Hello Quest Families,
As you gather to celebrate Thanksgiving, I want you to know that one of the things I am most grateful for is the opportunity to teach your wonderful children.  They are incredible and I love having each of them in our class!  I hope you all have a fantastic break.  Here’s what we will be doing when we come back on Monday, December 2nd:
Language Arts:

Some of you had questions about the spelling list.  We do have a spelling list each week.  The students have a chance to practice it in class, and they do a test to see for themselves, how well they have learned the words, but they do not currently receive a grade for spelling.  This is just an opportunity for them to improve themselves.  Many students and parents expressed concerns about difficulty with spelling, at parent teacher conferences, so I decided to include this in our weekly Language Arts activities.  They do not need to practice spelling at home, unless you want them to.  The best thing they can do at home, is read, read, read!  Reading books at the appropriate level, that they enjoy reading, is the best thing a child can do to become a better reader!
MATH:


This past week we worked on adding fraction with different denominators.  Next week we will be subtracting fractions with different denominators.  The most important part of both of these skills, is being able to find common denominators for all of the fractions then adding or subtracting them.   It would be very helpful for the students to have real life practice doing this.  Have them help you in the kitchen this week and talk about how you use fractions when following recipes.  Point out equivalent fractions, and how you figure out how much to use.  
Science:
We are continuing our unit on heredity and genetics.  If you have extended family coming for the holiday, take a chance to discuss family traits.  Who is left handed?  What color are everyone’s eyes and hair?  Who can curl their tongue?  It will be a lot of fun for everyone to think about the inherited traits they share!  


As always, thanks for sharing your incredible children with me!  Please let me know if you ever have any questions or concerns.  Have a great week and I’ll see you in December!

I’m sure everyone is looking forward to a nice Thanksgiving break, but we still have one more week to get through!  We’re doing a lot of fun things in school this week. The turkey disguises that students are bringing in are a lot of fun.  If your child hasn’t brought it in yet, please have him/her bring it as soon as possible.
Here’s what else we are up to:

Math:
We’re enjoying some fraction action by learning how to add fractions with different denominators.  Remember, to add fractions, the denominators must be the same.  Find the least common denominator then just add the numerators on top, and the denominators stay the same.  See the video in the optional practice tab for more information. You can also find practice pages. 


Language Arts:
We’re working on finding the theme of a story.  As you child reads, have them share details of the story, and see if they can figure out the theme.  I’ve also included a spelling list for this week’s words for all of you that were concerned about helping your child become better spellers. 


Spelling List