December 9-13

Reminders

Monday: Service Club meeting after school until 4:40
Friday: Field Trip to Sci Tech, leaving school right away and returning around 1:20

• If possible, kids need to arrive at 8:50 on Friday so we can leave school right away to get to Sci-Tech on time. We will be leaving as soon as buses arrive, so please don't come to school late on Friday- we may be gone!  
• Kids need to bring a cold lunch with them; we will eat at Sci-Tech. There will be a separate table for students with peanut allergies. 

This week:

5H Math: Students will take the unit 4 test tomorrow. Remember, there is an optional study session Monday morning at 8:25. I will also give students a pre-test to get a feeling for their knowledge of the unit 5 skills. Unit 5 standards have been emailed to you. We'll start unit 5 by talking about fractions: what fractions are and why they are relevant to our lives, how to represent them, how they relate to decimals, and we'll learn the vocabulary as we go along (fraction, whole, numerator, denominator, mixed number, improper fraction, least common multiple, least common denominator, simplify, equivalent). By the end of the week, we should be working on adding fractions. 

I've also updated the links in the under unit 5 in the math tab.

Language Arts

As we continue the read aloud, The Liberation of Gabriel King, we will be working on responding to questions using information from the text to support our answers. Students will be able to choose from questions varying in difficulty to respond to.  

This week we will also read portions of various articles on the use of the word "Redskins". Students will write an opinion piece about the use of this word as a mascot. 

Students have been working on a Writer's Workshop piece for some time now (we do not work on this every day). I told students last week that their writer's workshop piece should be turned in before winter break. I will continue to meet with students individually for conferences before they finalize their writing pieces. 

Word Study: We did not get into prefixes last week. So we will do so this week. Kids will be making flash cards of the most common prefixes. They will need to memorize their meanings. There will be a quiz Friday. Kids will have a list of prefixes they will have to define. 

Science

We're starting our unit on Magnets and Electricity this week. Kids will get to do a lot o f experiments in this unit including finding a magnetic field, making electromagnets and circuits. This week I will introduce the unit and then we will learn a bit about the periodic table of elements, and the makeup of atoms. 

Social Studies

Some students need to finish their social studies tests from last week, so they will be able to do so on Monday. We will continue social studies, by incorporating social studies with language arts. We are going to begin by learning more about slavery, its beginnings, causes, and effects. 

Citizenship
This week we will talk about bullying- what it is (and is not) and how to respond to bullying as either the bullied or as a bystander. 

December 2-6

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Last week, I sent a survey link asking whether you'd like me to communicate through Edline or continue through the blog. I haven't gotten many responses; if you can please take a second and vote, I'd really appreciate it (click "survey" below)!

Survey

For my students in Service Club, we have a meeting this Tuesday until 4:40.
This Wednesday, students will be taking the Gates Reading Assessment in the morning.
Thursday is Culver's Night! I plan to be there from 6-7; hope to see you all there!


This week:

5H Math: Today we learned about vocab related to 3D figures (face, vertex, edge, height) and constructed a cube as well as another 3D figure. Some kids had to finish their 3D figures at home. Each figure is supposed to be labeled with its name, # of faces, # of vertices and number of edges.

Tomorrow we will talk about how we measure the space 2D and 3D figures take up (area and volume). Students will do a little practice finding the perimeter, area, and volume of figures. In this unit, students are only required to understand the concept of volume and be able to count unit cubes to determine the volume. Kids do not need to know the formula for determining volume at this time. If kids figure it out, that's great, but it will not be taught at this time. At this point, we want kids to understand what they're measuring when they're determining volume.

On Friday, kids will have a quiz over their knowledge of polygon attributes. Students will need to know the attributes of polygons as well as how the polygons are related (what attributes do figures have in common?). Kids have "geometry notes" sheets as well as a "Quadrilateral Family Tree" they should use to study. We will have the unit 4 test next Monday. I will let you and the kids know about study sessions soon.


Language Arts:

We started reading an article today about Black Friday "deals" that is pretty interesting. We're learning some new vocabulary and this will give kids a chance to form an opinion about the tactics companies use to make money...do you think it's fair/right for companies to overprice their items so we feel like we're getting a deal when they go on sale? OR Should companies do away with sales and price items low to begin with?  We'll finish reading the article tomorrow, discussing questions and kids will do some writing as well.

We'll also discuss the use of Native American names as mascots. The kids had a short article about the topic in their Time for Kids last week, and we'll read another this week. It also gives a chance to talk about the power of words.

