School News from Mrs. Kranau~ 12/5‏

Dear Parents/Guardians, --Jr./Sr. High Concert is scheduled for Tuesday, December 8. --Our Elementary Concert is Tuesday, December 15 at 7:30. A letter went home with each elementary student several days ago. It explained how each class should dress. **FLASHCARDS: Please make sure your child is doing the required set of flashcards! I will be grading the 2nd 9 week Flashcard Calendar on Friday, December 18. **Math Treats (extra credit) are due Tuesday, December 8. **Scholastic Book Orders are due Monday, Dec. 7. (I extended the last book orders that were originally due Nov. 30.) Parents PLEASE WRITE CHECKS TO: SCHOLASTIC. Book orders are on-line. Passwords needed: kranausclass and bookorder. **Please be watching for the PAW TRACKS newsletter that should go home every Tuesday. **Check office for clothing items. **Powerschool is available for you to see your child's grades and lunch accounts. **Make sure your child is correcting daily assignments! *****In August, every math student received a Math Activity Checklist that I have referred to in previous e-mails. 4 categories (Counting change correctly, Knowing the numbers 1-10 in the assigned foreign language, Using the Math on Call/Algebra to Go reference book, and Reviewing one of the assigned glossaries) on that sheet will be due on Friday, Dec. 11. Your child is aware of this. **Students should have all math vocabulary words, that were in bold from Les. 1-35, highlighted in his/her glossaries that I distributed at the beginning of the year. If words were not able to be found in the glossaries, students are to use two reference books found in my room: Math on Call and/or Algebra to Go. Students may also use the glossary at the back of the book, but do not highlight those words. (Students are well aware of these directions and criteria for "highlighting vocabulary words". Students need to continue to highlight vocabulary words from each lesson!) **Please be saving Thramer's and Allen's receipts. You may drop your receipt in the box designated Blue Hill at Thramer's or drop off the receipts at school. Continue to save Box Tops 4 Education, Campbell Soup Labels, old cell phones, and empty ink cartridges and other fundraisers. Our school sure appreciates all your support! **Students that have three or more strikes are in the "Reach for the Stars" program. He/she needs to be checking in with Mrs. Miller, Mr. Uridil or Mrs. Keogh each morning before school starts and before he/she goes home. **Our school website is www.bluehillschools.org 4th Grade: --A Study Guide for the Les. 40 Test that will be Tuesday was given to the students this last week. Students were told it would be a good idea to have the study guide completed by Tuesday. --Squares, Square Roots, Multiplication Facts of 9, and Writing Large Numbers will be covered this week. --I will check the Math Activity Checklist and highlighted vocab in glossaries on Friday. If your child has the 4 activities done for the semester it will be a 100%, if not, it is a 0% and the students know this. --Students had to write the basic facts that were difficult for him/her on index cards a couple weeks ago. These index cards should be reviewed every day. Please ask your child if he/she has these index cards. I asked some of the students and they didn't have any index cards. Many 4th graders still do not know their facts!! --Students NEED to know the 4 Steps of Problem-Solving, 5 Problem-Solving Strategies, and Vocabulary Words from the lessons. The 4 Steps of P.S. and the P.S. Strategies will be on every math quiz and test! Thank you to those students who have studied these Problem-Solving Steps and Strategies!!! These have been handed out. When your child has an upcoming test, he/she will have done a review/study guide sheet that will help on the test. --Work on Flashcards! Some 4th graders did not do 7 sets of Flashcards last week. --Students need to be correcting every daily math assignment!!! Some students are still making careless mistakes on math papers. See if your child is subtracting correctly. I write notes on daily assignments and ask students to "See Me" during study hall. I would like for you to give your child a subtraction problem to solve in which he/she has to borrow. If you could have your child show me the problem, I would appreciate it. Thank you! 6th Grade: --Adding and Subtracting Decimal Numbers, Squares, and Multiplying Decimal Numbers are concepts that will be covered the this week. --Students should continue to highlight math terms in glossaries to Les. 39. --Continue to work on flashcards! Some 6th graders did not get a star last week, because he/she did not have 2 sets of flashcards done. The students had two weeks to get two sets completed. --Basic Facts that are difficult for your child were to be written on index cards. These index cards should be reviewed daily. Ask your child to see if he/she has the index cards. --I will check the Math Activity Checklist and highlighted vocab in glossaries on Friday. If your child has the 4 activities done for the semester it will be a 100%, if not it is a 0% and the students know this. 5th Grade~~Homeroom Class: --We will cover Dividing Numbers with Zeros in the Quotient and Larger-Smaller-Difference Story Problems this week. --Mrs. Jeffery will have guidance class on Tuesday from 8:10-8:45. --I will check the Math Activity Checklist and highlighted vocab in glossaries on Friday. If your child has the 4 activities done for the semester it will be a 100%, if not, it is a 0% and the students know this. --Students need to know the 4 Problem-Solving Steps (Read, Plan, Solve, Look Back and Check) and 5 of the many Problem-Solving Strategies. --A Quiz after Les. 35 is scheduled for this Wednesday. Study vocabulary! --Please review division problems with your child at home. We are working on them at school. Division is a concept that is difficult for some students. I tell the students to stay focused on a problem...starting and stopping or getting distracted during a division problem could lead to confusion. --Students should also have Handwriting pages 85, 86, and 87 done by Friday. Thank you for taking the time to read my e-mails! ~Mrs. Kranau~