September 30-October 4

Monday: Track and Field Day 
Tuesday: Picture Day

Math: On Monday, we will have a multiplication quiz on multi-digit whole numbers. The kids brought some awesome examples of how you use multiplication in real-life; thanks for your help with these real-life examples! We will continue to solve some multiplication story problems on Monday as well. 

Next, we will work with adding and subtracting decimals by relating these skills to real life applications with money.   

Word Study: This week we will begin Lesson 3: VCe  (vowel, consonant, silent e) syllables. Like all syllables, these have one vowel sound. The vowel sound in these syllables is the long sound, instead of the short vowel sound that is in closed syllables. Single-syllable examples: bake, like, rode, mule. We will start with one-syllable words and move on to two and three-syllable words.    

Language Arts: This week we will read one of the stories from our Harcourt reading anthologies: Sees Behind Trees. We will take the comprehension test on this story on Friday. We will be making connections between the theme/underlying message of this story to another book "The Lotus Seed". 

With the CogAT test this past week, we did not make time for the Time for Kids magazine, so we will do that early this coming week. We did start learning a bit about Syria last week, and will continue to grow our background knowledge of the country this coming week.  

Students' first writers' workshop pieces will be due on Friday. Kids will have time to finish their rough drafts, revise and edit this week. The kids are at different stages of the writing process, so some students may need to work on their writing piece at home this week.  

Social Studies: On Monday, we will review for the Exploration Test, that we will have on Tuesday. Kids brought their social studies books and notebooks home to study over the weekend. The test will cover the essential questions: 
What caused European exploration in the 1400s and 1500s? 
What new technology helped explorers during the 1400s and 1500s? 
What were the effects of European exploration on Natives? 
How did European exploration help Europe to become powerful?  

Science: We will begin our first science unit "Weather" next week.  We will start with a review of the scientific method and a study of the basic cloud types and what they indicate about the weather.   

September 23-27

CogAT testing: Wednesday-Friday. Three ten minute tests each day with breaks in between. A note was sent home last week describing the test. Let me know if you have any questions. 

Friday: Author visit by Adam Gidwitz, author of A Tale Dark and Grimm. For more information about him, visit his site http://www.adamgidwitz.com/. The authors usually share about their writing process; they're great models for our young writers. 

This week our "cool tool" is "I Can Problem Solve".  We will talk about problems that come up in fifth grade and the steps to take in working through the problem solving steps. These include cooling off, using an "I statement" (e.g. "I'm frustrated that you're not helping the group," instead of, "YOU'RE not doing anything!") as well as how to respond to someone when they talk to you about a problem they're having. 

5H Math: As you know, students got their math tests back today to correct at home, and we'll go over any questions on Tuesday. I will continue to work with students on areas of need.  We started with multiplication today and will continue for a couple days, incorporating word problems. Then we will move into addition and subtraction of decimals. 

Language Arts: Some of our language arts time will be taken up the CogAT test this week. Students are working on their writer's workshop pieces. Most students are writing a narrative story while a few are choosing to write a non-fiction piece. Today we used our own independent reading books to help us write attention grabbing openings to our pieces. Students will have more time to work on their piece and we will have several more revising and editing lessons. We will make a revising and editing checklist that we will add to throughout the year. 

We will also read a Time for Kids this week that speaks a bit about what has been happening with Syria. I also have some background information to share with the students about the country. We will discuss what's happening and write an opinion piece about our involvement in the Syrian Civil War. In writing the opinion piece, the goals are: to clearly state your opinion, give several reasons for your opinion including facts, as well as restate your opinion to close the piece. 

As always, we will have independent reading time and I will continue to meet with and conference with students. The students wrote their first reading response letter on Edline last week, and I have written back to most. Right now, most students need to work on sharing their thinking. I will continue to model this for students. 

