Week of September 12-16

Happy Monday!  This week we are wrapping up a few units and beginning some new topics of learning and discussion.  It should be a fun and busy week!

Release Form:  As many of you know, I am working hard this year to earn my National Board Certification.  Today I sent home a student release form asking your permission to videotape your child during lessons I plan to use for my for this process, which requires that the teacher videotape and analyze her teaching.  If you don’t mind allowing me to tape your child for this, please return the form to school as soon as possible.  I would like to record my first lesson this Thursday. 

Math Facts:  On an important note, I’ve been noticing during math class that the kids really need a lot of practice with their math facts.  We’ve had isolated multiplication facts tests so far over the 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, and 5’s.  The 2’s, 3’s and 5’s were unannounced because I wanted to see if they knew them already.  On each of these tests I’ve had kids who demonstrated a need for further practice.  Thus, this week we are taking a break rather than plowing forward with 6’s and just doing retakes of 2’s and 3’s.  

Please encourage your child to learn his/her math facts.  You can quiz them orally in the car, over dinner, in the morning or they can get on the computer and practice on fun websites like www,funbrain.com.  I’ve even suggested to the kids that they call each other and quiz one another to practice.  Learning these facts is so important and helpful to them in 5^th grade because we do a LOT of work which requires the kids to find factors of numbers such as tonight’s homework over prime factorization.   Any support you can offer in helping your child learn their multiplication facts through the 12’s will be greatly appreciated!

PhotoStories:  Today I told the kids they will be making PhotoStories soon using the autobiography they are going to be writing.  Soon they will come home asking for help putting photos on a jump drive or CD because we will be using these photos to combine with their written autobiography and make a PhotoStory.  If you do not have photos on your computer, that is totally fine too.  We can allow the kids to use pictures from the Internet to represent important events.

Upcoming Tests:

Math Test over Number Theory on Thursday, 9/16

Retake over 2’s and 3’s multiplication facts

This week we are learning…

Social Studies:  We will be finishing up glogs over the U.S. regions and presenting, as well as beginning a new unit over the first Native Americans.  Check back later this week to see your student’s finished U.S. region glog!  I will be linking them to the blog.

Math:  Prime factorization including factor trees, factor strings, and writing the prime factorization of a number using exponents.  A review sheet will come home Tuesday to help your child study. 

Word Study:  The parts of a sentence and what makes a good sentence will be our focus this week.

Writing:  We are starting autobiographies this week. 

Reading:  This week we will go over the thinking strategies of visualizing and synthesizing and review all of the thinking strategies that we can use to improve our reading comprehension.

Week of September 5-9

Happy Labor Day!  I hope everyone enjoyed the 3 day weekend!  Though we only have a 4 day week, we have lots of great activities planned.

Here is just a preview of what's coming up this week...
1) We will begin creating glogs to teach about the 5 U.S. regions in social studies.
2) We will also have a "quiz" over capitalization where the kids have to write me a letter demonstrating their ability to apply the capitalization rules and we will begin a competition to see who can use capitalization correctly in their daily writing.
3) Finally, on Friday Mr. Rauh, creative writing teacher at NOHS and dad to one of our students, is bringing his high schoolers to read us picture books they've created!

Upcoming Quizzes and Tests
Be ready to apply those capitalization rules by Thursday!
Prepare for a multiplication mad minute over your 4's on Friday!

Reminders:
Our first field trip will be September 23rd to Riverside Farnsley-Moremen Landing.

What We're Learning This Week
S.S.:  The kids will begin researching their assigned U.S. region in pairs and creating glogs to share what they learned.
Math:  We will continue to work on all aspects of number theory from divisibility rules to prime and composite numbers to the use of exponents to square numbers.
Word Study:  We will continue to practice the capitalization rules.
Writing:  This week culminates our study of the 6 traits, but we will continue to collect in writer's notebooks with the intent of using the 6 traits of writing in every seed.
Reading:  The metacognition thinking strategies will remain our focus in reading as we learn to attend to our thinking while we read in order to deepen our comprehension.

On a final note, if you happen to be in the building, please stop by and check out our bulletin board courtesy of Mrs. Lossin and Mrs. Purdy.  In a word...AMAZING!  Many thanks to those creative moms!

Week of August 29-September 2nd

             First of all, I would like to extend a great big thank you to all of the parents who attended Parent Orientation last Thursday!  We had a great showing and I appreciate you sacrificing your evening to come and listen to my talk about our 5^th grade classroom.  You were a lovely audience!  Thank you also to each parent who volunteered to help out in our classroom!  This is a very supportive group and I think we are going to have a fantastic school year!

Coming up this week…

Book Fair!  This week marks our first book fair of the year!  If your child would like to make a purchase we will be shopping as a class on Friday.  However, if the kids want to shop earlier, I will be happy to send them down to library in the morning after their morning work is complete.

Upcoming Tests

Social Studies Test over Geography on Thursday, September 21

~Please encourage your child to prepare by taking the chapter 1 tutorial at www.tutorial.historyalive.com.  The kids will also need to be able to correctly label and spell all of last week’s word study words on a map.  I will be sending home another blank map this week as a study guide.  Please look over it with your child and remind him/her to use correct capitalization and spelling because this will also count as a word study grade.

Check out what we’re learning this week!

Social Studies:  On Monday and Tuesday the kids will have the opportunity to complete a transfer task where they have to show me how they can apply what they’ve learned about geography.  They will pretend to be pilots on special assignment to travel from one point to another identifying geographic landmarks along the way, latitude and longitude for starting and ending points, general climate for the areas they will be taking off and landing in, etc.  It should be pretty exciting!  Then we will spend some time reviewing and taking the test before we start our next venture into the United States regions.

