http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4199592n

At the above site you will find a video on the problems with making coal clean.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

This is the book I want you to have.
Amazon.com: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare Made Easy): William Shakespeare: Books

SAT 10 Help

Scholastic.com
Go to this site with your parents. It gives helpful hints and articles for you and your parents to read. I know you are all going to do great! Don't stress over the test. Make sure you do get plenty of rest and relaxation. It is also very important to eat a healthy breakfast every morning. Lastly, just breath, you are all intelligent capable students. I am proud of all of you.

SAT 10 Help

Standardized Test Preparation Scholastic.com
This is a great site to have your parents look at with you.

Your Year End Trip

The Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences of West Virginia

World Continents Quizzes - geography online games

World Continents Quizzes - geography online games
Click on this link. It will take you to a home page with several other links to games. Start out on the first level and work your way up.
Thank you,
M.

Local Interactive Weather Map - weather.com

Local Interactive Weather Map - weather.com

Don't forget you can't choose any of states that boarder West Virginia.
This is just the very basics of reading a weather map. You will be learning more next week. Have fun.

Election Center 2008 - Election & Politics News from CNN.com

Election Center 2008 - Election & Politics News from CNN.com

Here is a great site for finding the latest inforation on the election.

2008 Presidential Candidates | Campaign 2008: The Presidential Field | washingtonpost.com

2008 Presidential Candidates Campaign 2008: The Presidential Field washingtonpost.com

Click on the above link. Click on a candidate that you are interested in. Click on their profile. Choose several issues that you think are important, and read their responses. If you decide you do not agree with them, then go back to the list of candidates and choose again.
You are expected to take notes on what you agree, and disagree with concerning the issues. I also want you to write who you chose on a piece of paper with your reasoning for your choice. Tomorrow we will have a small debate on the big issues. I expect you to be prepared by backing up your opinion with statements you agreed with from your candidate

Shower Week

First of all I want to thank Mrs. Karen Armstead, and Mrs. Amy Bradley for throwing a baby shower for Lily, myself, and all of the sixth grade this coming Friday. I am sincerely grateful for all of your hard work, and for inviting Mrs. Bias' class as well. Thank you.

Obviously on Friday we will be having the shower, so we will not be having Science or Social Studies that afternoon.

In Science this week we will be learning about magnetism and light.

This week in Social Studies you will continue to learn about ancient civilizations.

In Math we will not be having a test this week. We will be working through lessons 65.

We will be having a Spelling test of words from our new book this coming Friday morning.

For English we will begin jobs for the paper. I do want to let you know that since I could go into labor at any time, we will only work on our paper through the rest of this month. We may come back to it at the end of the year.

Last but certainly not least, Reading. It is very important that you get Down the Rabbit Hole a.s.a.p. Empire at Pullman said that the order will be in today. All you need to do is go to the front desk, tell them the title of the book, and that you are from St. Joe.

Ancient Civilizations Activities

SuffolkWeb Kids - Ancient Civilizations

On this site you may choose any of the activities that you wish. If you have time try out more than one site. Have fun.

Amazon.com: Down the rabbit hole: Books

Amazon.com: Down the rabbit hole: Books

This link should go directly to the page containing Down The Rabbit Hole. You can purchase it used here, and the shipping should take no longer than 4 to 5 business days, hopefully.

Our New Lit. Book

We will be reading Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams for the next six weeks. I am sure you are all going to love it, plus we have the extra benefit of having literature groups again. I am very excited! I am listing a few places you can purchase your book. Remember it is your responsibility to have the book by next Monday. I would prefer you to have it sooner if possible.

You can buy the book at Borders, but I will be placing an order at The Empire, in Pullman square. I suggest http://www.amazon.com/ for a possible used copy. Beware that ordering online may take more time, but at least it is a sure thing. You may also check with the high school library, however I doubt they have more than one copy, if that. If all else fails check the public libraries just remember that you will need to re-check out the book.

Aztecs Research Page

Aztecs
Once you get to this page fill out your who, what, when, where, how foldable. You will be able to fill out the foldable by exploring the different areas. Everyone will have different information so do not worry, just do your best. :)

Back to Work

Welcome back to school. Wasn't it nice to have an extra day off? Last Friday was a great day to review, however this week we will begin new lessons.



