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It’s getting pretty crazy in Kosovo. Ever since that country declared independence last week, their former country, Serbia, has been in chaos. The latest is a bunch of rioting and looting. Some are even saying the looting is patriotic and helping to defend their country; this is from a USA Today story:

Two women who took part in the Belgrade riots to protest Kosovo’s independence seem to think the two go hand in hand.

A video clip now on the Internet — entitled ” Kosovo for Sneakers” — shows two girls going from shop to shop with armfuls of looted items. Goods drip from their overburdened arms. They drop a sweater, but pick up a box of chocolates — and on and on.

“We came to Belgrade to defend Kosovo,” one of the girls, her face blurred to protect identity and identified only as Maja, told B92 television. “We started looting when they all did.”

The story goes on:

Rioters set the U.S. Embassy on fire and smashed several other Western missions before police chased them away. But they moved on, destroying and looting shops in the capital city’s shopping area.

“We looted because we are poor, not because we are rich,” Maja said.

“It was too much to issue a warrant for our arrest — as if we killed someone,” Jovana told B92.

So, according to these girls, I guess it’s okay to steal and loot if you are

• “defending” your country
• everyone else is doing it
• you are poor, not rich

Plus, it’s not like they killed anyone, that would be really bad.

So, do you agree with these girls? Do you think what they did was right? Did they have their reasons? Post some comments and let everyone know how you feel. Don’t forget to read the USA Today story and you can watch the YouTube clip from home.

Spelling: Today was a review of compound words and long vowel sounds.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 62-64 were due today.

Reading: Today was a reading day in Literature Circles. We also had our “paper and coffee.”

Writing: Today was a revising day. A piece of fiction is due February 29.

Math: Today was Math Skills and a MiniQuiz over metric measurement, unit conversion and decimal addition and subtraction. Math Skills is online, so ask your student to show you their tracking sheet and scores; better yet, ask them to invite you as a collaborator so that you can check their scores anytime! Students can even work on math skills anywhere with an internet connection.

Science: Students were challenged to use mirrors to redirect laser light around objects to strike a water bottle.

Social Studies: None on Fridays.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 1
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 3
• Current Hours with No Orange Magnets: 33

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet.

Notes:

• View grades, assignments, attendance and even the report card at SnapGrades.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• This week’s juice volunteers: thanks to responsible and generous families, we have a juice backlog, so no juice volunteers needed for a few weeks!

Spelling: Today was a preview of upcoming spelling words.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 62-64 are available and will be due tomorrow; this is the same assignment from last week.

Reading: Today was a discussion day in Literature Circles. Some groups worked on visualizing.

Writing: Today was a revising day. We talked about the use of a “waterfall lead,” a lead that doesn’t just jump in plunging down a rushing fall, but a little upstream. Starting the story a little before the important action gives the reader a chance to understand the characters and setting, while building suspense.

A piece of fiction is due February 29.

Math: We played a game to review metric measurement conversion and students coached each other on solving decimal addition and subtraction problems. Homework is to complete worksheet p. 62.

Science: None due to library.

Social Studies: We read about the village life of the Chippewa Indians. Homework is to finish review worksheet pp. 7 and 9. A test over the first peoples of Michigan will be next week.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 0
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 3
• Current Hours with No Orange Magnets: 25

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet.

Notes:

• View grades, assignments, attendance and even the report card at SnapGrades.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• This week’s juice volunteers: thanks to responsible and generous families, we have a juice backlog, so no juice volunteers needed for a few weeks!

Spelling: Today was the unit 7 spelling test.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 62-64 are available and will be due Friday; this is the same assignment from last week.

Reading: Today was a reading day in Literature Circles. Some groups worked on questioning and visualizing.

Writing: Today was a revising day. We discussed the importance of having the right ending in a piece of writing, an ending that satisfies the reader and brings things to a close. A piece of fiction is due February 29.

Math: None due to an assembly from Peaceful Authority.

Science: We used baby powder to see a laser beam and learned that light moves in straight lines.

Don’t forget that tonight is a total lunar eclipse, starting at about 10:00 pm, with the best viewing at about 10:30 pm. Read more about it here. Don’t miss the last one until 2010! This will be a perfect introduction to our study of shadows later this week.

Social Studies: We finished learning about the Huron Indians, the last Native people of Michigan we will learn about.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 1
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 3
• Current Hours with No Orange Magnets: 18

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet.

Notes:

• View grades, assignments, attendance and even the report card at SnapGrades.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• This week’s juice volunteers: thanks to responsible and generous families, we have a juice backlog, so no juice volunteers needed for a few weeks!

Spelling: Today we reviewed words that have multiple meanings; this will be the skill on tomorrow’s spelling test.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 62-64 are available and will be due Friday; this is the same assignment from last week.

Reading: Today was a discussion day in Literature Circles. Some groups worked on connections.

Writing: Today was a drafting day, and due to the holiday weekend, the last drafting day. A piece of fiction is due February 29.

Math: We reviewed adding and subtracting decimals based on some low MiniQuiz scores. Homework is to finish at least 18 decimal problems started in class.

Science: We watched Magic School Bus Makes a Rainbow to review white light, prisms, colored light, color filters and how light moves.

We also talked about a total lunar eclipse happening tomorrow night at about 10:30 pm. Read more about it here. Don’t miss the last one until 2010! This will be a perfect introduction to our study of shadows later this week.

Social Studies: We read an article about the Hopewell Mound Builders and started learning about the Huron Indians, the last Native people of Michigan we will learn about.

Behavior Update:

• Yellow magnets: 2
• Orange magnets: 0
• Red magnets: 0
• STAR Awards: 3
• Current Hours with No Orange Magnets: 12

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet.

Notes:

• View grades, assignments, attendance and even the report card at SnapGrades.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• This week’s juice volunteers: thanks to responsible and generous families, we have a juice backlog, so no juice volunteers needed for a few weeks!