I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving Break! I want to tell you how thankful I am for such a generous group of parents and students. I have gotten an overwhelming response for the Husky Helping House this year. If you still wish to donate, we no longer need anyone to buy items, but any money you send will be shared other classes so that their children can also have such a nice Christmas. Thank you so much for your care and generosity!
Upcoming Tests:
Social Studies, Chapter 9 (Slavery)-Friday
Facts Test-Friday
Here's what we are learning this week!
Social Studies: We are currently into one of our most intense social studies units of the year, slavery. After just two lessons the kids are already intrigued and full of questions. Throughout this unit they will be creating a slave journal in their reflection notebooks where they will write as though they are experiencing the hardships that the West African slaves experienced.
Math: With the completion of division, we are now moving on to fractions. This is a major unit of study in 5th grade. We will be learning about fractions from now through the better part of January.
Science: We will do a mini-unit on body systems this week.
Word Study: Word study will be interrupted a lot this week, so we will be reviewing skills already learned.
Reading: Literature circles are going strong! Each group has a meeting this week, so you may see some extra work coming home if the kids don't get finished in class.
Writing: We will be celebrating the completion of our first open genre pieces on Friday! Allowing the kids to select their own writing piece has been a huge success because they were so excited about their writing! I will send home a copy of the completed piece with your child for you to view.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Week of November 14-18
Happy Monday! Here is what's coming up this week!
Tomorrow is our last parent-teacher conference day for the fall. If you were unable to sign up for a conference and I have not yet spoken to you on the phone, please contact me with a good time to chat. I like to touch base with everyone.Squanto Movie
The entire 5th grade will be viewing the movie "Squanto" on Monday, November 21 in the library in culmination of our unit over the colonies. Please send your child a snack and a bottled water to enjoy during the movie.
Thanksgiving Break
Please remember that Thanksgiving Break is Wednesday, November 23-Friday, November 26. Have a happy Turkey Day!
Upcoming Tests:
Homophones Quiz: Friday, Nov. 18 (Check out extra practice under my links)
Social Studies Test: Friday, Nov. 18
*Please have your child take the chapter 7 tutorial and print his/her score both Wednesday and Thursday night. The more they practice, the better they do!
Math Test: Next Monday, Nov. 21
*This test will be over division. Please help your child as needed each night with the division homework. Division has so many steps sometimes kids get confused. You might also encourage your child to check his/her work using multiplication, which I've modeled in class.
Here is what we're doing this week!
Social Studies: We will be creating colonial billboards to encourage Europeans to move the colonies and wrapping up our unit over the colonial regions.
Math: Division, division, division! We will learn to estimate quotients, divide with 2-digit divisors, and how to divide decimals!
Word Study: Homophones are our continued focus this week. These are words that sound the same, but have different spellings and different meanings. The ones the kids struggle with most are your, you're, there, they're, their, to, too, and two.
Writing: We will be sharing our open genre pieces with the high schoolers for suggestions on revision techniques and we will hopefully revise and publish before Thanksgiving so parents may also see the final product!
Reading: Literature circles! The kids will begin reading books in literature circles. The work is intended to be complete mostly in class, but any unfinished work will become homework because the students will have weekly deadlines for their reading and written assignments. Completing the reading and other jobs that go with it are necessary in order to be ready to discuss in the literature circle group.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Week of November 7-11
Question for Parents
Please respond by commenting on this blog post.
What would you most like to see at your child's parent-teacher conference? (e.g., notebooks, open responses, student feedback on strengths and areas of growth)
Progress Reports & Conferences
Well, it's progress report time! Progress reports will be in the Wednesday folder this week and parent-teacher conferences are Thursday night and next Tuesday. If you haven't gotten to sign up for a conference, please call the office. I still have 2 spaces left next Tuesday. I am also happy to do phone conferences if it is inconvenient for you to come in or if the two spots on Tuesday fill up.
Field Trip!
Next Tuesday we will be taking a walking field trip to North Oldham High School to meet with Mr. Rauh's Creative Writing students. They are going to help teach the kids revising strategies to improve their open genre pieces. Everyone had a blast when the high schoolers came to us, so it will be fun to go over and visit them. I'm hoping this will also be a meaningful experience for everyone involved. It is so interesting to watch the kids interact and learn from the older crew.
Facts Quizzes
I have been so impressed with facts scores lately! We have several students who have accurately completed 50 multiplication facts in 3 minutes and a handful who have accurately completed 50 division facts in 3 minutes! The step after that is simplifying fractions. Keep up the awesome work, kiddos! Practice in the car, practice at dinner, quiz a friend on the bus, play games on the computer. Knowing those facts is incredibly beneficial!