We get to take what we learned from our field trip, and begin our class paper next week. It may take a week or two to publish the first paper, but I think you will have fun.



We should make it through lesson 62 in Math. That means we will have a test this week on lessons 56-60.

In Reading and Social Studies you will be learning about ancient civilizations.

Science will be a fascinating exploration of electricity.

It is going to be a great week back. I am excited to get back into a routine, as I hope you are as well.

Baby Bed

Hello,

I hope your holiday is going well. I sincerely wish you a wonderful Christmas with family.

My husband and I ordered the baby bed you helped buy,(see picture attached). We are very excited to get Lily's room painted, and prepared. Thank you all again for such a wonderful gift.

Thank You

I sincerely want to thank you all for the generous gift. It will greatly help to buy Lily's crib. My cup runs over with joy. I have so much to be thankful for this year, and you guys are at the top of my list.

Almost Christmas

Seasons Greetings,

We only have six more days before Christmas break! I am as excited as you, however we do have a few things to get done before we take a long winter's nap.

We will continue acting out A Christmas Carol, and will compare it to the Disney version next week. We will also try to find out just how many versions there are, and why there are so many.

I do have more thinking actives to help you truly understand the story. I also think you can take an A.R test on the play we are reading, although I suggest reading the full book version.

You will hopefully have one more Math test on lessons 56-60 next week. I hope we can finish the test, in order to start new when we come back from the break. I think, however that we may need to take this time to review considering this last Math test, what do you think?

For Science we will be doing a lab tomorrow, then for Thursday and Friday you will be learning about the reasons it becomes dark at 5:30 in the winter. We will also look at myths and old religions that had different views of why it gets dark in the winter. This is one great way to understand how Science has helped us evolve in our thinking.

In Social Studies we will be learning about other religious celebrations around the world.

We will also spend some time thinking about our own traditions, and celebrations.

Finally we will be having our Christmas party in the morning this year, on the 19th. Make sure your parents get the letter I sent home today.

Our party will be a great time to connect with each other, before the long break from each other.

Yes, I will miss my wonderful class. :)

Last, but not least I am setting out a collection bucket for the Make a Wish foundation. This is our class' charity, and in the spirit of the season I hope you will bring what you can to help support it. You all did such a wonderful act in making over 120 get well cards for Josh. I hope to see the same out pour for other children waiting for their wish. I am going home to clean out my piggy bank tonight, I hope you do the same.

Thank you, and many blessings for a happy and safe Christmas.

Love,

Mrs. Casto

Back to Work

It was nice having an unexpected day off, but it does put us a bit behind. I know several of you have not been able to get information for your paper on the inventor you chose. Please know that the library is a wonderful place to look, plus they have Internet access. I have pushed the due date for the papers to next Tuesday. Keep in mind however that your rough draft is due this Friday. We will spend two days editing and conferencing on Friday and Monday. Tuesday you will be given the opportunity to share what your inventor created. I hope you all put your best work into this paper, grades were a bit down from the MLKJ papers. For next Wednesday and Thursday we will be getting back to the basics of English.

We are going to go ahead with the Spelling/vocabulary test for this Friday. We will also have our Reading test as usual this Friday.

I want to let you know that if you make a model of your invention and bring it in anytime next week you will gain 30 bonus points for Science.

Next Friday, the 7th, is our field trip to the Herald Dispatch. Please don't forget to get your permission slip filled out. I know I will tell you a 100 times to make good choices on the way, while we are there, and on the way back, but I thought I would also remind you on here. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to see how a real paper is developed and published before making our own paper. It is also a great opportunity to show your maturity, and self control.

Next week is also the school spelling bee. We will still review, and practice the vocabulary from our Reading book, but we will not have a Spelling test next week.

We will not have a Reading test on the 7th either.

We will however have Math test next week on Wednesday. It will be on lessons 51-55.

In Science next week we are studying geology. It relates to your story in Reading.

In Social Studies we are going to understand the who, what, when, where, how, and why of WWII. We will be using our lab time on Monday for an interesting look at the world and connect it to World War II. We will also take a virtual field trip to Pearl Harbor.

Our new class motto, and mascot.

Fully Rely On God