Week of September 10-14

What's Happening in Mrs. Whitley's Class

Room Mom Correspondence
If you would like to receive correspondence from our room mom, Beth McBride, please send her your name and e-mail address at captainmcb@aol.com. She is sharing the job of room mom with Liann Moeller. I'm lucky to say that we will have 2 wonderful ladies helping out this year!

U.S. Regions
This week we are going to begin a short unit on the 5 regions of the United States.  If you have any paraphenalia (postcards, pictures, souveniours) that your child would like to share, please feel free to send it in.  We will begin with the Southeast and Northeast regions Monday and Tuesday, continuing into the Midwest Wednesday, the Southwest Friday, and finally the West next Tuesday. 

MAP Testing
During 3 different Friday sessions beginning this week, the kids will take a MAP test each Friday for approximately 1 hour to assess their math, reading, and language skills.  These tests will help to provide useful information so I can better meet their needs as learners.  If you'd like to know your child's score, I will be sharing this information at Parent-Teacher conferences this fall.

Upcoming Tests:
Weekly Facts Quiz:  Please keep practicing those math facts!  I promise it will make all the difference if the kids know their facts!

This Week's Learning Plan
Social Studies:  This week we will begin studying the 5 major regions of the United States.
Math:   A unit on place value will precede our upcoming unit on mathematical operations with whole numbers and decimals.
Word Study: This week's focus will continue to be on figurative language including similes, metaphors, rhyme, alliteration, and onomatopoeia.  We will also delve into synonyms and antonyms.
Writing & Reading:   Wrapping up the 6 traits of writing, students will write biopoems and short reports about the people they researched in biographies.  We will also read and explore idioms as we study how language is used in reading and writing.

Week of September 3-7

Happy Labor Day, everyone!  Please read below to see this week's important reminders.

Early Release
This week we will have our first Early Release Day.  Students will be dismissed at 12:25pm.  Please send in a note if your child's transportation will change on this day.

Room Moms
If you would like to receive correspondence from our room mom, Beth McBride, please send her your name and e-mail address at captainmcb@aol.com.   She is sharing the job of room mom with Liann Moeller.  I'm lucky to say that we will have 2 wonderful ladies helping out this year!

Upcoming Tests:
Thursday:  Social Studies Test over Geography (Students may go to www.tutorial.historyalive.com.  They will need to be able to do everything that is covered in the tutorial as well as be able to identify and label the 4 oceans and 7 continents, prime meridian, equator, and Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn on a blank map.

Friday:  Math Test over factors, products, prime factorization, divisibility, using exponents, and the order of operations.  (A study guide will come home this week.)

Here is what we're learning this week.
Social Studies:  We will do a geography review in preparation for their test on Thursday.
Math:  How to use parentheses in math problems and the order of operations will be introduced.
Word Study:  This week's focus will be on figurative language including similes, metaphors, rhyme, alliteration, and onomatopoeia.
Writing:  We will explore the 6 traits of effective writing and learn how to use them in our daily work.
Reading:  Students will begin learning to take notes as they select important information from biographies.

          I hope everyone had a great weekend!  We have another full and busy week ahead of us!  Now that we have completed Library Orientation, everyone is free to check out library books and I encourage you all to do so. 

 Reminders

Please remember that Parent Orientation will take place this Thursday evening at 7pm.  Please return the RSVP form sent home in last week’s Wednesday folder at your earliest convenience.

 Facts!

Please help your child to practice his/her multiplication facts!  Knowing these well makes a huge difference in 5^th grade!

Helpful Tool

In math right now we have been talking about factors, finding factors of numbers, and learning about prime and composite numbers.  Below is a list of divisibility rules to help your child succeed when determining factors for any number.

2	If the last digit is even, the number is divisible by 2.
3	If the sum of the digits is divisible by 3, the number is also.
4	If the last two digits form a number divisible by 4, the number is also.
5	If the last digit is a 5 or a 0, the number is divisible by 5.
6	If the number is divisible by both 3 and 2, it is also divisible by 6.
9	If the sum of the digits is divisible by 9, the number is also.
10	If the number ends in 0, it is divisible by 10.

Here’s what’s coming up this week in class…

Social Studies  We will continue learning about geography as we begin talking about geographic terms and physical features of the United States.  The kids will also have an opportunity to design their own island with all sorts of geographic features on it.

Math  We will continue practicing the skills of finding factors and testing for divisibility as we also introduce exponents, square numbers, and square roots.

Word Study  To support all the learning occurring in math our word study this week will continue to focus on math terminology.

Writing  One of the most important skills in writing is learning to collect lots of ideas, so this week I will be reading lots of meaningful picture books aloud to help students spark ideas for their writer’s notebooks.

Reading  Students will continue developing their reading stamina this week as we learn about what to do when a book isn’t making sense, how to use metacognition, and as we set short and long-term reading goals.

Welcome to the first full week of school!  We had a great first 3 days and I’m looking forward to many, many more!  Please check this blog regularly to see what’s coming up each week!

Parent E-mail Addresses

I still need e-mail addresses for several families so I can finish putting together a group listserv to send out weekly updates.  If you have not given me your e-mail address, please write it in your child’s agenda.

