Have a GrEaT WeEkEnD!!

Have a safe and fun weekend. If you are Trick-or-Treating, be safe, walk in groups with adult supervision and be sure you are eating candy that has been checked by an adult to be safe to consume.

Only weekend homework is the spelling Unit 11 list. Pretest will be on Monday!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN to those of you who celebrate it!

TODAY

I am hoping that your kids came home today and told you that we are beginning our study of electricity. We watched a great Bill Nye video on atoms, molecules, and elements. Your child brought home a copy of the Periodic Table of Elements, do you remember that thing that brought you many nights of study joy in high school??? Oh, yes, the memories! Anyway, the kids are to pick their top three element choices and tomorrow they will choose one to study in depth. They will be creating a powerpoint and doing a presentation on their element. Also, we are writing a music parody to the song, "I Gotta Feelin'" by The Black Eyed Peas. We are calling it, "I am an Element." Your child will include their own research on their element. mmmm hmmmm.

Here is our other work:
math - 5th grade TEST FRIDAY - tomorrow is review day. a study guide for unit 3 came home, they need to take care of this packet. page 1 and 2 for Unit 3 should be done carefully. 6th grade - link 3.6

spelling and fluency, of course

tomorrow is our reading test for Elena. Our focus will be the narrative elements, including types of conflict in the story (internal and external), protagonists, antagonists, as well as the basic characters, setting, and plot. Don't forget the MORAL!!

Science - see above

Thank you!

Whew!

Well, I just got home from class! I am exhausted! During my break, I took some time to look at all the timed writing essays we did on Monday. I have to say that I am very impressed with the quality of writing and hope you all make it a goal to become the best possible writers this year. That will only happen with practice! We have amazing writers in our room, and some of you don't even know it!

Homework:
spelling, fluency, and science.. OH MY! (see yesterday's post for details)

Math - my class has a 8 section poster that we all worked on today in class - all about polygons - EVERYONE got a full page explanation of what is due. OUR TEST IS FRIDAY!! Review will come home tomorrow.

Reading - Bring one piece of figurative language tomorrow (entrance slip!) Our test is Thursday. Today we studied the figurative language in "Elena" and also talked about the author's purpose (why do they put those little pieces in the story that are not elaborated on - oooh, it is so frustrating!!!!) These make you better thinkers.

Conference slips - let me knwo if you can make our assigned time or call me (428-6133) to reschedule or to schedule a phone conference.

TODAY

Hi everyone.
Sorry I didn't post for a few days.

So, we are into the 2nd quarter of fifth grade. Report Cards will come home on Friday. I look forward to conferences with you next week or the week after. Remember that there is no school on Nov. 10 or 11. If you have not turned in your conference slip, please email or call me.

Here is our homework for today:
Spelling - 3 activities (test Friday - pretest will remain on Monday, no change)
Fluency - read nightly (focus on facts vs. opinions)
Math - 5th grade is to study your SRB page 142-143 about Polygons. Know what the qualities of a polygon are and know the prefixes on p. 142 in the purple box! Also, you need to cut out (carefully) the polygons and bring them to school in the plastic baggy I gave you.
Science - we are starting our study of our new science unit on ELectricity. We are beginning with a study of the atom. Your homework (due Wednesday) is to find out some information on atoms (to share with the class). THis can be something your parents tell you that they know, you might find information on the internet or in reading.

See you tomorrow!!!!!!

FUNNY STUFF

Wow! You kids told some great jokes today. Today was Joke Day, as part of Red Ribbon Week. Everyone was prepared for today with a joke. Remember how we talked about how telling a joke is about knowing your audience, timing, and delivering the punchline so the audience can respond accordingly. Nice work!!

Remember how we learned about the Mexican Revolution yesterday? You were to write a paragraph in your reading notebook about the word revolution: What it means, what we talked about, what you remember. If you did not do this, please write something on a piece of paper to transfer into your reading notebook right when you get to school.

