Things to Remember:
Tuesday, March 3-Monday, March 9 - ISAT testing
Monday, March 9 - Conference week
Tuesday, March 10- Report cards go home
Thursday, March 12 - School Improvement Day 1/2 day of school
Friday, March 13 - No School/Conferences

• 
  ISAT Testing Begins
  Here are suggestions on how parents can help their children prepare for the ISAT:
  Make sure your child gets a good night’s sleep before the tests
  Make sure your child eats a healthy breakfast the days of the test/healthy snack to school
  Let your child know that he or she should take the test seriously and do his or her best
  Talk to your child about what to do while taking the test, including:
  Paying attention to directions
  Asking questions about directions if they are unclear
  Reading each question carefully
  Eliminating wrong answers right away, concentrating on remaining choices
  Double checking answers

Language Arts: The language arts classes will not be meeting this week. The students should be reading each night and keeping track of their reading in their folders.

Math - No formal math classes will be meeting this week.

Social Studies This week in social studies the children will describe the Cahokia as the early trading center of the Midwest. They will identify the goals of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

A test is planned for The following Wednesday, March 11 over chapter 9. The students should know:

• All vocabulary
• Early life of the Ojibwa
• Explorers of the Midwest and what they are know for exploring
• John Deere
• know how the pioneers survived when they came to the Midwest
• Midwestern cities that were trading posts
• Why was a water route to the Midwest important
• steamboat purpose
• compare advantages to shipping by rail vs steamboat
• Why did the Ojibwa rely on game instead of farming for their main source of food?
• Goals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
• Why Cahokia and St. Louis were good places for trade
• Compare the two main types of homes that the Midwester pioneers built. Tell how they were like and how they were different. Be ready to tell as much as you know about it.

Science This week the students will use a spring scale and a balance to understand the difference between weight and mass. They will also understand that friction is a force that resists or opposes, motion between objects that are in contact. They will learn how friction can be controlled.

A test over chapter 16 in science will be on Tuesday, March 10th. This chapter has many difficult concepts to understand and we will be reviewing them all week.

They should know:

• All vocabulary
• measurement of force of gravity on an object
• the force that resists motion between objects
• What happens when you increase the force on an object
• understand the concept of gravity
• what 2 things must be measured to find speed
• Why is the gas pedal in a car called an accelerator
• Why do we need friction? What are examples of friction?
• What can things can reduce friction? Explain why.
• inertia- understand what it is and how it works
• undersand the difference between mass and weight

News From Mrs. Cavoto's Room Feb. 23-27

Things to Remember:
Thursday, February 26 Spring Picture Day
Monday, March 2 No School- Casmir Polaski Day
Tuesday, March 3-Monday, March 9 ISAT Testing
Monday, March 9 -Wednesday, March 11 Conference Week


Spelling - This week in spelling the pattern is in words with tch or ch. Use tch immediately after a single, short vowel in a one-syllable word. Use ch in most other words.

Language Arts - This week the students will review their knowledge of rootwords, prefixes and suffixes. They will read and compare the different genres of literature: fables, folktales, fairytales, and myths. They will also be working on their responses to literature.


Social Studies - This week in social studies the students will learn about the factors that led some Native American groups in the Midwest to lose their land. They will also identify the challenges that the Midwestern settlers faced and what they had to do to overcome those challenges.


Science - This week the students will review how velocity relates to acceleration and how forces cause acceleration. They will also review how force and mass effect acceleration. The students will learn this week why the force of gravity is important. They will understand the affect friction has on motion and where it occurs.-

Please send in toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls for an experiment.


Math The students will review classifying triangles. They will learn about the different kinds of quadralaterals: parallelograms, rhombus, and trapezoid. They will also identify, draw and lable parts of a circle. They will work on their problems solving skills and writing explanations.

News From Mrs. Cavoto's Class February 16-20

Things to Remember:

Monday, February 16 - No School President's Day
Friday, February 20 - Read to Succeed Forms are Due
Thursday, February 26 - Spring Picture Day
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Spring Picture Day - All students will be photographed. Please
notify your student's teacher if you do not want an individual portrait
taken of your child.
Look Before You Buy:
Send no money now - View your portraits before you buy.
Your finished portrait package will be sent home for review.
Simply return any un-used portrait sheets with your payment.



