May 27-30

I hope everyone had a good long weekend! 

• **ALL LMC BOOKS ARE DUE TOMORROW (Wednesday)**
• Please also have kids check to see if they have any of my books at home...they may say "Happy", "Lundgren", "Guleserian", or "Pederson"...I've collected from many :). 
• Kids should continue to bring a book/device to read with them or can read a book from class. 
• Fifth Grade Farewell permission slips were due today; please send them tomorrow if they didn't make it in today! 

5H Math: Unit 10 test is Wednesday. No math Thursday because we have an assembly during math time. Friday kids will take an end of the year assessment; we will see how secure kids are on skills from the whole year!

Language Arts/Social Studies:
We are continuing our read aloud, "Chasing Lincoln's Killer," growing our vocabulary as well as working on summarizing. 

While kids are working on their Civil War inquiry presentations, I will continue to teach about important battles of the war.

Kids are presenting their inquiry learning on Friday. They will have time on Wednesday and Thursday to finish and practice, but several groups will be doing some of the work at home to be ready for Friday. 

As we have time, kids will learn about their chosen culture as well. Culture presentations are not until Thursday, June 5th. 

Science:
Today we started learning what cells are and the parts of a cell. We will continue this tomorrow by learning about the differences between animal and plant cells. Later this week kids will be able to see single-celled organisms with their microscopes. 


Word Study:

Greek and Latin Roots: Quiz Friday!

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scribbled
impressionable
depressant
oppress
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pressurized

May 19-23

This week is not as filled with extra/special events as the last. We're still working hard, our school-wide theme for the next few weeks is "Finish Strong"! Please encourage your child to keep up their hard work! 

5H Math: I will have the kids' math tests back for them soon, but not Monday. We worked on the order of operations on Friday and will continue on Monday and Tuesday this week. We will then review multiplying whole numbers and decimals by powers of 10 and our understanding of place value. 

Language Arts: We started a final read aloud for the year, "Chasing Lincoln's Killer". It goes right along with our study of the Civil War and it's an interesting read. It is nonfiction but written in a narrative format with lots of primary sources included within the text. We'll be learning about the history, but have also been taking time to learn new words that are included within the text and respond to questions about the book. 

Kids have learned a lot through their Civil War inquiries so far. We are wrapping up our research early this week and students will then determine the best way to share their new learning with the rest of the class. The goal is to share on Wednesday, May 28th. Kids may be doing some of this work at home. Presentations can take on all forms here...however students feel they can best share their learning with others! 

Word Study: We will learn about another Greek/Latin root this week and have a word study quiz next week.

Science: This week we will get to look at several objects with the microscopes, including salt, a penny and the skin of an onion. Lots of fun! We will also start learning about the difference between plant and animal cells. Friday we will have a quiz on the parts of a microscope. 

May 12-16

Happy Mother's Day! Thank you Mothers for all you do for your kids to help them be successful! 

Thank you so much to any parents that were involved in the Teacher Appreciation Week activities. The lunches, treats and decorations were very thoughtful and much appreciated! Thanks for thinking of us! 

There's a lot going on this week! 

Tuesday, May 13

Bike Safety Assembly- during school 

PTA meeting (7:00 PM)

Wednesday, May 14

Retirement Open House for Mrs. Chamernik and Ms. Hemmens- any and all welcome! (3:30-5:30 PM)

Hill MS Fifth Grade Parent Orientation (7:00 PM)

                                                             

Thursday, May 15

Author Visit for Grades 3-5 in gym- during school

5^th Grade Musical All-School Assembly- during school 

Fifth Grade Musical (7:00 PM)

***Kids need to arrive to school no later than 6:45 and report to the classroom. Mrs. Donaldson says the kids may wear whatever they feel comfortable in. They will come back to the classroom at the end of the event, and you may pick them up from there. 

Friday, May 16

Volunteer Luncheon (11:00 AM-1:00 PM)

    If you have volunteered in any way this school year, please come in for pizza, pasta, salad and dessert! Thanks for all you do; we couldn't function without you!! 

5H Math: We will have our Unit 9 test on Wednesday. Kids have several sheets + notes to use for review. I will have an optional study session Tuesday after school until 4:15, as well as during lunch and/or recess. Early this week we will review converting within the metric system as well as finding the area of rectangles with fractional side lengths. I will send you unit 10 standards soon! 

Language Arts/Social Studies

The kids have come up with some great questions about the Civil War. Kids will be reading and researching about their question this week. I've gotten a large number of books from the public library to help us, and kids will also be looking for resources online. Their inquiry questions are "large" questions that will help them gain a deeper understanding of the war, for example, "What was the aftermath of the war?" This question can take students down many paths!  

Science

We'll also be starting our Microscope/Small Life unit this week. Kids will learn the parts of a microscope and how to use them, as well as how to properly prepare a slide and make observations. 

May 5-9

We will have our last round of CBMs for the year, this week. 

Reminders for the kids for Monday:

Hill trip: a few kids have not brought their permission slip back (told these kids this on Friday and emailed you if I didn't have the slip)

Jump Rope for Heart: wear comfortable clothes, bring water
Marble Party: I'm making brownies for the kids, they need to ask you to sign their permission slip. The kids voted to play a game outside. If they have an outdoor game they like to play that they can carry to school, they can bring it. If it rains, I told the kids to bring a backup board game, card game or electronic.  

This week:

5H Math: There will be no math Monday because of our field trip to Hill. On Tuesday kids will get their unit 8 (part II) tests back. We will finish up learning about volume on Tuesday as well. Kids have done a great job figuring out volume by counting cubes and by using the formula (L x W x H= V), but many had difficulty determining volume of "composed figures", meaning when 2 rectangular prisms are put together. We will work on this again on Tuesday. Then we will learn about coordinate planes, the x and y axis and how to plot points as well as determine coordinates of points. Finally we will review converting metric measurements. We will take the unit 9 test the week of May 12th. 

Language Arts/Social Studies:

This week kids are finishing up the writing piece they started last week about events in US history that have moved us forward as a country. Their writing pieces will be due Friday morning; kids may need to work on them for homework throughout the week. Our goal is to finish rough drafts by Tuesday, so if kids aren't done with them, they will need to finish their draft for homework. We will have time for typing on Wednesday, but kids may need to type some at home on Wednesday and Thursday. 

We have been building our background knowledge about the Civil War through watching a documentary, read alouds and reading the social studies text. The kids will be taking part in an inquiry of the Civil War, as we did earlier this year with a study of slavery when we learned about triangular trade routes. For most of the week, we will continue to learn about the causes of the war, main events during the war and the aftermath. Throughout this time students will be recording their new learning and questions. On Friday, we will compile our questions in order for students to determine an area they would like to further learn about. Students will be choosing a "big question" to inquire about (for example: What resources helped the Union win the war? Non-example: What year were slaves freed?). 

For the next few days, I will be asking students to take on a perspective of a person or type of person living during this time period, to help them connect to and internalize the different perspectives of this period. 

Word Study: For the rest of the year, we will be learning about Greek and Latin roots. We will learn about 1 or 2 a week; what it means, and examples of words with the root. There will be no quiz this week. We are starting with the root "press".