November 9th-13th

General Announcements:	TOMORROW is DRESS YOUR BEST at Brock’s Gap for our Veterans Day program.During the month of November we are collecting unopened, travel-size toiletries for the VA Hospital and homeless Veterans in Birmingham. Collection boxes will be in the BGIS lobby through this Friday, November 13th.  Progress Reports come home TOMORROW, Tuesday, November 10th. Please look over your child's grades with them and return signed on Thursday, November 12th. THERE IS NO SCHOOL THIS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11th in observance of VETERANS DAY From our nurse, Mrs. Walker:In accordance with Alabama law, Section 16-29-1, Code Alabama, 1975, our school will be conducting a free screening to detect adolescent scoliosis on November 17, 2015 all day during PE classes. The school nurse along with a nurse from Children's Hospital will conduct the scoliosis screening program. The screening, which takes about one minute, is simple and not embarrassing. It involves a visual examination of the back while standing straight and bending over. Boys and girls will be screened separately. Scoliosis is a twisting, or curve of the spine which occurs in about 10% of the adolescent population and about 2 ½% will require some type of medical attention. The first sign of scoliosis is usually noticed between the ages of ten and fourteen. If any symptoms are detected for your child, you will be notified by letter. Please make sure your child wears a slip-on shirt or blouse on the screening day. Girls may wear a bathing suit top or bra which will remain on during the screening. If you do not want your child to participate then send a note in writing to the school nurse. Thank you for you cooperation with the screening program.  Tyra Walker, RN (School Nurse, Brock's Gap Intermediate) hone  439-1630 Fax 439-1601
Language Arts:	Topics of Study - *Vocabulary: We are starting week 4 in our Greek and Latin Roots study. Homework practice will be sent home on Monday and due on Thursday. There will be a test on Friday, November 13th. **Reading Log- There will not be any more reading logs sent home this month.  **Writing-  This week, we learned important note-taking skills needed in order to write an Informational writing piece.  We gathered and organized information and then worked together to write an short writing piece on colonies.  This set the stage for next week. We will be working in class on this piece for the next two weeks. **Language IXL-  We are working on using commas in a series and in dates. The IXL skills are DD.1 and DD.2. Extra class time was given today to work on both of these skills. IXL contracts are due Friday.
Social Studies:	Topics of Study – We are completing our study of the events leading the American Revolution. Students are reviewing the causes of the Revolutionary War this week. There will be a quiz on Friday. The students can study their notes packet and democracy activity.
Math:	We completed our study of volume with our Unit test last Friday. Today we began our study of fractions.  Our unit begins with a study of the whole as well as understanding mixed numbers.  We will have an IXL contract- click on this link for a copy- IXL November 9th-13th . The practice skills are Level G: L3, U1, and D11. Students should show their work on D11. Cumulative Review also came home today and is not due until Friday. Here is a Link to Cumulative Review #9 . We will have no tests or quizzes this week!
Science:	We are continuing to look at how plants are producers, and what that means to the rest of life. We are specifically focusing on photosynthesis and how we know plants are producers. We will be doing several different hands-on activities that go along with our study. These experiments and representations will help us develop a better understanding of how energy flows from the sun and then, outward. No quiz this week; all activities will be done in class and in our Science notebooks!

November 2nd- 6th

Announcements:	NEXT Tuesday, November 10th at 8:45 A.M., is our Veterans Day program at Brock’s Gap. If you have a family or friend you would like to invite to attend and be honored at our Veterans Day program, please complete the bottom of the letter that came home last week or email Mrs. McNiel or Mrs. Ponder for more information. During the month of November we are collecting unopened, travel-size toiletries for the VA Hospital in Birmingham. There are collection boxes in the BGIS lobby today through Friday, November 13th.   THERE IS NO SCHOOL NEXT WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11th in observance of VETERANS DAY! Progress Reports come home next Tuesday, November 10th. Don't forget to check your child's grades from time to time in INOW.
Language Arts:	Vocabulary: We are starting week 3 in our Greek and Latin Roots study.  We will focus on mem-, -ology, and sci-.  Homework practice came home today and is due Thursday. The Vocab test will be this Friday, November 6th. Reading Log-These will be due on Wednesday, November 4th.  I will not be giving a new one on Wednesday due to being out for Veteran's Day next week.  Language IXL-  The new IXL activities are due Friday. The new skills are FF.1, FF.2, and FF.3. Students should be completing these activities first thing in the morning during homeroom. We encourage them daily to use their homeroom and class time wisely. Writing- We started Informational writing on today. We will work on writing across the curriculum using our Social Studies study of the colonies to fuel our focus for this writing piece.  Great work on the Tombstone Projects!
Social Studies:	We will be discussing democracy and the events leading up to the American Revolution.
Math:	We are finishing up our study of volume this week. Students are determining the volume of rectangular prisms, irregular figures, and more complex figures. We will have a UNIT TEST on Volume THIS Friday.  A study guide came home today and I have a copy posted on the Math section of our Blog. The first page of the Study Guide is due tomorrow and the rest of the study guide is due Wednesday.  There are no new IXL activities assigned this week. Here is a link to the VOLUME UNIT STUDY GUIDE: Unit 2 Volume Study Guide . Tomorrow I will post the answer to the study guide to my Math Blog.
Science:	We are studying  ecosystems.  This week we will be learning about Food Chains and Food Webs. There will be a Science Quiz this Thursday and a study guide came home today. We will be doing many activities in class tomorrow and Wednesday to prepare for this quiz. Here is a link to the study guide: Ecosystem Vocabulary Study Guide