Upcoming Tests
Facts Quiz on Friday
Learning Agenda This Week:
Social Studies: We just kicked off a new unit on the 3 colonial regions. Parents, can you name these? :o)
Math: We wrapped up our unit on geometry and we are now delving into division!
Word Study: Homophones-The kids are having a hard time with words that sound the same such as, there, their, and they're, so this should be a very helpful unit.
Writing: Open Genre! They are doing amazing writing so far!
Reading: This week we will finish talking about theme and character traits with an open response task on Thursday. Then we will kick off our first literature circle...one of my personal favorite things to do with the kids!
Please respond by commenting on this blog post.
What would you most like to see at your child's parent-teacher conference? (e.g., notebooks, open responses, student feedback on strengths and areas of growth)
Progress Reports & Conferences
Well, it's progress report time! Progress reports will be in the Wednesday folder this week and parent-teacher conferences are Thursday night and next Tuesday. If you haven't gotten to sign up for a conference, please call the office. I still have 2 spaces left next Tuesday. I am also happy to do phone conferences if it is inconvenient for you to come in or if the two spots on Tuesday fill up.
Field Trip!
Next Tuesday we will be taking a walking field trip to North Oldham High School to meet with Mr. Rauh's Creative Writing students. They are going to help teach the kids revising strategies to improve their open genre pieces. Everyone had a blast when the high schoolers came to us, so it will be fun to go over and visit them. I'm hoping this will also be a meaningful experience for everyone involved. It is so interesting to watch the kids interact and learn from the older crew.
Facts Quizzes
I have been so impressed with facts scores lately! We have several students who have accurately completed 50 multiplication facts in 3 minutes and a handful who have accurately completed 50 division facts in 3 minutes! The step after that is simplifying fractions. Keep up the awesome work, kiddos! Practice in the car, practice at dinner, quiz a friend on the bus, play games on the computer. Knowing those facts is incredibly beneficial!
Upcoming Tests
Facts Quiz on Friday
Learning Agenda This Week:
Social Studies: We just kicked off a new unit on the 3 colonial regions. Parents, can you name these? :o)
Math: We wrapped up our unit on geometry and we are now delving into division!
Word Study: Homophones-The kids are having a hard time with words that sound the same such as, there, their, and they're, so this should be a very helpful unit.
Writing: Open Genre! They are doing amazing writing so far!
Reading: This week we will finish talking about theme and character traits with an open response task on Thursday. Then we will kick off our first literature circle...one of my personal favorite things to do with the kids!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
1st Colonies Videos
Below you will find student videos of the act-it-outs the kids created to represent the first colonies in America. I think all the students really enjoyed getting to act out history!
This first video is a depiction of Roanoke, "The Lost Colony." The only confusing part is when Captain John White sails back to England. The shooting is meant to depict the war going on with Spain in the Atlantic which prevented White from returning to Roanoke as quickly as he had hoped. The kids did a phenomenal job with their acting and there's even a blooper at the end! :o)
The next video is a depiction of Jamestown, the first successful colony in the New World. Again, the kids did a fantastic job with this. Their script, like the others, was entirely student-written using information from the text. They did a great job including as many aspects as possible to really show how history unfolded in the Jamestown colony. Please ignore the giggling. The kids really enjoyed watching these performances. :o)
Our last video is a depiction of Plymouth colony. The narrators in this video asked to use my microphone which added a special sound quality to enhance their presentation. I also loved their use of props!
This first video is a depiction of Roanoke, "The Lost Colony." The only confusing part is when Captain John White sails back to England. The shooting is meant to depict the war going on with Spain in the Atlantic which prevented White from returning to Roanoke as quickly as he had hoped. The kids did a phenomenal job with their acting and there's even a blooper at the end! :o)
The next video is a depiction of Jamestown, the first successful colony in the New World. Again, the kids did a fantastic job with this. Their script, like the others, was entirely student-written using information from the text. They did a great job including as many aspects as possible to really show how history unfolded in the Jamestown colony. Please ignore the giggling. The kids really enjoyed watching these performances. :o)
Our last video is a depiction of Plymouth colony. The narrators in this video asked to use my microphone which added a special sound quality to enhance their presentation. I also loved their use of props!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Week of October 31-November 4
Happy Halloween! I know everyone most likely has a busy night planned, so your child is telling you the truth when he/she says there is no homework tonight! :o)
Reminders for this week…
Early Release: Please remember that Wednesday, November 2nd is an Early Release Day. If your child’s transportation will be different, please send me a signed note indicating that change. We will release at 12:25pm that day.
