October 1-5

Spelling:  Unit 5 pretest Monday and unit 5 spelling test on Friday.  

5H Math:  This week we will go over how to construct a line plot as well as learn about expanded notation and multiplying by powers of 10. We'll continue working on multiplication and making estimates.  Also, I added a game under the math tab for practicing computational facts.

*We continue to work on our study guide for the upcoming test on October 4th and 5th (that's THIS Thursday and Friday).  All of the kids have this "practice test". Optional study sessions will take place Wednesday during lunch or after school (3:35-4:10): students should come knowing what they need more practice on. 

Reading:  This week we will be starting a new read aloud: Because of Mr. Terupt. Also, we will be using the reading strategy "scan and run" which will help students when reading nonfiction text.  This will be helpful with our social studies reading this week! 

Writing:  Many students are finished with their rough drafts.  We will look at each others pieces and determine what steps we need to take in order to revise and edit.  Our goal is to have published pieces by Friday. 

Grammar:  Since we are revising in writing, we will need to discuss good word choice.  It's a great time to talk about synonyms and antonyms. 

Social Studies: Last week we discussed the upcoming election a bit.  Students learned what a political party is, as well as the two main political parties in our country, and who the presidential and vice presidential candidates are in the upcoming election.  Soon we will be learning about the actual election process in our country.  This week we will look at Christopher Columbus through the view point of our text book as well as through the eyes of Native Americans. 

*Students all got a "Current Events" handout last week explaining how they will present a current event to the class by Oct. 25.  I added student friendly news web sites for them to visit in the Social Studies tab.  

September 24-28

This week all fifth graders in District 204 will be taking the CogAT on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings. This is a standardized test that is used to measure school abilities and is used for placement in a variety of district programs.  

I'm looking forward to learning about severe weather this week from 5H students who chose to do the optional presentations!  I'm sure they'll be great! 

Spelling:  Unit 4 pretest Monday and unit 4 spelling test on Friday.  

5H Math: Last week we reviewed how to convert within the metric system (meters to millimeters, etc.).  If you'd like to see the video I showed in class, visit the math tab.  We will continue working on this in the coming week.  We will work on converting measurements within the standard system as well (feet to inches, etc.).  We will work on making line plots and multiplication as well.  It would be great practice to begin going over multiplication at home! 

*We have started working on a study guide in class as well.  All of the kids have a "practice test" that we are working on as we go so that they will have this practice test to use as a study guide.  I told the kids we will probably be having our first test the week of October 1. 

Reading:  So far this year we've learned about the reading strategies check for understanding, using context clues to determine word meaning, visualizing, and making inferences.  This week we will continue to utilize these strategies in our discussions about read alouds and talk about how these strategies help us as readers.  The kids will also get to make "book hooks" this week. Students will write a phrase that "hooks" the attention of prospective readers and persuade them to read the book.  We will work on these in the computer lab, typing and inserting a picture of their book. 

Writing: This week students will continue with their writing piece.  By Thursday or Friday students should be ready to write their final drafts.  Ask your child what they chose to write for their first piece.  There are many creative ideas!  We will further discuss this week what it means to revise and edit.  

Grammar: Last week we talked about the many types of nouns, and this week we will get into verbs.  We will also discuss synonyms and antonyms. 

Science:  We are finishing up our first science unit of weather.  The test will be Wednesday.  On Friday, we began going through our notes and handouts determining what is important to study.  On Monday we will finish making our study guide.  

Social Studies: We will begin our first Social Studies unit on Thursday discussing Christopher Columbus.  We will look at Columbus through the view point of our text book as well as through the eyes of Native Americans.  

September 17-21

It was great to see, as well as, meet some of you at Curriculum Night.  Thank you for taking some time to come in and learn about the school year.  If you were not able to make it, I understand we all have a lot of commitments in our lives, and I hope to see you throughout the year. If I have not said it enough, thank you all for your support and I am thankful to work with you and your wonderful children this year. 

