CIVIL WAR RESEARCH

Use these sites to help you find pertinent information about your group's war:

A complete list of all the battles, organized by state.

A great general site for information.

An animated site.

World Book Online

Don't forget to look at the sites down on the margin under Social Studies sites.

Civil War Days

On Tuesday, we started Civil War Days in our classroom.  As we study the events from the Civil War, our room has literally been divided into two parts.  Two-thirds of the class is representing the Union and one-third is representing the Confederacy. The two groups are facing each other and are competing in different ways, through behaviors, activities, quizzes, etc.  Today, we went back over some of the important events in the war, including some of the major battles.  With every important event, there is a corresponding outcome that led the war closer to its final days.  We talked about Lincoln's address at Gettysburg, which only lasted three minutes and how most of the 15,000 people present didn't even realize that he spoke!  The challenge for the next few days is to memorize the first few lines of the Gettsyburg Address.  I love how some of these kids are up for any challenge I pose!  The extra credit offered is to memorize the first AND second paragraph of the Gettysburg Address.  How exciting it is to speak the actual WORDS that ABRAHAM LINCOLN spoke 150 years ago!  That is the incredible thing about learning from primary sources.  It's like Honest Abe is actually in our classroom sometimes.  Ok, I am stretching it, now.....I'll stop!

Another exciting part of our day (according to my personal observation) is when we headed to the empty music/art room and did some improv with some skeltonic poetry.  This is one type of poem (of many) that we have learned.  Today, we created a few as a whole class by taking turns standing and adding to the existing structure.  It was FUN!   Here's an example:

What a great day
Things went our way
We did play
And I have to say
You didn't stay
Which made me sad
But certainly not mad
Now I'm glad
Just a tad
That you seemed to have had
A nice time
Using rhyme
Down the line
You sure did fine
So now I know
You really can show
How you can grow.

How's that?  

Here is our homework for tomorrow:

Reading - Read the rest of lesson 3 in social studies.  Be prepared for questions about the events which led to the end of the war.  The Battle of Gettysburg was very important.  Can you explain why?   Reading material that has lots of people, places, events and details requires a different pace when reading.  Remember to question as you read and reread to help you identify the main idea and details!

Math - 5G has #2 and 3 on a journal page.  Need to know what the word "trace" means?  Look it up!  What does it mean in the context of this problem?  Also, we will have a quiz tomorrow over some of the work we've done this week  (including from the packet yesterday).  Our Unit 8 test will be next week.  5K and 5R classes both have a sheet of practice work.

Word Work  and test tomorrow.  There has been independent work time every day this week.  Have you used your time efficiently?

Social Studies - Memorize the first few lines of  the Gettysburg Address.  This is due on TUESDAY.  EC = the second paragraph.

Reminder:  Field Day tshirt orders are DUE TOMORROW!  NO EXCEPTIONS!  Progress reports need to be signed and returned tomorrow.  Finally, Sunrise Lakes permission slips and money are due by the 14th.  Please and thank you!

This week....

It is hard to believe we only have a little more than 4 weeks together!  There willl be a lot of material covered in that time!  Some of the things going on this week in class include:

Social Studies:  We will get into our final chapter on the Civil War.  While the book covers a good deal about the events, people, and effects of the war, I will supplement with many resources from the public library, magazines, websites, and video clips.  We will do some fun activities in class to really demonstrate the division of the country back in 1861.  Be sure to ask your child about the day's activities.  We will focus on the lessons for this chapter this week and next week, with our last chapter test late next week.  We will have mini-quizzes over the chapter lessons and some of the study material (all kept in a Civil War folder).

Math:  My math class continues to work on rates, ratios, and proportions.  This week, we will continue incorporating story problems with these concepts into our daily lessons.  It is important to look at a story and figure out how to solve the answer by creating a ratio or proportion and think about the unit rate that can help us solve these problems. 

Science:  Today, we began our unit on magnetism and electricity by talking about matter.  Specifically, that matter is composed of a variety of elements.  We watched several short videos on the scientists who discovered the elements.  Some of our vocabulary for this week in science is: elements, molecules, protons, neutrons, electrons, nucleus, atoms, and matter. 

Language/Writing:  We will continue our study of poetry, with much time devoted to the actual writing of poetry.  Moms should look forward to some lovely prose this weekend!

Reading:  Genre projects are complete!  Each day, a personal reading book should be present in class to read when time allows.  The log should be filled out most days of the week at home.  Some kids need to get a daily signature, some kids should get a signature only some days.  In middle school, there will be reading goals every quarter, so this expectation will be carried over to next year.

Word Work:  The list we are working on this week will be tested on Friday.  We continue to study how words change when suffixes or prefixes are added.  Word work for the week is due Friday.  There will be independent work time given in class.

Please check out the Upcoming Events tab at the top of the home page for....well, upcoming events!!  Here is a picture from our fun trip to Granger last Friday!  The kids had a great time, and I did too!

Only about 20 more school days and they will all be 6th graders!!!

Have a great week!

The social studies test was graded and returned today.  Next Monday, we will get into the "meat and potatoes" of the Civil War.  We are going to focus on what life was really like in our country at this horrible time in our history.  Students will work in small groups to create projects centered around some of the major battles of the war.  We will study some authentic resources to get a real picture of what happened during those 4 (almost 5) long years.

Next week, we will also begin our study of magnetism and electricity.  Yesterday, we had a presentation from a couple of people from Fermilab, who shared some pretty cool demonstrations.  Here are a couple of pictures:

Tomorrow, a permission slip will come home for the trip to Sunrise Lakes on May 30.  This trip splits the six fifth grade classes.  Three classes will go on May 20 and three will go on May 30.  Please take the time to carefully read the slip over the weekend (both sides) and return the slip and money by  May 14. THANKS!

Tomorrow morning, we go to Granger for our middle school trip.  Students should be ON TIME!  Thanks~!

Homework for today:
Spelling - pretest tomorrow (list on Spellingcity.com)
Reading - log your reading (did you do your DR-TA boxes?)
Math - there is no math tomorrow, so all math work is not due until Monday
5G - Journal page 286, 289, and 292 (bring a nutrition label - or a few)
5R and 5K both have a sheet

Check out the updates to the upcoming events page for the schedule of the last 21 days of school.