For Friday

Hi everyone,
Hope you are finding some time to get out and enjoy this beautiful weather. Here is what we will be doing in class tomorrow:

Fluency - Star Spangled Story (we will complete the back side, talking about descriptive language in writing)

Social Studies - We will finish our culture presentations and recite The Preamble.

Writing - we will finish our study on the types of sentences (declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory) by taking a short quiz to demonstrate understanding. Looking through the Sees Behind Trees story and looking for these types of sentences may be a smart thing to do. Time may be given for free writing and addingknick knacks to our writing journal (this can be stickers, photos, magazine clippings, etc.) We will continue our storying lesson.

Reading - We will do an open book test for Sees Behind Trees. You will be writing an extended response for this story, needing to look back in the story in order to support a single idea. Reading the story again would be a great way to be prepared. Be sure that you are asking yourself questions during reading.

Otter Creek - we will take our two minute test tomorrow. Have you been studying so you get a higher score tomrrow than you did last week?

Math - be sure (5th grade math) that you record the time you started your math homework and the time you finished it. We will use this data to work on landmarks of mean, median, and mode tomorrow.

After all of this, you will surely be ready for a weekend of relaxation!!
:-)

Tuesday

Homework for today:Math: 5th grade - journal page 37 and 38. Study link 2.4 can be done for extra credit. We are working on analyzing what to do with all the information in a story problem. Being able to identify necessary and unnecessary information is a very useful skill. Accelerated Math has a study link for homework.

Spelling - Test over Unit 5 tomorrow and contract due tomorrow.

Science - Atmosphere Quiz tomorrow

Fluency - we are sticking with our fluency from last week, since the kids have the Preamble to memorize and that is fluency practice.

Social Studies - memorize Preamble to the Constitution by Friday.

LMC day is Thursday!

Climbing into the Atmosphere

This week, we continue our study of the atmosphere, learning about the difference between the layers and what can be found in each layer. We have a busy week, so I appreciate the support you can give at home to keep your kids on track.

Today, we had an assembly called the PRO kids assembly, where we talked about how to have good character. Making good choices in school helps everyone have a better experience in school. Sometimes, it can be hard to remember that we are dealing with5th graders, our expectations can be so high. It is important to provide the kids with reminders or a tool (like a checklist) in order to keep on track with what they should be doing. Building good habits now can help your child be more successful on their own accord later. Does your child have a routine of what to do when he or she comes home? How do you check the work that is due? Is there a calendar to write assignments down for both of you to refer to? How often do you check this site for help?

Here are some assignments for this week:
Fluency:
We are continuing to use the fluency passage (Star Spangled Story) from last week.

Social Studies:
Culture activity is due tomorrow (Visual representations must be included!)
Preamble should be memorized by Friday

Science:
Study the layers of the atmosphere (in order), know their qualities and what you could see in each layer

Math:
My class has journal page 31 due tomorrow (math box page)

Spelling:
Test on Wednesday
COntract due Wednesday

BAND TOMORROW MORNING AND SMALL GROUP TOMORROW AND WEDNESDAY
OLSAT TESTING TOMORROW FROM 11:20 - 12:20

Learning about the Ice Age

Dear Students,
I hope you are enjoying learning about history as much as I love teaching it! There is so much to choose from when it comes to history. Every time I open a book on history, I am fascinated with what I find...it is always something new, even thought it is technically OLD!! I love it! I love looking out at you and seeing the excitement in your faces when we are talking about people from 10,000 years ago. Do you remember what we talked about from the timeline today? Try to remember!

Please take a moment to direct your mom or dad to our upcoming events in the margin!

Here is the work you have been assigned:
Math: 5th grade has math boxes due tomorrow and Study Link 2.2. THe family letter for unit 2 came home today too.

Spelling: We took our test today on Unit 4 and got the list for Unit 5. THe pretest will be tomorrow. Also, you should complete the spelling sheet for Unit 4 (given on Tuesday!!). It is due at 9:15 tomorrow morning - so if you left it at school, get right in and finish it!

Social Studies: Lesson 2 pages 61-63. You will need your 12 square notes page completed tomorrow for class!

Also! Culture Activity is due on Monday (either a culture doll, collage, or the typed newspaper article)

Reading: Fluency is due on Friday - SIGNED by a parent! Remember, do not complete the written portion, but prepare to complete it in class. Look for the descriptive phrases and idioms in the passage!

Who are you?