This week..

Spelling: The unit 3 pretest will be given on Monday. The assignment and list will be posted under the spelling tab after school tomorrow. 

5H Math:  we will be working on rounding to specific place value throughout the week.  We are returning to converting measurements within the metric system as well as within the standard measurement system. Toward the end of the week we will be learning about line plots and making magnitude estimates for multiplication problems.

Reading: During reading this week we will be learning about making inferences using a variety of texts.  We make inferences by using clues from the text as well as our background knowledge (schema) to make conclusions. We will be reading a story from our Harcourt books to support this and will take a comprehension test for the story during the week. We have also started using our Time for Kids. 

Writing: Last week the kids made an awesome list of ways that writers write.  Kids have now chosen what type of writing they will do for their first piece.  Some of the choices we listed were: magazine articles, book reviews, fantasy stories, etc. The kids will be working on this piece this week and I will be teaching lessons on maintaining focus and support using student samples of writing.

Grammar: What is a noun? What are the types of nouns? What is a verb? 

Science: We did not begin clouds and the water cycle last week so we will begin with that this week. The kids will learn what the three main types of clouds are, what they look like, and what type of weather they indicate. We will compare weather forecasts to the actual weather of the day. We will learn about cold and warm fronts and what creates severe weather. 

Also, many students have shown interest in the optional weather research activity- I am so glad the kids are excited about this!  This week I will call kids over to make appointments with them so they know when they will present (sometime the week of Sept. 24th).  This is an optional activity so students will need to do most of the work at home.  

Citizenship: This week we will begin talking about the need for classroom problem solving between classmates when conflicts arise. 

September 10-14

I hope everyone enjoyed the wonderful weather this weekend! Here's a look at what's coming up this week: 


Spelling: students will take the Unit 2 pre-test on Monday, and the assignment and list will be posted after school on Monday in the spelling tab of the blog. 

5H Math: we will continue working on adding and subtracting decimals as well as: what steps to use when solving word problems, ordering decimals, converting metric and standard measurements, and making line plots from data.

Reading: this week students will work on answering open ended questions about our read aloud book.  During independent reading time, students will continue to read their selected novels and write reading responses based on the strategy of visualization. 

Writing: this week we will finish our "Fortunately" stories. We will also discuss all of the ways in which writers write and begin drafting a writer's workshop piece.

Science: We will begin the week by reviewing the states of matter and the behavior of the molecules in each state. Then we will be learning about air and answering the questions: Does air take up space? Does air have weight? We will also determine what happens to air with temperature change.  The water cycle and clouds will begin toward the end of the week. 

Citizenship:  This week we will be talking about what it means to be responsible in the classroom and around the school...maybe even at home :) 

Remember, this Thursday is Curriculum Night.  I will be sharing about fifth grade curriculum from 6:30 to 6:55 and again from 7:25 to 8:00; you may choose whichever session works for you this year.  There will be a whole school session on what math instruction will look like this year as we have adopted new standards in Illinois called The Common Core.  This math session will be in the gym from 7:05 to 7:25 and is for all grade levels. 

September 5-7

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend! 

Reading: This week we will finish defining the remaining genres we will be reading this year.  On Friday there will be a genre quiz in which each student will have to determine the genre of two novels as well as explain their reasoning for their choice. I will begin meeting with every child to have reading conferences based on their current novel. Students will also begin to write reading response letters in their reading notebooks.  These letters encourage students to pay attention to their thoughts while reading and help me to guide them as readers.    

Spelling: Because of the short week, we won't have a spelling list this week.

Writing: We will be working through the writing process using the picture book Fortunately as inspiration to write our own picture books. 

Math: The kids in 5H math will begin learning about adding and subtracting decimals and how this skill is used in the real world.  

Science: We will continue to learn about weather and weather forecasting.  We will learn about the tools Meteorologists use and build our own.  We will also begin to talk about the composition of air. 

**Please make sure your child is checking and sharing their assignment notebook with you every night!