Date: March 1 st
, 2013 Upcoming Events and Reminders
Staff Pages
Check out our webpage to find updated information. Go to the Lafayette School website and click on Staff Pages.
Specials Schedule
Monday- Bane-Music, Dellano-Art/Both-Spanish
Tuesday- Both-PE
Wednesday- Bane-Art, Dellano-Music/Both-
Spanish
Thursday- Both-DARE
Friday- Both-LMC/Spanish
School Spirit Day is on Friday. Please encourage your child to wear blue and white !
Please bring in donations for the
Goryeb Children’s Center. We will be accepting donations for our classmates’ Girl Scout troop until
Monday, March 11 th . There was a donation list sent home this past week.
Language Arts News
This week in ELA, students participated in…
Should the U.S. get rid of the penny?
GETTY IMAGES

After students read the article, “Waiting for Change” in Time for Kids, they decided whether they thought the U.S should keep the penny or get rid of it. They wrote a
R.A.F.T response where they used evidence from the text to support their argument.
THE DEBATE:
The students formed two opposing teams. One team argued that the U.S should continue making the penny, and the other argued against this. After highlighting and discussing evidence from the text to support their claim, we had a classroom debate.
Both sides had strong arguments! I wonder if the U.S will get rid of the penny?
Check out the video: The Battle for the Penny http://www.timeforkids.com/photos-video/video/waiting-change-76516
In writing, students are working in writing clubs to revise their first draft of their fiction story. The students brainstormed a list of story elements and began highlighting these elements in their story. This week, the students highlighted the setting, problem, solution, and grabber opening in their original story. The students were given the opportunity to revise these components in their fiction story in order to improve their writing.
Science News
We spent this week working on the five types of joints in the body. We learned about hinge, ball and socket, pivot, gliding and immovable joints. The students also created posters that show pictures, descriptions and lists of different body parts that have each type of joint. This will be a great study tool for the skeletal system test we will have. The date will be announced a week before the test.
Math News
In math, we spent the week working on learning how to read coordinates and work with a coordinate grid. The students also learned how to problem solve a multiple step problem using simpler steps to answer the question.
Also, just a reminder: Students should be practicing their multiplication and division facts every night for 5-10 minutes. They can do this using flash cards, math wheels (which are available on my web page), or one of the websites that is available on my web page. Multiplication war with regular playing cards is another fun way to practice, as well!
Social Studies News
This week the students chose a colony and pretended that they were a settler in this colony. They are in the process of writing a letter to a

relative back home trying to persuade him/her to come join them in their new life. In the letter, students stated their opinion about their new colony, and then supported their opinion with specific evidence from the text.
Letters included:

Description of the location of the colony

Why the colony was founded

Description of the life in the colony
Colonies:
 New Spain
 Jamestown, Virginia
 Plymouth, Massachusetts
 New Netherland
 New France