Week of September 3rd, 2012

Welcome back to school after the Labor Day Weekend! I hope everybody had a fun, but restful, time!

Here are some announcements for this week and next:

• This Friday is whole school mass at 8AM and noon dismissal
• This Friday is also the Vision Screening for all grades
• September 12th is Picture Day
• ITBS Testing begins September 17th and concludes September 27th
• The fieldtrip to the L.A. County Fair is September 28th

We are currently looking for chaperones for the fifth grade to the L.A. Country Fair. If you are a member of the student's family is interested in attending as a chaperone, please email me at fifthgrade@straphaella.org or send a note to me through your child.

We are currently preparing for our Reading Comprehension Test on Warren Faidley's "Eye of the Storm". Warren Faidley is a real life storm chaser and professional wild weather photographer. To rewatch some of the videos we saw in class, view the following links:
Warren Faidley Photograph Slideshow
Warren Faidley Interview Part 1
Warren Faidley Interview Part 2
Warren Faidley Interview Part 3

In Math we are studying rounding and addition & subtraction of whole numbers and decimals. View the following videos to help you remember the lessons from class:
Rounding Whole Numbers Part 1
Rounding Whole Numbers Part 2
Rounding Whole Numbers Part 3
Rounding Decimals

Here are some excercises to practice rounding:
http://www.khanacademy.org/math/arithmetic/decimals/e/rounding_whole_numbers
http://www.khanacademy.org/math/arithmetic/decimals/e/rounding_numbers

Some students were struggling to remember how to regroup when subtracting whole numbers. This video will help to refresh your memory: Subtracting Whole Numbers & Regrouping

Don't forget to study for your photosynthesis quiz!