Pleasant Valley School

Welcome 2025, Happy New Year! We are almost halfway through the school year. This month the second window opens for the new MAST state test. 3rd - 7th grade will be taking about 4 more math testlets during this window. January 30th there is no school for K-2nd grade. 3rd-7th grade will be taking their narrative and non-fiction testlets as well as a new test assessing writing.

School Accreditation: This year we have some more requirements from OPI to fulfill. One of this years requirements is to complete our Learner Profile. January 29th from 5:45-7:15 pm we will be holding a community open house to come see what we have been working on and give input as we continue this process. Please share community meeting information with your neighbors.

Box Tops: We are noticing that only 3-4 people are supporting our school with receipt scans. I know more people have told me that they are scanning. Please check your app and verify that you are supporting Pleasant Valley Elementary School. Then when you scan your receipt give credit to your eldest students grade. This month there are lots of bonus box tops just for purchasing box tops products. If you shop at Target or Albertsons, they are also adding additional box tops. So far this year we have raised $175.10. We just had a huge jump thanks to Lori taking advantage of Target's January bonuses. She raised $22 when purchasing 14 items this past weekend. Way to Go! Our next Montana History field trip is currently scheduled for next year, let's keep raising the funds!

Valentine's Day: We will have our class party on February 13th. If you have any spare shoe boxes or other small boxes, we are in need of a few more boxes for valentine mailboxes.

Parents please share photos for the yearbook or copy any of your students that you wish to save. Above is a link to our shared Google Drive folder. Please don't delete any photos.

School is in session this day.

Join us from for an open house from 5:45-7:15 pm.

3rd-7th MAST ELA and Writing Tests

Students are welcome to bring cards and treats to share with their classmates.

No School

School Day due to Monday holiday.

2nd Trimester MAP Testing for all grades.

What are we learning in reading is listed following the individual grade levels by their program colors. If you do not know which color your student is in, please ask Miss Sheets.

Math

Unit 4: Numbers Within 10: Addition and Subtraction

Science

Topic 2 - Matter

How can you classify different objects?

Social Studies

Topic 4 - Geography of the Neighborhood

What is the world like?

Arts

In art, we will be headed to the ocean while working with watercolors. The final project will be of the ocean floor.

In music, we are working on chords.

Math

Unit 3: Numbers Within 1,000: Place Value, Addition, and Subtraction

Science

Topic 3 - Earth's Land and Water

How can you describe land and water on Earth?

Social Studies

Topic 3 - Government

Big Question: How does government work?

Arts

In art, we will be headed to the ocean while working with watercolors. The final project will be a Caribbean sunset.

In music, we are working on chords.

Math

Unit 3: Multiplication: Finding Area, Solving Word Problems, and Using Scaled Graphs

Science

Topic 4 - Climate

Essential Question: How can you explain what climate is like in different places?

Social Studies

Topic 4 - Government, Landmarks, and Symbols

Essential Question: Why do we have government?

Arts

In art, we will be headed to the ocean while working with watercolors. The final project will be a Caribbean sunset.

In music, we are working on chords. She has transitioned from the xylophone to learning the piano.

Math

Unit 5: Geometry and Measurement: Figures, Classification, and Symmetry

We skipped over unit 4 due to the order necessary for MAST testing. We will return to unit 4 following unit 5.

Science

Topic 3 - Waves and Information

Essential Question: How do we use waves to communicate?

Social Studies - Montana: A History of Our Home

Unit 3 - Coming to Montana

Essential Questions:

• Why did people move to Montana?
• How did they change the state?

This is a large unit about all the different groups who have moved to Montana and the reason why they came. They will be working through this unit until the end of February.

Arts

In art, we will be headed to the ocean while working with watercolors. The final project will be a sea turtles.

In music, we have complete the Lord and Lady levels on the recorder. We are starting to learn new notes and songs with King and Queen level. On independent study days, they have transitioned to the ukulele.

Math

Unit 4: Algebraic Thinking: Expressions, Equations, and Inequalities

Reading - Middle School ELA

7C: Brain Science

In this unit, students explore a series of narrative non-fiction and informational texts that expose the workings of the brain, ask them to reflect on what it means to be human, and allow them to consider how the development of their own brains during adolescence may impact their experiences and thinking. This unit supports students as they build awareness of their unique cognitive strengths and challenges, and of the ways in which they can exert control over their own learning.

Texts

• Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science by John Fleischman
• Excerpts from Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
• Excerpt from "Demystifying the Adolescent Brain" by Laurence Steinberg
• Excerpts from the majority and dissenting opinions in Roper vs. Simmons

Skills and Content

• Topic & Theme: Brain development and brain disorders
• Reading: Synthesize information from multiple texts to develop understanding of a topic
• Writing: Describe facts, explain concepts, and convince the reader of an opinion
• Activity Highlights: Perception Academy Quest, discussions to refine conceptual understanding
• Text Features: Narrative and informational nonfiction about discoveries in brain science

Science - Middle School Course 2

Topic 5 - Populations, Communities, and Ecosystems

Essential Question: How do living and nonliving things affect one another?