Word Study: This week, I am spending some time reviewing some of the syllable patterns with kids who need review. On Wednesday, we will begin learning about common prefixes; there will not be a new syllable type this week.


Social Studies:

We are finishing up the Colonization unit this week. Kids are working on their choice of projects to demonstrate some of their learning from the unit. Ask your child what two projects they're working on. We started this last week and had some time today to work on this. Kids will have one more work period on Wednesday and will need to turn in their completed projects Friday morning. They will need to present one of their projects to the class on Friday as well. Kids will also take a colonization test this Friday. We will spend some time during class reviewing. Students should be able to write about the essential questions below as well as topics read about and discussed in class.

Why did people settle in North America? (who, why and where)
What natural resources helped each colonial regions' economy?
How did the geography of each colonial region affect the types of jobs people had?
What is a triangular trade route and what goods were traded?

If we have time we will begin the science unit Magnetism and Electricity by learning about atoms and elements.

Citizenship:
We are focused on using good manners and showing courtesy to others this week (and hopefully every week).  One major area we're focusing on is responding appropriately to others (please, thank you, you're welcome, saying "good morning" to others, etc.).


 

November 25-26

We have quiet a short week! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a few days off! 

Tuesday afternoon we will have our second marble party. Kids should have brought home a hot chocolate permission slip on Friday. They need to bring this by Tuesday, if they'd like to have hot chocolate! Kids voted on a pajama/game/gum/hot chocolate day...I think I got all of their ideas in there! 

5H Math: We will review polygon attributes this week and kids will have a chance to apply their knowledge to a design task. Students will design their own tile floor using polygons. This will give us a chance to use some of the geometric vocabulary the kids have learned. 

Language Arts 

Kids will get a chance to continue working on their second writer's workshop piece this week. We will also continue working on opinion/argument writing. Last week kids wrote short opinion pieces (about a paragraph long). I will have kids partner up this week and look through each others' pieces for the required parts of their paper (attention grabbing beginning, thesis/opinion, support for opinion, ending sentence/restate of opinion). As we write more extended pieces, there will be more required parts. If we have time, we will write another opinion piece about a Time for Kids article. 

Kids will get a Time for Kids magazine tomorrow that they will need to read at home, Monday night. They will have a little bit of time Monday morning, but probably not enough to read the whole thing. They will take the quiz Tuesday and should be ready to discuss the articles. 

Social Studies 

Kids are taking the 13 colony map quiz this Monday. On Monday and Tuesday, kids will have the opportunity to show what they've learned by choosing one of several activities.

Just as a heads up, the Colonization Unit test will probably be the week after Thanksgiving. It won't be until late that week, but kids could always start going over their notes! 

Citizenship

We've been talking about empathy in class; we've got great kids in 5H, but it's a good reminder that we need to put ourselves in someone else's shoes sometimes!

November 18-22

5H Math: This week we will have several explorations which focus on understanding which shapes share attributes/properties.  We will play a game that requires kids to find common attributes among different shapes. We will also learn about the different types of triangles: acute, obtuse, right, equiangular, scalene, isosceles, equilateral.  Triangles can also have more than one name; for example, a triangle can be an obtuse scalene triangle. Students will be asked to compare, contrast and analyze the properties or attributes of these two-dimensional figures.

The kids have two sheets of geometry vocabulary. It would be a good idea to review some of these terms with your children. We have not finished labeling all of the terms yet, but will do so as they come up. Today we talked about some types of angles: acute, obtuse and right.

Kids will also get their unit 3 tests back this week. I will let you know when you can expect to see them coming home!

Language Arts:
This week we will begin another read aloud "The Liberation of Gabriel King," which is about a boy in the fourth grade who is terrified of moving on to fifth grade as well as almost everything else. The main character and his best friend show different kinds of courage and in different situations throughout the book. The book is set during the 1970s in a southern town that has members of the Ku Klux Klan.  We will study vocabulary throughout the book as well as practice responding to text. The book will be the source of several reading and writing lessons.

We have begun a word wall in our room, of words your kids have discovered in their own books. I'm encouraging kids to notice new words and determine their meanings through a number of strategies, then post them on the wall. We talk about the words we've found and I will encourage kids to use these words in their own writing.

