January 31-February 4

Okay, Mother Nature…enough with the snow and ice!  We have stuff we need to learn!  Here’s hoping yet again for one full week of school…we will see.  Regarding literature circles, this week we will have our final meeting dates.  I will meet withThe Breadwinnner, The Power of Un, and Running Out of Time on Thursday and I will meet with Sammy Keyes and Hank Zipzer on Friday.  In the meantime, kids should be finishing up their reading, their final jobs, and writing a one page response describing their favorite part of the book and why.  The students have also opted to do group literature circle projects where each group will act out a scene from their novel.  These performances will take place Friday and Monday.  I will do my best to post them on the blog, so long as the technology will cooperate.

In other news, I would like to congratulate our 5^th graders for doing an OUTSTANDING job on their Mob Dance!  It was such a great performance!  Their performance will be broadcast on WLKY Cribs sometime in February.  I will let you know as soon as I learn the date of the broadcast.

Finally, I would like to go ahead and inform everyone that I will be taking a half day on Friday to celebrate my son, Brennan’s 1^st birthday!  I can’t believe my baby will be one!  Jill McClay will be my sub on the afternoon of Friday, February 4^th.

This week's guiding questions are as follows:
Math
How do we add and subtract fractions with different denominators?

Reading
How do I effectively complete my literature circle responsibilities?

Social Studies
What are the 3 branches of government and their responsibilities?

Word Study
How do I begin learning the new scientific terms related to the human body?

Writing
How do I edit and revise my feature article for publication?

Week of January 24-28

Well, let's try this again!  Hopefully we will actually have a full week of school with NO snow days!  Plans haven't changed too much from last week, but there have been some changes to test dates.  Literature circle meeting dates will change as well.  As of now, I will meet with The Breadwinnner, The Power of Un, and Running Out of Time tomorrow.  That means I will be meeting with Sammy Keyes and Hank Zipzer on Tuesday.  Please be ready for your meetings.  We don't have any time to spare now!

Please note that this Friday is also very special because we are going to have a MegaSkills Assembly where the 5th graders will be performing their awesome mob dance at 9:15!  It is going to be great!  Also on Friday, because we have once again earned 20 paws for great behavior, we will have "Sports Day" where the kiddos in my class can where their favorite sports gear including hats and bring a favorite sports drink to enjoy during class!

Here are the changes to our upcoming test dates...
Wednesday:  Social Studies Test over the Revolutionary War (Chapter 13)
Thursday:

This week's guiding questions are as follows:
Math
How do we add and subtract fractions with different denominators?

Reading
How do I effectively participate in literature circle discussions?

Social Studies
How did the Continental Army finally defeat the British in the War for Independence?

Word Study
How do we review the word study rules we've learned so far?/Literature Circle Make Up Time

Writing
How do I utilize my research in order to begin drafting my feature article? Math Test over Unit 5 (Be sure you can read and interpret graphs and stem and leaf plots, as well as add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators.)

Week of January 17-21

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!  On Friday the entire school watched an educational video about the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his influence during the Civil Rights Movement.  Martin Luther King, Jr. was a very influential man who changed the course of history.  We will discuss his life some more in class today and it is my hope that the kids will begin to understand the value of his contributions to today's society.

Literature Circles
Last week we began our second round of literature circles.  The kids are reading books from the Battle of the Books competition this time to support the program and to encourage some friendly competition.  Just as before, this is meant to be completed during class and should be if time is used wisely, but if your child is not ready for his/her literature circle meeting, he/she may take it home to complete it.  If you would like to help you child comprehend what he/she is reading, please ask him/her about the literature circle book.

Here is what's coming up this week...

Upcoming Tests:
Keep practicing those math facts!  A quiz could happen at any time...

Math
How do I read and interpret a contour map?
How do we add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators?

Reading
How do I effectively participate in literature circle discussions?

Social Studies
How did the British and the Continental Armies differ from one another?

Word Study
How do we review the word study skills we've learned so far?

Writing
How do I effectively gather research and begin drafting my feature article?

Week of January 10-14

       Thank you to everyone who stayed for our New Year's Back to School Bash!  It was a lot of fun!  A big thank you goes to Mrs. Riggs for planning all of the fun games!  We all had a blast!  Well, it is definitely a new year and we are in full swing in our classroom.  We are starting literature circles up again and I would like to encourage parents to ask your child about his/her literature circle book.  The kids will be reading these books mostly in class, completing a "job," and writing a response letter at the end of each assigned section prior to our weekly discussion meetings.  It is so important for the kids to stay on top of this task so they can contribute to the discussions over the book and further their reading comprehension.  This unit will culminate the first week of February with self-selected literature circle projects/presentations.
       There will also be a social studies test this week over the Declaration of Independence.  As an assignment the kids will be writing their own declarations of independence, so don't be surprised if your child gives you a paper in attempt to declare their independence from something.  ;o)

Upcoming Tests:
Wednesday:  Social Studies (chapter 12-The Declaration of Independence)
Friday:  Word Study Quiz over Apostrophe's

Here are this week's guiding questions!
Math
What are a few different ways to display and analyze data?  How do we add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators?


Reading
How do I effectively participate in a literature circle?


Social Studies
How did the colonists declare independence from England?


Word Study
How do we use apostrophe's in plural possessives?


Writing
How do I collect ideas for a feature article?

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year and welcome back everyone!!  Winter Break is over and it is time to start a new year!  I hope you all enjoyed the holidays and that you got to spend lots of time with your family and friends.  We have a lot to look forward to in 2011.  These kiddos will be making a major transition from elementary school to middle school!  Therefore, we have lots of great stuff left to learn.  Here is what's coming up this week...

Upcoming Tests:
Tuesday:  Social Studies Chapter 10 (Tensions Leading the Revolutionary War)
Facts Quizzes (One of my New Year's resolutions is to give more of these ;o)

Guiding Questions
Math:  How do I complete the shopping spree and reflect on my learning?


Social Studies:  What have we learned about the tensions which led to the Revolutionary War?  Who were patriots and loyalists and how did the colonists declare independence?


Reading:  How do we effectively participate in our new literature circles?


Writing:  What is a feature article?


Word Study:  How do we separate words into syllables?