Week of August 17th, 2015

Dear Parents/Guardians and Students,
We will be continuing on with our pronouns and commas/parentheses/dashes standards from last week. We do have the following two new reading objectives this week though:
-I can determine and summarize the central idea of a passage without stating my own opinion.
-I can analyze how individuals, events, or ideas are introduced, illustrated or elaborated within a text.

This week and next we will focus on writing fundamentals and reading non-fiction text. Please feel free to check students' Reading and Writing notebooks and folders to see what we are working on.

On Friday (8/14) students got a head start on their Spelling work for this week. Again, they will be expected to write each word 4 times and write a sentence using each word. They will also choose between writing a paragraph incorporating 5 or more of the words and writing the definition for each word. All this work should be kept in the part of their Writing notebooks dedicated to Spelling. Spelling tests for last week have either been handed back or will be handed back today. I hope to see better scores this week. The Spelling words for this week are as follows:

• appointment
• culture
• dangerous
• depth
• educate
• excitement
• imagination
• location
• musician
• persuade

My La Paloma email account is temporarily disabled this week, so I may be more difficult to contact at the moment. I am working to resolve the problem. Until then, you can use the Remind 101 app or call the school to leave a message and I will contact you as soon as possible.

Thanks and have a great week!

Ms. Vasquez

Week of August 10th

Dear Parent/Guardian's and Students,

Our Reading Standards for this week are:
"I can determine and summarize the theme without stating my own opinion."
"I can describe how the plot unfolds as a series of events and characters."
Our Writing Standards for this week are:

"I can use commas, parentheses, and dashes to show additional information in a sentence."

" I can use pronouns correctly. I can identify and correct use of pronouns."

  This week we will begin our first Spelling Unit of the year. Students will be expected to keep a Writing Notebook with the first half of the notebook dedicated to spelling and the second half dedicated to notes. On Monday, students will copy down the word list and write each word three times, By Thursday, students will write a sentence for each word, and define all words or incorporate 5 or more into a paragraph.  All work will be kept in Writing Notebooks (which I will look over and grade during formative assessments on Fridays). Most Spelling work will be done during afterschool or at home.

  This week, other homework that is due is a worksheet on roots and affixes (due Tuesday), and a printout on commas (due Wednesday).
  
  Friday, students will have two Reading Formative Assessments and a quick Spelling test. 

 Parents/Guardians, if you have not yet signed up for the "Remind 101" application, please download it onto your smartphone or computer. You can get all reminders about homework, special events, etc. in my class sent to your phone. You can then text to 81010 with the message: @gvasqu 

Thank you!
-Ms. Vasquez

April 29th-May 3

Dear Parents/Guardians,
   Mid-quarter Progress Reports were sent home today.  Please sign them and send them back for me to see or write a note indicating that you received the Report by Wednesday, May 1st. Any missing work listed is due by Monday. Participation played a large factor in many of the grades this time because we were very busy studying and reviewing for AIMS. For the next three weeks, I will be collecting more work for grades as I typically have throughout the year. Please schedule an appointment with me if you have any concerns about your child's progress.

This week's Spelling Words:

1. logic
2. picket
3. disclose
4. dispose
5. oppress
6. instruct
7. clique
8. abrupt
9. excel
10. exterior
11. assessment
12. announcement
13. vowel
14. fundamental
15. government
16. cologne
17. conscience
18. irresistible
19. instead
20. imaginary

Thank you and have a great week! As always, you can contact me at the school phone number or genevav@gmail.com
-Ms. Vasquez

April 8th-12th

Dear Parents/Guardians,
  This Thursday we will be hosting a Special Parent Information Night (SPIN) in the cafeteria Thursday from 6-7:30. Teachers and Staff will be on hand to lead Math games, show parents how to assist students with Math, and show you the curricula that we use in our classes. Register by Wednesday and stop by the 6th grade booth on Thursday.
  This is our last week to prepare before AIMS testing. In class we will be reviewing concepts presented throughout the course of the year. Students will be bringing home Buckle Down AIMS workbooks this weekend. It would be great for you to review major concepts and terms with them before and during testing days. Next week I do not plan to send home homework, though students should be prepared to do silent, educational, and (I hope) enjoyable, independent work when they are finished with testing on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings. I recommend that all students have crayons, markers, or colored pencils available for their personal use next week. Crossword puzzle books, Sudoku books, and other activity books are also highly recommended.
  This week, our Spelling Words all come from our AIMS Reading Preparation Books. Please go over them with your student to ensure that they understand the meaning of the words. This week, students will take a Spelling and Vocabulary test on the words (as usual), but the higher of the two scores will be counted double and the lower score will be dropped.

