February 11-15

We will have an assembly Tuesday with a poet as a presenter. Thank you PTA! 

Thursday is Valentine's Day! I sent home a class list a while ago, if your child needs a new one, have them ask me. If your child chooses to make valentines for friends, please make sure they make one for everyone; no candy please. 

Spelling: Unit 19 test will be this Friday.  The spelling list will be uploaded Monday after school. 

5H Math:  The students did a did a wonderful job on their frog jump line plots! They've finished, and they're hanging up in the classroom. Before the test this week, we will review simplifying fractions and continue adding and subtracting mixed numbers. The unit 6 test will be Wednesday and Thursday this week. Students will have homework Monday and Tuesday night that will help them prepare. 

Study Sessions: Tuesday during lunch and/or recess as well as Tuesday after school 3:35-4:10. Students should come with what they want to work on in mind. I have reminded the kids to visit the blog and the links in the math tab. This is another great way to study. Adding and subtracting fractions in word problems should be the main area of focus! 
Reading/Writing: Students' writers workshop pieces are due the end of the day Wednesday. Many students will need to work on their piece at home Monday and Tuesday to make sure to complete their piece on time. 

We started reading a Time for Kids last week, but did not have enough time to discuss and complete activities. The feature article is about whether we should phase out the use of pennies in our country. This week students will give their opinion on this and use the information from the article to back up their opinion. 

We are beginning a several week focus on the idea of courage. Earlier this year, students identified courage as a common theme in many of the books we read. This week we will begin to discuss courage in other aspects of our lives and the world around us.  Students will journal, make connections, debate on whether an action was courageous, decide whether not acting be courageous, find connections to historical people and events...it will be a lot of fun and a common thread throughout every subject. 

Grammar: Last week we learned about action verbs and linking verbs; this week we will begin learning about helping verbs. The kids learned last week that a linking verb is like an = sign, e.g. "Ms. Happy is happy". "Is" links Ms. Happy and happy, Ms. Happy = happy. :) 

Social Studies: We will pick up where we left off in history: growing tensions between the colonists and Great Britain. Students should learn what events caused colonists to break away from Great Britain and how did patriots' point of view differ from loyalists' point of view. 

February 4-8

We have several special things happening this week! 

The Fifth Grade Program is this Tuesday. Students should arrive at the school at 6:45 PM and report to our classroom. The program begins at 7 PM and should last about 30 minutes. Students will report back to our classroom, and can be picked up from the room. They've been practicing hard; it should be great!

Wednesday we will go to Metea for a presentation by the author of Wonder, R.J. Palacio. It's important that students arrive on time, because we will need to leave almost immediately. Students do not have to bring a cold lunch for this field trip; we will eat when we return and the hot lunch service will still be provided.

Thursday is the Science Fair from 6 to 8 PM. Can't wait to see everyone's projects! 


Spelling: Unit 18 test will be this Friday.  The spelling list will be uploaded Monday after school. 

5H Math:  The kids will finish their frog jump line plots on Monday, and we will use some of the data to add and subtract fractions as well as convert their measurements. We will spend the rest of the week adding and subtracting fractions/mixed numbers in word problems. Students are doing well adding fractions; but the comprehension of word problems can at times trip some students up. We will also spend time simplifying fractions. The unit 6 test will be the week of February 11th. 

Reading/Writing: We will be working on Reading Extended Responses this week. This involves students reading and then answering a question about what they've read. Students have to find evidence from the text to support their answer as well as explain how their evidence supports their answer. Students have also been working on a Writer's Workshop piece of their choice. 

Grammar: This week we begin to learn about verbs and their job in a sentence. We will learn the difference between action verbs and linking verbs, and later we will practice using the correct verb tense in our writing. 

Science: We have a few final electricity experiments to take part in before we finish up the electricity unit. Students will experiment with circuits and take part in a conductor or insulator experiment. Students will take a atom/magnet/electricity test on Friday. 

Choose Kind!

In connection with our read aloud Wonder our class is choosing to pledge kind and help spread the word around the school. Follow the link to learn more about "Choose Kind".

January 28-February 1

I hope to see you all this Wednesday at Open House: 6:30-8:30! 

Please send in the Robert Crown field trip permission form, if you have not yet done so. This Friday, the day of the trip, students will need to bring a cold lunch to school; hot lunch will not be served. 

Spelling: Unit 17 test will be this Friday.  The spelling list will be uploaded Monday after school. 

5H Math:  On Monday, students will get back their unit 5 test as well as their decimal quiz from last week. We will review these in class; please help your child review these at home as well. We'll continue working on math extended response problems this week (students explain what they did to solve a problem and explain why using mathematical knowledge). We are reviewing making line plots this week as well as converting measurements.  

Reading/Writing: We did not get much time last week to work on our reading extended responses. This involves students reading and then answering a question about what they've read. Students have to find evidence from the text to support their answer as well as explain how their evidence supports their answer. 

Grammar: We continue our focus on adjectives this week. Students should be able to identify adjectives in sentences as well as the noun that the adjective modifies. We will also learn what comparative and superlative adjectives are and how to correctly use them in sentences. 

Science: We continue our electricity unit this week. We will experiment with static electricity and learn what a circuit is, identifying the two types of electricity: current and static. 

On Monday, students will present their inventions! On Tuesday, we will travel to all of the 5th grade classrooms to view and score each others' inventions. Students have worked hard and have come up with some very creative inventions! 

January 22-25

I hope everyone had a great weekend! 

Representatives from Hill Middle School will be visiting May Watts this Thursday, January 24th. The students will receive a packet at the presentation. The parent/students should take this packet with them that same evening to Hill Middle School for their registration presentation at 7:00 PM. 

Spelling: Unit 16 test will be this Friday.  The words were uploaded last week, and students already have their list.  

5H Math:  Last week we spent some time reviewing computation with decimals: adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. We also reviewed rounding, comparing, ordering, writing and reading decimals.  We will have a quiz on these skills related to decimals on Wednesday. We are now working on unit 6; which is a review of several standards. We will work on going in greater depth with these standards and try more challenging problems. This week students will also be spending time explaining what they did to solve a problem as well as explain why they took each step.  Last week we talked about how it is so important to be able to explain why you took the steps you did, because then it shows that you really understand!  

Reading/Writing: In writing this week, we will finish the expository piece we started last week in which students are telling the 3 people they would like to meet and why.  After the students looked at their previous writing pieces, I asked them to determine areas of improvement they can focus on while completing this writing piece.  We will also be incorporating reading and writing by answering questions about what we've read that require students to find evidence that supports their answer. They will also need to explain how their evidence supports their answer. 

Grammar:  This week students will learn what adjectives and articles are. We will start by identifying adjectives in sentences as well as the noun that the adjective modifies. 

Science: Students will learn what an electromagnet is and what effects its strength. We will also learn what a circuit is, and identify the two types of electricity: current and static. 

Students are working on an invention project, in which they are working individually or in a small group to create an invention. We began this project last week by discussing the possible purposes of inventions and students have begun to brainstorm. This week, students will have time to make final decisions about what their invention will be, how it will work, who would want it, why it is useful, etc. Students will create a visual and complete a written portion to explain their creation. They will present their inventions next week.