Today, we read a couple opinion/argument writing pieces to determine what should be included in an opinion piece. Students found that you should state your opinion in a clear way in the first paragraph of your piece, state several reasons your opinion is the "correct" opinion (using facts), state the opposing point of view and discredit it, restate your opinion in your conclusion, as well as use persuasive/strong word choice. We will begin writing our own opinion pieces soon. Kids will use a Time for Kids article for our first piece and then move on to other topics (eithe current event, social studies topic or something from our read aloud).

Kids have also started their second Writer's Workshop pieces. Most kids are in the drafting stage. We are working on improving our skills from our first writer's workshop piece as well as our memoirs.

For grammar, we will learn how to properly make nouns plural as well as possessive.

Word Study: The C-le word study quiz is this Wednesday. From talking with everyone at conferences, I am not sure how many of the kids are sharing their word study notebooks with you. Before a quiz, I always tell the kids to bring their notebooks home to share with you. You can help them study, by reading a word from the current section of their notebook (C-le) and have them write and mark it on a separate piece of paper. Words they write in their notebooks were either done together as a class or done independently and corrected in class...so they should be correct in order to study from.  Toward the end of the week, we will practice a few more homophones: meddle/medal, bridle/bridal, peddle/pedal, and muscle/mussel.

Social Studies:  This week we are learning about the 13 colonies. Students will need to be able to label a map showing the names of each of the colonies as well as the 3 different regions: New Engand , Middle and Southern Colonies. We will have this map quiz next Monday (11-25). We will be reading from our social studies texts, watching videos as well as reading other nonfiction texts to learn about the colonies. Students will focus on the geography and natural resources as well as how these factors affected the economy of each region. Students will also learn about the people that settled in each region. The students made their own organizers today to take notes from the various sources.  
 

November 12-15

I hope everyone had a nice long weekend.

I have really enjoyed meeting with all the parents I've met with so far, and look forward to seeing the rest of you Wednesday night!

5H Math: Our unit 3 test has really taken some kids a lot of time, so a few kids are still finishing up. Today, students worked on their tests, took a pre-test for unit 4 as well as worked on a "transfer task". This task required kids to use multiple skills we've learned about so far in a realistic multi-step situation.

Unit 4 focuses on geometry (see standards in email). We'll start by thinking about how geometry is used in the world around us, looking at design and architecture. Kids will need to learn or review a lot of vocab in this unit. We'll be starting with: polygon, quadrilateral/quadrangle, and the names of different types of polygons. An important part of this unit is realizing that polygons can have more than one name (e.g. a square is also a rectangle, polygon, quadrangle/quadrilateral, and a parallelogram).

I have not updated the links in the math tab for unit 4, but will do so soon. I have found more web sites that will be helpful, I just need to get the links ready. I will send an email when I've done so!

Language Arts

This week we are reading an historical fiction story in our Harcourt books about the Mayflower. This ties in well to courage as well as our social studies focus of settlers coming to North America. We've started reviewing the vocab for the story, and kids will read the story on Wednesday. Kids will be asked to put themselves in the place of the people on the journey and record what it would have been like to travel across the ocean. Students will think and write about what kind of courage this type of journey took as well as the courage it would take to start anew in North America. We will take the comprehension test on Friday.

Also, this week we will talk about how we determine the meaning of unknown words while reading as well as start an ongoing collection of interesting words we come across in our independent reading.

Besides writing about the Harcourt story and in social studies, students have also started brainstorming ideas for a second writer's workshop piece for the year. I'm encouraging kids to build upon their strengths and think about areas they need to improve for this writing piece. As always, kids should be working their way through the writing process.

Word Study: We will start the Cle (consonant -le) syllable pattern this week. Students will have a quiz on this pattern next Wednesday 11/20. Words that fit this pattern are: stifle, scribble, and responsible. Kids will have marked word examples in their word study notebooks.

We will also talk about and take notes on pronouns (what are they and when to use them) as well as how to properly make nouns plural.

Social Studies:
We will be reading quite a bit from our social studies books this week. We are learning more about what groups of people came to North America to settle and why (Pilgrims, Puritans, people searching for the "Northwest Passage").  We'll also be color-coding a map to show where people came from and where they settled throughout the week.

Citizenship:
This week we'll be learning about empathy. What does it mean to have and show empathy? 

November 4-8

I hope everyone has had a good weekend! I have updated the "Upcoming Events" list along the left side of the blog for your reference.  I look forward to seeing you all in the next two weeks at conferences!  In the meantime, please let me know if you have any questions.

