Important Dates
December 15- Winter Vocal Concert- 7pm DHS
December 23-January 1- Winter Recess- No classes
School Wide Book Drive/Food Drive
Thank you to everyone who donated children’s books, canned goods, and/or money to support our local food pantries.
Celebrate History Writing Contest
The local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution is sponsoring the annual Celebrate History Essay Writing Contest. One winning essay from this area will advance to the state level. Local winner will receive a certificate and a medal.
This year’s topic: “March 22, 2015 marked the 250th anniversary of the Stamp Act. Passed by the British Parliament in 1765, this new tax required all colonists to pay a tax on every printed piece of paper they used. The Stamp Act was viewed by the colonists as “taxation without representation.” Describe a colonial family’s discussion about the new Stamp Act and what role it played in organizing the colonists against the British King and Parliament.”
Requirements: Grade 5: 300-600 words/Grades 6-8: 600-1,000 words. Essays must be typed and include a bibliography of sources used. Deadline for the essay to be submitted to Mrs. Nowack is January 7, 2016.
The Old Creamery Theater 2016 Writing Contest
Each year students are encouraged to participate in the Old Creamery Theatre writing contest. Students are invited to write a creative, original story about a character or characters that learn a lesson involving one or more of the Six Pillars (Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship). The selected winners will receive gift cards up to $100 and become the basis for Character Chronicles, a show that will be seen by tens of thousands of students all over Iowa (including Decorah Community Schools). Please visit the following website for requirements, story writing tips, and information about how to enter the contest. All entries must be postmarked or emailed no later than January 15, 2016.
NEWS FLASH!!
From Mr. Peterson: In science we are exploring mystery substances. Our goal is to engage in scientific argumentation. In reading, we are studying informational text. In first hour, we are exploring text structures. In 7th hour we are exploring how authors integrate graphics with written text. In writing we are using those notes to craft a text that teaches and explains. Our final draft of that will be due next week.
From Mrs. Nowack: In science, we will continue to observe the moon through the weekend; students should return their moon calendars to school Monday! This week’s learning focused on the sun, eclipses, space exploration, and galaxies! We will take the Unit D test in two parts- vocabulary on Thursday and the remainder on the following Monday. In reading class, students are reading and discussing historical fiction novels. You should see your child reading about 20-30 min/night (they will be required to write a summary on a good-fit book before the end of the quarter). This week in language class, we started learning about historical fiction writing.
From Mrs. Suhr:
Social Studies Alive! books are due to be returned!!!! - In Mrs. Suhr’s social studies classes, we have a classroom set of textbooks. These books are allowed to be checked out when students need to finish homework at home. All of my extra texts have been checked out, and there are none left to be checked out by other students. Please check at home to see if your child has one of these texts and send it back to school. Thanks in advance!
Social Studies - This week we started Chapter 6 in our text on early European settlements in North America. We are learning about the English settlements of Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth. We will test on this unit on or near Friday, Dec. 11.
Language - We have started looking at examples of historical fiction as a way of introducing Historical Fiction Writing unit.
From Mrs. Halweg: In math this week we started a new unit on fractions. We began with a basic review of fractions and have moved to improper fractions and mixed numbers. Your student will be continuing this unit into next week, learning about converting fractions to decimals. Our next math assessment is tentatively set for Thursday, December 17.
December 15- Winter Vocal Concert- 7pm DHS
December 23-January 1- Winter Recess- No classes
School Wide Book Drive/Food Drive
Thank you to everyone who donated children’s books, canned goods, and/or money to support our local food pantries.
Celebrate History Writing Contest
The local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution is sponsoring the annual Celebrate History Essay Writing Contest. One winning essay from this area will advance to the state level. Local winner will receive a certificate and a medal.
This year’s topic: “March 22, 2015 marked the 250th anniversary of the Stamp Act. Passed by the British Parliament in 1765, this new tax required all colonists to pay a tax on every printed piece of paper they used. The Stamp Act was viewed by the colonists as “taxation without representation.” Describe a colonial family’s discussion about the new Stamp Act and what role it played in organizing the colonists against the British King and Parliament.”
Requirements: Grade 5: 300-600 words/Grades 6-8: 600-1,000 words. Essays must be typed and include a bibliography of sources used. Deadline for the essay to be submitted to Mrs. Nowack is January 7, 2016.
The Old Creamery Theater 2016 Writing Contest
Each year students are encouraged to participate in the Old Creamery Theatre writing contest. Students are invited to write a creative, original story about a character or characters that learn a lesson involving one or more of the Six Pillars (Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship). The selected winners will receive gift cards up to $100 and become the basis for Character Chronicles, a show that will be seen by tens of thousands of students all over Iowa (including Decorah Community Schools). Please visit the following website for requirements, story writing tips, and information about how to enter the contest. All entries must be postmarked or emailed no later than January 15, 2016.
NEWS FLASH!!
From Mr. Peterson: In science we are exploring mystery substances. Our goal is to engage in scientific argumentation. In reading, we are studying informational text. In first hour, we are exploring text structures. In 7th hour we are exploring how authors integrate graphics with written text. In writing we are using those notes to craft a text that teaches and explains. Our final draft of that will be due next week.
From Mrs. Nowack: In science, we will continue to observe the moon through the weekend; students should return their moon calendars to school Monday! This week’s learning focused on the sun, eclipses, space exploration, and galaxies! We will take the Unit D test in two parts- vocabulary on Thursday and the remainder on the following Monday. In reading class, students are reading and discussing historical fiction novels. You should see your child reading about 20-30 min/night (they will be required to write a summary on a good-fit book before the end of the quarter). This week in language class, we started learning about historical fiction writing.
From Mrs. Suhr:
Social Studies Alive! books are due to be returned!!!! - In Mrs. Suhr’s social studies classes, we have a classroom set of textbooks. These books are allowed to be checked out when students need to finish homework at home. All of my extra texts have been checked out, and there are none left to be checked out by other students. Please check at home to see if your child has one of these texts and send it back to school. Thanks in advance!
Social Studies - This week we started Chapter 6 in our text on early European settlements in North America. We are learning about the English settlements of Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth. We will test on this unit on or near Friday, Dec. 11.
Language - We have started looking at examples of historical fiction as a way of introducing Historical Fiction Writing unit.
From Mrs. Halweg: In math this week we started a new unit on fractions. We began with a basic review of fractions and have moved to improper fractions and mixed numbers. Your student will be continuing this unit into next week, learning about converting fractions to decimals. Our next math assessment is tentatively set for Thursday, December 17.