Social Studies - Middle School American History

Topic 8 - Sectionalism and Civil War (1820-1865)

Essential Question: When is war justified?

Topic 9 - The Reconstruction Era (1865-1877)

Essential Question: How should we handle conflict?

Arts

In art, we will be headed to the ocean while working with watercolors. The final project will be a watercolor whale.

In music, we are starting to learn how to play the music for festival in May. Independent study day will continue to focus on learning the guitar and music theory.

Skills 5:

1. In this unit eight more sounds are introduced using the most common spelling for each sound. In addition, a spelling alternative for the /k/ sound is introduced. The nine sounds and corresponding spellings are:

   1. /b/ spelled ‘b’ as in bed
   2. /l/ spelled ‘l’ as in log
   3. /r/ spelled ‘r’ as in rat
   4. /u/ spelled ‘u’ as in mug
   5. /w/ spelled ‘w’ as in wig
   6. /j/ spelled ‘j’ as in jam
   7. /y/ spelled ‘y’ as in yes
   8. /x/ spelled ‘x’ as in box (a sound combination)
   9. /k/ spelled ‘k’ as in kid (as an alternative to ‘c’)

Three new Tricky Words are introduced in the Picture Reader and on activity pages in Unit 5: blue, yellow, and look.

Knowledge 5: Farms

This domain will introduce students to several farm animals as well as to crops that people grow on farms. Students will learn how farmers raise and care for farm animals. Students will understand the importance of farms as a source of food and other products people use. They will also become familiar with the classic story “The Little Red Hen,” which introduces the seasonal rhythm of planting, growing, and harvesting.

Skills 3:

This unit is devoted to introducing spelling alternatives for vowel sounds. Vowel sounds and their spellings are the most challenging part of the English writing system. There are only two vowel sounds that are almost always spelled one way. One is /a/, which is almost always spelled ‘a’ as in at. The other is /ar/, which is almost always spelled ‘ar’ as in car. The other sixteen vowel sounds have at least one significant spelling alternative. Several of them have many spelling alternatives.

The sounds and spellings taught in this unit are:

• /ae/ spelled ‘a_e’ (cake), ‘a’ (paper), ‘ai’ (wait), ‘ay’ (day)
• /oe/ spelled ‘o_e’ (home), ‘o’ (open), ‘oa’ (boat), ‘oe’ (toe)
• /ie/ spelled ‘i_e’ (bite), ‘i’ (biting), ‘ie’ (tie)
• /ue/ spelled ‘ue’ (cue), ‘u_e’ (cute), ‘u’ (unit)
• /aw/ spelled ‘aw’ (paw), ‘au’ (Paul), ‘augh’ (caught)

Knowledge 6:

This domain will introduce your students to the many natural cycles that make life on Earth possible. Your students will increase their knowledge of cycles in nature by learning more about seasonal cycles, and by beginning their study of flowering plants and trees, animal life cycles, and the importance of the water cycle. Students will also learn about the effect seasonal changes have on plants and animals. As students learn that all organisms experience the developmental stages of the life cycle, they will also learn how their growth and development relates to Earth’s seasonal cycles and begin to understand how all organisms depend on Earth’s limited water supply.

Unit 5 - Light and Sound

The nonfiction Reader for Unit 5, Adventures in Light and Sound, consists of selections describing the science behind light and sound. Students will read about light sources, shadows, mirrors, reflection, refraction, lenses, and color. They will also study the characteristics of sound, as well as the human voice. Later chapters include information about light and photography as well as biographies of two famous inventors who worked with light and sound: Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. It is important that you discuss the characteristics of the biography genre and stress that biographies are nonfiction since they are factual accounts of people’s lives.

Unit 4: Eureka!

Eureka! Student Inventor is a 10-day ELA Quest. Quests are narrative-driven units that immerse students in close reading adventures. Through them, students read complex literary and informational texts and consistently demonstrate their ability to find evidence and use it appropriately. Over the course of the Quest, students write routinely in opinion, informational, and narrative modes, adjusting style for the task and audience indicated.

As they go through Eureka! Student Inventor, students read a range of informational texts about inventors, inventions, and the process of creation. In addition to close readings, students analyze objects and situations in the world around them, identify problems, create evidence-based solutions, and ultimately become inventors themselves. By routinely writing informational and opinion pieces, students practice research, observation, communication, and persuasion.

In Eureka! Student Inventor, students are contestants on the bizarre and exciting reality TV game show of the same name—a show in danger of cancellation because of a few . . . unfortunate . . . incidents last season. Guided by inventor-judges Jacques Cousteau, Hedy Lamarr, Thomas Edison, and George Washington Carver, as well as a host—the teacher—contestants learn about the process of invention through examples and experiments. Throughout the Quest, the judges will “interact” with students through videos and notes.

Email: teacher@pvsmt.org
Website: pvsmt.org
Location: 7975 Pleasant Valley Rd, Marion, MT 59925, USA
Phone: 406-858-2343