Remember to work on spelling (3) and the toothpick fluency. Fridays are so busy, I think we may start having our spelling tests on Thursdays. We will begin this next week. Let's do something different. Someone remind me to give out the new list (Unit 10) tomorrow.

Today in 5th grade math, we studied SO MUCH about angles. We played around with our compasses and learned how to use them as a tool to draw congruent line segments. You all did a great job - you impress me with your thoughts!

Remember today when C.B. told us about how to use our writing resources in our writing folders to see how a well written conclusion looks in an essay. That was incredible thinking!!!

Tomorrow is character day (wear a shirt with some character on it). This will be hard for me!! Also, bring back those green conference sheets signed by your parent. Tell your parents that they can email me or call me to schedule another time or to do a phone conference.

See you all in the morning!

REVOLUTION

PARENTS,

Do you use this blog site to check the assigned homework for your child? Is your child writing the homework down in their assignment notebooks? They should be! I have things come up (and class on Tuesday nights)so I don't always get to post a blog in a timely manner. This site should not be used as a replacement for good work recording habits for your child. YOUR CHILD SHOULD BE RECORDING THE WORK IN THEIR ASSIGNMENT BOOKS! I am considering NOT posting regular homework assignments on the blog for this very reason. I believe I could be doing a disservice to the students by enabling them to NOT pay attention to the assignments during the day. Even without writing the homework down, most kids should remember what the work for the subjects is each day. These are skills that the kids need to be developing for the future. Please email me and let me know your thoughts about this. I will talk to the kids about it, wait a few days to hear from you all, and make my decision over the weekend. I would still post daily, but NOT include homework, just talk about what we are doing in class.

That said, our work tonight was:
Spelling - 3 act.
Fluency - Read toothpick passage
GAME HOUR tomorrow (school-wide celebration for Thumbs Up Awards)
Reading - in notebook, write what you can about the word REVOLUTION. We studied the Mexican Revolution today in literacy.

INSPIRING POSTERS ARE DUE TOMORROW!

picture day is tomorrow!!

email: christi_grezlik@ipsd.org

Thank you for your input! I value your opinion.

Keeping Healthy

We spoke a lot today about how to stay healthy, not just because it is Red Ribbon Week, but because we had quite a few kids out sick today. Please talk to your kids about how they can stay healthy with proper handwashing, sneezing and coughing practices, getting a good night's sleep, eating healthy foods, and drinking plenty of water. Thank you!

Homework for today:
Spelling - Unit 9 3 activities

Fluency - Toothpick passage

Math - 5th ( study link 3.4)

TOMORROW is RED DAY for Red Ribbon Week!! Don't forget to get your joke ready for Wednesday!

U NEED 2 KNOW!!

This week is Cowlishaw's Red Ribbon Week. This is a PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) sponsored program where we are promoting good, healthy lifestyle choices. It is a great week to talk to your kids about how to stay healthy, including eating well, exercising, and staying away from drugs and other dangerous behaviors (especially with 5th graders). We will do lots of extra exercise this week with some fun music, so be sure to talk to your child about what we are doing to be healthy in class. The PTA is providing the kids with a special treat EVERY DAY. Here are the days:
Monday - Pajama Day (I'm wearing mine - don't make me the only one!!)
Tuesday - RED Day - wear something RED!
Wednesday (is PICTURE DAY, look handsome and pretty) - tell a joke day (this is an assignment, by the way!)
Thursday - character shirt day
Friday - Cowlishaw colors day (wear your blue and green)

On Friday, the PTA is sponsoring our Fall Party from 2:30 - 3:15. On Saturday, the PTA is sponsoring the Annual Halloween Party here at school. I am coming (dressed up!) and I hope you and your family can make it. Are you a PTA member? It is so easy to become a member, please just ask me or visit the school's website link to PTA. Your children all benefit from these great events and programs!

Finally (I think!), Wednesday night is a Family Dinner Night fundraiser at Buffalo Wild Wings (right here on 75th Street) to earn money for the 5th grade class gift. A flyer came home attached to the Tupperware fundraiser envelope. You can use that little slip or just tell your server that you are there to support Cowlishaw and 20% of your bill will go to our efforts to raise money for this gift. I will be there from 4:15 - 5:15. Hope to see you!

