Events from the week of October 26!

Our newest Leader of the Week is...

 Emory!!!

      Emory is being honored this week for her use of habits 1, 4, and 5!  She, like many of our students, is very proactive and comes in each day with a wonderful attitude!  She is ready and eager to learn every day!  She also uses Think Win-Win daily as she works hard to help others and to seek solutions that will make everyone happy!  She is also a good listener.  Emory definitely seeks first to understand, and then often helps others!  Keep up the hard work, Emory!

Red Ribbon Week Fun!!

        BizTown was a huge success!  This year I had a chance to be a little more involved in many of the businesses and I was blown away by the kids' work ethic!  In the restaurant, people would start sweeping or wiping down tables without even being asked to!  CPAs throughout the town worked extremely hard to print and pay invoices as well as to get everyone their paychecks so they could spend their hard-earned money!  No matter which business I went into, all the kids were hard at work, and they each took their jobs very seriously.  It was a great experience!  Here are a few pictures from our visit below!

Native American Murals and Dwellings

Everyone has been chosen to research a Native American tribe and they had to draw a picture of the dwelling and the region where that tribe was located.

The final murals turned out great!

Everyone even got to make a model of a Native dwelling from their cultural region!

Week of November 2-6

Dates to Know

November 3^rd ~ No School

November 5^th ~ Picture Retakes & PTA Skate Party @ Champs from 6-8

November 17^th and 19^th ~ Conferences and Progress Reports

November 25^th-27^th ~ Thanksgiving Break

Parent-Teacher Conferences

This fall we are going to hold student-led conferences so your child can share his/her progress and goal setting with you.  The plan is to have 4-5 families at a time in the room while Ms. Hafner and I facilitate.  We will allow your child to lead the conference and Ms. Hafner and I will step in as well to answer questions and clarify goals set for the student. Rather than being sent home in the Wednesday folder, during this time, you will also receive your child’s progress report. I will also be available during your conference to answer any questions and to discuss the progress report with you and your child as needed. More information about this will be sent home next week so you can sign up for a time slot, but in the meantime, please save the date. :o)

Picture Retakes

Thursday November 5^th is Picture Retake Day for anyone who was not here on Picture Day this year.

*On another note, I will be out for a training 3 days next week, Wednesday-Friday.  If you have any immediate concerns, please contact the office.  I will be checking my email daily, but please be aware that I will not be at school as the training is off site.  Thank you!

*Please check out our blog for pictures from this week including BizTown and our newest Leader of the Week!  Have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

This Week’s Learning Plan

Science:  What is matter?  The kids will be learning about matter and they will learn how to prove that matter is there even when you can’t see it!

Social Studies: What were the motives for exploration and the first colonies in the New World?  We will examine why people first came to the New World (the Americas).  We will also begin to study the first colonies (Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth) and try to understand why they were or were not successful.

Math:  How do I multiply decimals?  The kids will learn to use various algorithms and strategies for multiplying and problem solving with decimals.

Reading:  What can I learn about people from the Renaissance?  We will begin researching and gathering information about Renaissance thinkers.

Writing:  How do creative thinkers tell stories?  The kids will have the opportunity to explore and examine the work of Renaissance thinkers and they will write about how they told stories through their artwork.

We are having fun making our tribal homes! We are using natural resources to create Native Americans' houses. We were split Into groups to learn about different tribes such as: Tlingit, Nez Perce, siux, ect. I can't wait to put these in the hall!

Leader of the Week ~ October 5-9

Our Leader of the Week is…

Sanya!!!

          Sanya has been chosen as our Leader of the Week for her exceptional leadership in her role as Technology Coordinator!  She does a fantastic job every day of keeping track of the iPads for our hallway and making sure they are put away and plugged in each night.  Not only that, but she does this without any reminders from me.  She has been very proactive in this role and she always begins with the end in mind by first gathering all of the iPads before she puts the cart away.  She also puts first things first because while she knows this is an important role, she makes sure her classwork is complete before moving on to her work as the technology coordinator!  Way to go, Sanya!

October 5-9

Dates to Remember

October 7^th ~ Early Release

October 10^th ~ Harmony Harvest

October 19-23 ~ Fall Break

Upcoming Test
Math test over Decimal Place Value on Friday, October 9th

Book Fair Shopping

Today I took the kiddos to preview our Book Fair.  They had the opportunity to record in their agendas anything they’d like to put on a wish list.  If you would like for your child to purchase any of these items, we will be shopping as a class on Monday morning.  Please send money with your child on Monday if he/she wishes to make a purchase.  Thank you!

Message from Our Room Mom

Our room mom this year is Jona Cox and she would love to gather parent contact info. so that she can communicate with the families of each student in our class.  Her communication with you will be related to our 5^th grade classroom such as information about classroom celebrations, etc.  If you would like to share your contact information with her (phone and email address), please send that to her at jonacox20@yahoo.com.  I am not permitted to simply share my contact list with her.  Jona is awesome and she will make a fabulous room mom this year!

Harmony Harvest

Come out next Saturday for the annual Harmony Harvest from 5:00-8:00pm!

This Week’s Learning Plan

7 Habits:  We will review the 7 habits and continue using our data notebooks which I will be able to share with you at conferences in November.  :o)

Science:  We will continue our first science unit, Building a Scientific Community.  We will investigate the scientific method, and learn about what it means to do science through inquiry.

Social Studies:  We continue to learn about Native Americans this week with a focus on the various culture regions the Native Americans settled in and how they adapted to these environments.  Your child will be able to make a mural of the region as well as a model of a Native American dwelling from his/her assigned region.

Math:  We will wrap up our study of decimal place value this week with a  test on Friday.  Look for a study guide to come home Monday.  This will be due on Wednesday.

ELA:  Our focus for ELA will be to continue our Clues to a Culture unit.  We will further our study of Native Americans by examining and writing our own trickster tales.  The kids will also have the opportunity to explore the different perspectives of white settlers and Native Americans on who owned the land.  They will then be given the opportunity to take a perspective and debate on this topic.

Oil Spill Science Experiment!

Oh No! There has been an oil spill in cups! At each table everyone had to work together to get out all of  the oil out of the cups. In each cup there was water and there was vegetable oil and you only had the following materials to get it out: oats,pipette,Cotten balls,and a spoon. This is fun!