Greetings!
**We will not have new vocabulary words for two weeks. They will however, have new spelling words today.
**Thursday is indeed pajama day. Please send a minimum donation of $1 with your student to contribute to raising money for childhood cancer.
**BIG thank you for all the support and help with our interview questions. We each shared the most interesting question and answer we had and.... WOW, we have some really interesting people in our lives!
Writing: We are on the downhill side of our informative writing on the 3 branches of government. I am so excited to see how these are unfolding. It has been the first time we have been through the entire process and while they are learning to really revise to elaborate on their ideas and use specific and exact language in their writing. They are stepping up their game and I am thrilled with the end result!
Projects: We will be writing our biographies this week using our questionnaires. We will be sharing them with each other and them hanging them outside of our classroom. I will let you know when they are up so you can pop in and read them. We are also patiently awaiting letters from the 20 different states and schools we sent letters to a few weeks ago.
Reading: This week students are continuing analyzing various narrative aspects of CRASH. We are also talking about the reading strategies that each student needs to work on individually to improve their reading comprehension and fluency. They each will be focusing on this strategy when they read with me and then working to remember to work on it without me as well.
This class has really made amazing gains and I am so excited to see them take so much responsibility for their learning and progress. I am proud of them and can't wait to see what the rest of the year holds for their growth!
Monday, September 26, 2016
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
September 20, 2016
Please remind your student of their vocab and spelling tests on Thursday! Also due Thursday, is their interview questions, they won't be able to continue without them and that willcause them to have to go to study hall to get caught up when they do bring them.
Writing: We are continuing our first piece of informative writing. It is hard work, and we are learning the value of revising.
Projects: We discussed and created a flip book on ways we can be socially responsible. We had some rich class discussion. On Thursday, we will start our biography using our interview questions. We are also waiting for letters to return to us from the great mail race we participated in.
Reading: We are just getting into the best parts of CRASH. We are also implementing our daily 5 into our reading block. Students created their own schedules and now we are cruising!
Pictures are tomorrow. Make sure to print the flyer out. Each child needs one even if you are not purchasing pictures.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
September 8, 2016
This week was short, but very productive.
In Writing, we finished up reviewing our 6 Traits of writing, finished reviewing the writing process and it's importance, we reviewed subject and predicate within a sentence and then we fine tuned our dictionary skills. We completed a personal narrative called, How To Survive today as well. Next week we are moving into Informative writing and this will be our first large piece of writing where students will begin conferencing with me. This will take us two weeks to complete and will include the full writing process. This is where writing GETS HARD. This is where we conference and begin the grueling process of revising, revising, revising. They will get more comfortable as time goes on, support them all you can by reminding them that hard word, diligence and endurance are the keys to success.
In Projects, We finished presenting today! The students were given the category of either a President, Supreme Court Justice or Representative. Once they were given this category, they were able to choose the individual they wanted to learn more about. They had guidelines to follow for the information they needed, as well as specific stipulations for their slide creations. The grades for these presentations were not as good as some of the students expected. They have their rubrics with my notes and their grades. They know that this is a learning process and they are not in danger of failing social studies. However, they are a diligent group of young people and so some of them are not happy with the outcome. The bar has been raised, and I am certain they will all be able to reach it!
In Community Service, Mr. Lenon has been teaching the children the parts of the brain and how it all works. The meditate almost everyday he is here as well. They have also gone outside to work on keeping our school grounds tidy. They sure do like him a lot!
In Reading, we have started our first novel called CRASH by, Jerry Spinelli. It is an excellent book for this age group. We will be focusing on theme, character development, symbolism and point of view. We are in reading groups reading the same sections each day so we can have good class discussion about what we read.
We have been working hard, and expectations have been made clear. The real work is just now beginning and I am confident in your children and their abilities. The best example was last week when we went down to our high school friends to listen to their "I Remember" poems. After each presentation, the high school presenter gave us writing tips to think about. I began asking my students which traits their writing tips pertained to- and my class nailed it every time!!
I enjoy your children very much and look forward to seeing them every morning!!
In Writing, we finished up reviewing our 6 Traits of writing, finished reviewing the writing process and it's importance, we reviewed subject and predicate within a sentence and then we fine tuned our dictionary skills. We completed a personal narrative called, How To Survive today as well. Next week we are moving into Informative writing and this will be our first large piece of writing where students will begin conferencing with me. This will take us two weeks to complete and will include the full writing process. This is where writing GETS HARD. This is where we conference and begin the grueling process of revising, revising, revising. They will get more comfortable as time goes on, support them all you can by reminding them that hard word, diligence and endurance are the keys to success.
In Projects, We finished presenting today! The students were given the category of either a President, Supreme Court Justice or Representative. Once they were given this category, they were able to choose the individual they wanted to learn more about. They had guidelines to follow for the information they needed, as well as specific stipulations for their slide creations. The grades for these presentations were not as good as some of the students expected. They have their rubrics with my notes and their grades. They know that this is a learning process and they are not in danger of failing social studies. However, they are a diligent group of young people and so some of them are not happy with the outcome. The bar has been raised, and I am certain they will all be able to reach it!
In Community Service, Mr. Lenon has been teaching the children the parts of the brain and how it all works. The meditate almost everyday he is here as well. They have also gone outside to work on keeping our school grounds tidy. They sure do like him a lot!