This week:

5H Math: We will spend Monday going a bit deeper in our understanding of multiplying decimals by using a different method to multiply decimal numbers. Students will use an area model to multiply decimals. This will help students understand why multiplying two decimals will result in a product smaller than the two multipliers/factors. On Tuesday, we will review the skills we've learned about during this unit. Wednesday, kids will take the unit 3 test.

Because of meetings this week, I can only offer a study session during lunch and/or recess on Tuesday. I will continue to pull kids individually or in small groups on Monday and Tuesday for support as needed.

As a reminder, please have your child go on to Xtramath at least 3 times per week.

Language Arts:

During the first quarter, the language arts theme was Identity. This second quarter, our theme is Courage. These themes help us to tie our reading, writing, even social studies and science together. The focus isn't necessarily to learn about courage (though we will to some degree), but to work on language arts skills with the common idea of courage to tie our lessons together. For example, this week we will read a picture book entitled "Courage" and students will be asked to explain the theme of the book drawing from details in the text.

Another skill we will work on this week, is making meaning about a topic by gathering information from multiple sources. We will use our Time for Kids magazine as well as some nonfiction books to gather information about Bats. We will use this skill during our social studies reading as well, as we learn about settlers coming to North America.

Students have finished their rough drafts of their memoirs and many have started or have finished typing. I'm having kids hold off on printing until we can go through a few writing mini-lessons. When meeting with the kids I noticed a few common areas students need some support: not having run-on or incomplete sentences, knowing when to use commas, knowing when to start a new paragraph as well as using adequate description in their writing. We will work on all of these topics this week, but of course we won't be perfect at these skills after this week. We'll continue to work on them in the weeks to come. After revising/editing for these common errors, students will print their memoirs Thursday. Some children may spend some time typing at home this week; the typing needs to be finished before school on Thursday. We may edit a bit during the day, but kids should not have parts of their writing left to type.

Word Study: I had mentioned that we would start the syllable pattern -Cle last week, but we will be focusing on the different sounds the letter "c" and the letter "g" make instead (-Cle will be next). Students will learn the letter "c" sounds like /s/when followed by e, i, or y; and the letter "g" sounds like /j/ when followed by e, i, or y. No quiz this week.

Social Studies:
This week we will continue learning why settlers came to North America, what their journey was like as well as what life was like setting up a colony. I am encouraging students to inquire and think of their questions about this topic, and some students will be able to have some time to research their personal inquiries.

October 28-November 1

Students will be getting several assignments back this week; I will let you know when to look out for them- I may send them before Friday!  Just a note, as I'm grading and reading through kids' work, I notice a lot of students who do not use correct capital letters and punctuation (no matter how many times I remind them!). It's an expectation that kids write in complete sentences, begin with a capital letter, and end with punctuation; a good number do this on writing assignments but may not carry this over to other subject areas. So, tomorrow kids will be given back several assignments and told to edit for punctuation and capital letters; I'll have them do this in a different color so you can see this. Just wanted you all to know! :)

Reminders:
The Fall Festival/Halloween Parade will take place this Thursday, October 31st.  The parade begins at 2:00 and will be outdoors, weather permitting.  In the case of inclement weather, the parade will be canceled.  The parties will begin at 2:30 and end at 3:15.  Students can wear their costumes to school (no masks and no weapons) as long as they are able to take part in school activities and not be too distracting. Students are able to change before the parade starts as well.

First quarter report cards will be available on HAC this Friday, November 1st at 4:00, for parents to view.  Students will be bringing home an envelope with other relevant documents this day as well.

Picture retakes will take place on Tuesday, November 5th.  All students who are new to Watts that started after the original picture day will have their photo taken.  If you would like your child to have their photo retaken, please call the office to let them know.

This week:

5H Math: Students will finish up their division quizzes on Monday. We've also been working on an activity involving Scholastic Book Magazines.  Kids are answering questions using their magazines by adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimal numbers. This week we will also review rounding decimals, with a focus on the explanation. We will use number lines to help explain why a number is rounded up or down. We have touched on all of the standards for this unit, and we will spend this week "going deeper", trying to understand other methods of solving problems and better explaining our thinking. The unit 3 test will probably be the week of November 4th; just giving you a heads up, but I will update you and the kids as I see how we're doing this week.

Language Arts:

Last week while reading, we were working on making inferences based on what's written in the text. This will continue to be a focus this week: making inferences AND explaining what in the text made you come to that conclusion. We'll practice this skill through our read aloud, through poems, as well as independent reading books. I'll continue to reinforce the skills we've been working on: determining the main idea as well as supporting details, and giving a concise summary of a piece of writing.

