Grateful for a great Monday!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have just enjoyed reading all the weekend memories written today about the events over the past few days. I love hearing the kids so excited about the time they got to spend with family and friends, eating good food, watching movies, and just playing! I was also very happy that, even with 5 days off school, the kids were ready and willing to get down to work!

We have a little over three weeks until our next big break. There is so much we will attempt to fit in in that time. Please check the blog regularly to keep up on the activity. Just look below for things to come!

Homework this week:
Fluency - read about racecar driver Tazio and be able to pick out fact vs. fiction (parents - please sign your child's fluency by Friday)
Spelling - new list given today for Thursday's pretest. We are studying suffixes and they are tricky!! Everyone, let's try to take advantage of getting the list so early and everyone make the alternate list!! You can do it!
Science - we continue to study our elements and have a quiz on Thursday. Kids should bring home the yellow sheet and will get a study guide tomorrow.
Social Studies - Final Explorer report will be completed in class tomorrow. We did peer editing in the computer lab today. Wednesday will be dedicated to attempting to write a speech that is no longer than one minute and will effectively "sell" our explorer to our audience next Tuesday. Our speeches/presentations (including a map and picture of our explorer) will take place Tuesday, December 7. We need objective parent helpers to judge and vote on the presentations. Each presentation will be one minute and so we should be about one hour. 10 - 11am next Tuesday. Let me know if you can be here!
Math - 5RK is doing 4.10/5G is doing decimal division with link 4.5 and has a division test on Friday. Practice at home! Study guide will come home tomorrow!

Some other things to look forward to:
Orchestra practice is this Thursday evening at May Watts Elementary School.
Chorus concert is this Thursday (I think)
Orchestra concert is next Monday at Hill!!
Also on Thursday this week - if you did not make it to the parent meeting about our Robert Crown program, there is another opportunity to attend it at Kendall Elementary this week at 7:00p.m. on Thursday. Highly suggest attending if you didn't get to the first one (same presentation).

Progress notes for the second quarter come home this Friday. If your child does not get a note home, you can expect that they are receiving As and Bs in all subject areas. Any student currently getting a C or lower in any subject will receive a progress report.

Thanks so much for your continued support at home.

Thanksgiving Fun!

Click Here for a link to a great site with lots of THanksgiving puzzles and games.

The Atom Family

Today, we continued learning about matter. Specifically, that everything is made of matter and that matter is made of elements. An element is the smallest unit of matter. I have introduced the kids to the Periodic Table of Elements (remember THAT, parents??) Please be sure to check out the right margin - Links for this week's learning for extra learning you can find online! Next week, we will create physical representations of an element. Kids are asked to bring in items that they can use to create these models. If they can bring in 3 different, smaller items in order to represent protons, neutrons, and electons, that would be great (about 10 - 20 of each, if available). Acceptable items include cereals, pasta, candy, mini-marshmallows, or other very small food items. Non-food options include small buttons, beads, sequins, stickers, etc.

Extra Credit: How can you determine the number of neutrons in an atom? (We found out that the number of protons is the same as the atomic number. Also, the number of electrons is the same as the number of protons).

Other work due:
Reading extended response for Elena (3 paragraphs due tomorrow)
Math - Open response (don't know how this happened in one day!)
Explorer research - continue online and book research as needed to answer key questions (Last day for in school research is Friday).
Spelling Pretest - Unit 13 tomorrow
Fluency - due Friday

Also, here is the tentative schedule for the Explorer Project (this is coming home as well):
Friday (November 19) - Last day for in school research
(Nov. 20 - 29) - At home research (as needed)
Monday and Tuesday (Nov. 22 and 23) - begin writing report (at school)
Wednesday - Monday (Nov. 24 - 29) - finish writing report with research (at home)
Tuesday (Nov. 30) - Paper due (must include a picture of the explorer and a map of their exploration. Both can be drawn or printed.
Wednesday (Dec. 1) - Create speeches from papers (and maps).
Monday (Dec. 6) - Present speeches in class (we'll need a parent audience for this - let me know if you are available!)

Parents, I believe enough time is being allowed in school to get 75% or more of the research done. Adequate time is being given in order to work on papers (first drafts) in class next week. If your child is not using his or her time wisely during this research time or writing time, work will be expected to be completely at home over Thanksgiving Break. This is not my goal. Please tell your child what your expectations are. Also, speeches will be started in class but may need to be finished at home. I am really trying to teach the kids to manage their time. This is a process. I appreciate your support.