Open House Tonight

Are you coming (To Open House)?? I hope so!

Tomorrow:
Spelling Test - Unit 8
Math - Accelerated has a test - 5th grade has mental homework on today's lesson (angles)some kids did not have 3.1 in math - this is due Friday
Fluency - passage from last week.

DON'T FORGET!!

Tomorrow is OPEN HOUSE!! Come and check out our classroom from 6:30 - 8:00p.m. Sign up for conferences. Check out the BOOK FAIR!! Bring the whole family!

Here is our homework for today:
Spelling - 2 activitites
Fluency - passage from last week
Reading test tomorrow
Social Studies - What do you know about where you live??
Math - Extended Response (write about what you did to solve the problem)
Writing - finish up the introduction about Fall (what is in your three body blocks??)

Busy Tuesday!

Hello all! First of all, did your child tell you that today they were introduced to The Stones (The Rolling Stones)? We are using their song, "Jumpin' Jack Flash" as one of our brain breaks! They love it!

This is a busy week and today was a busy day. Here is a list for you to note:

Tomorrow we have late start (school starts at 9:15) and early dismissal (12:00). Don't worry, we will cram lots of learning in those few hours! Also, make plans now to attend our Open House on Thursday from 6:30 - 8:00p.m. I have some fun Smartboard activities for you to do together. You can even do some of our brain breaks!! Sign up for November conferences will take place this evening. Hope you can make it!

Here is our homework:Spelling - list 8 (short week so only 2 activities due Friday)
Fluency - we are continuing to work with the passage from last week. Kids should practice at home and bring in EVERY DAY!!
Culture Dolls are due tomorrow - WOW! You won't believe what some
kids have done!
Math - my class has an Extended Response assignment - it is just like the one we did in class together. The one they have for homework (and had time to begin in class) is easier than the one we did together.
Reading - Our test on the story, "Dear Mrs. Parks" is THURSDAY this week. Please study the story. The test will be a little different, the kids will be asked to answer a variety of questions as if they were Rosa Parks. This is a higher level skill that requires them to apply what they know and have learned about Rosa Parks and her life and mission. Vocabulary will also be assessed.

As always, thank you for your support at home. Please tell your child that the secret word for this post is: Satisfaction (another Stones song!)

A couple days of learning

Hi everyone!
Well, I missed you all. For the last two days, I was at a class with Mrs. Eaton on how to be an even better teacher. We learned some new strategies and activities to use during our Literacy Block. We can't wait to show them to you. THe exciting thing was that some of the things the instructors were sharing with the whole group were things we are already doing with you. I hope you all had a good 2 days without me and I am looking forward to seeing how many letters you earned in GAME DAY. Feel free to email me this weekend to let me know how things went while I was gone and what you have planned for the long weekend (christi_grezlik@ipsd.org).

Here is what you should be working on this weekend:
Spelling list 8 was hopefully handed out yesterday-Pretest will be on Tuesday.
(we have a short week next week so only 2 activities will be due next Friday)
Culture Dolls - these are due on Wednesday so we can put them up for Open House (Thursday - 6:30 - 8:00p.m. BOOK FAIR TOO!)
Do you have any kid friendly magazines at home that we could have? They would be cut up, so don't send any if you want them back!! We will use them to add to another project we are working on. Thank you!

See you Tuesday! Remember - no school Monday for Columbus Day and early dismissal (12:00) on Wednesday for Staff Inservice.

Where's 5G?

Today, we began our geography study. This is something we will be studying and reviewing for the rest of the year. We are starting off with basic information:
What city, state, and country do you live in?
What countries are north and south of the U.S.?
WHat are the 7 continents? The 4 oceans?
What are lines of latitude? longitude?
What is a hemisphere? What is the equator?

