Earth's Systems Project

Hello fifth grade families,
As of today, for students who have been present every day, testing is over!  Thank you all for sending in snacks and helping your child get to bed early.  It got confusing with the changing testing days, so thank you all for being flexible.  The students worked hard and hopefully were able to stay focused and do their best work.

Going forward, we will have reading logs every night until the last week of school.  In class today we were just discussing the importance of reading in developing our abilities as writers and as readers.  20 minutes is really a minimum amount for home reading, so feel free to encourage your student to read longer on nights where he or she has time to do so.

Our Earth's Systems project is kind of off to a slow start.  We got our vocab words before we started the testing, but we haven't done too much with it yet.  Your student may have brought home a supply list.  We plan to have research and writing days this week and building days starting as early as Thursday, April 30 and continuing into the week of May 4.  The time is going way too quickly!  I would like to present by May 12.  More information to follow on that.

Have a great week!  

Testing Snack Days

Welcome back from Spring break!  I hope it was a wonderful week for you all.

We are preparing for our first testing day this week.  Wednesday morning we will take our Science test.  Please have your child get to bed early on Tuesday night and eat a healthy breakfast before coming to school.  

To make sure no one is distracted from doing their best work on the tests, I like to have snacks to give to students right before we start.  Everyone is assigned a day to bring snacks according to their classroom number.  Please send in a low sugar snack that is easy to distribute and eat in the classroom.  Examples are applesauce cups (with spoons), pretzels, cut up apples or bananas with peanut butter, grapes, baby carrots with ranch, stuffed celery, string cheese, crackers, trail mix, dried fruit, mini sandwiches, whatever healthy snacks your child likes are probably good choices for the class.  Two students are bringing gum, but any student who wants to have his or her own flavor of gum to chew may bring it in.  This personal gum is to be chewed during testing times only.  

This is the schedule:

Wed. 4/15: 1-4

Mon. 4/20: 5-8, 17 and 20 bring in 3 packs of gum each please.

Wed. 4/22: 9-12

Mon. 4/27: 13-16

Wed. 4/29: 18-19

Usually we have extra snack that we can eat on that last test day, so we should be good with only two kids on that day.  If you have a question about your snack assignment, please email me.  Have a great week!

Conferences, Stamina Days

This week is flying by!  We have had two really productive practice testing days.  We used the ear buds or headphones and they all worked perfectly.  Thank you for sending those in by the deadline.  Our walk to the park was really nice, we appreciate the parents who brought drinks and treats for Monday and paper goods, chips, cheese, and salsa for today.  It was just what we needed after working so hard all morning.

I have met with many parents for conferences, but not all yet.  Please be aware that we take our first test on April 15.  That's the Wednesday of the week we return from Spring Break.  We will have test days for the three weeks following Spring Break.  Your students are working hard and giving a really good effort.  Thank you for your support!

Also, there will be no parent journal this weekend and no reading log next week.  Enjoy your week off!

Conferences and Stamina Days

Just a reminder, Parent Teacher conferences are next week, Monday - Thursday afternoons.  I am looking forward to meeting with each of you.  These are 15 minute conferences.  I know how busy you all are, so it is important that I stay on schedule.  If you have a concern that may take longer than 15 minutes to discuss, let's schedule a time when we won't feel rushed.  

Also next week, we will be having some building stamina days to help us be ready for the Smarter Balanced Assessment.  During these days, we will not have our normal morning schedule.  Monday, March 30 will be one stamina day and Wednesday, April 1 will be another.  Because these days may get mentally tiring, we are doing some more relaxed activities in the afternoon.  

This is our schedule:  

Monday 3/30 - Math stamina day in the morning, walk to Laura Mills park for lunch in the afternoon. Volunteer needed to meet us with a treat at the park, at about 1:00 with ice cream sandwiches.

Wednesday 4/1 - Reading Stamina day in the morning.  Regular lunch at school.  Board games and nacho bar after lunch.  Volunteers needed for bowls, napkins, 1 case of water bottles, chips, nacho cheese in a crock pot, and salsa.

Please email to fill one of these spots.  Thank you!  These afternoons will be a nice break after the longer, mentally tiring mornings.  See you at conferences!

The Lattins, Conferences

Rick and B. Ann Lattin came to teach us all about successful gardening in Northern Nevada.  They had so much information and they were so kind as they interacted with the students.  They brought in homemade kale chips and winter crop carrot sticks, all washed, peeled, cut and bagged, for all 40 kids!  They taught us a gardening song and even a kale chant.  It was truly a pleasure to have them share their knowledge with us.

Parent Teacher Conferences will be held the week of March 30, from 4:00 - 6:00 every day.  Please email to schedule.  jstockard@oasisacademyfallon.us.

Have a great week!

Kale Chips
Start with young kale, wash and break off any stems.  Spin dry. Put in a large bowl and toss with olive oil to coat lightly.  If you like salt and vinegar chips, Mrs. Mackedon recommends using apple cider vinegar at this stage as well.  Lay the kale, piece by  piece, in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Salt lightly with sea salt or any seasoning you like.  Bake at 300 for 5-10 minutes.  Watch it during baking, it should not get too dry.  Pull it out and shout, "All hail kale!" Enjoy!

Plant and Garden Guest Speakers, Parent Teacher Conferences

Today started off slowly, probably due to the time change, but soon we had the energy level up in the classroom.  We have a number of exciting learning activities coming up.  We finished an opinion writing essay today on the growth of cities.  We read both sides of the issue and chose a side for a fictional city.  We will have more opportunities to write to persuade, but many of the students are really getting the hang of it.  I like how they are using more complex transition words, like however, therefore, and additionally rather than first, next, and last.  It is helping their writing sound more like middle school writing, which is our goal at this point in the year.  

In projects, we are excited to have expert speakers coming to talk to us about plants and gardens in Nevada/  Rick and B. Ann Latin, of Latin Farms, will come to our classroom on Thursday.  They will speak to us about gardening tips for Fallon.  They will talk to us about what plants grow well, when to plant, and how to prepare the soil for best results.   We hope to have time for them to answer our questions about our garden plans.   We are excited to learn from the experts!

Parent Teacher Conferences will be scheduled on Monday, March 30; Tuesday, March 31; Wednesday, April 1 (that is no joke!); and Thursday, April 2.  These are all school days, the week right before Spring Break.  I can take appointments from 4:00 - 6:00 each night.   If you are not free during these times, we will have to schedule after the break.  Please email me your preferred time to schedule.  

Have a great week!

Plant Project

Our denim project was a huge success!  The students made some really neat items and sold them to each other, for Bighorn Bucks, of course.  It was a fun experience, but my favorite part was the reflection time afterward, when students thought about what they could do better or what they did well this time.  It was a great opportunity to have an idea, try it out, assess how it is working, then adjust.  We have some very creative minds here, both with product making and with the business side of it.

Now we are working on a gardening project with our study of plants, the water cycle and ecosystems.  The students' final product is a garden design.  Of course, no one has to plant the garden, but your child will be bringing home a garden design for your yard.  Together, decide where you would plant, what you would plant, and how you could help your plants grow.  Students will need to think about water, where it is and how the garden will get water.  This can be a flower garden, herb garden, vegetable garden.  We even talked about a salsa garden, growing the items needed for some delicious salsa.  The point of this is to make it real, so each student will plan what is realistic to his or her gardening space.  No one's garden plan will be graded on how big it is.  Have fun with this.  Most of the work will be done in class, but it will come home this weekend for parent approval.