For word study this week, we are learning about homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings "lessen" and "lesson"). We will also practice "marking" multisyllabic words that have closed syllables. We will have a quiz this Friday on closed syllables. Students will be asked to spell words and separate them into syllables as well as mark the short vowels. Students will bring home their word study notebooks on Wednesday and Thursday to show you what they've learned as well as study. As a reminder, kids will not have a list of words to study/memorize. Here are some words that have closed syllables:

Wisconsin

hubcap 

bathmath

catfish

tank

athletic 

Social Studies: The essential questions we will learn about this week are "How did exploration help European countries become powerful?" and "How did contacts between Europeans and Native Americans change the world?". We will read, watch videos, and discuss these topics. Students will be presenting their inquiry circle work later this week as well. 

September 16-20

Because of the major heat and the students' two days off last week, we will be continuing some of our plans from last week. Also, please remember Curriculum Night has been moved to this Wednesday, September 18th, from 6:30-8:00. There are two classroom sessions for you to choose from 6:30-6:55 or 7:35-8:00 and a presentation by Mr. LeCrone in the middle from 7:05-7:25 in the gym. I hope to see you all there! 

5H Math: Tomorrow, we will review a few of the skills we've learned so far: rounding and comparing decimals, reading and writing numbers in different forms (in word form, standard form and expanded form).  Tuesday and Wednesday we will spend learning about multiplying and dividing by the powers of 10 as well as prepare for the test. The new plan is to have the unit 1 test this Thursday.  I will have optional study sessions Wednesday during lunch and/or recess and after school on Wednesday from 3:35-4:10. If students choose to come to the study session, they should know what they want to work on; they do not need to stay the entire time. Students will be able to review/study by using their notes, in-class and homework sheets, as well as the games/videos in the math tab.  

We worked through some of the content of our first word study lesson, but we'll continue to learn about closed syllables this week. There will not be a quiz/test this week. 

The learning target for the week is for the kids to read, spell, and understand why one syllable and two syllable words are spelled the way they are. In closed syllables the vowel is closed-in (there is a consonant after the vowel in the syllable).  Because it is closed in from behind, the vowel  sound is short.  The tests this year will be a combination of correct spelling and marking syllables (breaking words apart into syllables and telling the type of syllable) to show understanding of the target for the week.  Here are a few examples of closed one and two syllable words, but note that these words will not be on the closed syllable test.

bathmat
catfish
tank
hang
tongs
inkling

Language Arts: Students will type or hand-write their final drafts of their "Where I'm From" poem as well as finish their reflection about their family tree. Thank you so much for supporting your kids and helping them complete this assignment last week! 

This week, we will read our first Time for Kids magazine. We use these magazines throughout the year to discuss current events as well as work on a reading or writing skill. This week, we will focus on determining the main idea as well as answering questions using evidence from the text to support your answer. 

If we get a chance, I will give the students a grammar pre-test, to see where we all are with our knowledge of the different parts of speech. This is not graded, just used to guide my instruction :). 

This week in social studies, students continue to study their "big question". Students will have one more day to research using computers, and will then decide what would be the best format to share what they've learned with the rest of the class. Students should be presenting by the end of the week. I will also be teaching a few mini-lessons on the types of technology that helped early explorers and the effects of European exploration on Native American lives. 

September 9-13

Well, it looks like the heat is not over! The forecast shows the first half of the week as being the hottest, so please encourage your child to bring their water bottle.

This Wednesday is Curriculum Night from 6:30-8:00. There are two classroom sessions for you to choose from 6:30-6:55 or 7:35-8:00 and a presentation by Mr. LeCrone in the middle from 7:05-7:25 in the gym.

5H Math: We will wrap up unit 1 this week. The beginning of the week will be focused on rounding to different place values (round to the nearest whole number, tenth, hundredth) and then we will learn about multiplying and dividing by the powers of 10 for a couple days. We started rounding last week, and it was difficult for a lot of students, so please encourage some extra practice! I'm thinking the unit 1 test will be Friday. We may need a bit more time, and if so, the test will be Monday. I'll update you midway through the week. I always offer optional study sessions; which I will tell the kids about in class as well as post on here once I've scheduled them. Students will be able to review by using their notes, in-class and homework sheets, as well as the games/videos in the math tab.  

