Spelling/Vocabulary: Spelling list 8 was passed out today. The quiz will be in about 2 weeks. All lists should stay in their binder. For extra practice, please visit spellingcity.com/pratta. I have loaded all lists onto this site for practice (some might change throughout the year). We are changing the Spelling quizzes slightly this semester to reflect the fact that our "Word Study" time in class is not just about spelling, but also about morphology and vocabulary. Due to this, our tradition spelling quizzes will now be updated to include a different vocabulary section as well as sort sections based on the affixes discussed in class.
Grammar: This week we will continue our grammar unit which will cover synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms (both homographs and homophones). They’ll also be learning how to read and complete analogies. There will be a unit test next week. Students will have notes in their binders, their grammar notebooks, and on Google Classroom.
Writing: We will continue our unit on opinion writing. We will continue to discuss purpose, structure and stance. We will continue brainstorming to choose a stance by making a pro/con chart. Then we will use the pro/cons to help us develop counterarguments and started learning about the structure of an introduction. They’ll start working through the structure from beginning to end and will add an example to their Writer’s Notebooks as well as add the opinion rubric to their binders This week the kids will take a quiz on introductions. We will also begin a new practice opinion paper. They will begin by reading articles for information and creating a pro/con chart. Next week we will work on the organizer, writing an intro, reviewing the structure of the detail paragraphs, adding citations/evidence, and adding transitions. They’ll be adding their opinion rubric to their binders later this week.
Reading: We are wrapping up our Newspaper projects that include various text features and text structures. Students are finished writing three articles: one comparing/contrasting the two inventors or their inventions, one article written in chronological order, and one article discussing cause/effect or impact the inventor had on the world. Newspaper Day is this Thursday, January 23. Students will wear PJs and enjoy hot cocoa/doughnuts while reading the paper. We will be doing newspaper/media related activities throughout the day.
We began a unit on Folklore (fables, folktales, myths, and legends). Students will be reviewing what makes a folktale a folktale, attributes of all folklore, as well as the structure of dramatic literature. We will have a quiz on dramatic literature this week. We will also be reviewing all of the story elements, theme, setting, characterization, conflict resolution, and in addition tone. We will learn about tone/mood. We will also work with comparing and contrasting two characters in a folktale/myth. Please monitor your child’s monthly Book Log Review. Students are required to read two, 150 page books, or one 300 page pre-approved book in January. Please help keep your student on track with their reading. The Book Review should be signed by a parent. The log along with the completed book review, are due Friday, Jan 31st.
If you would like extra practice for your child at home, visit the Launchpad website launchpad.fultonschools.org. There are many useful links available. One is a link for i-Ready. Your child should use this link for i-Ready for additional practice at home and at school. It is a Fulton County directive, that all students complete 40-60 minutes of iReady a week.
Other Clubs: If your student is interested in joining any other clubs at Dolvin, please visit the Dolvin website and click the activities tab for more information. New clubs will be starting in January.
School Dress Code:
Just a reminder of the Dress code as written in the Dolvin Handbook. We will continue to give the students reminders about “school clothes” and “play/home clothes” as well. Thank you for helping reinforce the school dress code with the students. Also please remind your students to bring warm winter coats and accessories for when we are outside at recess. We encourage students to wear long pants over shorts in the mornings and at recess. If they get hot in the building, they may remove them and wear shorts inside the building. Hats should be removed once inside the building.
All students shall dress appropriately so as not to disrupt or interfere with the educational program or orderly operation of the school. Extremes in dressing and grooming will not be permitted. Shorts and skirts must meet finger-tip rule and straps must be one inch in width. Bare midriffs, see through clothing, and apparel that designate gangs or similar are not appropriate wear. Flip flops should not be worn to school. On the first violation, the teacher will send a note home to remind the parent and student of the dress code. For the second violation, students will be asked to call home for appropriate clothing or borrow from the clinic.
Devices
Students are not permitted to bring any devices to school at this time. We have not signed technology permission forms. If your student needs a cell phone for after school safety reasons, please let me know. The phone must be off and in their locker at all times. Please direct all necessary communication through the teacher.