March 29, 2019

Good Afternoon! It is hard to believe it is springtime and there is only 8 more weeks of school. Below are a few events coming up:

• STAAR testing for 5th grade Math is April 9th and ELA is April 10th. I know Mr. Friemel and Mrs. Luchterhand are working really hard to get your child ready for the test with engaging review lessons and activities.
• Earth day is on April 23rd. The Wylie Green Team is selling Earth Day T-shirts. The price is $15. If your child is interested, the order forms are located outside my classroom or you can order it through the web links listed below. Orders must be in by April 12th.

Dark Brown

https://wylie-isd.revtrak.net/green-team/#/v/green-team-earth-day-shirt-dark-brown-

Dark Brown Available in Adult S to to 2XX ONLY

Sand Brown

https://wylie-isd.revtrak.net/green-team/#/v/green-team-earth-day-shirt-sand-brown-

Sand Brown Available in Youth size XS-XL; Adult S – 4X

Your child will be able to wear their Earth day shirt to school with jeans on Tuesday, April 23rd.

• STAAR testing for 5th grade science is on Wednesday, May 15th. After math and ELA STAAR are complete, the science teachers will be busy reviewing with your student to help them prepare for this test.
• Upcoming field trip: Team Columbia will be going to the Bush Library on Tuesday, April 30th. Mrs. Kane will be sending out information on this event as well as trying to recruit adult chaperones to help make this field trip a success.
• Another upcoming field trip: Walking field trip to Wylie City Hall is scheduled for Monday, May 6th. Information TBA by Mrs. Kane.

Thank you for all you do at home to help us make this a successful school year for your child. I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend.

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11/29/18 Wow...................time sure flies!!! Halloween and Thanksgiving have passed and now Christmas is just around the corner. I hope all of you had a relaxing, and enjoyable Thanksgiving break.

Your student will be bringing home a permission slip for a movie they will get to see on Dec. 21st. Our wonderful PTA is gifting a movie to all Davis Intermediate students right before the Christmas break. The movie is Ralph Breaks the Internet. We are asking for $6 to offset the cost of the buses to and from the theater. This is a wonderful opportunity for your child to spend time with their friends before the 2 week break. Please complete and sign the permission slip and return it by Fri. Dec. 14th. If your child will be staying home that day, please let us know by writing a note at the top of the permission slip stating that he/she will be staying home and not attending the movie. Please sign and date and have your student return it to their first period teacher by Dec. 14th.

Cold, flu, strep and sinus infection season is upon us. If your child is sick, we want he/she to stay home and get well. Please note that when your child returns, we will have to catch he/she up on all work they missed in class. This will require tutoring after school. The tutoring schedule is as follows:

• Monday-Social Studies
• Tuesday-Math
• Wednesday-Science
• Thursday-ELA
• Tutoring lasts from 3:35 p.m. to 4:20 p.m.

Thank you for helping us help your child catch up on any missing work.

In science, we are working on Unit 5-Earth Changes. We have worked on landforms, weathering, erosion and deposition, and sedimentary rock and fossil formation. Over the next 2 weeks we will be learning about fossil fuels and renewable resources. There will be a fossil fuel quiz on Friday, Dec. 7th and a major test over all of Unit 5 on Dec. 18th. The end of the 9 weeks will be on Dec. 21st. If you plan to leave early for the holidays, please check with the Columbia teachers to make sure your child has completed all assignments since all report card grades are due by Dec. 21st. We will be starting the Spring semester on Tuesday, January 8th.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas holiday!

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10/12/18 Good evening! I hope everyone had a great time at Adventure camp! Thank you to all the chaperones who gave up their vacation time to help out at camp. We greatly appreciate all your help. We could not have done it without you! We had a great time here at Camp Davis in Wylie. The science classes worked on a paper airplane lab for the first 2 days (the students actually had permission to build and fly paper airplanes to see which airplane design traveled the farthest :) and on Friday we made Homemade orange soda with dry ice (solution) and created a fall treat (mixture) for the students to enjoy while learning about perception and attention on Braingames. Thank you to all the parents who donated items for today's fall treat.

Just a friendly reminder that next week is the last week of the 9 weeks. All grades have to be completed before Friday. After Friday, the first 9 weeks grades are locked down. If your student needs to complete any work due to absences or retake or finish any assignments, please plan on your student attending tutorials next week. Mrs. Luchterhand recently sent out a skyward message regarding ELA and math tutoring for next week only. Her tutoring session will be on Tuesday of next week and Mr. Friemel's tutoring will be on Thursday. This change in the tutoring schedule will only be for next week ONLY. My science tutoring will remain on Wednesday afternoon.

I will be grading science journals this week. Tutoring is a great time to fix journals before the 9 week grading period ends.

I hope of you have an enjoyable weekend. Stay dry!

9/25/18 Good evening! This week in science we are working on conductors, insulators, density, volume and water displacement. We will have a quiz on Friday over the above objectives. We will finish up this unit with mixtures and solutions. The students will have their first District test over all of Unit 2 next Friday, Oct. 5th. I will be reviewing with the students on Oct. 4th. I will also encourage them to check out their journals and study for the test at home.

Adventure Camp is fast approaching. Please turn in all the camp forms as soon as possible. I sent home the links for all the forms through Skyward. If you do not have access to a printer, please let me know and I will print out copies for you.

