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!

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!