January GLA

Cordero School
January 2015 Activities
Pre-­‐K3 During the month of January, will discuss the season of winter. We will talk about things we wear in the winter and about snow. For our math curriculum, Number's Plus, we will be focusing on measuring. We will measure the ingredients we use when baking our muffins. For our STEAM, science curriculum, we will focus on changing materials from a liquid to a solid and vice versa. Pre-­‐K4 Every year the Pre-­‐K 4 children try to keep warm by reading the book, "Chicken Soup with Rice" by Maurice Sendak. Afterwards, we prepare and cook real chicken soup with rice because nothing is better than sharing soup with 105 of your closest friends on a cold winter day. Kindergarten The Kindergarten students are ringing in 2015 with their exciting New Year Resolutions and goals! One goal will be to sweeten the year with random acts of kindness. As we sip hot chocolate with our friends, we will snuggle up with a good book about winter. As January moves on we will focus on Unit 3 in our reading program, Reading Street. The children will be identifying changes all around us and how they affect us. We will continue to improve our knowledge with various comprehension skills and strategies. In math we will be continuing with Topic7, which focuses on understanding addition. We will continue to practice counting to 100 and reinforce counting groups of objects. 1st Grade In the month of January, first graders will begin Topic 7 in math: Counting and Number Patterns to 120. In reading, students will complete Unit 1.1: Animals, Tame & Wild, and will complete the unit benchmark. In writing, students will publish their non-­‐fiction writing pieces. The first grade teachers wish you and your families a happy, healthy new year. 2nd Grade Happy New Year!!! Second grade is starting off the year in full force. In math, we are mastering adding 2-digit numbers. In language arts, we will be singing,
reading, discussing and writing about the Big Question: “What does it mean to be
creative?” We are becoming better readers by identifying the author’s purpose,
questioning, drawing conclusions and visualizing. In writing, we are working collaboratively
on a “Story Exchange” and are learning all about verbs. We will also be remembering and
celebrating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Cordero School
January 2015 Activities
3rd Grade Welcome back and Happy New Year. We hope everyone had a relaxing holiday break and ready to work on old and new skills. Students will reinforce multiplication skills by dividing numbers and solving word problems using division. Third graders will also continue to apply comprehension skills and learn new vocabulary. Opinion writing is the genre this marking period, and students will express themselves and how they feel about a particular topic. We will end the month honoring a student of the month from each homeroom. 4th Grade December flew by as we kept busy perfecting our singing and dancing for the annual Holiday Show. We began working on writing our opinion pieces and will continue to use strong words to persuade our readers. January will bring us into a new science unit on Earth and Space. In math we will turn our attention from multi-­‐digit multiplication and move on to division. Our reading program continues to take us down a path of reading as detectives and finding evidence to support our opinions. We look forward to this solid month of learning opportunities. 5th Grade Grade 5 would like to welcome you and wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year. Math: This month we will continue working with multiplication and division of Mixed Numbers. Later, we will recognize volume as an attribute of solid figures and understand concepts of volume measurement. Language Arts: In January, the 5th grade will be working with the principal parts of regular and irregular verbs. We will also be writing persuasive essays and creating an advertisement and brochure. 6th Grade Math: Students will work on and practice Operations with Fractions. SS: Students will travel on an Empire Tour! They will visit Greece, Rome, and China. Science: Students will discover the Micro-­‐world of atoms! LA: Students will continue to read a variety of short stories while learning and practicing reading skills and comprehension strategies. Students will learn new vocabulary words using Word Up Flocabulary and create original sentences with these words. Students will also be writing and creating Persuasive Essays. 7th Grade Science-­‐Students will learn about sound and light SS-­‐Student will get an understanding of the need for Atlantic Slave trade and Experience of Slaves Cordero School
January 2015 Activities
Math-­‐Students will learn how to change percent into fractions and decimals. LA-­‐ Writes a memoir about their life 8th Grade Happy New Year and welcome back! We hope you had a safe and restful break, because now we are about to, 'hit the ground running!' In Reading we will continue reading Informational Text, while focusing closely on the analysis of a variety of texts. In Social Studies we will be expanding westward, and discovering the new lands. During all of these studies, we will be focused on the Common Core Standards, while preparing for the upcoming PARCC test. Stay well, and keep the lines of communication open. In math, students will be comparing financial institutions and their services. They will weigh the advantages of debit and credit. They will also examine the role of credit scores. In science, students should be working on their science fair projects. Healthy Schools 5 tips for healthier kids According to a recent study by the CDC, 58% of American teenagers aged 12–15 are not adequately cardio respiratory fit—a 10% increase from 14 years ago. How the heck did that happen? It seems like just yesterday, you could barely get kids home in time for dinner after a summer day of sports, high adventure, and roaming the streets on their bikes or skateboards. Okay, so maybe that’s a little idealistically nostalgic, but still, there’s no reason teenagers shouldn’t get enough exercise. If you’re looking to help your son or daughter add fitness to his or her life, here are a few ideas. 1. Lead by example No offense, but it’s awfully hard to judge a kid slouching on the couch when you’re watching him or her from the La-­‐Z-­‐boy. Get up! Teenagers may seem like they’re not interested in what you say and do, but believe us, when you go for a jog or hammer out a round of FOCUS T25, they’re watching… 2. Limit screen time It’s next to impossible to make most teenagers do anything. It’s much easier, however, to make them not do some things. Set strict TV time (unless it’s to do a Beachbody workout). Limit Xbox Cordero School
January 2015 Activities
and PlayStation access. Create non-­‐texting hours. Once these temptations dry up, the outside world may seem more interesting. 3. Pick a sport, any sport Your kid may not be into the traditional team fare, but the world of sports is a wide, wide one. Rock climbing, kayaking, surfing, cycling, Frisbee football, roller derby, rugby. Let your son or daughter’s imagination run wild. Once they’re given you a list, hop on the internet to see if there’s a league/team/camp in your area. 4. Invest in cool toys You may not be made of money, but your kid’s health is a much better investment than the new iWhatever. If you live too far from the ocean to surf, buy a balance board. (Lots of fun and it’s good for your, I mean, their core, too.) Maybe look into fun fitness-­‐based software you can do together in the game console. And everyone—and we mean everyone—has fun on a tandem bike. (You can pick them up used on Craigslist for $200–$300.) 5. Plan active family outings This one basically combines the previous four. You can keep it simple, like a picnic instead of the pizza parlor. You can go big, like a day at the water park. You can go creative, like a scavenger hunt. If you’re at a loss for ideas and/or you’re on a budget, check out Groupon.com and Livingsocial.com for local, affordable adventures you may not have thought of.