March 24-28

Next week is Spring Break! Enjoy the time off (if you have it)! Please let me know if your child will be out at all this week; thank you! 

I know we can all get a little antsy for a break, so we will spend some time tomorrow thinking about how we can help ourselves stay focused and organized this week before break.

As a reminder, 3rd quarter report cards will be available on the Home Access Center this Friday, starting at 4:00. 

The kids have just about filled our marble jar again, so we will plan a celebration for this Friday (as long as we fill it!). 

5H Math: We're continuing multiplying whole numbers by fractions the beginning of this week and modeling our process and solution. Several kids have figured out the "trick" of multiplying a fraction by a whole number, but without the understanding of what they're really doing it's doubtful they will remember this skill, so please encourage your child to draw a model to show their thinking or check their work, or have them explain to you what they're doing. 

On Wednesday, we will have a short quiz on multiplying fractions by whole numbers. It will not include story problems, but students will be required to draw a model to demonstrate their thinking. 

Later in the week, we'll get into multiplying fractions by fractions. 

Language Arts:
We did not get to the "picture book mash up" last week, because our digestive system tech-projects needed a little more work. The tech-projects really turned out well, and the kids learned a lot about the digestive system and their chosen technology through the process. Kids either did a Power Point, Prezi, or Photo Story; ask your child if you can theirs, if you haven't already; they were pretty creative! Graded rubrics for these will come home tomorrow (Monday). 

This week we'll start a new creative writing piece a "picture book mash-up". It will require kids to work together to "mash-up" the best components from 2 picture books to create a new story. Kids will choose a picture book from the LMC and think about how to best mash-up the story elements (characters, setting, and plot). Kids will also illustrate their picture book creation. We will work on this until spring break. 

For reading/social studies this week we will continue to study the Constitution. We will be working to understand each article of the Constitution using our social studies books (annotated Constitution in the back) as well as some books I got from the library. 
Kids took a short quiz about what we've learned so far in regards to the Constitution last week. I graded the quizzes over the weekend, and students will have the opportunity to retake the quiz on Tuesday if they choose. 

Word Study:

Our next lesson focuses on consonants that work as silent letters; for example the "w" in the word "write". We will work with words that have the consonant teams of "wr", "rh", "gn", "kn", "gh", "mn", and "mb". Kids will brainstorm words that have these consonant teams and we will create our own list of words for the quiz. Hopefully your kids told you there is no quiz on Monday. We will plan on taking the quiz Friday. 

Science:

Lots of quizzes this week...we're wrapping up the digestive unit, so we will take the unit quiz Wednesday.  Kids got a study guide last Friday, and we will review this guide on Monday. We will also be finishing up talking about the 6 types of nutrients. 

March 17-21

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

No school for students on Tuesday. 
It's the end of the 3rd quarter this Friday- wow!! 
Spring Break is just around the corner; if you have plans to travel before break, please let me know so I can plan accordingly. 

5H Math: 

Students will get their Unit 7 tests back on Monday and we will start unit 8. Please check your email for a list of standards. We will start this week by learning how to multiply fractions by whole numbers using an area model. Later in the week we will learn how to multiply fractions by fractions, also using an area model. 

Language Arts: 

This week we'll start a new creative writing piece a "picture book mash-up". It will require kids to work together to "mash-up" the best components from 2 picture books to create a new story. Kids will choose a picture book from the LMC and think about how to best mash-up the story elements (characters, setting, and plot). Kids will also illustrate their picture book creation. We will start in the middle of the week and work on this until spring break. 

For reading/social studies this week we will continue to study the Constitution. We will finish analyzing the meaning of the Preamble and then spend a few days understanding the articles of the Constitution. 

Word Study:

Our next lesson focuses on consonants that work as silent letters; for example the "w" in the word "write". We will work with words that have the consonant teams of "wr", "rh", "gn", "kn", "gh", "mn", and "mb". Kids will brainstorm words that have these consonant teams and we will create our own list of words for the quiz. Kids will have their quiz Monday 3/24. 

Science:

The kids have worked so hard on their digestive system tech-projects; they look great! I think they'll remember the steps of the digestive system :). Tomorrow kids will help each other by evaluating a few of each others' projects with the rubric and then later this week, kids will get a chance to view other classmates' projects. 

This week, kids will learn about the different types of teeth and their functions. Kids will also learn what the 6 types of nutrients are, examples of each and what the different types of nutrients do for the body. We will also talk about the kids nutrition and how we can all make good choices to be more healthy...I know I should eat more vegetables :). Kids will learn how to read a food label and how to compare items based on nutritional information. 

Kids will get a double sided food log on Monday that they need to complete for homework and return on Thursday. They need to fill it out for two days (Monday and Tuesday or Tuesday and Wednesday). 

Kids will also need to bring in 2 food labels for an activity Wednesday. They need to make sure they know or have the name of the item the label came from. 

March 10-14

5H Math:

This week, kids are finishing answering fraction addition and subtraction story problems their classmates wrote; we will work on a few other examples as well. Kids are working on modeling their process and solution. We will take the unit 7 test this Thursday. As a reminder, the only skills on the test are adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers; most off the problems are story problems. Students are also expected to simplify their answers and to write their answers as fractions or mixed numbers, not improper fractions.