1. synonym
2. antonym
3. summarize
4. theme
5. universal
6. inference
7. folktale
8. myth
9. nonfiction
10. conflict
11. resolution
12. metaphor
13. simile
14. stanza
15. alliteration
16. narrative
17. symbol
18. testimonial
19. propaganda
20. atlas

Have a great and productive week!

-Ms. Vasquez

March 18th-22nd

Dear Parents/Guardians,
  We are now in the 4th Quarter of the school year.  At this point, all 3rd Quarter report cards have been sent home.  Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.  I will be scheduling conferences this Thursday and Friday and April 3rd-5th for anyone who would like to come in and discuss student progress and especially for students who took a retention letter home. Congratulations go out to our 5 Principal's Honor Roll earners, our 3 Perfect Attendance students, and our Character Award winner Benny.  Good job students!
  This Wednesday is a Dollar Dress Down day to raise funds for a new garden that we will be starting soon. Students are encouraged to wear green.  March 25th-April 2nd is our Spring Break.  Students should relax in preparation for AIMS and the busy end of the school year, but they also need to make sure to keep reading at home.  Reading Logs for March will be due on April 3rd.  Cookie Dough Fundraiser packets were sent home today to give students an opportunity to sell to friends and family over the Break. If any families are able to donate supplies, we would greatly appreciate pencils, tissues, hand sanitizer, or lined paper. Thank you to everyone who participated in the Run, Walk, Roll Event over the weekend! Thank you to everyone who sent round foods to school for Pi Day.  We found the circumference of pies, pizzas, cookies, chips, funyons, cupcakes, etc.  It was educational and delicious!

There are no new Spelling Words this week. We were not able to get to our test last week, due to the half-day and Awards Assembly.  Words are available on last week's blog.
Have a great week and Spring Break!
-Ms. Vasquez

March 11th-15th

Dear Parents/Guardians,
  This week is the end of the 3rd quarter. It has really flown by! All missing work was due today. Most work from this week will appear in 4th quarter grades. We are continuing on at a busy pace.
  First drafts of book reports are due no later than this Friday. Students may count their book report reading time toward their Reading Log minutes for March.  Please remember that they need to be reading 400 minutes or more per month. This month, any student who reads five or more books will receive 4 free tickets to a Tucson Padres baseball game!
  We are studying Ancient Greece this week and continuing our Biography and Autobiography unit this week. We will also be celebrating Geometry and improved Galileo test scores on Thursday.  3/14 is International Pi day.  Students may bring any round food to measure and share with the class on Thursday afternoon.  Please ask your students about their Galileo scores.  All students received a break-down of their progress today. If you see a star, it means that they have demonstrated improvement throughout the year. A "Wow!" means that they demonstrated amazing improvement since the beginning of the year.  Writing scores are coded in pink, Math scores are coded in Green, and Reading scores are coded in orange.
Here are our Spelling Words for the week:

1. amphibian
2. acre
3. appreciate
4. brief
5. contagious
6. contribute
7. conversation
8. descendant
9. disastrous
10. echo
11. enough
12. fashion
13. foreign
14. hyphen
15. ingredient
16. liquid
17. location
18. novel
19. physical
20. scissors

Thank you and have a great week!
-Ms. Vasquez

March 4th-8th

Dear Parents/Guardians,
  We are quickly approaching the end of the 3rd Quarter.  All missing work is due no later than Monday 3/11.  Report cards go home on Friday 3/15. There is no afterschool and no lunch on the last day of the quarter. 
  Please remember that our big fundraiser this year is coming up on March 16th.  Run, Walk, Roll will be fun for the entire family! Please work on getting pledges.  There will be awards, games and FUN for all!  This is an LPA party in the park.
  This week we will be doing AIMS practice tests.  Students may have a bit less homework than usual, however, they will still be doing a Math lesson or supplemental each day.  Lesson 104 was assigned today, and some students may need to complete Spelling Sentences at home. Tomorrow students will have a practice Saxon Math test for extra-credit and preparation.
  We are in need of supplies.  If possible, especially if you were not able to provide classroom supplies last semester, send in a box of tissues or pencils or a bottle of hand sanitizer. These are items that we really need in the classroom!

Spelling Words for the Week:

1. juice
2. beautiful
3. rumor
4. cruise
5. journalist
6. urgent
7. apply
8. type
9. system
10. lyric
11. appointment
12. destroy
13. announcement
14. wound
15. group
16. incessant
17. possesive
18. resemble
19. chemist
20. machine

Thank you and have a great week!
-Ms. Vasquez