Math:  On Monday we will review and I will allow kids to make corrections.  Then we will practice answering a math open response question together to get in the routine.  An open response will be included with each math test.  Then, beginning Tuesday we will jump into a fantastic unit on number theory.

Word Study:  This week we will study the capitalization rules, learn their importance, and practice implementing them in our writing.

Writing:  We will continue our study of the 6 traits of writing and the kids will practice using these traits as they collect ideas in their writer’s notebooks.

Reading:  This week will begin an in-depth study of the use of metacognition (thinking about our thinking) while reading.  We will explore each of the thinking strategies and discuss their importance in reading.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.  Thank you and have a great week!

Week of August 22-26

Happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Many thanks to all of the parents who have written comments on the video I showed about never giving up.  I love having the ability to communicate with you and to share your thoughts with the students through our blog.

Dates to Remember
Wednesday, 8/25 Early Release @ 12:25pm
*If your child's transportation will change this day, please send a note.

Thursday, 8/26 Parent Orientation @ 7pm

*Please try to attend.  I give out lots of great information on this night, I have volunteer sign up sheets, and I will show you how to navigate some important websites for our classroom.

Upcoming Tests

ü  Math Test over Whole Number and Decimal Place Value on Friday

ü  Please help your child work on spelling the words on his/her word study list (taped into the agenda) in preparation for a test next week.  This will be a social studies test over geography, but I will be looking for correct spelling and capitalization as they label the oceans, continents, and important lines of reference on the globe (e.g., Equator).

Social Studies:  This week we will continue to learn about the geography of our world by learning important geographic terms for land and water as well as identifying important physical features of the U.S.  The kids will even have the opportunity to design their own island by drawing and naming geographic features.

Math:  We are wrapping up our unit on place value this week with a test on Friday.   A study guide will come home Wednesday night.  Please feel free to help your child with his/her math homework in preparation for this test.

Word Study:  We will practice the word study terms by breaking them into syllables and quizzing one another in class.

Writing:  We are starting a unit over the six traits of effective writing.  This week the kids will learn the importance of organizing their writing effectively and of using voice.

Reading:  As we continue to finish DRA’s, we will also be talking about how to build stamina as reader so that we can read more complex books, read for longer periods of time, and deepen our comprehension.

Question for Parents:

Please leave a comment below if there is anything you have burning questions or concerns over that you would like me to address at Parent Orientation.  Thank you!

Don't ever give up! "Success is not just coming to you; you must come to it"

Good afternoon!  Please check out this amazing video below.  I showed it to the kids today during our morning meeting in order to better help them understand our class motto this year, which is:  "Success is not coming to you; you must come to it."  The man in this video has no arms or legs and he talks about the importance of not giving up and trying "100 times if you have to."  It really seemed to have an impact on the students and today after viewing and discussing the video I saw a change in their work ethic.
I would greatly appreciate it, if you would please leave a comment to further motivate the kids to try their best.  I will share these comments in class to allow the kids a chance to see their parents' take on never giving up.  Thanks for your support!

Week of August 15-19

Well, our first few days getting to know each other were a huge success!  I think everyone had fun and it seems we are going to have a great class!  This week we are going to get a bit more into academics.  Some light homework will be assigned as well.  Please checkout the Homework page for this week's assignments.  These will also be in your child's agenda.

A few bits of important parent info...

• Please read and sign your child's agenda each night even when they don't have homework.  This is one of the ways we can easily communicate.  I will check agendas every morning, so feel free to write me a note in the agenda anytime.
• Our first Early Release Day is Wednesday, August 24th at 12:25pm.  Please send a note if your child's transportation will change that day.
• Parent Orientation is coming up on Thursday, August 25th at 7pm.  Please make plans to attend so I can explain how our 5th grade class works and answer any questions you may have about this year.
• Finally, welcome to our class blog!  I will update at least once a week with important dates and to tell you about what we are learning.  From time to time, I will also pose questions for students and/or parents to invite 2 way communication and to expand our learning outside the classroom.

Coming up this week...

Math:  We will begin learning about place value.

Social Studies:  We will begin a study of geography.

Writing:  We will begin collecting ideas and students will also be given a writing invitation each day.

Reading:  We will begin DRA's so I can learn about your child as a reader as well as some important mini-lessons abotu choosing books.

Word Study:  We will play some word study games including Scrabble to get a feel for the kids' spelling abilities.

Science:  We will begin rotate science in and out with social studies or reading throughout the year.  We have some great units planned to make it fun and hands-on!

So, that's what's going on this week in Mrs. Whitley's room.  If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to call or shoot me an e-mail at jennifer.whitley@oldham.kyschools.us.

Welcome New 5th Graders!!

Welcome to 5^th grade!  By now you’ve probably found out that I am your teacher!  You are either excited, curious, or concerned.  Hopefully, you are excited and curious!  If you are concerned, don’t be.  We are going to learn a lot and have fun doing so.  I can’t wait to meet everyone!  I love teaching 5^th grade and I know we’re going to have an awesome school year together!

This webpage is a blog.  Please become a follower so you can catch all of my updates.  If you have questions or comments, please write them on here under the “Comments” section.  I want to encourage two way communication between parents, students, and myself. 

Important dates to keep in mind as the start of school rapidly approaches:

Monday, August 8:  Open House 5-7pm 

Please bring your school supplies and the questionnaires I sent home with my letter to you.

Wednesday, August 10:  First Day of School!!

Wednesday, August 24:  Early Release @ 12:25pm

Thursday, August 25:  Parent Orientation

Enjoy your last weekend of the summer!  I hope to see everyone Monday night at Open House!