One More Wake Up...

The excitement is just about to over take us...so many travel plans!!!

LA: Today was our long morning to get a lot done...and that we did! We took some time to work on themes in stories, specifically ours this week. It was fun to explore the story's theme, "It's okay to be yourself, even if you're different." What a great life lesson for all of us. We also worked on sorting our spelling words by syllable, reading in our leveled readers, working on our Easter Egg Hunt writing and visiting with our reading buddies. We were busy!

HW: Weekly homework is due first thing tomorrow. Also-the bibliography paper with the first two works cited needs to be turned in along with the green paper and a parent signature.

Math: More work with area and circumference of circles today, along with practice on cylinders.

HW: None

Social Studies: More reading about slavery today. I so appreciate the students' interest in this very delicate subject. I'm guessing there are questions coming home with everything we are learning about. It is interesting to see how angry they all get when we talk about slavery and how humans were dealt with back in the original colonies.

HW: None

Spring Break is upon us--whether you're traveling or staying in town...I hope everyone has a FANTASTIC break, gets lots of rest and comes back ready for the home stretch. We have so many exciting things planned for the remainder of our year, I know our days together are going to FLY by!

Testing begins almost immediately when we return...please carefully read the following testing schedule to make sure that your child is best prepared for all testing sessions.

MAP Spring Testing

Wednesday, April 14 - Reading MAP 9:15-10:25 Suddarth

Thursday, April 15 - Reading MAP 8:05-9:10 Woods

Friday, April 16 - Reading MAP 9:15-10:25 Grannan

Tuesday, April 20 - Math MAP 8:05-9:05 Woods

Wednesday, April 21 - Math MAP 8:05-9:10 Grannan

Friday, April 23 - Math MAP 8:05-9:10 Suddarth

Tuesday, April 13 - Reading MAP 9:15-10:25 Doms

Thursday, April 22 - Math MAP, 8:05-9:10 Doms

Fifth Grade ISTEP

Tuesday, April 27

8:15-9:00 Session 1 Math

11:05-11:50 Session 2 Math

Wednesday, April 28

8:05-9:00 Session 3 E/LA

11:00-11:50 Session 4 E/LA

Thursday, April 29

8:05-8:50 Session 5 Social Studies

11:05-11:45 Session 6 Social Studies

At This Time Next Week...

The Spring Break Buzz has begun...please help us remind the kids that we still have three very important days before break!

LA: We started a new story today, Weslandia, which will help us learn about the following vocabulary words: shortage, bedlam, outcast, reflected, strategy, civilization, traditional and complex. We are also learning about articles (a, an and the) in grammar. Our spelling words proved tricky today because they are all homophones. In our skills this week, we will be learning about text features and themes in stories. We also completed more research for our state float projects in computer lab today.

Please note: We had a discussion today regarding some of the students' scores on their weekly homework packets. From now on, if a student does not receive at least a 4/5 (80%) on the comprehension section of the packet, or a M on the summary section, these parts will need to be redone and turned back in the following day.

HW: Weekly homework packet (without the summary) is due Thursday. The first two research sources are also due on Thursday showing that progress has been made in the research for your state float project.

Math: We learned about volume of cylinders today, which gave us a great chance to review how to find the area of a circle.

HW: Complete page 387, Math box 11.3 and Study link 11.3 for homework tonight.

Social Studies: Today was the chapter 7 assessment.

HW: None

Being Unique is the Only Way To Be!

We're learning a lot about celebrating our uniqueness on the morning news...it's fun to remember why everyone is so different and how that makes everyone so special!

LA: We had a busy morning today! We reviewed the grammar skill this week, and added demonstrative adjectives into our mix. We also spent some time working with the soft /g/ sound that can be found in our spelling words this week. We finished our day working one last time on our published books, which are due tomorrow.

HW: Weekly homework due Friday. All completed published books are due tomorrow.

Math: Many of us finished up our standard assessments today, while others of us reviewed some skills from units 3 and 4.

HW: Review pages from previous units are due tomorrow. There are two of them (and they both have problems on the back!!!)