In Reading, we have started our first novel called CRASH by, Jerry Spinelli. It is an excellent book for this age group. We will be focusing on theme, character development, symbolism and point of view. We are in reading groups reading the same sections each day so we can have good class discussion about what we read.
We have been working hard, and expectations have been made clear. The real work is just now beginning and I am confident in your children and their abilities. The best example was last week when we went down to our high school friends to listen to their "I Remember" poems. After each presentation, the high school presenter gave us writing tips to think about. I began asking my students which traits their writing tips pertained to- and my class nailed it every time!!
I enjoy your children very much and look forward to seeing them every morning!!
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Happy birthday Matthew!
Happy birthday to our super cool TA Matt!! We love our high school students!
August 24, 2016
Greeting families! We have had an excellent two weeks together and I hope your children feel like they are settling in to 5th grade.
Writing: We have been reviewing and analyzing our 6 traits of writing. I have been very impressed with what they remember from last year. We will start our first holistic piece of writing in a few weeks. There are a few more traits to cover and it is important we lay this foundation first. Ask your children about the Beetles song, "Hey Jude," they should have lots to share!
Projects: Social Studies: We dove right in this first quarter. This week we created our first Google Presentation of the year. It was a short two slides on the 3 Branches of Government and the 2 Houses of Congress. These were not graded. However, each student presented and we focused on the formatting of our slides (background, font, color etc), and the usage of Google as a tool rather than THE product. We also focused on the format we will be using to takes notes for writing, and projects and making sure we understand why this tool for organization is so important to us.
Reading: We have been reading Social Studies content based text for reading, as well as small narrative pieces. Our afternoon schedule is a little wacky, so we are just now into a rhythm and have most of our procedures down. We are also working on our spelling words twice a week during this block as well.
Community Service: Mr. Lenon is our new school counselor as well as our community service teacher. Ask your students about him. He is "really cool" (quote) and we are enjoying him very much.
Thank you for sharing these little people with me (I can usually only say that until Christmas when they are as tall as I am), I am enjoying them!
Writing: We have been reviewing and analyzing our 6 traits of writing. I have been very impressed with what they remember from last year. We will start our first holistic piece of writing in a few weeks. There are a few more traits to cover and it is important we lay this foundation first. Ask your children about the Beetles song, "Hey Jude," they should have lots to share!
Projects: Social Studies: We dove right in this first quarter. This week we created our first Google Presentation of the year. It was a short two slides on the 3 Branches of Government and the 2 Houses of Congress. These were not graded. However, each student presented and we focused on the formatting of our slides (background, font, color etc), and the usage of Google as a tool rather than THE product. We also focused on the format we will be using to takes notes for writing, and projects and making sure we understand why this tool for organization is so important to us.
Reading: We have been reading Social Studies content based text for reading, as well as small narrative pieces. Our afternoon schedule is a little wacky, so we are just now into a rhythm and have most of our procedures down. We are also working on our spelling words twice a week during this block as well.
Community Service: Mr. Lenon is our new school counselor as well as our community service teacher. Ask your students about him. He is "really cool" (quote) and we are enjoying him very much.
Thank you for sharing these little people with me (I can usually only say that until Christmas when they are as tall as I am), I am enjoying them!
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Here are some first week pics!
Wow! I sure do like these kids a lot! We have gotten through so much in a few days and next week will be smooth sailing!
Reminder that back to school night is this Thursday and we hope to see you all here!
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Are they ready??
I am so excited for Monday, are your children ready? Uniforms clean, new lunch box, new backpack, way too much $$ spent on school supplies (we did!), and no more sleeping in. That will be a hard one for our family for sure!
Don't forget that back to school night is very different this year, and will be held on Thursday night instead of before school starts.
All supplies need to be brought in Monday morning. We will sort and label and organize first thing. Pizza cards can be purchased on line this year, so make sure to take care of that as well.
We will be doing an activity called, "Sharing From A Sack" on Tuesday. Your child needs a small paper bag (something we can't see through) and one item placed inside. This item needs to be of some importance to them. Examples are awards, gifts that have special meanings, a picture of someone special in their life, an object that they cherish etc....We will be sharing these with the class as part of our TRIBES activities to help us get to know each other on a deeper level, while fostering appreciation and mutual respect for our differences. It is one of my favorite beginning of the year activities.
I hope you enjoy the weekend, and have a calm and prompt Monday morning! See you all soon, 5th graders rock!
Don't forget that back to school night is very different this year, and will be held on Thursday night instead of before school starts.
All supplies need to be brought in Monday morning. We will sort and label and organize first thing. Pizza cards can be purchased on line this year, so make sure to take care of that as well.
We will be doing an activity called, "Sharing From A Sack" on Tuesday. Your child needs a small paper bag (something we can't see through) and one item placed inside. This item needs to be of some importance to them. Examples are awards, gifts that have special meanings, a picture of someone special in their life, an object that they cherish etc....We will be sharing these with the class as part of our TRIBES activities to help us get to know each other on a deeper level, while fostering appreciation and mutual respect for our differences. It is one of my favorite beginning of the year activities.
I hope you enjoy the weekend, and have a calm and prompt Monday morning! See you all soon, 5th graders rock!
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