Bedtime

This afternoon, some of the kids and I had an intetesting discussion about a couple of things: 1) how much sleep they get each night and 2) which scary movie is theIr favorite. As you can imagine, I had to put my two cents in since I was the only adult to provide a responsible comment! Some kids (who shall remain nameless) told of staying up until past midnight on school nights, often watching the television in their room or talking on the phone. Of course, I gave them my best parent lecture about how their brains need that down time to rejuvenate and rebuild some stamina for the next day. This is verified through so many research studies! Kids should get 9-11 hours of sleep each night- in my girls' cases, most nights! I know it can be hard some nights, but it makes such a difference in the school day. This little change, which can be mastered in a short while, can change the level of success your child experiences! Another thing that could help make big changes in your child's progress is checking their diet. What they eat on a routine basis affects the amount of attention they can give to each day's lessons and activities. Sending them to school with some protein in their bellies(a cheese stick, yogurt, peanut or almond butter, a piece of turkey, etc) instead of only simple carbohydrates like sugar cereal or toast will also make a difference! Try these changes and see if you notice a difference in school and home attitude. You will be impressed! I won't even mention what I said during the scary movie discussion....I will let you guess my stance on putting those types of images in a child's brain forever! Ok- down off my soapbox!

Kids-if you read this post and understood the three opinions I was pushing with my commentary, you have an idea of one of our future areas of focus in writing: the Op-Ed (opinion-editorial). Whisper to me tomorrow two of my opinions and you're bank account will grow by two dollars!
:-)

Long lost blogger...

HI everyone! Yes, it is me - back from the great beyond! Let me apologize for not keeping up on the blogging. Between Thanksgiving visitors, sick children, getting ready for Christmas, and all the holiday preparations, I have just been a little overwhelmed lately! We have also been extremely busy in the classroom, just last week finishing up our Explorer projects and presentations. Thank you to all the parents who were able to come in to help, either with research in the LMC or to watch our explorer speeches. The kids did a great job and they came home today with their reports graded and their presentation rubrics.

Today we began our one week folktale unit. Today, we discussed different types of folktales (fairy tales, tall tales, fables, myths, legends, etc.). This week during literacy, we will travel to the different fifth grade classrooms to have each of the fifth grade teachers present 5 G with a different story and activity. Be sure to ask your child what they did during literacy each day! We will wrap up with a special movie next week that will incorporate many folktale characters.

**WARNING - SHOCKING NEWS AHEAD**

There is homework for Winter Break. Now that all the research is done, we are moving on to our Book Review unit. I know this is something that is done in fourth grade, but with the fifth graders, we get more in depth and create a brochure using the Publisher program on the computer. By the time we return from break on Jan. 5, it is expected that each child be able to write about a book that is finished over break or that has VERY recently been read completely start to finish. A book read earlier in the school year or in 3rd or 4th grade is not sufficient. Please see that the Book Review form (it will actually come home THIS Friday)is filled out completely. Also, extra credit in writing will be given for a detailed account of the author of the book to add to the book review brochure. Sometimes, this is my favorite part of a book review anyway!! I love reading about authors!!

Here is our homework for this week:

No Fluency

Spelling - Contract for Unit 15 is due Wednesday - test is Wednesday (We will not get a new list for Unit 16 - I will send that home on Jan. 5)

Spelling Bee - our first bee to determine contestant #1 from 5G is this Friday. Every student is to participate and try their best. Study time is given sporadically in class and these should be studies at home as well.

Math - 5th grade math is moving on to our fraction unit. Today we have journal page 122 to do. We will have math homework everyday this week.

Reading - for our folktale unit, read the first folktale in the story "Folktales from Asia" Be ready for an entrance slip in the morning!

Science - we are studying magnets this week and moving onto electricity when we get back from break.

My enrichment group (guided reading time) will take a mini-test over suffixes we have been studying NEXT MONDAY! We are studying these along with a variety of reading strategies during this time.

Next Tuesday, we will open the Treasure box to shop a bit - so earn that money when you can. We also will have our Winter Party. Lots of fun to look forward to!