Thank you.

Math test and pretest

My math class got their tests back today. Please check the blue test refelction sheet with the test, sign it, and return to school by Wednesday. The question most missed was #16 about adjacent angles, so we had another lesson on that today (as well as a quick lesson on complementary and supplementary angles - do you remember???) There will be an entrance slip tomorrow to see what you remember about the three. Hmmmmmm.....

Math work due Tuesday - 5RK and 5G have math boxes

On Thursday, I will provide my math class with the opportunity to test out of parts of our next unit of study: division. Here is what the pretest will include:

divide by one digit divisors
divide by two digit divisors
divide with decimals in the dividend
divide with decimals in the divisor
check division work with multiplying
divide with no remainders (add zeros in dividend) and interpret remainders

This pretest is optional and will be given while the rest of the class will participate in a slate review of unit 3. There will be no instruction or help given - this is a chance for you to show what you know so re-instruction does not take place. Other learning will take place during math on the days you test out of instruction.

Please be prepared tomorrow for our online research. Remember, you can do your own research at home and bring it in - keep track of (cite) all sources.

Spelling test Unit 12 is on Wednesday. COntract due Wednesday as well. Fluency due on Friday.

Today was the last whole class session to finish the first draft of the memoirs. SOme kids saved their work on their zip drive and took it home to keep working. We will revise and edit those this week.

THANKS!

Thanks to our parent helpers!

Today we began researching for our explorer research project! We had a great lesson with Mrs. Cmielecki on using The Big Six (main ideas) when doing research! ALso, Abby's mom and Rafay's mom came in to help us stay focused and find what we need in the LMC. Even Rafay's grandmother came in and got involved with the class! THank you to all three of you! Tomorrow, we will have more help as we head down and continue our reading about our explorers in the LMC. A trip to your closest library to check out materials would be great. Kids are not allowed to check out the materials since all the 5th grade classes are using the explorer books!

Don't forget - Band COncert tonight! Spelling test and contract tomorrow. Math test for my 5th grade math class tomorrow! Oh, the excitement!! NO SCHOOL THURSDAY!!

Be sure to check out the links on the right margin for the EASYBIB SITE! EXTRA CREDIT!!

Exploring the Explorers

I'm excited! This is the week we are beginning our first research project! Today, we continued learning about paraphrasing. It is so important to learn early about taking work that someone else has created and respecting that it belongs to them. The job we have is to take what we learn and turn it into our own ideas and connections.

Tomorrow, the students will get the name of the explorer they will research. Since research should have a purpose and focus on a question, here is what we will focus on during our work:

we need to determine who will win the award for Explorer of the Year

each student will nominate the person who they are assigned to research

work will be done to support the nomination for why the explorer should be chosen

Specific information will need to be found during research. A packet of information will be used to help guide our research. Mrs. Chmielecki will provide us with a clear understanding of what materials are available at school and how to keep track of where we find our information. This is VERY IMPORTANT! Being able to tell where you found your information is REQUIRED!!

Here are some other things to look forward to this week:
Tomorrow is our Social Studies test over Chapter 3. Are you ready to be in the "Hot Seat?"

Wednesday is test day in my math class. Tonight your homework was to complete 1-28 in your study guide. Your study guide should come to school tomorrow and then get signed for Wednesday.

Wednesday is our Spelling test and contract work is due (don't forget the sentences)

No school on Thursday.

Band concert tomorrow!

No School Tomorrow

Hi everyone! As a reminder, there is no school tomorrow. Here is what you could be doing instead (just some funny ideas - completely optional!):

-counting all your Halloween candy and seeing what single digit numbers that amount is evenly divisible by!

-categorizing your candy - explain your categories

-looking at all the ingredients in the candy you got and see if any of them have some prefixes we have been studying

-check out who makes the candy you are eating (it should be on the wrapper). Can you identify which continent this place can be found?

Just some fun! :-)

here is what is due on Wednesday:
Spelling - test and contract
No fluency this week
Math - study guide for Accelerated Math and my class has journal page 71. Show all work and bring the work to class!
Social Studies - review lesson 2 in Chapter 3. You should have completed worksheet 29 questions, created a table on the back of that sheet and listed 8 facts under Mali and Ghana (using page 107 and 108). FInally, add the map to your scrapbook, color and identify the trade routes, and finish adding you your two pages (Lesson 1 and 2 from CH. 3)

Read for pleasure!

Play!
Sleep!:-)