Parent Journals

As I'm sure you have noticed, we took last week and this week off of parent journals.  We have been busy in the classroom with testing preparations.  So sorry for the change in schedule.  Be on the lookout for your child's parent journal to come home next Thursday.  Thanks  for your understanding!

CRT Testing

CRT testing will be April 22-24.  The fifth graders take three tests, each of them with two parts.  This means that they will test in the morning and afternoon of each of the three days. Their only homework assignment for the week is to get to bed earlier than usual and eat a healthy, low-sugar breakfast and come ready to work hard and do their very best.

These tests will require their full concentration.  To help with this, I am asking for parents to bring in some healthy snacks for those test days.  You can send in the food Monday morning and I'll take it from there.  Your child will volunteer you for this, if this does not work for you, please email me and I'll make arrangements, or talk to me at conferences on Friday.

Snack ideas:  (we have a peanut allergy in the classroom, so please no peanut butter)
crackers like graham crackers, saltines, or Ritz
string cheese
salami or ham slices
carrots or cucumbers and ranch dressing to dip
apple slices or orange slices
bananas or grapes
pretzels and cheese cubes
granola bars (low sugar)
dried fruit
applesauce cups with spoons
yogurt cups with spoons

There are so many options. No need to be very elaborate here, just so that we have no hunger distractions during the testing.

I also need a few people to bring in napkins and plates.

Please make sure your child has a water bottle in the classroom as well.

As always, if you have any questions, please email me.  Have a great weekend!

Student Led Conferences

Just a reminder that our conferences will be held Friday, April 19, from 9:00 am - noon or again Monday, April 22, from 4:30 - 6:00 pm.  These are student led, which means that your student will conduct the conference for you.  There may be other conferences going on in the classroom at the same time.  If you want to discuss concerns with me privately, please email  me for an appointment time.

Because these are student led, there is no need for a set conference time.  Come to the classroom with your student anytime during the conference block.  If neither of these blocks of time work for you, please email me and we'll find a time that works.

I look forward to seeing you!

Spring Conferences

For spring conferences, the fifth graders will be conducting student-led conferences.  These conferences are a great way for your student to take ownership of his or her academic and social progress and to review this together.  These will be held Friday, April 19, from 9:00 - Noon or Monday, April 22, from 4:15 - 6:00.  The conference itself should take about 15 to 20 minutes.  If you cannot come to either of these times, please email me and we will find a time that works for you.  Keep in mind that there may be several conferences going on in the room at one time, so if you want to talk about something personal about your student, we can set a different time to discuss your concerns.  I am excited for you to come in and have your child share what he or she has been learning with you!

Pencils Needed!

After a nice week off for Spring break, we came back to a snowy day at school!   The students were ready to work and learn - and there is so much to do with state testing still ahead of us!  We have new seats in our classroom, so many of the students are working with classmates they don't know as well. We have also found that we are very low on pencils in our classroom.  If anyone can send in a box of pencils, we would really appreciate it.  Thank you!

Heat Project

This week in Science we are learning about heat energy.  We have learned the three ways that heat is transferred, conduction, convection, and radiation.  The students have done experiments to see heat transferred in each of these ways.  They have used internet resources to review, they have drawn diagrams and even made hand actions that they have shared to help them remember.  They may have even asked if you have a convection oven at home and looked inside to see what makes it a convection oven.  We will finish this week of learning activities with ice cube races, where we use what we've learned about heat transfer to see how fast we can each make an ice cube melt.  We're hoping for a nice weather to do this outside!  We will have a week off before we write our book chapter on heat energy, so please talk to your child about this and keep it on their minds until we come back to school.

Explanatory Writing

In writing, we have been working on writing to explain.  The fifth graders are in the process of completing a five-paragraph essay explaining a subject of their choice.  They be writing to explain three qualities in a friend, three reasons that Fallon is a great place to live, or three reasons why something they have is valuable to them.  I love working with the students on their writing.  They have shown so much improvement in organizing their ideas.  This format of writing, the five paragraph essay, is the format they will use more of as the go into higher grades.  We have an introductory paragraph that introduces three ideas, one paragraph for each idea, and then a concluding paragraph.  The students have written a thesis statement with their main idea.  We have been writing and conferencing on these papers this week and we will finish them next week.  The students also wrote a paragraph about change that will be coming home soon.  Look for their writing to come home on Wednesdays in their graded work folder.