Conferences: Progress Reports come home on Wednesday, November 9th and conferences will follow. If you would like to set up a parent-teacher conference, please call the office to schedule. They will be held on Thursday, Nov. 10 from 2:40-6:00pm and Tuesday, Nov. 15 from 2:40-6:00pm.
BOB: Over the next couple of months you may hear your child referring to BOB a lot. Your child hasn’t met someone new; BOB is actually an abbreviation for Battle of the Books. Each year we participate in this competition to team up in our classrooms and read 10 BOB books. There will be classroom competitions and a district competition. All kids will participate on their teams in the classroom competition. Kids who wish to enter the district competition must read at least 7 of the books and will do so on an individual basis. Please encourage your child to participate in BOB. It’s a fun, exciting way to get kids reading.
Word Study: This week’s word study rules involve making words that end in –ix, -is, and –us plural. As part of the lessons the kids will be given a list of words and they will have to research in the dictionary to find the correct plural spelling. Therefore, though they will be learning and practicing the rules here at school, the word study rules will not be taped in their agendas until Wednesday night.
Upcoming Tests:
Math Test on Friday
Social Studies Test of Friday
I try hard not to let big tests fall on the same days, but sometimes I’m stuck with it. I will not be assigning a reading log this week to allow the kids plenty of time to prepare.
What We’re Learning
Social Studies: We will be wrapping up our unit over the first three colonies, Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth.
Math: The culmination of our first geometry unit is Friday.
Word Study: We are exploring the rules for pluralizing words with less common endings such as –is, -ix, and –is.
Writing: We are finishing our exploration of different genres and the kids will select a genre to explore during writing workshop for the next few weeks. Some will write poems, some may do persuasive letters, and some may do short stories. I’m leaving it open to any type of writing they have experience with.
Reading: We are continuing our study of character traits and how characters’ traits can be impacted or changed due to other elements of the story such as setting, other characters, and theme.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Red Ribbon Week: October 24-28
Welcome back! I hope you
all had a fantastic and relaxing Fall Break!
Red Ribbon Week
Red Ribbon Week will be the week after Fall Break. Our theme this year is "A Drug Free Life Rocks." Each day in class we will do an activity that encourages children to choose a drug-free lifestyle writing our own drug free song! Students will also be invited to dress up for Red Ribbon Week in the following ways.
Monday: Wear red
Tuesday: Wear sunglasses
Wednesday: Wear clothing inside out
Thursday: Wear tie-dye
Friday: Wear somethiing that represents your future (e.g., a pencil tucked behind your ear if you wish to be a writer, a suit for a future businessman, a football jersey for a high school football player)
Photo Story Autobiographies
Please remember to send in
approximately 20-26 pictures that correlate with your child's autobiography. It
is best if pictures can be put on a flash drive that your child can bring to
school. If you can't use a flash drive, please put the pictures on a CD. I
cannot accept hard copies or e-mailed copies of pictures for these. All
pictures must be here by Wednesday,
October 26 because we are going to the lab to put them on the
computers so the students can create their Photo Stories during the Technology
rotation that starts October 27. If you do not have any electronic copies of
pictures I will allow your child to find images from the Internet that support
his/her autobiography such as a UK symbol if they like UK. I know gathering
pictures can be a lot of work, but the end product is well-worth it!Red Ribbon Week will be the week after Fall Break. Our theme this year is "A Drug Free Life Rocks." Each day in class we will do an activity that encourages children to choose a drug-free lifestyle writing our own drug free song! Students will also be invited to dress up for Red Ribbon Week in the following ways.
Monday: Wear red
Tuesday: Wear sunglasses
Wednesday: Wear clothing inside out
Thursday: Wear tie-dye
Friday: Wear somethiing that represents your future (e.g., a pencil tucked behind your ear if you wish to be a writer, a suit for a future businessman, a football jersey for a high school football player)
Photo Story Autobiographies
Upcoming Tests
Word Study Quiz over Plurals on FridayMixed Multiplication Facts Quiz on Friday
Below you will find out what we’re learning this week!
Social Studies: Explorers’ motives and impacts; 1st colonial settlements
Math: Geometry-polygons and angles
Word Study: Plurals (continued from the week prior to Fall Break)
Writing: Open Genre (The kids will dabble in some different types of writing this week and then they’ll get to choose which type to pursue!)