Time for Kids

You probably noticed a letter in the Wednesday folder regarding Time for Kids magazine.  We are requesting the every 5^th grade parent send in $4 so we can buy each child a subscription.  This magazine will support our teaching of current events, reading, and social studies skills.  I will often assign it for homework and use it for in-class activities as well.  Please return your $4 at your earliest convenience.

Parent Orientation

If at all possible I’d love for to have at least one parent from each family attend Parent Orientation next Thursday, August 30^th at 7pm.  It is a great opportunity to ask me questions and to find out just what’s coming up in 5^th grade.

Read below to find out what we’re learning about this week…

Social Studies:  We will begin studying geography and learning about how to use latitude and longitude.

Math:  The plan is to kick off the year by reviewing multiplication and division as we look at factors, arrays, and prime and composite numbers.

Word Study:  I plan to begin a Math Word Wall in the classroom this week as we work on various strategies for learning math vocabulary!

Writing:  The writer’s notebook is a phenomenal tool for collecting ideas and sharing one’s thoughts through written expression.  This week we will begin by gathering lots of entries in our writer’s notebooks.

Reading:  It is important as a 5^th grader to develop a reading stamina and to make good choices when selecting books.  Through our lessons this week we will begin developing our reading stamina.  On Friday, we will go to Library Orientation and students may begin checking out books!

*It’s going to be a busy week!  If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me:  jennifer.whitley@oldham.kyschools.us or feel free to call me at school.

Welcome to 5th Grade

        Welcome 5th graders!  It was great to meet so many of you at Open House the other night!  I know we are going to have an awesome year together!  You might notice that this classroom webpage is a blog.  I use this blog for 2-way communication.  Feel free to leave comments or ask questions.  You can also send me an e-mail anytime.  Throughout the year, I will use this blog to keep parents and students updated on what's happening in our classroom each week, upcoming events as well as homework, pictures and videos of things we do in class, and I even like to use it for homework.  Last year my students really enjoyed having blog debates over articles they'd read!  Please become a follower of my blog so you can catch all my updates right away.

         In other news, welcome to the first days of 5th grade!  There is one important date coming up which I'd like you to make note of.  Parent Orientation will take place on Thursday, August 30th.  I'd love to have as many parents as possible attend this because it's a great opportunity to gain an understanding of how I run my class and to ask any questions you might have.

       Finally, I'd like to share with you my classroom mottos which are quotes I've stumbled upon in recent years that truly capture my beliefs about education.  I believe that it does take hard work, but I am here to support all students in their endeavors.  The quotes are:  "Success is not coming to you; you must come to it;"  and  "Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."  In this classroom, I hope that each student will face reasonable challenges and work hard to overcome them.  I want to help each child reach his/her highest potential as a learner and that will come with hard work from all of us.  Let's enjoy the challenges we face together and refuse to give up!  The video below is a moving video that will truly show that with hard work and a refusal to give up, you can overcome any challenge.

Diverse Peoples of the West Talk Shows

         Please watch the videos below to see how the kids portrayed the diverse peoples of the west who were participated in or were impacted in someway by westward expansion in the 1800's.  This year we decided to portray the different groups of people through student-scripted talk shows based on information they read about each group.  Aside from a few minor inaccuracies, the talk shows are pretty great!  The kids had fun with them and seemed to really enjoy learning about westward expansion!  You may have to turn up your sound though because my recording device does not pick up sound well from the distance I have to stand to capture them all in the video.  Enjoy!

Week of April 23-27

In honor of Earth Day, we are doing some great Earth Day activities!  Please see below for more information.

Earth Day Activity!

Our school will be celebrating Earth Day on Friday by assigning different activities to each grade level to help improve the beauty of the outdoor area around our school.  Our jobs as 5th graders are to:

·         Help with planting 5^th grade shrub.

·         Plant annuals/small plants around the bottom of the shrub and lay mulch around them

·         Pick up litter around the school.

In order to accomplish these tasks and brighten our school grounds, we are asking that families send in the following supplies if possible.  Any of these materials will greatly help us in our efforts to beautify the grounds in honor of Earth Day.  :o)

Shovels and Rakes (car riders only)

·        Small hand shovels

·        Gardening Gloves

·        Trash Bags

Earth Day Change Wars

We are also collecting money through a change war between the packs.  All money collected will go toward creating a butterfly garden outside near the playground complete with a solar-powered pond, plants, the 5th grade shrub, and a solar-powered fountain/bird bath.  If you have any spare change, please donate to help beautify our school!


Zoo Field Trip
Don't forget to return your field trip form and money for the school-wide Zoo field trip taking place next Thursday!  Thank you to all who volunteered to chaperone!  I will be contacting you soon with more information.


Math Placement Test
This week I will be giving the math placement test to the kids.  This is only one component to help determine your child's placement for math next year.  Other considerations are grades and teacher recommendation.


ESS
This is the last week of ESS.


Here's what we're learning this week...
Social Studies:  We will be learning about the 20th Century this week!
Math:  This week we will work on measurement.
Word Study:  I will be using this time to administer AIMSWeb and DRA's/
Writing:  We will practice answering reading extended response questions thoroughly.
Reading:  We will be reading about the Civil War.