Students have started their rough drafts of their memoirs, and I am writing right alongside them. We have been reading a memoir, to help us understand how a memoir is written. Students decided a memoir should be about something important/memorable from your life but should also be interesting (otherwise no one would want to read it!). From there, students brainstormed a list of possible things they could write about from their lives. We also learned that a memoir is based in truth, but sometimes you have to add minor details to make it interesting. For example, you may not remember exactly what your friend said to you on that important day, but you can figure out something that would make sense. We are working through the steps of the writing process together; and I will begin conferencing with students once they have a bit more of their rough drafts done.

Word Study: This Wednesday we will have a quiz on Open Syllables. As a reminder, open syllables are syllables that end in a vowel where the vowel makes the long vowel sound: e.g. pretend (pre is an open syllable, because it ends in "e" and the "e" says the long vowel sound). More information to come about our next syllable type!

Grammar: I gave the kids a pretest about the parts of speech, and most of the kids are not able to identify the parts of speech in a sentence. We started studying the parts of speech last week, by talking about and identifying nouns. We have talked about some of the different types of nouns (proper, concrete, abstract) and we will continue with nouns this week. During this time, we will also work on correctly making singular nouns plural.

Social Studies:
We're starting our second social studies unit of the year: Colonization. One of the first essential questions is "Why did early settlers come to America?". I'm going to have students take a pre-test to get an idea of where they are with the content for this unit, and then we'll go from there. We'll start with the interesting history of the city of Roanoke to get the kids interested in this period of history.

Citizenship:
We are continuing to talk about problem solving (with each other) as well as being a problem solver for yourself. When problem solving conflicts with others, we've learned that we may sometimes have to "cool off" before talking to the other person, when you're ready to talk with the other person you should start with an "I statement" instead of a "You statement" (e.g. "I'd like to do this part in the project", not "YOU are being bossy!"). This week we'll talk a bit about how to respond to each other when someone expresses a problem with you; which can be difficult!

I am also encouraging kids to problem solve their individual minor problems... instead of sitting without a pencil, ask a friend, go look in the lost in found, raise your hand, etc.

October 21-25

Please make sure to return your conference slip as soon as possible. Thank you!

5H Math: This week students will get their unit 2 tests back. We've been working really hard on division. We've talked about what division means (breaking something into equal groups or pieces), practiced the algorithm for long division, as well as written and solved division story problems. Today we thought about the pattern we notice when solving word problems where the divisor is larger than the dividend (3 divided by 4= 3/4). This helps us to meet the standard 5.NF.3: Solve word problems involving division of whole numbers leading to answers in the form of fractions or mixed numbers.

For the rest of this week, we will work on deconstructing word problems. So often, students have trouble with understanding multi-step word problems: knowing what the question(s) is asking, knowing where to start, and determining if their answer(s) makes sense...and isn't that the most important part? We spend some time understanding how to compute using different operations, but students having the ability to read problems, make a plan, and evaluate their answers is so important. Students will also need to think about what the remainder represents in each problem and the best way to show it (fraction, whole number, leave it off, round up or down).

If we have time we will get into division with a decimal number as the dividend and a whole number as the divisor (e.g. 24.76 divided by 3).

We'll have a division quiz (whole numbers not decimals) this Thursday. Kids will need to be able to solve division word problems using the standard algorithm.

Language Arts:

We started analyzing a poem today, Students are working on understanding the figurative language in the poem and will be applying the message from the poem to their own novels. We are constantly looking for connections between pieces of writing.

I have started to read aloud a memoir to the class. We are using this text as a model for how to write a memoir. Students will begin to brainstorm and write rough drafts for their own memoirs this week. Memoirs are a snapshot of someone's life, about a specific event or time in their lives.

Word Study: We took our homophone quiz today, and we will continue working with open syllables. We will practice marking a few more words with open syllables (single and multisyllabic), then we will learn about the different vowel sounds y can make (long i and long e). When a y is at the end of the first syllable in a word, it usually makes the long i sound (e.g. sky); when a y is not the first vowel (not at the end of the first syllable) it usually says the long e sound (e.g. baby).

Science

We are finishing up our science unit this week. We will do a few experiments to illustrate some of the concepts we've been learning about. Tomorrow we'll think about how water vapor in the air affects air pressure and what type of weather typically comes with high and low pressure.