I know, I know! How much do I need to know about you? First there was the "Me Bag" activity (done pretty much by yourself). Then, there was the "All About Me" poster (done at school except for one piece of homework). Both of those activities told us lots about you. NOW...dun, dun, DUN... there is the Culture Activity. TOday, we spent time talking about the Star Spangled Banner as part of our fluency lesson. We talked about how that song, our National Anthem, is part of America's culture - mostly played at sporting events. We talked about how America is unique in that it is a country comprised of a variety of cultures. The Culture Activity is a chance for you to tell your story (HIStory or HERstory). Who are you (as part of a family)? This is an activity where you might need a parent or grandparent to help guide you with the history of your family. The pink sheet that came home today outlined the choices of how you can represent this activity. You will be graded on how well you represent your culture. No matter what the activity, you need to include 3 VISUAL representations of your culture (picture, clipping, photograph, etc.). This year, I am presenting kids with a trio of options. You child has chosen either a culture doll, a collage, or a newspaper article (that will need to be typed). I am hoping this will allow your child to express his or her culture in a comfortable way. This is not meant to take a long time. Your child does need to be able to explain the representation to the class. It is due next Monday, the 27th.

Here is other homework for the week:Spelling test for Unit 4 is Wednesday (contrat too, unless you are off contract)
Math - 5th grade has box pages due (half sheet came home) test was graded, reviewed and passed out today - some kids need this signed! Accel. math has a study guide.

Fluency this week is Star Spangled Story - work with idioms. Bring in some idioms we did not talk about for some reading extra credit points!

BAND AND ORCHESTRA LARGE GROUP START NEXT WEEK IN THE MORNING!

Are you studying the PREAMBLE??

See you tomorrow!!!

Motivating words

Today we watched President Obama's Back to School Speech given yesterday in Philadelphia. It was very motivating and as we watched, we all wrote down some of the snipets of encouragement he was doling out left and right! Tomorrow, we will create a collection of quotes to encourage each other.

Today we had our first fire drill! The kids did a great job staying safe and setting a great example to the younger grades.

Tomorrow is LMC day. DO you have any books that need renewed or turned in? ANy summer books that you still need to return???

Homework is:
Spelling - pretest tomorrow on Unit 4

Reading - test is Friday over Hot and Cold Summer. Our main focus with this story is characterization and vocabulary.

Math - 5th grade math has journal page 23 for homework. We are working on understanding square numbers and exponential notation. We have a test on Unit 1 on Friday. A study guide is coming home today. It is NOT HOMEWORK to be done by tomorrow. It needs to be at school tomorrow so we can work on it in small and large group work. We will do review of Unit 1 in class tomorrow and the only homework tomorrow will be the study guide (to study for the test) signed by a parent. This study guide is counted only toward effort. I will not grade this as it is done with partners and together in the class so it doesn't make sense to count it as a grade. It is a resource for the kids to know what will be on the test. On Friday, the class will be assigned a few math box pages as review and those will be due next week.

That is it!

Tech Day

Today was a computer day for sure! We used laptops to type up a description of our Special Place, then we did some typing practice on Tux Typing. Later in the day, we checked out our Social Studies textbook online (a sheet with passwords came home already - I will print another to send home tomorrow). We have a challenge to find out the meaning of the word "Cheektowaga." Use your online resources. In Math, we played a game on a great website - CLICK HERE! that helped us study square numbers (you can also check out the link in the Link Column called "Penguin Games"). We read our Reading story today, Hot and Cold Summer, after reviewing the vocabulary and setting in mind our strategies to use while reading.

Here is our homework:Spelling test - contract due (unless you are one of the 10 off contract)
Math - 5th grade has our Unit 1 test on Friday and due tomorrow is journal page 21.
Accelerated has math boxes 1.7 and 1.8 due
Reading - Hot and COld Summer character sketches - test for this story will be Friday!

Also, if you do not have your own set of headphones or earbuds, please bring those in as soon as possible!

Need a dollar? Tell me the following "I've got character!!" before 9:15 tomorrow (and mean it!)

Memorizing

Today we learned what a Primary Source is when learning about history. We learned the "We the People of the United States.." is the first part of the Preamble to the Constitution. We will practice the Preamble and will memorize it by studying it in small parts, both at home and in school. The whole Preamble should be memorized by October 1. It is a challenge, for sure.

Other homework:
Spelling (if on contract)activities are due by this Wednesday. Our test for Unit 3 is on Wednesday.

