Newsletter: Friday, August 28th, 2015

Our Onion-like Earth

This quarter, in Cultural History, students are studying about the composition of earth.  This week we looked at different layers of Earth; crust, mantle, and core comparing it to the various rings of an onion and labeled them.

Newsletter: Friday, August 21, 2015

Moving Forward...

The first few days in Upper Elementary have been filled with mixed feelings; excitement, anxiety, enthusiasm, energy and so much more.  It has been an extremely productive week.  Students explored several new materials, participated in cultural lessons and activities, and worked on their weekly workplan jobs. 

 Me, My Selfie & I:

As part of our first in-class writing assignment, students created their “selfies” by writing about their summer activities and drawing a self-portrait. 

 

 

Peace Makers & Peace Breakers:

Students discussed actions that can make or break peace in the classroom and created a Peace bulletin board. 

 

 

 

 Grammar Symbols:

Fourth graders reviewed the parts of speech and used grammar symbols to identify them. 

 

Weekly Homework Assignment

It is extremely important to instill good work habits from the beginning of school year.  Finishing classwork and homework assignments on time is essential for productive work cycle. 

Listed below are the assignments that will be due every week.  We appreciate if parents can assist students by checking on them and reminding them of these due dates-

1) Weekly Homework Packet goes home- Every Friday
Completed Homework Packet is due- Next Friday

2) Students are responsible to read thirty minutes after school each day.  Please complete your reading log and have a parent sign the log every day (attached to the back of homework packet)

3) JGB 3 Interpretive Questions Due- Every Wednesday (in JGB Notebook)

4) Vocabulary Assessment- Every Friday



For further detail on the above assignments, please read below:

1) UE Weekly Homework

The first homework packet went home August 14^th and will be due back August 21st.  A new packet will go home each Friday and be due the following Friday, unless we are going to be out of school for a major holiday.  If your child is having a problem with any part of the packet, please have him/her bring the packet to one of the teachers early in the week for additional help.  Please encourage your child to show all their math work in their homework notebook.  The weekly writing prompt is also done in homework notebook. 

 

notebook.   

2) JGB Questions

4/L5 - We read the Junior Great Books story on Monday and Tuesday each week.  Students take home the book on Monday or Tuesday night, along with their JGB journal, to reread the story with an adult, and to write at least 3 open ended questions about the story.  We discuss the questions during our JGB time the following day.

L6 – This year sixth graders will do literature studies from various genres, and will occasionally have at-home assignments as part of their book studies.  

3) Vocabulary Assessment

Vocabulary Test Format

Students work the vocabulary unit each week in class before Wednesday.  The unit is checked and the book is sent home on Tuesday or Wednesday for students to study for the Friday assessment.  As part of the weekly vocabulary assessment, students will be assessed on spelling as well as usage of weekly vocab words using a multiple choice format. 

 

Newsletter: Friday, August 14th, 2015

First Day of School

 It's school time again!

Students walked in this morning feeling excited to see their friends return and make new ones.  Perhaps some were a little nervous because of all the new things: new teachers, new friends, and maybe even a new classroom. Luckily, these "new" worries only stuck around for a few minutes.

We had a great start to the school year in Upper Elementary class.  The morning began with a fun "Morning Challenge".  Students chose their lockers and looked through their cubbies to get acquainted to the notebooks and folders for the school year.  We went outside to play an interactive game to get to know our classmates and had a productive work time. 

In the afternoon 4th graders got an in-depth tour of the Upper El building and where everything is located.  We also had our very first community meeting for the school year. 

 

Welcome Back to School!!

 

 

Dear Parents,

At JBMA Upper Elementary, we are happy to welcome you to the 2015-2016 school year! We are looking forward to a productive partnership with you to ensure our children can achieve their highest potential. At JBMA, we recognize that in order to be successful in school, our children need support from both; the home and school. We know a strong partnership with you will make a great difference in your child’s education. As partners, we share the responsibility for our children’s success and want you to know that we will do our very best to carry out our responsibilities.

This summer the Upper El trio of Ms. Kim, Ms. Salima & Mr. Zech have been working tirelessly to create an attractive classroom environment and exciting activities for the new school year.  We are also very pleased to have a brand new carpet in classroom 4, which has added more beauty to our alluring classroom space.  In addition to the exciting lessons, we also have few power-packed field trips planned during the school year.  

 To learn more about classroom policies and procedures, events and programs during the school year and to meet with your teachers, please come join us on Thursday, August 6th at 11:00am at the BACK TO SCHOOL ORIENTATION in the Upper Elementary classroom.  We look forward to see you there!!

Ms. Kim, Ms. Salima & Mr. Zech

Emails:
Ms. Kim-     Kim@jbma.education
Ms. Salima- Salima@jbma.education
Mr. Zech-     Zech@jbma.education