Wax Museum

The Wax Museum was a hit!  The students had accurate costumes and very informative, well-prepared speeches!  Thank you to the parents and grandparents who came to listen!  16 of our students had a parent or grandparent come listen.  That is great support - thank you!

As for this week, I always encourage my students to read, but I am giving the students who are caught up on their work the week off of Reading Log.  We'll start up again in January.  Please don't forget about our book report.  We will start work on that in January.

For the remainder of the week:
Tuesday - Walking to the Fallon Theater, dress for the weather.
Wednesday - Vocabulary quiz in Projects
Thursday - Candy Gift Exchange and Drama play

Thank you for sending in your family Christmas cards.  We are enjoying the ones we have and it is not too late to send yours in.

Have a great week!

Projects and Christmas Events

We have two busy weeks before Christmas break.  Just so you are up on all the happenings in our class, here is the run-down.  There is really nothing new, just reminders of all we have going on.

1.  Revolutionary War Project costumes are due in class Wednesday Dec. 10.  We will use them Wednesday and Thursday for dress rehearsals.

2.  Wax Museum Presentation - Please come!  We have worked really hard and learned so much about the people and events of the revolution.  The 4th and 5th graders (80 kids!) will present Monday, Dec. 15 from 2:00 - 3:00.  Location to follow, probably the school, but we may have another option nearby.  

3.  Class Movie - We are walking to the Fallon Movie Theater Tuesday, Dec. 16.  Permission slips are all in, please send in $6.00 by Thursday.

4.  Christmas Candy Exchange - We will do a game to exchange a candy treat in class.  Send in a wrapped candy item with your child.  Please keep it under $2.50 and have that in by Wed. Dec. 17.

5.  Drama Christmas Play - The play, totally produced in drama class is Thursday Dec. 18 at 2:30.  (Maybe a little later, I have not checked with the Mrs Christie.) I am not in the class when they practice, but I have seen a little bit and it looks adorable.  I can't wait to see it!  The play should end at 3:15.  If you want to take your child at that time, please plan to check them out with me and Mrs. Evans.  I'll have my clipboard on me, I don't want to lose track of anyone!  I will try to have them packed up so that you can take them when the play is over, or they can dismiss at the regular time.

I know there is a lot going on.  We should have our second quarter auctions, but I am moving them to January.  That will be fun to look forward to when we come back from break.  

Keep your Christmas cards coming in.  You'd be surprised how many people stop to look at them.  I love having them in our classroom.  Have a great week!

Christmas Movie, Revolutionary War Project

For our Christmas party, the fifth grades will walk on Tuesday Dec. 16 to Fallon Theater to see Penguins of Madagascar. This movie is rated PG. Watch for a permission slip to come home soon. The price is $6.00 for admission, small drink, and small popcorn. The 7th and 8th graders are going on a different day that same week. Because we are doing this for our party, no food will be needed on that last day before Christmas break. We will do an activity in the classroom that afternoon, but our big celebration will be the movie.

In academic news, we are learning all about the events of the Revolutionary War. On Wednesday, your student will select a person to research and learn about for the wax museum. Your child will need a costume, so you may want to discuss that. Students may choose either gender for their historical figure, the only expectation is that students are respectful in how he or she represents the person from history. Our final presentations will be on Monday, Dec. 15. More information to follow on the location.

Have a great week!

New Project

Today was the start of a new history project.  We will cover the years of 1607 - 1776 in just 5 weeks!  We will focus on events leading up to the Revolutionary war.  The presentation will be a Wax Museum, where each student will choose an important person to research and share a memorized speech as that person from history.  We kicked it off by reading a timeline of early United States history and an article about colonization.  Then we made Thanksgiving Bracelets that went with a poem about the Mayflower and Plymouth colony.  Then we made one of three types of colonial hats, either a colonial bonnet, a powdered wig, or a tri-cornered hat.  Because the students will dress up for their presentation, this activity seemed both appropriate and a fun way to get interested in the people of the Revolution.

In addition to this entry event, we started expository writing today.  We will shift gears with our writing to write to give information.  We will focus on organizing our writing with topic sentences and facts, rather than description and dialogue like we included in narratives.

Have a great week!

Project Building Days, Gratitude Journal Challenge

This week has been much anticipated by the students, it is the week we build during project time!  Thank you for helping your student get the supplies into the classroom.  The creativity level in the classroom is very high and I especially appreciate how they are using their research to confirm what they are making.  They are focusing on building things that represent Native American life, according to their research on their chosen tribe.  They are also learning about when the Europeans came into their region and what that was like.   Lots of learning going on.

We are working on writing skills in the classroom this week, focusing on eliminating run-on sentences and sentence fragments.  The students will get to apply these skills when they choose aone of their narratives to revise and publish.  We are also starting to write in Gratitude Journals.  If you would like to take this gratitude challenge by fulfilling the same assignment as your child, you can choose one person or thing you are thankful for each school day and write a paragraph (5 sentence minimum) about why you are thankful for this person or thing.  We will do this for the 11 school days before Thanksgiving.  It will be a challenge for all of us to complete this, but we are going to do our best.  We hope to use writing to define and express our thoughts, as well as focus on the positive things in our lives.  Please let me know if you do this, even if you miss some days!  What a great way to prepare for Thanksgiving and have meaningful discussions with your child.

Have a great week!

Halloween Party

It has been a pleasure to meet with so many of you for Parent Teacher conferences.  I appreciate the hard work your children are doing in the classroom.  It makes our classroom a great place to be.  I enjoy each day with them.

This week we have a few new things, we started a new project today about Native Americans and the European explorers.  This will be a shorter one, just three weeks, with a building component, so be prepared for the supply lists to come home on Wednesday of this week.  We also got new classroom jobs.  Ask your child if he or she applied for a job this quarter.  If they have not, it is not too late.  Get those applications in!

On Thursday, we will celebrate Halloween.  Please have your child wear his or her costume.  Make sure it follows the school guidelines for costumes.  Our class is having a nacho party at 1:30, with a Halloween game inside.  We will have drama at 2:30 - 3:15, then we will finish the day with pumpkin bowling outside from 3:15 - 4:00 when we dismiss.  Ask your child if you have a food assignment.  Those went home last Thursday.  Thanks for all you do!

Parent Teacher Conferences and Tuck Project

Parent teacher conferences are this Friday, 10/24, and next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  I sent an email with specific times.  Please let me know when is the best time for us to meet.  Your student may come to the conference of you may come without him or her.  

This week in Reading, we are working on a Tuck Everlasting project in class.  Your student will need to gather 10 items from home that represent a character.  The items will come home after your child presents and should fit in a lunch bag.  Your student has chosen the character and is doing the writing in class.  

We have finished up auctions for the first quarter.  Thank you to all who sent in such great items!  It was a lot of fun to watch the students manage their money and make decisions about how much to spend on something.  Such great lessons for life outside the classroom!  

Have a great week!