We will take our weather test this Friday. Students should use their notes to prepare for the test. They should use the essential questions below in order to study.

Essential Questions

• What are the three main types of clouds and what weather do they indicate?
• What are the layers of the atmosphere and what happens in each layer? (which layer does weather occur in?)
• How do molecules react in different temperatures? 
• What are the three states of matter?
• Understand the water cycle.
• What tools/technology do people use to measure/predict the weather?  

Students should also be able to recall information relating to classroom experiments. 

October 15-18

The students have a half day this Wednesday and will be dismissed at 12:15. 

5H Math

Most students need to finish the Unit 2 test tomorrow. Students are also working on correcting their work on the “Restaurant Math” sheets (adding, subtracting, and multiplying decimals).

We’ll begin unit 3 on Wednesday with division. We’ll talk about what division is, in what situations we use division, and solve some realistic problems involving division. We will also practice the standard algorithm for long division.  

Language Arts

This week we will continue to work on finding the main idea of both fiction and nonfiction pieces. We will also determine the supporting details in order to write a summary. We will use Time for Kids articles, our independent reading books, as well as some reading related to our science content. We will also begin writing memoirs.

We will begin lesson three in word study, “Open Syllables”. This has gotten pushed back from last week. Kids will also take a quiz on the homophones we’ve learned about so far on Friday. This will be different than the other quizzes we’ve had, because the kids have these words already in their word study notebooks. For the quiz, I will use the word in a sentence, and kids will have to understand the meaning of the word to know which spelling of the word to write down.

Science

In small groups, kids researched a cloud type, made a model of their cloud, and presented to the class last week. We did not get into the layers of the atmosphere last week, so we will start there this week, and if we have time, move into the tools people use to predict and measure the weather. 

October 7-11

If you have not done so already, please send Mrs. Wilson (our 5H room parent) an email, so she can add you to her email distribution list. You can email her at:  Wilson-5@comcast.net.  Thanks!

Interim Assessments will be taken this week on Thursday and Friday. These tests are only to inform our instruction and require no student preparation. 

Math: The kids had a lot of fun working with the restaurant menus last week and we will finish up working with them early this week. We added prices and had to subtract to determine how much change we would get from the server. Next, we'll have to determine tax and tip by multiplying decimals! 

We will work with multiplying decimals by whole numbers and decimals by decimals, while relating these problems to real life situations. We will also review rounding decimals this week. The plan is to test unit 2 on Friday. Optional study sessions will be held Thursday during lunch and/or recess and Friday before school at 8:15. I don't have any free after school times this week!!

Reading/Writing: This week we will focus on comparing and contrasting characters by drawing on specific details in the text...evidence!  We will also practice finding the main idea of nonfiction and fiction texts. 

In word study this week, we will finish our study of VCe syllables and take a quiz on this pattern on Wednesday. We will begin Open Syllables on Thursday. Open syllables are syllables that don't have a consonant after the vowel. The vowel makes the long vowel sound in open syllables. An example is the word "broken". The syllable "bro" does not have a consonant after the vowel, and the "o" makes the long vowel sound. 

Science: This week we'll focus on answering the essential questions: "What are the three main types of clouds and how do they indicate weather?" and "What are the layers of the atmosphere and how do they effect weather?". 

Last week we discussed the steps of the scientific method and kids made lists of their own questions about weather. Students had some time to research their questions, and we'll continue to search for answers to our own inquiries as we learn about the essential content of the unit.  

An invitation

To 5^th GRADE families

to THRILL MIDDLE  SCHOOL’S

 evening of Thrills, Chills, Mystery, and Magic

Wednesday, October 30, 6:15 – 7:50 p.m.

Wear your costume! (optional)

Thrilling and chilling activities

Dazzling magic from jonathan kamm

Scary stories, games, and more…..

hill middle school

be there!

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. 

August 26-30

We had a great first 2 days, and now I'm excited for our first full week to get into our 5th grade curriculum. Just a reminder, it will be rather hot this week, so I hope kids will bring a water bottle (with ice is a good idea) every day this week. Also, the ice cream social is this Tuesday from 6:30-8:00. I'll be there, and I hope to see all of you! 

We will not be starting spelling this week, and actually "spelling" will look a little different this year. The district has given us a new word study program to replace our spelling lists from previous years. I'm actually really excited about it, because I think it will better help the kids understand word parts/patterns, decode new words, and help them to be better spellers. I will be explaining word study to the class and will explain the program to you as well at curriculum night.  