Social Studies: We are eagerly anticipating our colony presentations tomorrow. I can't wait! Students have been working very hard trying to come up with a plan to draw new colonists to their territories. Tomorrow the vote will take place!

HW: None

Things to look for:

• The long awaited 5th grade camp packet came home today. Make sure you share this yellow packet with everyone at home! There is a lot of important information inside!

It's Been A While...

It's been a while! I apologize for the distance between my blogs...I just don't know where time goes!

LA: Today started a new unit, with our story, Spirit of Endurance. This week, our vocabulary words are: frigid, treacherous, triumph, uninhabited, expedition, labor, dismantled and abandon. We are also reviewing adjectives and linking verbs. We're going to be working on problem and solution with this week's story. We took the Unit 3 test today as well. Today was our first time in the computer lab to start our state research as well. Although many of found great pictures of things in our states, we had to keep reminding ourselves that black and white pictures may make for a boring float.

HW: Weekly homework is due on Friday. Completed published books are due on Wednesday of this week.

Math: We spent some time reviewing previous 5th grade skills today by completing some end of the grading period assessments. (In a perfect world, we would have gotten to this last week, but there's just not enough time in our day!)

HW: None

Social Studies: It's been very exciting to see our groups coming together to work on their bill boards in anticipation of their presentations on Wednesday. I can't wait to see who convinces more settlers to come to their colony...

HW: Presentations will be given on Wednesday. Be prepared to do your part!

Tuesday!

Don't forget the book fair is taking place in the Library all week! Feel free to visit after school until 5:00 or during the Galaxy Gallery on Thursday night!

LA: Today was a great morning! We worked more with our vocabulary words, practiced one of our grammar skills for the week, homophones (its, it's, you're, your and their, they're.) We also worked on our published book illustrations.

HW: Weekly homework packet is due Friday. Don't forget to bring back the published book forms. Each child will receive their rough draft back, bound with a hard cover. You need to send in the form and money if you would like additional copies. We will be visiting the book fair as a class tomorrow during our special IMC time.

Math: We did some explorations today involving circle diameters and circumferences. It was fun to explore the relationship between the two.

HW: Math box and study link 10.8 is due tomorrow. POW is due Friday. The unit 10 test will be given on Friday.

Social Studies: Today was the last day for Ms. Grannan's class for this rotation. We took the states and capitals test today.

HW: None

Don't forget

• Art Smart is a messy one tomorrow. Come prepared!
• Bring at least a dollar donation and wear a hat. All money will go towards purchasing Malaria nets for underprivileged countries.
• Don't forget to wear your green!
• Culver's Give Back night is tomorrow night...plan a night out with your family!
  

Things to watch for:

• Original Arts magnets were sent home today--make plans to pay for the magnet or return it by Monday.
  

Another Week Starts...

Just when we thought Spring was here to stay...we're back to cool temperatures and a dreary sky!

We had a great visit with Mrs. Harper, Mr. Coffman and some former Northpoint students this morning. They were full of information for us about the upcoming school year and our transition to Discovery. There is an important yellow packet that is full of important dates and information that should be shared tonight at home. Please make special note of the date in which parents and students are invited to Discovery in the evening for an orientation...you won't want to miss it.


LA: Today starts a new story, Catch of the Day which is a play about a trickster! We listened to teh story on CD this morning and previewed the vocabulary words. We also took our spelling pre-test and worked on some spelling skills. In computer lab, we spent time on Study Island reviewing some important language arts skills that we've previously learned.

HW: Weekly homework is due on Friday. Published book forms are due on Thursday of this week. We have a special IMC this week, we will be attending the book fair on Wednesday...you may purchase items at that time.

Math: We spent time today working with partners and exploring how to best read graphs and match data with set graphs.

HW: Finish pages 367-368 if you didn't finish in class, math box 10.7 and WAM #9 are due tomorrow. POW is due Friday. Don't' forget: the first problem needs to be worked out on the problem solving page.

Social Studies: More review of the three branches of government and then some review of the 50 states and capitals.

HW: States and Capitals test tomorrow

Don't forget:

• Wednesday is Hat Day...consider bringing at least $1.00 to be donated towards purchasing Malaria nets for under privileged countries and wearing a hat.
• Art Smart on Wednesday brings out Tempera Paint! Please come prepared to get messy!
  
