Team Kani News: March 27-31, 2017

Energy Education Week!

All week long students will be learning about energy!  
Help us meet our 2016-2017 Energy Star Pledge Goal of 1000 pledges.  Here is a link to Hilsman's Energy Star Pledge Campaign:  https://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=join_change_the_world.showPledgeDriverDetails&cpd_id=24013

English/Language Arts News

This week, we will continue reading our class novel, A Long Walk to Water. The students are enjoying learning about the history, challenges, and the resilience and spirit of of the Sudanese. Ask your child to talk with you about what all they have learned through our focused study on Africa thus far as well as have them explain what our wonderful novel we are reading is all about!

I look forward to meeting with all of you later this week to discuss your child's progress and setting some goals for him/her to work on achieving this last 9 weeks of the school year!

Science

Monday = Fossils

Tuesday = Fossils

Wednesday = Cookie Genetics Lab

Thursday = Natural Selection

Friday - Natural Selection & Big 10 Quiz

Notebook Contents to date for Notebook Check #4:  CLICK HERE TO VIEW

Lab Needs for Wednesday, March 29:
Chocolate & Vanilla Frosting, Skittles, Sprinkles

Math News

Get ready for another exciting week in math class! This past week, we began the second half of Unit 5.

We will begin the upcoming week by spending some time outdoors, learning about Hilsman's compost site. Specifically, on Monday, Ms. Seymour will be leading each class through numerous different stations outside to explore how our school is helping reduce waste. The goal of this on-site "field trip" is to get students thinking about how to make composting more efficient. We are currently investigating volume and surface area. At the end of our current unit, students will have the opportunity to present their own ideas and offer suggestions as they relate to making the most efficient and cost effective composting site. 

On Tuesday, we will continue working through our "Filling and Wrapping" Investigations. Again, we are addressing concepts related to volume and surface area of geometric shapes and prisms. Due to Early Release, Wednesday-Friday will be cut short but our learning will not stop. We will spend Wednesday and Thursday completing a single Investigation and then conclude the week with a short "Check-Up Quiz" on Friday. Students have been keeping all of the notes we have been taking over the past 2 weeks. These notes will prove to be extremely beneficial in studying for our quiz on Friday.

Please remind your child(ren) to take advantage of our online resource, Waggle. Students are still expected to complete an hour of "Waggle time" each week. I have uploaded a new assignment, "Area, Surface Area, and Volume" that aligns closely to the content we are covering in class.
Waggle student login information is as follows...
username: [student i.d. number]
password: clarke[student i.d. number]

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Go Panthers!

Social Studies News

This week we will be finishing Unit 6 Asia History. Our main focus this week will be the spread of communism into Korea and Vietnam and the U.S. interventions to contain it. We are now in the last 9 weeks of the school year and it is important for students to remain focused and continue to turn in all assignments. Some grades were adversely affected during the 3rd 9 weeks due to incomplete assignments. Students will be given a study guide today, Monday, which will be due Thursday for a homework grade. The study guide is linked below. The unit 6 common assessment over Asia History will be given next Monday. This is a difficult unit and it is very important that students complete the study guide and turn it in on time. The Asia coach book in the ABOUT section of google classroom can be a helpful study resource.  Thank you for your support!