Language Arts: We have a lot going on in language arts this week. Last week, kids started writing a short piece about their summers that we will finish early this week. I will present my "Me: in a bag," tomorrow as a model for students who will present on Wednesday. 

This week we will spend some time talking about the importance of reading and students will choose their first independent reading book. There will be many nights that students' only homework is to read their independent reading book. Did you know that independent reading helps improve students’ reading comprehension, vocabulary growth, spelling facility, understanding of grammar, and knowledge of the world? Oh, and it's fun! 

We will also get their reading response journals set up; which they will use to log their books as well as record written responses to the books they read this year. We will have independent reading time everyday as well as time to reflect on our reading, practice reading strategies and discuss with classmates. I will meet with students individually and in small groups to target the instruction they need as a reader. 

We began our first novel read aloud last week, Because of Mr. Terupt. This is a really great book that kids can relate to because it is written from the point of view of several 5th grade students. We will be discussing and taking notes on the kids' character traits, as well as thinking about our own personal character traits. 

Math: Math will start on Tuesday. Mr. Schumann and I teach 5th grade math and Mrs. Bennick and Mr. Vaid teach accelerated math; students will find out their math teacher tomorrow. In my 5th grade math class, we will begin by reviewing place value. Some of the standards included in this unit are: rounding decimals, comparing decimals, reading and writing decimals, and showing numbers in expanded form. 

Social Studies: We alternate between science and social studies units in our district, and will be starting the year with a social studies unit, before moving on to science in about 4 weeks. Our first unit is about the exploration of North America. Students will learn about who explored the region and what their impact was on the native people, as well as what the benefits of exploration were. We will incorporate videos and reading of various texts to build our knowledge of this time period. 

Welcome!

Welcome to 5H! I am thrilled to get to know all of you, parents and students. Throughout the year you can check the blog for upcoming events, reminders, information about what we're learning and doing in 5H and links to games or relevant web sites. I have updated the upcoming events and our specials' schedule for the year.

These first couple days of school we will be getting to know one another, learning about classroom and school routines, and learning about what types of things we'll learn about in 5th grade. I will update the blog soon with our plans for next week; parents I will email you when I have done this.

Parents: thank you for trusting me with your children this school year and I look forward to helping all my students make gains and have a successful year!

Students: I look forward to getting to know you and helping you learn and grow this year. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

May 28- June 5

Tuesday: Field Day (in AM) check weather and dress accordingly

Wednesday 6/5: last day of school, regular start time, not a late start Wednesday, dismissal at 10:25


The fifth grade farewell turned out wonderfully today! Thank you so much to all the parents that organized and volunteered their time...it was a lot of work, especially with all the rescheduling.  The kids (and I) had fun and there was something for everyone! 

In these last few days of school, we are wrapping up several things. The kids are finishing up their memoirs, and some have begun writing a memoir from the point of view of their favorite stuffed animal. 

We are done with spelling for the year, so no list or homework this week. 

The kids came up with really great questions for their Civil War inquiries...please ask your child what "big question" they are focusing on. I've put students in groups based mostly on their interest in a particular question. Mrs. May put together a lot of resources and I found lots of great books at the public library to help us as well. The kids just started diving into their question, but we will spend a lot of reading/writing/social studies time learning and discussing their findings. Ultimately, each group will determine a way to share their learning with the rest of the class. I'm hoping for something creative here...we've done a lot of different things throughout the year (posters, prezis, powerpoints, skits) so it will be interesting to see what they come up with!  

Many students should be presenting their research and current events this week as well. 

  

May 20-24

Fifth grade farewell rescheduled for this Thursday 5/23.

Spelling: We've got another list of commonly misspelled words for this week. They are posted in the spelling tab.

Math: This week we will have a quiz over the review standard of multiplication of multidigit whole numbers. The quiz will have some computation problems and some story problems. 

We are learning about volume and we will begin this by thinking about the difference between area and volume and why we need to know about volume (talking about different sized containers, etc.). 

Reading/Writing/Social Studies: Today we looked at some examples of memoirs to help the kids focus their writing. The kids started their memoirs last week and they should be finished up in a couple days after going through the whole writing process. We thought about a happy place and memory in order to inspire our writing. 

Kids are finishing up their pioneer projects, and soon we will watch them in class. 