This week we will begin our new word study program. I explained this a bit to the kids last Friday and we will ease into this new program this week. We'll start by reviewing the short vowel sounds and talking about what syllables are (a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound). The first type of syllable we'll learn about is a closed syllable. Kids will take notes and have in-class activities There will not be a quiz/test this week. I will better explain the program this Wednesday at Curriculum Night. 

The learning target for the week is for the kids to read, spell, and understand why one syllable and two syllable words are spelled the way they are. In closed syllables the vowel is closed-in (there is a consonant after the vowel in the syllable).  Because it is closed in from behind, the vowel  sound is short.  The tests this year will be a combination of correct spelling and marking syllables (breaking words apart into syllables and telling the type of syllable) to show understanding of the target for the week.  Here are a few examples of closed one and two syllable words, but note that these words will not be on the closed syllable test.

bathmat
catfish
tank
hang
tongs
inkling

Last week we started dissecting a poem entitled "Where I'm From". We will continue trying to understand the author's message and language early this week before students write their own poems after the same theme. Students will also have a homework assignment of creating a family tree this week. I will explain the project to students tomorrow and show them how to use the web site http://www.familyecho.com to create the family tree. We will use this family tree to tie into our language arts theme of identity. Students will need some help with this assignment (family members' names), but the web site is easy to navigate. If they work on the family tree for more than one night, you will need to create a username for them to save their work. Hopefully this assignment will inspire some discussion about family, and students will learn about their ancestors. Students will be doing some writing about their family and how their family has made them who they are; are their any similar traits in personality or interest between family members?    

Last week I modeled a reading response letter for the class and after another example this week, students will write their first reading response letter to me. I have started meeting with students for individual reading conferences as well, so we can discuss their book as well as make reading goals.

Students have chosen a "big question" to research in social studies. Some students are learning about early Native Americans and others are researching Christopher Columbus, as well as other topics. We'll be using a variety of texts and after a few days the internet as well. We'll have lessons on how to find accurate information in both sources, how to take notes, as well as lessons on discussing and cooperating with teammates. Eventually students will share what they've learned with the rest of the class...in a format of their choosing. 

September 4-6

5H Math: I have updated the links in the math tab under "unit 1". You can find games and videos that will help review skills. I will update the links under each unit, as we move through the year.

This week in math we will practice showing numbers in expanded form and comparing decimals. Students will also practice rounding decimals and multiplying whole numbers and decimals by the powers of 10. Students will have homework Wednesday and Thursday night. 

The students are using one of their notebooks for math this year, which we will use for taking notes and practicing skills.

Language Arts: The fifth grade team has begun incorporating the Common Core State Standards for Language Arts into our teaching this year. Throughout the year, we will teach these standards through 4 different themes. Our first theme of the year is Identity. The themes help us to intertwine the different subjects; we can find commonalities in different written pieces as well as in current events, social studies and science topics as well. Our day, as well as our minds, will become less compartmentalized :). 

This week as well as the next, we will be reading and writing with the theme of identity in mind. This includes thinking about the identity of the characters in our read aloud, as well as our own identities and writing about both..examining what makes us who we are. 

I will also give kids a bit more information about our Word Study program this week, before we start up next week. No quiz this week! 

Finally, I hope your child mentioned our fifth grade reading requirement of 40 novels... Yep, we're going to read, read, read this year! I take this pledge with my students, and I know we can do it! Students will have independent reading time every day, and often this will be their only homework. Students will get to read from a variety of genres, as there is a genre requirement. More information to come! Please encourage your child to read, and they're not too old to be read to either! 

"Me: in a bag" presentations were awesome! We all learned a lot about one another! Thank you for helping your child be responsible and come prepared for this presentation! 

Social Studies: Last week we learned a bit about the "real" Christopher Columbus...ask your child their thoughts on this historical figure. We started with Christopher Columbus after a discussion about where we should start when referring to American history. This week, I will ask students if they believe this was the "right" place to start, i.e. is Christopher Columbus the beginning of our country? We'll come up with questions we have about Columbus as well as the beginning of the country to guide our study.  Through this process we will also learn about how to take notes and how to find answers in non-fiction texts.