• Thursday is Galaxy Gallery. Bring your family to enjoy the marvelous art work that has been carefully hung around our school building. The book fair will be open as well.
  

Tomorrow's Friday!

Another week is almost gone...our days just keep flying by.

LA: We squeezed in a lot of work in a little amount of time today. We worked on transition words making precise descriptions, imagery, onomatopoeia and personification in poetry again. We also took the opportunity to write our own poems about hurricanes using one of the literary devices mentioned.

HW: Reading projects are due first thing tomorrow morning, along with weekly homework.

Math: More rates, graphs and tables today. We've been having a lot of fun learning about algebraic expressions and solving them to find out information to help us fill out tables and compete graphs.

HW: Math box and study link 10.6 are due tomorrow.

Social Studies: Tests were handed back today. Please remember to get a parent signature if you received an "N." We spent quite a bit of time today learning about the three branches of government. We also reviewed the 50 states and passed out a study guide for the states and capitals quiz that will be given on Tuesday.

HW: States and Capitals quiz on Tuesday.

Terrific Tuesday!

What a great day! Is it too soon to think Spring is here to stay?

LA: We listened to our story, Hurricanes, today while following along with our eyes. We also spent some time reviewing our vocabulary words, which are: damages, property, surge, available, contact, atmosphere, destruction and hurricanes. In addition to this, we also squeezed in some time for published books and working on transitions in our writing, and adding many details to describe what we are talking about.

HW: Weekly homework is due Friday. If practice page was not completed in class, this is also due tomorrow.

Math: We took what we learned about algebraic expressions with our guest teacher yesterday and applied it to rates, tables, and graphs in today's lesson.

HW: Finish journal pages 356-357, journal page 352, 358 and math box and study link 10.4 are due tomorrow.

Social Studies: Today was the unit 6 assessment. After students finished the test, they began to work on identifying all 50 states on a map that was handed out. There will be a state and capital test next Tuesday

HW: Study states and capitals, completed maps are due on Thursday.

3/4 of the Way Done!!!!!!

Three tests down...one more to go! I'm so proud of the effort shown by all students in this round.

LA: We had our third round of ISTEP+ first thing, met with our reading buddies, worked on alphabetizing our spelling words and continued our work on published books. If you are planning on sending in photos to be used in the published books, we need those now! We have many people who are at that stage, but have not brought them yet, so it is wasted time for them.

HW: None

Math: We introduced pan balance problems today. It was a lot of fun experimenting different ways to solve these problems.

HW: None

Social Studies: We enjoyed watching the act-it-out presentations today. We also started to fill in our study guides today for the test which will be given next week.

HW: None

One more day!

In Like A Lion or a Lamb?

Welcome March! 19 days until Spring! Hooray!

We are really gearing up for ISTEP+ which will be given on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week! Please remember that everyone needs to go to bed early, eat a protein filled breakfast, and come to school with a healthy snack and gum! This week we are working on our applied skills section of the test...so get those pencils ready!

LA: This week, our story is called, Getting Out The Vote. It was fun reading about how important voting is and the privilege that it is for all of us. With our story this week, we are learning about pronoun-verb agreement, making generalizations, answering questions using charts and abbreviations. There is no weekly homework this week due to ISTEP+! A special thanks to everyone who went above and beyond in the reading challenge during the month of February. It looks like when the final count comes in, our LA class will have earned the silver medal! Pretty impressive. If you forgot your calendar today, please remember to bring it in for me tomorrow.

HW: None

Math: Today was our last review day before ISTEP+ testing takes place. We reviewed adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimals.

HW: None

Social Studies: We spent a chunk of time reviewing what we know about the three settlements in this chapter. We also broke into groups and started to prepare our "act-it-outs" that will be performed on Wednesday. (No content tomorrow due to ISTEP+)

HW: Be ready for your act-it-out on Wednesday. You can work on this during home room and before school time.

Tomorrow we will be testing from 11:00-11:45 and then again from 1:00-2:05. If you know you are going to be gone during this time, we need to know right away!