January 22nd, 2013

PLEASE BRING HUCKLEBERRY FINN COSTUMES TO SCHOOL TOMORROW MORNING.  ALSO, DRESS REHEARSAL IS TOMORROW NIGHT AT 6 P.M. AT MERIDIAN SCHOOL.

This morning we looked over tests and found out how many minutes were read over the weekend.  PLEASE HAVE YOUR STUDENT READ, READ, READ!  TURN OFF THE T.V.  SHUT DOWN THE COMPUTER.  VISIT THE LIBRARY.  LOG THOSE HOURS!!

We learned five new SAT words for the test on Friday:

extenuating: partially excusing or justifying
florid: elaborately or excessively ornamented
forbearance: a delay in enforcing rights or claims or privileges;refraining from acting
fortitude: strength of mind that enables one to endure adversity with courage
fortuitous: occurring by happy chance

In grammar, we raced teams in classifying sentences on the board and created new sentences using word labels.

Our daily idiom was: "Catch forty winks".  We wrote a journal entry on this.  Students are writing much more quickly than at the beginning of the year.  Most students were able to make an interesting entry in a short amount of time.

For spelling we are focusing on the Math/Logic Multiple Intelligence.  Each student is tallying and graphing specific letters of the alphabet to see which letters are the most commonly used.

We continued reading Jonathon Livingstone Seagull.  He broke the speed barrier for seagulls from 5000 feet!

3-point paragraphs were handed in this morning.  We are compiling them into a portfolio so students can assess their improvement.  BUSINESS LETTER ROUGH DRAFTS ARE DUE THURSDAY.  TYPED.  They should look like this:

First and Last Name
Meridian School
280 S 400 E
Orem, UT 84097

Today's Date

Name of Business
Street Address and Number
City, STATE
Country

Dear Person (Title):

Paragraphs divided into topics.  Not indented.  Space between paragraphs.  It is good to tell the company what you like in the first paragraph.

In the second paragraph you can give suggestions that would help their company.  Be specific enough that the management could mention it in their next board meeting.  Be as helpful as you can.

Thank the person for their time.  Ask them for paraphernalia or samples that would be helpful to show your class what they do.

Sincerely,

(3 spaces, so a handwritten signature will fit here)
Student First and Last Name


MATH HOMEWORK IS THROUGH EXERCISE 7 (normal group) AND EXERCISE 9 (challenge group).  Please review decimal places with your children.  They are okay with dimes being tenths, and pennies being hundredths, but have real difficulty with thousandths.  If a penny can be divided into ten pieces, each piece would be one thousandth.  WE WILL BE HAVING A DECIMAL BAZAAR ON FRIDAY.  PLEASE HAVE YOUR CHILD FIND A FEW KNICK-KNACKS AT HOME THAT COULD BE SOLD FOR MERIDIAN DOLLARS, DIMES, CENTS, AND "THOU-CENTS".  Draw out a number line labeled with tenths, another with hundredths, another with thousandths and have your child practice counting.

After lunch we had Foreign Language, Drama, Yoga/Karate/Dance, and then Huck Finn practice.