Gonzales Weekly!

Gonzales Weekly

01/14/13

Hello and welcome to another week of fifth grade!  We have had some administrative changes at LPA Central – Mr. Rubasch has been promoted to the COO of the school district.  Mr. Ewald has taken his place as Principal, and Ms. Chartier (from LPA Lakeside) will be our Vice Principal.  Please take a moment to introduce yourself to Ms. Chartier whenever you can!  She comes from a classroom background, which is very exciting to see!

Please make sure that your child is working on their science fair project!  The due dates sneak up on everyone, and ALL of the project is done at home.  I do not give any class time for the work to be done.

A new change in my policy is happening.  Today, we took a 100 problem timed multiplication test.  If your child did not get above a 90%, they will be required to sit against the wall during recess and practice their times tables.  They will have an opportunity to get off from the wall on Friday afternoon by taking the same test right before recess.  Again, they need to score at least a 90% to play.  My reasoning for this is that 0-9 multiplication tables should have been memorized by the third grade.  It is nearly impossible to get through math in middle school if your child does not know how to do this.  I also feel as though recess is a privilege.  If they aren't meeting my classroom standards, they need to be practicing those skills instead of playing tag. 

If you have any questions or concerns about this new policy, feel free to email, call, or see me in person.  I would be happy to discuss this more with you.  This is a policy that I adopted from some of the fourth grade teaching staff, so if you have a returning student, you may be familiar with this.

If you are interested in checking your child's grades, they are available on engrade.com.  All you need is your child's username and password, which they received last week.  Thanks to the eight parents who logged in last week!

Please remember that there is no school on Monday, January 21^st for Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

This week in math, we will work on converting measurements of length, mass, and capacity in both US and Metric systems.  In reading, we will focus on main idea and supporting details.  In writing, students will complete the first draft of their personal narrative essay.  In Social Studies, students will continue studying the fifty states and geography.

Spelling words

1.        Montana

2.        Nebraska

3.        Nevada

4.        New Hampshire

5.        New Jersey

6.        New Mexico

7.        New York

8.        North Carolina

9.        North Dakota

10.      Ohio

11.      Oklahoma

12.      Oregon

13.      Pennsylvania

14.      Rhode Island

15.      South Carolina

16.      South Dakota

17.      Tennessee

18.      Texas

19.      Utah

20.      Vermont

21.      Virginia

22.      Washington

23.      West Virginia

24.      Wisconsin

25.      Wyoming

Have a great week!

Ms. Gonzales

agonzales@Lpatucson.org

andreagonzaleslpa.blogspot.com

721-4205