Writing Conferences and Economics Project

We have some exciting work going on the fifth grade this week.  By Tuesday, we will be finished with all the writer's conferences on the 5 paragraph essay on New Year’s Resolutions.  In each writer’s conference, the author and I have reviewed progress toward individual writing goals.  We look at how each student did on those specific goal areas and overall on their work.  I can see much improvement in these writers!  

We are reading and enjoying Mr. Blue Jeans.  We will finish the book next week, and there will be a written test on the book.  The date is not yet decided.  

The most exciting part of our day right now is our Economics project.  The students are in teams working to write a business plan for a student store.  It is taking a lot of cooperation and group decision-making.  They will present their written plan and a brief slide show presentation to a panel of business people from the community on Feb. 5.  We are pretty excited about this project.  

Keep your students reading for home reading logs and thank you for the responses in parent journals this week.  Look for another letter this weekend.  Have a great week!

Economics Project

This week is a short week, but it is packed with learning experiences! We officially started our Social Studies economics project.  We are making a business plan for a fictitious student store.  The students have a lot of information to discuss with their teams and decide what will be the best way to appeal to their consumers.  They are using the Oriental trading website to select items and will set prices in an effort to raise money.  Just so you know, there is no plan to really operate the student store and no plan to take a class trip at the end of the year, but that is part of the setup for this simulation.  The students were excited to work on this and I could hardly tear them away from their work when time was up.  I'm sure we have several future business owners in the class!

We also got new tribes today, so your student is sitting with new people at his or her table.  We are beginning writing conferences to give feedback on the five paragraph essay about goals.  I enjoy these individual conferences with each student.  It is a great time to look at the improvements each student has made and to see where each one can improve.  We are continuing to read our biography, Mr. Blue Jeans.  Also in reading, each student has a new goal to work on with a new strategy group.  I am excited about what we will be learning to improve our reading comprehension.

Things are going well in the fifth grade.  I love spending my days with your kids.  Thanks for sharing your delightful students with me!

Denim Project and Goals

How ironic that I would forget to update my blog on Monday since we have been writing about goals in class and Monday updating is one of my goals for this year.   Hmmm...next week will be better.  

As for our week, thank you parents for sending in jeans for our Reading project.  Oh my, what a fun time we had making products out of the denim to sell.  There was a lot of creativity as students designed their items and again today as they bought and sold.  We had some great conversations about making things to sell, how to get people interested in your product, how to set a fair price and many other things.  So many lessons learned today!  We will start reading the biography of Levi Strauss and learn how he decided on a product to make and how he built a successful business.  We will have a lot of connections to his experience now that we have done this project.  If you sent in scissors, ask your child for them back.  We are done with them and I will make sure they are in the backpacks to go home.  Thank you again, this was a great learning experience!

In Writing, we are writing a five-paragraph essay.  We just finished one about goals.  Ask your child about his or her goals for 2014.  We will be taking some time to work on Greek and Latin roots and spelling patterns.

With the start of a new year, Mrs. Antoniono and I have met with each student to go over his or her CRT data from last year for Math and Reading.  We have looked at strengths and weaknesses and set goals to help bring up the lowest area.  Some students will be looking for non-fiction books to read for home reading.  If you need a recommendation, please email me.  We hope to help each student succeed on these tests in the Spring.

We will be starting an Economics project next week.  More info to follow on that.  

Have a great week!

Mr. Blue Jeans and Item Request

Hello Fifth grade Families,
Welcome to a new year.  It was great to see all the smiling fifth grade faces upon their return back to school.  We have a few fun learning activities that I want you to be aware of, one requires a send in item.

In Reading, we will start reading Mr. Blue Jeans, the biography of Levi Strauss.  Before we begin the book, we are going to do a project using denim fabric.  If you have old jeans of any size or color that you are getting rid of, please send them in.  I'd like for each student to have 1 pair that can be cut up by Monday, Jan. 13.  Along with that request, I just have 2 pairs of scissors that can be used for fabric.  If you have sewing scissors that you can wrap up and send in with your child to use, I will remind  they are very sharp and for fabric only.  It would be great if we can get another 8 pairs of scissors to make the work go more quickly.  We should only need them for 1-2 days.

With the reading of the book, we will also have vocabulary quizzes.  Your student will have a study guide, so remind them to study their words for the quiz.  The quiz is planned for next Tuesday.

Thanks for your help.  Hope your new year is off to a great start!