We have started reading the beginning geography lesson in the Social Studies book. Students are responsible for the questions above and the information on pages G4 -
G11. in the book. Please help them with this information. We will study it in class, but the book will come home for additional study. I will lookonline for sites that can help with this study aswell.

5th grade had the math test passed out today. Before I handed it out, I had the students write a reflection on how they feel they did and how prepared they were. After looking over the test, they wrote how they felt about their performance. Please go over the test with your child. Thank you for any support you give at home on these skills. Today we talked about problem solving strategies and writing about math. Math boxes were assigned and they are due Friday.

Remember that the following are also assigned:
Spelling - 3 activities due Friday
Fluency - bring signed on Friday (should have been read multiple times - both sides)
Culture Doll (see halfsheet that came home on Tuesday)

Remember - NO SCHOOL on Monday!

Homework

Here is our work from today:

Spelling and Fluency (see post from yesterday)
Math boxes from unit 2 - only do boxes from what we have studied in unit 2
Interested in Student Council? Permission slips due tomorrow
Cultural Dolls due next Wed., Oct. 14 (see half slip in the home folder

TOMORROW is walk to school day!!

Going Back in History

TOday we started talking about our new story, Dear Mrs. Parks, a story about Rosa Parks. We built some background on this woman and her story by watching a re-enactment of an interview with her and looking at some realia from this time in history. We saw a picture of the real bus Rosa Parks rode on and watched a short video from the Discovery Channel about what really happened that day she was arrested. We talked as a class about the laws in our country and why we are asked to follow them. We did a "value line" activity where we demonstrated how we feel about following the laws. It was a great activity and the students were very engaged in the lesson. This could be a great discussion to continue at home.

The 5th grade is taking the OLSAT test today. It is a test that is given in 2nd and 5th grade. It will be taken during our literacy time.

Our homework for this week is:
FLUENCY - STudents are to read this nightly, it will take just a couple minutes to read. Part of the fluency homework is to look at the back at the tips for reading and look at the questions so they know what to do on the day we do the questions. Some kids are obviously reading this one time only and not even looking at the back where the actual lesson is that would help them answer the questions correctly. Yesterday, we completed the page about Bill Cosby. The tip side gave information about how to use specific text features to help understand words. Please look for this to come home, graded, and talk to your child about how to do better on these assignments. Fluency is what we are building, but I want them to be able to answer the questions as well. THank you for your support in this..

Spelling - Unit 7 list3 activities - due Friday - please remind your child to look at the list words every day.

Math - 5th grade will have math boxes assigned today and will have time to work on them in class. These are graded, so please have your child use their SRB to help.

6th grade Math had 2.8 due today.

DOn't forget to look at the events over in the right hand margin! TOday is Homework CLub after school.

Weekend things

We have finished up our studies of Yang the Third and her Impossible Family. The students have been issued a new challenge (optional) for our next story. It should be in their home folder. The questions from it are written below. They must be written, not just told:

Why are laws important? What is the reason for laws?
Is it ever okay to break laws? If so, for what reason? Be specific and detailed.
What should people do if a particular law is unfair?

Due by Tuesday.

Other work includes:
5th grade math - study guide problems (Unit 2)1-12 (use your SRB if you do not understand partial sums) PLEASE TAKE CARE OF THIS STUDY GUIDE PACKET AND DON"T RIP IT APART.

I forgot to hand out the spelling list for Monday. Here are the words:
Unit 7
charged
spied
moving
trying
practicing
injured
carrying
tasted
receiving
becoming
lying
dying
realized
provided
fried
created
tallied
carried
revising
wearing

Finally, we are going to be creating "Culture Dolls" this week. Ask your child what this means. A note will come home on Monday.

Thank you!

TODAY

Homework:
All from yesterday (see yesterday's blog)

DId you bring you artifacts for writing?

Math - 5th grade - create 5 numbers with 10 digits (only repeat digits one time)
continue to practice multiplication (traditional with two digits, add
some decimals, work on estimating) TEST ON TUESDAY NEXT WEEK!
6th - 2.5 link