My own math class...

Today I was out at a district meeting regarding the new math curriculum.  I learned how to plan the units more efficiently and use more effective engagment strategies.  I can't wait to come back and try some stuff out!

While I was gone, Mrs. Winchester was busy with you.  You did some reading work studying a few authors.  I hope you enjoyed this activity.  I LOVE reading about authors' lives: where they live, what they've written, what awards they've won.  It is so interesting and adds a great dimension to understanding where stories come from. I can't wait to hear what you learned.

In writing, we continue to think about what makes a good story from our lives by today listening about more "Tomie" stories.  Did you like the one about the hurricane and the new house?  I made a connection to Savvy when I read it from the 26 Fairmont Avenue book.  Did you?

In math (my accel. class), you graded your step graph work and studied circle graphs.  You have a 3 page handout/review of the class work that has places to answer questions throughout the reading and then activities to complete on the back page.  You will keep this to study the parts that make a circle graph.  Highlight the vocabulary you think is important!

In case you haven't been on Edmodo this week, I posted two assignments there today that are due by Friday (you will have some time to work on them in class, so they should not be homework unless you choose to do them at home).

See you tomorrow!

Lots of new stuff....

It was great to see everyone who could make it last night. I enjoyed sharing what we do each day and some of what your child can look forward to this year. If you were not able to make it to Curriculum Night, I sent home with your child the materials that were passed out as well as a copy of the powerpoint presentation I used. I promised a volunteer form would come home today for those who wish to volunteer in our classroom, which I copied on a nice pink piece of paper - and I sit here staring at it as I write this. Therefore, I have attached that form for you to print out now to send in, if you'd like. I will send it home tomorrow - but at least you have the info today!! Also, see the attached documents regarding band and orchestra schedules as needed.

Please find under IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS:

Band schedule

Orchestra schedule

Volunteer form

I decided to not use the white folders on Mondays to send graded work home, preferring to send graded work home as it is ready - making it VERY IMPORTANT for the "Take Home" section of the Pendafile to be checked NIGHTLY! There are important things in there daily and I appreciate the effort it takes to check it and clean it out.  This will be checked tomorrow or Thursday for ORGANIZATION!

We will not have a Harcourt story this week, instead focusing on specific skills and writing about our reading, using your child's personal reading choice. There is a reading response (pink full sheet) due on Friday and a white half sheet that is due tomorrow. Your child will move to logging PAGES instead of MINUTES next week, after our conference this week. Please be sure the reading log is IN THE PENDAFILE each day, since it is necessary for my conference with your child. 

The word sort words assigned today will not be tested on until NEXT FRIDAY (same with the assignments - sentences and word work due next week). We will work on a variety of sorts in class this week using both sets of words (Spelling City is loaded and ready for practice).

We have our digestion TEST tomorrow so please make sure your child spends some time studying this evening.

 

MATH:
5G - journal page 25 and 26 (test next Tuesday)

5R - multiplying decimals page - show ALL work (test this week)

5K - place value sheet

just a quick note

Since we have Curriculum Night at 6:30, this will be brief.  Hope to see everyone (parents) later!


Homework tonight is on the lighter side.

Math:
5G - journal page 22 and 23 (class time was given)  TEST will be NEXT TUESDAY (spend time looking at notes and your sheets in the pendafile)
5R - TEST THIS WEEK and a practice multiplication sheet is due tomorrow
5K - 2.4

Reading
read and log 20 minutes (at least!  since you have little homework, spend a bit more time with your book)

Science
use your study guide and flashcards to help you prepare for the TEST on Wednesday

Quick Post....

Hi there!
Busy afternoon with soccer and Curriculum Night at Hill, so this will be quick, quick, quick!

Tomorrow we have a test on "Yang the Third" and our word sort assessment.  Also due:
*  COMIC STRIP ON THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM (see previous posts)
*  WORD WORK (at least one written assignment)
*   MATH HOMEWORK (my accel. class has SL 1.7)

The assignment book and reading log will also be checked to see if you have kept up on those this week.

If you would still like to contribute to our classroom raffle basket for next weekend's
 PTA FUN FAIR (with the theme of "Be Active!") YOU CAN!  Just send it any item by next week and the money raised will go back to the PTA for the wonderul things it does for ALL THE STUDENTS AT NYE!!  By the way, are you a PTAmember?  We all get so much "bang" for your bucks!    Please consider joining and supporting the PTA and the exciting opportunities our kids have because of it!  Thanks!!

Picture Day!

No - not THAT picture day!  Today was picture day in 5G.  I spent the day taking pictures of the kids all day so, at Curriculum Night, you can see what a typical day is like in our classroom.  Of course, I forgot a few important shots, so I will be snapping them tomorrow in different clothes!  I did think of asking the kids to wear the same shirts tomorrow, but thought it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.  I am excited to share this special presentation with the kids on Monday during the day and with you at night.  If you haven't already, make plans now to attend.  That is Monday night starting at 6:30 (see the Upcoming Events tab).

Today, the kids had a good amount of time to work on the comic strip about a piece of food traveling down the digestive sytem.  We did an activity on the Smartboard, which introduced us to a few more parts to the system (like the pyloric sphincter, the pharynx, and the duodenum).  We have talked a great deal about how to manage time with projects like this, so that rushing at the last minute is not necessary.  These comic strips are due Friday (color is optional).  While the kids got a rubric to follow, here are a few guidelines to remember:

• use the sheet from the Pendafile to help you remember all the parts to include
• each box needs a picture
• each box need words (either a caption and/or speech bubbles)
• each part of the digestive system should BE EXPLAINED in some way

HOMEWORK
see previous days and....
Reading -
Read "Yang.." again.  SELF QUESTION.  Think about what questions you would ask if you were writing the test we take on Friday!  Use post-its to help you study the story (this is optional).

Also - some kids did not finish with the time given (with partners) to answer questions 1-3 on the question slip.  TTQA!

Math:
All classes have a page of homework.  My accel. math class studied the Mean Absolute Deviation today and I will try to upload a link to the "Math Class" tab so they can run through the power point if needed.  Notebooks should have come home with excellent notes to follow!

SCIENCE
QUIZ TOMORROW - AND SPELLING COUNTS!  (just the main parts on the flashcards, not all the extra bits).

Subjects and Predicates

For grammar this week, we are studying subjects and predicates.  We can identify the subject of a sentence by asking "What or whom is this sentence about?"  We can identify the predicate by asking  "What is the subject doing?"  The complete subject tells all the description about the subject.  The complete predicate tells everything about what the subject is doing.  For example:

The silly student with the long ponytails / bounced into class with a squeal.

The complete subject would be "The silly student with the long ponytails" and the complete predicate would be "bounced into class with a squeal."  The simple subject would condense (make smaller) the complete subject to just one word, "student."  The simple predicate would condense to only the verb (the action word), "bounced."

Try opening up your PRB or your reading book and identifying the subject and predicate of any sentence.  Some are more difficult than others.

Homework:
See yesterday for the weekly homework. 

Reading - Read the rest of "Yang the Third and Her Impossible Family"
Our focus this week is to question as we read.  This helps us to determine what is really going on in the story (and if our mind is focused or are we thinking about that last round of Angry Birds?).

Math:
5G -Accelerated Math has a two sided worksheet to practice previous skills on reading and using graphing vocabulary.

Today we deepened our study of choosing the best measure of center (the mean, median, and mode) and the best measure of variability (range, interquartile range, lower quartile (the median), upper quartile (the median), and the median.  We also worked on looking at misleading statistics, when just looking at one of these pieces of variability can lead us to the wrong idea.

5R has a worksheet and 5K has no homework.