October 26th-30th

General Announcements	Today we kicked off our recognition of Red Ribbon by WEARING RED (we also collected canned goods for the Firehouse Shelter)-We pledge to be drug free.   Tuesday will be PJ (pajamas) DAY-Your choices are the key to your dreams!  Wednesday will be SUPERHERO Day-   Be someone’s hero and stand up to bullying and drugs. Thursday will be THROWBACK THURSDAY- We will “throw drugs” back. Friday will be PINK OUT DAY.  Scare away drugs, bullying, and cancer.  Promote healthy bodies. This week is also our Book Fair at Brock’s Gap.  Students can go to the Book Fair before school if they have money to purchase something.  Our homerooms will go to the Book Fair on the following days:  Mrs. McNiel (Wednesday) and Mrs. Ponder (Thursday). In honor of our Veterans.....during the month of November and in conjunction with our upcoming Veterans Day Program, we will be collecting unopened, travel-size toiletries for the VA Hospital in Birmingham. There will be collection boxes in BGIS lobby from Monday, November 2nd through Friday, November 13th.   Mark your calendars for Tuesday, November 10th at 8:45 A.M., we will have our Veterans Day program at Brock’s Gap (a letter with this information should have come home last week)! Don't forget to check your child's grades from time to time on INOW.
Language Arts:	This week we will be finishing up reading "Trapped By The Ice!" We wrote a newspaper article about some of the challenges the crew faced. We will test the vocabulary Tuesday (October 27th) and have a cold read test (using a story we have never seen before) on Tuesday as well.  Reading log is due Wednesday The tombstone was due today and presentations are October 28th and 29th.
Social Studies:	We are finishing up our study of the 13 colonies. The test for the 13 colonies will be Thursday and a study guide came home Friday. Next week we will start talking about the causes of the Revolutionary War.
Math:	This week, we will continue our study of volume.  Students are determining the volume of rectangular prisms and irregular figures. This is a new concept for many, and it may take some time to understand at greater depth.    A new Cumulative Review and IXL contract came home today. The Cumulative Review is due WEDNESDAY and our quiz will be Thursday.  We will also have a Unit Test on Volume next Wednesday.
Science:	We have begun our study of Ecosystems. We started the Unit by discussing an article in our Science World magazines, "Taking on World Hunger." This article discusses a bacteria called rhizobia that lives inside nodules of a pea plant.  This bacteria absorbs nitrogen gas from the air and converts it into ammonia,  a nutrient that plants can use.  These discussions are building background knowledge for our study photosynthesis.  Grades are being taken from activities done in class.

October 19th-23rd

General Announcements:	Report Cards came home last Wednesday! If you have not done so already, please sign and return one of the report card copies. Remember to frequently check your child’s grades in iNow. BGIS ZAXBY'S NIGHT is TOMORROW, Tuesday, October 20th, from 4 to 9 P.M. at 2735 John Hawkins Parkway (across from Wal-Mart). 10% of sales will be donated to BGIS! We appreciate your support of the BOX TOPS for Education program. This is a wonderful way to help raise money for our classrooms! Please be on the lookout for BOX TOPS and send them with your child! Next Friday is the deadline for our first Box Tops turn in date. We have enjoyed meeting and conferencing with many of you! If you would still like to schedule a conference, please send us an email and we will try to schedule something soon. Earthsavers Science Club (ESC) continues to collect gently used shoes during the month of October. Please help by sending in your donations! NEXT WEEK-October 26th-30th- We will celebrate BGIS Spirit Week and Red Ribbon Week (Monday will be "Red Day", wear red and be sure to bring a canned good to donate). BGIS Book Fair will be next week (October 26th-30th).  We will let you know our class days as soon as our schedul
Language Arts:	This week we will be reading "Trapped By The Ice!" We will be discussing the main idea of the text. We will test the vocabulary next Tuesday (October 27th).  Please continue to work on the Tombstone Project assigned in class last Friday. Project directions are post under the Language Arts tab. The tombstone is due October 26th and presentations will be October 28th and 29th.
Social Studies:	We are finishing up our study of the 13 colonies and will even be creating our own colony! The test over the 13 colonies will be October 29th and a study guide will come home soon.
Math:	Last week's IXL Math activities are due tomorrow (Level G-A2, D5, E1, K1, K2).  Class time has been given to work on these activities.  We will continue our study of Volume for the next couple of weeks! Math Cumulative Review came home today and is due Thursday. We will have a short quiz on Volume this Friday.
Science:	Today, we enjoyed another "Too Good for Drugs" lesson taught by our SRO- Officer Johnson.    We are completing class activities for our study of Earth's distribution of Water.  Grades are being taken in class this week for their Distribution of Water graph in their Science notebooks, their Distribution of Graph pie charts we made using our Chromebooks and Google Sheets, and Brainpop Quizzes.  See our Science section of the blog for more details. We are also discussing articles in our Science World Magazines.