Science homework is due on Monday, Oct. 1st. It is a fun assignment where your student will pick 3 activities to complete on a tic tac toe board. The middle square is a mandatory assignment for all students. Since it is a tic tac toe board, the assignments have to be "3 in a row" (which has to include the middle square). The homework was assigned on Sept. 19th. If your child lost or misplaced it, I have additional copies located in my classroom.

Thanks for all you do at home to support your child's education. Have a great week!

9/14/18 Good Afternoon! I hope all of you have had a great week. This week we completed Science MAP testing. This test will help us track growth in science throughout the school year.

This is a reminder that the 5th grade adventure camp money was due today. Thank you in advance for sending in the money for camp. If you have not yet turned in the money for camp, please do so on Monday, Sept. 17th.

We have already started Unit 2 in science: Properties of Matter. We will have a quiz Tuesday over states of matter and change of state. We will also have a test on Friday over magnetism and physical states.

If your child is ever absent from school, please expect him/her to stay for tutoring the week that he/she returns to school. Your child misses a lot when he/she is gone including classroom instructional time and class work. We want your child to stay home and get well, but when he/she returns, please allow your child to stay after school so he/she can catch up on every subject. We do not want your child to get further behind on class work. Thank you for all you do at home to help make your child successful at school. We could not do our job without you!

Have a relaxing, enjoyable weekend! ________________________________________________________________________________________

8/27/18 Good Afternoon! This week in science class the students will be finishing up measurement. They will be taking a measurement quiz on Wednesday! Students are welcome to check out their journals to study for the quiz. Please remember the journals have to be returned the next school day. We will also be brushing up on the scientific method and graphing to get ready for a lab on Friday. If your child has not turned in their Lab Safety contract, they will not be able to participate in the lab. I will have extra copies available to all the students if their form never made it home.

Please turn in your Adventure Camp Letter of Intent form if you have not done so already. They were due last Friday. We are still waiting on 25 forms. If you need an extra copy, your student can pick one up from the office, or you can copy one from the Davis webpage. Click on Parents in the tool bar and then Collin County Adventure Camp. There is a link to copy the Letter of Intent.

I hope all of you have a great week and a nice Labor Day weekend. Remember.........no school on Monday, Sept. 3rd.

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8/17/18 We had a great first 2 days of school! The Columbia students learned a new chant and the Marauder Rumble which they performed at their first assembly on Friday afternoon. They also got to meet all of their teachers and the procedures and rules for the school as well as the classrooms. We are off to a good start!

8/20/18-8/24/18 This week we will be focusing on lab safety, scientific method, laboratory tools, and graphing to get your student ready for upcoming labs. You will be receiving from your student this Tuesday (Aug. 21st) the Lab Safety Contract that has to be signed by the parent and your student and returned by Wednesday, August 22nd.

On Monday, your student will be bringing home the letter of intent for Adventure Camp. Please read and return the 2nd page only by August 24th. No money is due at this time unless you want to pay early. This forms tells the school if you want your child to attend or not to attend Adventure Camp. This form must be turned in even if you do NOT want your child to attend. If you would like your student to attend but need financial assistance, please check the box for financial assistance. Please be sure to write your child's first and last name as well as your students first BLOCK teacher (for Team Columbia this is their 2nd period teacher). The bottom portion of the form is for any parent that would like to be a chaperone at camp. If you would like to attend camp and be a cabin leader, please fill out the bottom section of the form as well. Chaporones will also need to complete a criminal background check form. They are located on the Davis webpage under Quick Links or on my webpage under links. If you need further information on Collin County Adventure Camp, go to http://collincountyadventurecamp.org/. There is also information on the Davis Intermediate webpage. This is a wonderful opportunity for your child to have a learning experience outdoors.

I will be heading up the Davis GREEN Team this year. If your child would like to be a part of this recycling and conservation team, please send me an email. Your child needs to be able to stay after school once a week to help collect recycling in all of the teacher classrooms.

Thanks for entrusting us with your child. Please contact any of your child's teachers at anytime by sending an email.

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8/16/18 Welcome to Davis Intermediate School!

The first 2 days of school will be filled with school spirit including school assemblies, college chants and team building activities. In class, your student will learn about classroom expectations and rules as well as getting to know all their new teachers and classmates.

The first "full" week of school in science class, we will be reviewing lab safety (very important) and lab tools.

Your student will also learn about Adventure Camp which will be held in October. Paperwork will be coming home to get a head count of how many students are planning to attend camp this year. This is a fun filled 2 1/2 day overnight camp filled with fun activities like archery, team building, hiking trails and a camp fire with smores! Science activities will also be done throughout camp. The dates of camp and the cost are included in the paperwork. Money is not due until October.

School starts at 7:45 a.m. with zero hour. Your student will report to their BLOCK D teacher and pick up their chromebook which will be assigned to them on Tuesday. After your student picks up their chromebook, they will be dismissed to the cafeteria if they eat breakfast at school. The rest of the students will stay in their Block D class until 8:15 a.m. At that time, they will be released to go to their Block A class. Zero hour will be taught to your student on the first 2 days of school.

I will be sending weekly updates throughout the year to keep you posted on upcoming science lessons and Columbia related news.

Welcome to Davis Intermediate School! :)