Parent Journals

The fifth graders are keeping parent journals.  They write a letter each Thursday to their parents, and take it home to get a response.  This is something that I hope will be a nice keepsake when the school year is over.  We do not send them home on holiday weekends, so they will not come home this Thursday, but please ask your child to see his or her parent journal.  There are kids who do not get responses who would like them.  There are some students who always get a parent response.  Thank you for that.  This is a great way to see your child's writing and hear about their week.  Thank you for participating!

Native American Project Presentations

We have been hard at work creating some wonderful Native American displays and slide shows to teach our peers about the tribes that lived in Nevada.  Thank you for sending your students with such great supplies.  Each group is responsible for a display of clothing, shelter, tools, and artifacts.  In addition to the display, each group has summarized their information into a slide show.  We will present these slide shows to the class on Thursday, Jan. 31 at 2:00.  This is a change from my earlier post.  Parents, please join us in our classroom to see these presentations.  We would love to have you see what we have been learning and creating!

PE Day

Our next PE day with Mr. Carter is Tuesday January 22.  Because of the Monday holiday, that may sneak up on us.  Don't forget to pack PE clothes and shoes for Tuesday!  Have a nice weekend!

January Projects

For the rest of the month our class is doing a Nevada Native Americans project.  We are learning about prehistoric Native Americans, like the Lovelock Cave people,and the more recent Native American tribes that were present in the 1800's in our state.  Students have been assigned a tribe to research, then they will work together to build a model of the home, clothing, and tools of their tribe so they can teach their peers.  We would like to invite parents to hear our presentations as well.  Presentations are tentatively scheduled for Jan. 28, which I may change if that date is too soon for the class.  It will be at 2:00.  We are all looking forward to what we will learn during this short project.  

Back in the Swing of Things

Welcome back!  Hopefully you've all had a nice break.  We started off the new year in fifth grade with a great Tribes activity called Just One You, where the students shared something they just did over the break, one thing they want to do in 2013, and something that makes them unique.  When you stop by the school, you'll see the student work hanging outside our classroom. We are also working to memorize the 17 Nevada counties and be able to place them on a map.  The students have made flashcards and work with blank county maps to label the counties.  We will start a short project about the Native Americans of Nevada next week.

We will start up our parent journals again this week.  Please ask your child for his or her journal on Thursday.  Your child will write you a letter to tell you about his or her week and ask you a few questions.  Then write your response to your child in the journal.  I hope this journal will be a nice keepsake when the school year is over.  This is a real-life writing experience that I hope will encourage your student to express thoughts and feelings in writing.  Plus, your child gets his or her clip moved up if they get a response, which gives them a chance to earn some extra Bighorn Bucks!

Thank you!

Dear Parents,
I was invited to a great assembly today.  A letter was read to the teachers that brought tears to my eyes.  The teachers recieved gifts that will help in our classrooms.  Then we were treated to a delicious lunch provided by many parents.  I know you all contributed to that gift and I wanted to thank you for your kindness.  It was so thoughtful.  Thank you!

Mrs. Stockard

Christmas Break

Today was a great day.  It was the last day before Christmas break, a day where the kids are full of energy and enthusiasm, probably a little too much sugar, and lots of excitement.  But today was a day that I will treasure.  We had a lot of fun making a craft (I really should try these out before I have 20 kids start doing them!), playing games, exchanging gifts, listening to stories, well part of one anyway, and eating great treats.  The kids were awesome.  They asked to push the tables together before they got their treats so they could all sit together.  They were so kind and polite with their gift exchange and they all helped with the clean-up of all our messy projects.  Our classroom was transformed twice today from an overwhelming mess to sparkling clean within five minutes! I was really proud of them, and I'm not their parent, so I wanted to let you all know what great kids you have.  I hope you have a wonderful Christmas break.  Enjoy your kids and your time off.  See you all in 2013!