9/6/12

  Homework!

So far students in Mrs. Sadowski's class have had two assignments.  1.... they were supposed to finish their creative name tags.  And 2..... They were supposed to show you and explain their schedule book.  Please make sure that this schedule books is shown to you nightly so that you can keep up with what they did in class each day.

We have students divided into four groups for science and social studies.... A....B.....C... and D.  I had them write what group they are in inside the cover of their schedule books.  For the next month I have groups B and D.  If you have  student in group B, or D, they have homework tonight! They need to finish and start studying term card set number one.  Please have them do this on their own..... part of putting them together is matching up the terms and the definitions which helps them learn these terms faster.

The point of term cards?

A Question on the science meap test (back 7 years ago when we were allowed to read the questions) stated the following:

   "In a temperate region ecosystem, how are the consumers and producers affected by an over population of predators?"

   If the kids don't know "Temperate regions" "ecosystem" "consumer" "producer" "population" or "predators" they don't have a prayer of getting this question right.  (Yes... they really ask the kids questions like this)

So!  Thats where science term cards came in.  They work so well that last year Sunset Lake 5th graders scored 1st on the science meap in kalamazoo county.  Yay us!  That and the middle school and highschool science teachers can always tell who my science students are because they know their terminology.

There are 8 sets total.  Number one is by far the biggest one.   We will take test over the first four sets in three weeks.  Studying is pretty easy as it is set up like flash cards.  I read the definition on the back and have the kids guess the word. We play "around the world " with them... "term card swat" and a few other games to make learning them fun.  Students in groups B and D should be studying these at least four nights a week.

Thanks so much for being so quick getting the permission slips and all the other paperwork turned in!  I'll make a copy of the permission slips so that as time gets closer to each event, you remember whether you picked "pack a lunch" or "school lunch" for those trips that require a lunch.