We are continuing to learn about the Civil War and kids will need to use their nonfiction reading skills for our inquiry work with the Civil War. So far we've learned about some of the causes, important people, and a few events during the war. 

May 14-17

Jump Rope for Heart day has been rescheduled for this Wednesday...make sure kids have PE shoes, water bottles, comfortable clothes for jumping rope!

Spelling: For the remainder of the year we will be working with words off the 100 most commonly misspelled words list. The first 20 are posted in the spelling tab.

5H Math:  Students will get their division quizzes back tomorrow; please remember the points earned from these division questions will replace points from division questions on the test. Let me know if you have any questions.

The kids have been working diligently on their math task of planning their Fantasy Fifth Grade Farewell. We will have in class time tomorrow and we will begin presentations Wednesday. Students are presenting through powerpoints and will be scored on a variety of categories including the accuracy of their calculations. They should have math on each slide of their presentation.
It will probably take two days for presentations and we will begin unit 9 on Friday.

Tuesday night homework will be finishing up math presentations and practicing presentations.


Reading/Writing: Ok, we have almost wrapped up the pioneer project. Most students are reading or close to ready to record. They really are sounding and looking wonderful! I think you'll be impressed!

We will begin writing memoirs this week based on a particularly fond memory.

The end of the year is quickly approaching, and a good number of kids have already met the reading goal of 40 books! It would be great to check with your child to see if they need any help finding a book of a particular genre...expanding horizons :).

I forgot the grammar quiz at home last Friday...argh! So we will be taking the quiz tomorrow, Tuesday. It is over the 8 parts of speech.

Science:

At the end of last week, we started talking about the difference between plant and animal cells. This week we will look at an onion skin and a swab from our own cheek under the microscope. Finally we will look at amoeba!
Social Studies:

We spent a little more time than expected on our social studies presentations than I thought last week, so we are just diving into the Civil War this week.

Next, we will move into the Civil War. I'm going to try something new, and we are going to learn about the Civil War through inquiry. So, we will begin by accessing our prior knowledge as well as building more background knowledge. Throughout this process we will be thinking critically and asking questions. Once we have some "big questions", we will break into groups based on interest to research these "big questions".


Kids need to be watching the news or checking the news web sites in the social studies tab to prepare for a current event presentation. We've had a couple great presentations so far!

May 6-10

Our Hill visit today was wonderful!  The kids got to ask lots of questions and were able to go on a tour guided by current Hill students. It's an exciting time... moving forward to middle school!

Thursday is Jump Rope for Heart day...make sure kids have PE shoes, water bottles, comfortable clothes for jumping rope!

Spelling: The new spelling list and homework are posted in the spelling tab.

5H Math: Last week we began a very timely math task. Students are working with partners to create their "Fantasy Fifth Grade Farewell". There are guidelines, but kids are able to plan the farewell of their dreams. Students will be adding,multiplying and dividing with decimals. Students will also need to draw a map with correct dimensions, and we will continue to work on converting within a measurement system. Kids will spend a few more days researching the costs of the components, and then plan out their map, schedule, and presentation.

During this time, I will also be reviewing division with decimals. The kids will take a quiz on this on Thursday.


Reading/Writing: We are continuing our "firsts/pioneer" project this week. Most students have begun writing their scripts, any students completing research are doing so for homework tonight. We will be uploading pictures into a program called Photo Story, and students will be narrating their chosen photos with the scripts they are writing. Students should be done by Wednesday uploaded photos and playing with the effects on this program. Please check in with your child to see that they are making progress. Thursday and Friday students will be recording their audio.

Please encourage your child to continue reading at home!!

We will have a grammar quiz this Friday over the 8 parts of speech. It will require students to identify the different parts of speech in sentences and describe the job of each part of speech.


Science: This Wednesday there will be a quiz over the parts of a compound microscope. The students have a diagram to study from. We will take part in a few activities this week including looking at a penny and a strand of hair through the microscope.

Social Studies:
So far, we have had one group teach the class about their chosen topic...and it was wonderful! Tomorrow the rest of the groups will teach us about their chosen topics.

Next, we will move into The Civil War. I'm going to try something new, and we are going to learn about The Civil War through inquiry. So, we will begin by accessing our prior knowledge as well as building more background knowledge. Throughout this process we will be thinking critically and asking questions. Once we have some "big questions", we will break into groups based on interest to research these "big questions".


Kids need to be watching the news or checking the news web sites in the social studies tab to prepare for a current event presentation. I've only had 2 students present so far