Taylor Talk

12/17/07

Holiday Greetings Parents!

Last week was such a whirlwind, we didn’t get the newsletter out.  This week promises to be just as busy, but we are able to communicate with you.  Speaking of communication, we would like to remind you that the surest way to communicate with us is via email.  We are still learning to use the new phone system, and it is unreliable as a source of communication at this point.  Please send an email or a note with your child in order to insure a clear message.  Thanks!

Poinsettias were made in class on Thursday and Friday.  The students worked very hard on these and did a beautiful job with this Christmas Flower which is native to the southwestern part of the country and especially in Mexico.

Parents, please help us to help your child over the winter holiday!  Please go through the binder with your child and organize papers into correct sections, throw away old science (not energy-related papers!) and social studies papers, and just generally clean things up.  This would help so much.

 A Peek at the Week:

Language Arts – We are still working on the skills from “A Cricket in Times Square.”  There will not be a spelling test this week.

 Math – We are continuing to cover Unit 5, Estimating Products, Partial-Products and Lattice Multiplication- very fun. J

 Science – We are moving further into our study of Energy.  The students were each given a handout on Friday with a list of vocabulary terms that each should be familiar with from the science units we have studied thus far.  If you did not see your child’s list, please ask for it.  If you need another copy, let me know.

We are using Brain Pop videos with this unit which can be accessed from home by going to brainpop.com and plugging in the name and password which are both kes757.  Unfortunately, this can only be used during school hours.  How this can be helpful is if your child is home for a day, this is a useful and valuable way for him/her to spend some time.  It may be available over the winter break also, but I’m not sure.  Our focus right now is Forms of Energy, Potential Energy, and Kinetic Energy, but Brain Pop is very interesting and holds many great topics to be explored.

 
We hope all of you have a restful and safe holiday!

Thank you for sharing your child with us!

Joni Davis and Laura Taylor