October 12th-16th 

General Announcements:	It is truly hard to believe we started our 2nd nine weeks of school today! The first nine weeks seem to have flown by. We look forward to continuing to challenge our students to go deeper in their thinking and learning each and every day! TOMORROW-Wednesday, October 14th, Report Cards come home. Please sign and return one copy and keep the other copy. Remember to frequently check your child’s grades in iNow. Picture orders are due this Friday, October 16th. We appreciate your support of the BOX TOPS for Education program. This is a wonderful way to help raise money for our classrooms! Please be on the lookout for BOX TOPS and send them with your child! We have enjoyed meeting and conferencing with many of you! If you would still like to schedule a conference, please send us an email and we will try to schedule something soon. GEMS is the name of a new club about to start at BGIS! GEMS= Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science! We plan to have several groups of fifth and sixth graders. If your daughter is interested, please have her apply at tinyurl.com/BGISGEMS by October 14th.  Mrs. Ponder will be helping with one of the 5th grade groups! Earthsavers Science club is collecting gently used shoes during the month of October. Please help by sending in shoes you would like to donate!
Language Arts:	Thank you for sending the most delicious "Southern Foods" last Thursday! The students had a great time  testing the different southern dishes.  This week we will be doing a project on Notable Americans. They were each assigned a person to research. We will do most of it in class, but if they don't finish in class they will need to complete the research at home. Look for the details about the part they will do at home later this week!  We will have no comprehension or vocabulary quizzes this week:) The reading log will be due Wednesday.
Social Studies:	We are continuing our study of colonial America this week. We will be comparing the Wampanoag Indians with the Pilgrims, talking about the Salem witch trials, and beginning to look at each of the 13 original colonies this week.
Math:	We took our Pre-Assessment for our Volume unit today!  We will be working on our study of Volume for the next couple of weeks! Math Cumulative Review came home today and is due Thursday! We will have a short quiz on Friday.  New IXL activities were assigned; we are using time at school to get started on these activities. IXL contract is not due until NEXT Tuesday.
Science:	Your children did the most amazing job on their Earth Spheres Interactions projects! Their 3 D dioramas are AWESOME!  We will spend a couple of days sharing our Google slide presentations during class this week.  We will also begin our short study of Earth's distribution of Water. No Tests or quizzes this week. Grades will be taken on class work this week.

October 5th - 9th 

General Announcements:	Picture orders are due next Friday, October 16th. We are collecting Box Tops. This is an awesome way for us to raise money for our classrooms! Please save box tops as you get them and send them in! There will be no school on Monday, October 12th. If you would like to schedule a conference with us on that day, please let us know. All conferences will be before noon and are not required. Remember to frequently check your child’s grades in iNow. Wednesday, October 14th, Report Cards will be coming home. Earthsavers Science club is collecting gently used shoes throughout the month of October. Send in any shoes you would like to donate.
Language Arts:	This week will be a reading week. We will be reading “The Roots of Southern Food” and looking for Main Idea and Details. We will have a reading and vocabulary quiz Friday. Reading Logs are due Wednesday. Please make sure you are signing your child’s reading log. McNiel Homeroom Southern Food Sign Up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0F4CABAF29A6FC1-mcniel Ponder Homeroom Southern Food Sign Up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f4cabaf29a6fc1-mcniel1
Social Studies:	This week we will begin our study of the Colonies. We will be looking at the Mayflower voyage, why early settlers came to America and what life was like in New England.
Math:	This week we are practicing the partial quotients strategy for division. We are also reviewing multiplication, Order of Operations, and lots of computation and word problem involving all four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division). Our Unit Test is this Friday.  It will be worth 100 points (There are 20 problems).  The only math homework this week will be to complete the Unit 1 study guide came home today.  It  is due Wednesday. Due to technical difficulties at school- EXTRA time is being given for the IXL activities that were due today (IXL Level G: C17, C23, D3, and D4). These are the only IXL activities for this week!
Science:	As a culminating activity for our unit, we are working on a project to model the interactions of Earth’s  four spheres. Students may choose to work with a partner or independently.  A grade will be given for both the model they create and the explanation  they give of sphere interactions in their chosen ecosystem.  Please go to our class blog under science resources  http://mcnielponder.blogspot.com/p/science.html to see project directions and the grading rubric. I have also provided websites to use for their research.   The project is due this Friday, and is worth 50 points.