Reading: Responding to Literature-character traits and
story elements
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Week of October 10-14
Red Ribbon Week
Red Ribbon Week will be the week after Fall Break. Our theme this year is "A Drug Free Life Rocks." Each day in class we will do an activity that encourages children to choose a drug-free lifestyle writing our own drug free song! Students will also be invited to dress up for Red Ribbon Week in the following ways.
Monday: Wear red
Tuesday: Wear sunglasses
Wednesday: Wear clothing inside out
Thursday: Wear tie-dye
Friday: Wear somethiing that represents your future (e.g., a pencil tucked behind your ear if you wish to be a writer, a suit for a future businessman, a football jersey for a high school football player)
Fall Break
Please remember that Fall Break is next week. Enjoy it!
Photo Story Autobiographies
I sent a letter home today in the Wednesday folder regarding Photo Stories for the kids' autobiographies. Please send in approximately 20-26 pictures that correlate with your child's autobiography. I will have all the kids print a draft tomorrow to bring home. It is best if pictures can be put on a flash drive that your child can bring to school. If you can't use a flash drive, please put the pictures on a CD. I cannot accept hard copies or e-mailed copies of pictures for these. All pictures must be here by Wednesday, October 26 because we are going to the lab to put them on the computers so the students can create their Photo Stories during the Technology rotation that starts October 27. If you do not have any electronic copies of pictures I will allow your child to find images from the Internet that support his/her autobiography such as a UK symbol if they like UK. This is a really great project that the kids enjoy so very much and that I hope to share with you! Thank you for your help in gathering photographs for your child.
Upcoming Tests:
Social Studies Test over Chapter 4 on Friday
Multiplication Mixed Facts Quiz on Friday
Social Studies: The kids have been pretending to be archeologists diving for and examining artifacts from a sunken ship to gather information about what sparked the Age of Exploration in the late 1400's and early 1500's.
Math: We have wrapped up our unit over estimation and computation and now we are delving into geometry!
Word Study: Pluralization Rules
Reading/Science: The unit over the 5 kingdoms of living things will culminate this week with a reading comprehension over the 5 kingdoms and an open response. The kids will also have the opportunity to pretend to be a scientist who discovers a brand new organism for their trnasfer task on Thursday.
Writing: We are publishing autobiographies and beginning open genre writing this week!
Red Ribbon Week will be the week after Fall Break. Our theme this year is "A Drug Free Life Rocks." Each day in class we will do an activity that encourages children to choose a drug-free lifestyle writing our own drug free song! Students will also be invited to dress up for Red Ribbon Week in the following ways.
Monday: Wear red
Tuesday: Wear sunglasses
Wednesday: Wear clothing inside out
Thursday: Wear tie-dye
Friday: Wear somethiing that represents your future (e.g., a pencil tucked behind your ear if you wish to be a writer, a suit for a future businessman, a football jersey for a high school football player)
Fall Break
Please remember that Fall Break is next week. Enjoy it!
Photo Story Autobiographies
I sent a letter home today in the Wednesday folder regarding Photo Stories for the kids' autobiographies. Please send in approximately 20-26 pictures that correlate with your child's autobiography. I will have all the kids print a draft tomorrow to bring home. It is best if pictures can be put on a flash drive that your child can bring to school. If you can't use a flash drive, please put the pictures on a CD. I cannot accept hard copies or e-mailed copies of pictures for these. All pictures must be here by Wednesday, October 26 because we are going to the lab to put them on the computers so the students can create their Photo Stories during the Technology rotation that starts October 27. If you do not have any electronic copies of pictures I will allow your child to find images from the Internet that support his/her autobiography such as a UK symbol if they like UK. This is a really great project that the kids enjoy so very much and that I hope to share with you! Thank you for your help in gathering photographs for your child.
Upcoming Tests:
Social Studies Test over Chapter 4 on Friday
Multiplication Mixed Facts Quiz on Friday
Social Studies: The kids have been pretending to be archeologists diving for and examining artifacts from a sunken ship to gather information about what sparked the Age of Exploration in the late 1400's and early 1500's.
Math: We have wrapped up our unit over estimation and computation and now we are delving into geometry!
Word Study: Pluralization Rules
Reading/Science: The unit over the 5 kingdoms of living things will culminate this week with a reading comprehension over the 5 kingdoms and an open response. The kids will also have the opportunity to pretend to be a scientist who discovers a brand new organism for their trnasfer task on Thursday.
Writing: We are publishing autobiographies and beginning open genre writing this week!
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