Week of April 15-19

Hello kids and parents! Here is what you need to know for this week. :)

 

Extra Credit for Immigration Stories

Last week I sent out a request asking for parents to send me any stories you may have about when/why your family immigrated to the United States. I've decided to also make this an extra credit opportunity for the kids. Friday I explained to the kids that if they put together a short essay or power point about how their family immigrated they could receive 10 extra credit points in Social Studies. They have until Tuesday because Tuesday afternoon, we will be sharing our stories.

Edmodo implementation

Some of you may have heard of a new classroom technology some teachers in the district are implementing called Edmodo. It's a wonderful website I just found out about this week. Think of it as an academic Facebook for our classroom only where all kid talk will be monitored by me. You can also view the page as well using a code from your child's page when he/she logs in. I plan to use Edmodo to do a few things including review quizzes, class polls, small group and whole group discussions, and homework assignments. As I said, I just learned about it this week, so we will be testing this out together. Please know that it is perfectly safe and I've already done a lesson with the kids outlining expectations for Edmodo use including what is appropriate and what's not. Many of the kids had the opportunity to join on Friday, but I still need to sign a few up. By Monday afternoon however, everyone will be a member. This tool is of course, dependent on your child having Internet access, so if that is a problem please let me know and I'll come up with an alternative way for them to do Edmodo assignments. Not all homework will be on Edmodo, just a few assignments as we begin getting used to it.

Reading Assignment (Outside lit circles)

This week I plan to assign a book to each child to read so we can do another round of lit circles. This lit circle however, will take place outside of class and we will try our hand at having our discussion via Edmodo. This means your child should be reading an assigned book at home each night so we can discuss.

Math test

There will be a test over 2-dimensional geometry this Wednesday. I will send home a study guide tomorrow and there will be a quiz for practice on Edmodo Tuesday night.

Field trips

This week we have lots of field trips. Thursday we are going to NOMS for 5th Grade Day, followed by our 5th Grade Picnic at Creasey-Mahan Nature Preserve. As of now, there is rain forecast, but we're hopeful that might change. If not, there will be a rain plan.
On Friday we will travel to the Oldham County Arts Center to watch "Alice in Wonderland" and compare it to the storybook version we read in class.

Relay for Life

Please remember to send in donations for Relay for Life. Your child also received pink cards which can be used to honor loved ones who've fought cancer. These cards will be displayed in the school to honor those who've battled cancer.

This week we will be learning about the following:

Social Studies: Students will continue to learn about economics.

Math: We will review and test over 2-D geometry.
Word Study: We will review geometry and economics vocabulary.
Writing and Reading: Students will be reading and writing about immigration in our ELA unit about coming of age. Right now the focus is on how our own country has come of age.

Have a fantastic week and cross your fingers that the rain holds off this Thursday!