Dear Parents,
Parent/Teacher Conferences are the week of March 9th. Spring conferences are being held on an "as needed" basis with your child's homeroom and/or math teacher. If you should wish to schedule a conference, please contact your child's teacher(s) as soon as possible. Please include if you prefer a phone conference or if you would rather meet in person. Please indicate which day (Monday - 3/9, Tuesday - 3/10, or Wednesday - 3/11) you prefer. Once all requests have been received, a conference date/time will be provided.


Spelling This week the pattern that the children are learning is to use dge immediately after a single, short vowel in a one-syllable word. Use ge in most other words.

Reading - All reading folders are due on Thursday, February 19th. Reading club party is on Friday, February 20th.

This week in reading the children will practice making inferences. They will make inferences as they read the story Skylark. They will also continue to work on their reading responses.

Science We will begin a new chapter this week. The Big Idea this week is Motion can be measured and described. It is influenced by forces such as gravity. The first lesson the students will learn about is how Motion is described and measured.

Social Studies This week the students will learn that European settlement in the Great Lakes region and the Mississippi valley began with fur trade. Many of the region's cities and towns began as fur trading centers. They will also identify the roles of Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette in the fur trade.

Math This week in math we will begin our geometry unit. The students will identify, describe, and draw points, lines, line segments, rays and planes. They will also measure and classify angles. They will draw right, acute, obtuse, and straight angles.

News From Mrs. Cavoto's Room Feb. 9-13th

Things to Remember:

Monday, February 9 - Book orders are due. Please make orders out to Scholastic Book Clubs
Friday, February 13 - Valentine's Day party at 1:30
Monday, February 16 No School Presidents' Day
Friday, February 20- Great American Read to Succeed forms are due
Thursday, February 26 - Spring Picture Day
Monday, March 2, - Casimir Polaski Day No School
Tuesday, March 3 -ISAT testing begins
Monday, March 9 - Conference week

This week is "phone week". All students will be tested to see if they know their home phone numbers.

Dear Parents,

Parent/Teacher Conferences are the week of March 9th. Spring conferences are being held on an "as needed" basis with your child's homeroom and/or math teacher. If you should wish to schedule a conference, please contact your child's teacher(s) by Friday, February 13th. Please include if you prefer a phone conference or if you would rather meet in person. Please indicate which day (Monday - 3/9, Tuesday - 3/10, or Wednesday - 3/11) you prefer. Once all requests have been received, a conference date/time will be provided.


Spelling The spelling pattern this week is 1 + 1 + 1 words and silent e words with ending. I will be assessing their daily work this week. I have noticed a great improvement of test scores since they have been writing their words one time each every night. Great job!
Test on Friday chapter 21.

English - This week the students will finish up their "Hot Spot" adjective writing assignment.

Reading - This week the students will work with comprehension in expository passages. They will also work on their written responses to questions asked about the passage. They will be asked to write clues from the story and their own ideas to support their answers.

Don't forget to turn in your reading folders. Also, Read to Succeed forms are due by Feb. 20th.

Social Studies - The children will learn about the early Ojibwa culture, a Native American tribe from the Midwest area. They will describe the ways Ojibwa culture has changed since the mid - 1600's. They will also learn about the Sioux and how they continue to follow their traditions. Students will make their own "talking stick" . The Ojibwa use the talking stick to make sure that each person in a group has a chance to express his or her thoughts. Whoever has the stick has the right to talk.

Science- This week the students will learn about chemical energy (energy that can be released by a chemical reaction) and mechanical energy (the total potential and kinetic energy of an object).
A test over chapter 15 will be given on Thursday of this week.
The students should begin preparing for this test on Monday.

They should know:

All vocabulary
Concepts about:
magnets
energy of position
series circuit
conductors of electricity
2 kinds of energy
4 sources of energy
current electricity
How would you make a generator? What items would you need?
Know what a parallel and series circuit look like and the pros and cons of both.
Be able to look at a circuit to see if it is closed or open and understand what that means for the lightbulb.

Math This week we will have a test over chapter 7 lessons 1-4. The students should review finding the mean, median, and mode and range of a set of data. They should be able to read a line plot and create one from a set of data. Please have your children review the sheets in their folders and practice using the review at the end of the chapter. The posttest sheets will come home for them to practice as well. They should work on their 4 division facts this week.