I will offer study sessions Wednesday at lunch (not recess this time) and after school until 4:15.

Language Arts:

Last week we revised and edited our short stories and for homework this week, kids need to type their short story in a Google Doc. They need to share it with me by Friday AM; or they can print it at home and bring it to school Friday morning.  I am brainstorming how to publish their stories in a fun way...we were inspired by a book of short stories, so I plan to put all their stories together somehow!

We are reading about and learning about the Constitution during part of our language arts time this week. To begin, kids started to learn about the Articles of Confederation today. Kids are learning the goals of the Articles and why they failed, ultimately leading to the current Constitution.  Next, we'll learn about the writing of the Constitution and the different sections of the document and their purposes.

This week we will also read a short story that connects to our theme of "At a Crossroads". Kids will be asked to write a short opinion piece in class related to this story. The story asks kids to think about consequences and how they respond to events.

Word Study
We are on our last lesson of vowel team syllables. This week we will look at words with vowel teams of: oo, ou, ow and a vowel team digraph "ea". The quiz will be Monday 3/17 on the words below.

crooked
typhoon
adulthood
furrow
empower
drowsy
scowl
pounce
bounty
displease
breakfast
threaten

Science

Kids are working with partners to learn about the digestive process. Kids are learning about the parts that are involved in the digestive system, their locations and functions. Students will then make a tech-project of their choice, either a PowerPoint, Prezi or Photo Story. Most kids are ready to start planning and designing their projects tomorrow.

 

March 3-7

This week:

ISATs are this week, Tuesday-Thursday. The schedule is below in a prior post.
Fun Fair is this Saturday!

5H Math: We will only have math Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week because of ISATs. There won't be any homework assignments this week. Students will get their unit 6 tests back tomorrow. Unit 7 is a review unit that will lead into unit 8 well. Unit 7 is a review of adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers. We will focus on writing and solving story problems and being able to draw a model to explain our problem solution. We will work through this unit quickly because it is a review. Unit 8 will include multiplying of fractions.

Language Arts: This week we will wrap up the two writing pieces we've been working on: the research paper and the short story. For our research piece we are working on having a well-developed introduction and conclusion. We will spend a couple days revising and editing our short stories and then start typing final drafts later in the week.

Although, we won't have any homework this week, students should make sure to read at home. Most days we won't have much time for independent reading because of ISATs.

Science: We are starting the digestive/health unit this week. Students will use texts and web sites to determine the steps in the digestive system, the parts of the body that aid in digestion and their locations. Students will be collecting information in order to create either a Power Point presentation, Prezi, or Photo Story telling what they've learned. 

February 24-28

-No School Thursday or Friday this week for students
-Thursday- Parent Teacher Conferences- if needed, have you sent back your conference slip? 
-The Scholastic Book Fair is arriving this week and will be open starting Wednesday. 

ISATs are coming up the week of March 3. The schedule is below, in a previous post. 

Thanks for the hard work with your kids at home on their inventions- they were AWESOME! The kids were proud of their products, and we had a good time viewing each others. 

This week:

5H Math: On Monday and part of Tuesday we will finish up learning about making line plots and interpreting the data. Tuesday kids will start the unit test and will finish on Wednesday. 

Skills on the test:

-converting within the metric and customary measurement systems (story problems included)-making line plots and interpreting them (using the line plot data to answer questions)-rounding decimals
I'm offering optional study sessions Monday during lunch and/or recess and after school Monday until 4:15.

Language Arts: 

This week we continue two writing projects we've been working on. 

Students will have time to work on their short stories Monday and Tuesday, and will need to finish their rough drafts Tuesday night for homework if they have not finished them during school. We have been referring to a few short stories as examples, and have focused on starting with an interesting event, having a plan for events that will unfold naturally, using dialogue to serve a purpose (move the plot along and/or help us learn more about the characters). We have also discuss and looked at examples of description of events and settings. 

For our research writing pieces, we will have a few lessons on how to write an introduction (main idea and preview the content of the paper) as well as how to organize the rest of our research into paragraphs that make sense. Kids will make outlines for how to organize their papers and then have time to type up their invention/inventor research. 

For some of our Language Arts time this week, we will also do a bit of ISAT prep. The purpose for this "prep" is to familiarize kids with the layout and types of questions on the ISAT...we are not trying to cram! :) We will talk about test taking strategies and I will review the types of problems kids can expect to see on the test: multiple choice, short answer and extended response. We will go over what is expected for each type of answer. 

Word Study: This week we're working with homophones. These homophones will have syllable types that we've learned about so far. Kids will have a quiz on Monday, March 3rd over these homophones. Kids will need to correctly spell and mark each word. 

Social Studies:

We will have a final quiz regarding the American Revolution this Wednesday. Students need to know:

-important people involved in the Revolution

-the view points of Patriots and Loyalists

-the basic principles of the Declaration of Independence

-what the beginnings of government were like in the colonies (House of Burgesses, Continental Congress, what role to Great Britain play in colonial government?)

We will review tomorrow, Monday. Kids have a notes packet they've been filling out throughout the unit to refer to.