Busy, Busy Week

Hey Room 21 families!

We have a lot of stuff coming down the pike in the next couple of weeks.

Starting today, we're taking practice tests for next week's Smarter Balance Assessment in Reading. The actual test will be next Tuesday and Thursday. We sent home letters today asking for families who are willing to donate snacks so that we can make sure all students have some healthy food in them before they test. If you wish to donate, please refer to the list and let me know as soon as possible what you'll be sending. I will be bringing breakfast snacks as well, so no worries if you can't.

We still have some families who have not filled out the online waiver for Camp Orkila. If you have not, please visit this site as soon as possible. The waiver only takes a few minutes to fill out. Also, a reminder that we need to have any medications you'll be sending to camp to the health office by May 15th. 

We have two tests coming up this Friday. We'll be wrapping up a short unit on measurement with a unit test Friday morning and, Friday afternoon, we'll have our last science test of the year on Hazards in the Household.

Have a great week!

Test Alert

Sixth graders have a test tomorrow on equations. They need to know how to solve one- and two-step equations, use a table to solve equations for a variable, graph a linear equation and find solutions to inequalities.

This Friday, students will bring home a homework problem from the week to solve with you.

Also, a reminder: next week is Spring Break. Hope you have fun plans.

Spring Fever

Hey Room 21 families,

My apologies for the lack of posts the last couple of weeks. It's been hectic around Echo Lake and I've been trying to keep on top of a number of things that pulled my attention. Here, then, is a short list of things to be aware of:

• Thank you to all of the families who were able to attend last night's Open House. It was great seeing all of you and so fun to watch the students fill you in on what's been happening in the classroom. Special thanks to the families who donated books to our class library. 
• Tests: We are entering the downward slope in math, and we'll have a lot of tests coming at us. We had our unit test for percents this week and many students struggled with some of the concepts. I'll be taking time to go back and revisit some of the unit in the next few weeks. Our next unit test in math will be next Friday.
• Writing: We have been hard at work on argumentative presentations; students picked a controversial topic and took a stance on it. They have been gathering evidence to back up their opinion. They'll take their research and use it to create a slide show on Google Slides and write a spoken presentation to go with it. Those presentations will begin next week and will likely wrap up after Spring Break.
• Spring Break is just a week away. I will be sending home a very small math packet and instructing students to read an hour every day.
• We start our final unit in science next week. We'll be spending two weeks looking at household products and the dangers they present.

Hope you are all enjoying the slightly warmer weather and the little bits of sunshine that are starting to pop up. Have a great weekend.