Math - 5th grade - link 1.6 / Accelerated link 1.8 (double sided)

Reading - vocabulary for the Hot and Cold Summer story (pages 20-21)

**You can visit this link to find the vocabulary for the story in THeme 1.

A new fluency passage came home this week - it is to be read aloud to a parent at home and is due back on Friday of this week (do not complete the back). Be prepared to complete the back section in the given amount of time on Friday morning.

TONIGHT IS BAND AND ORCHESTRA SIGN UP TONIGHT AT HILL MIDDLE SCHOOL BETWEEN 4 - 8 P.M.

New Student to 5G

Well, this has been a short, but eventful week! We have a new student in 5G. Her name is Trinitee. We are so happy to have her. We spent some time yesterday getting to know her and introducing ourselves. We used this time to review some classroom and school procedures (good for all after the loooong weekend!).

Today we had our test over Spelling Unit 2. There are 10 people who are off contract - due to their success with the Alternate List. Everyone keep up the great work!

Our homework today:
Social Studies questions over page 6-11 (do one the loose leaf paper)

Math link page (1.5 for 5th and 1.6 for Accelerated)

Spelling Contract - 3 activities due next Wednesday / Test next Wednesday over Unit 3

Please don't forget that if you happen to get a behavior note (gold) or a homework slip (blue) - those need to be signed by a parent and turned in the very next day. Don't forget to turn in the homework you may owe me - you will get a zero if you don't turn it in!

See you tomorrow! Can you believe it is FRIDAY already?!?!?

Homework for the Weekend??

Parents,
Homework on the weekend does not happen very often, but there are times when it does, like this 4 day weekend! Iexpect that this work should not take too much time and I have talked to the class about how to manage their time and not wait until the last minute to get things done. Best to try to get it done as soon as possible, then you don't have it hanging over your head! Here's what was assigned:

All About Me: Your child brought home a piece of paper with 4 notes of what they are responsible for bringing on Wednesday. They need one picture of themselves (no bigger than 4x6) they can write a caption about, either a photo, drawing, or clipping from a newspaper or magazine of someone they consider a hero (theyshould be able to write about who it is and why they are considered a hero). Maybe they can keep one of the pictures they recently used for the Me Bag activity. We are now working on a writing activity about ourselves. The final things are one favorite movie and a favorite book and the author of that book.

Math: 5th grade math has a divisibility chart in their notebooks to finish (7 numbers) and should study for our quiz on Wed. over divisibility rules for the numbers 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, and 10. Yes - QUIZ ON WEDNESDAY!

Spelling - This is where you benefit from checking the blog - usually our contract is due on Wednesdays, as is our test. For this week, due to the holiday, I am accepting contract work up to Thursday and our test for Unit 2 will be on Thursday. Everyone is on contract this week - 3 activities of your choosing!

We have had a amazing first two weeks of fifth grade. We have gotten into our Social Studies curriculum, have been learning how to use specific reading strategies, and are halfway through our first math unit. There have been a few homework slips given and behavior notes sent home for a variety of reasons. I ask you PLEASE check your child's folder NIGHTLY and if your child gets one of these notes, please discuss it with them, sign it and return it the next day. This is one of the ways I am communicating with you on what is going on in school. I give time at the end of each day to write homework down and collect materials. Getting the habits down early will make for a better year for everyone. I appreciate your help at home!

Thank you and have a great weekend!!

Don't Forget about That Awesome Site!

Hi Kids!
Hey, don't be mad for the late post! I had to come home, put away laundry, cook dinner, do homework with the girls, get Kenna ready for Soccer, and much more!!

Our Homework:
Tomorrow we will have our Spelling Pretest over Unit 2. Our test for Unit 2 will be NEXT Thurday (usually Monday, but I don't like to test you when you will have been off for 4 DAYS!!

Math for 5th grade is journal page 10 (some of you finished in class) and for 6th grade is link 1.3 and journal page 9.

Look at the post from Monday or the upcoming events section to the right for the other notes.

Don't forget, if you get bored and want something to do, click on this link to Mrs. Batchu's website. She is AWESOME and AMAZING! You can also connect to the site on the right margin links above Madison and Makenna's picture (Brookdale Teacher - then go all the way down to the Peace Garden picture and look for Games 4 Learning). There are some amazing sites for practicing all sorts of things, especially the geography!! Woo Hoo. I had fun with you today and Ms. Collins is excited to work in our classroom (tell your parents about her!).

See you tomorrow! Don't forget LMC books!