September 28

A lot has happened since my last post!  We met our buddy class, Mrs. Burns 2nd graders.  We are doing a school-wide service learning project this year on the military.  Each time we meet with our buddies, we will be learning about the military and participating in activities that will help those who are serving our country.  We played a few get to know you games with our 2nd grade buddies, and then we watched a short video that talked about the different branches of the military.  We will meet again with our buddies at our early release day.

We completed our Oreo investigation in science!  Students had fun investigating our testable question, and they learned a lot in the process.  We didn't get a definitive answer to our question of which Oreo sinks the fastest, but we talked about the different variables that caused the groups to get different results.  We have now learned all of the different parts of the scientific method, and this is a skill we will be applying all year.  Later this week, we will be completing a study guide together in class to help prepare for the upcoming test on the scientific method.  Look for this to come home this week, and be sure to ask your child when the test will be.  I am still deciding, but it will probably be Tuesday, October 7th, or Wednesday, October 8th.

In math, we have been working on chapter 2.  We started by learning about prime numbers, and then we used what we learned about them to help us with the prime factorization of numbers.  Then, we began learning about exponents last week.  This is all new material for the students, so it might be helpful to check out the online textbook at home.  The end of this chapter covers multiplication, so please review multiplication facts with your child nightly to ensure that they are memorized.

We have been reading a variety of picture books in class to review story elements of fiction.  Students are working to identify the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution of stories.  We read a book called Mr. Peabody's Apples that taught students the important lesson that words are very powerful.  Also, we have started analyzing characters in fiction books.  We will continue this skill this week.  Reading groups are going well, and we are reading books that are on each student's level.

In writing, we have also been discussing story elements.  We talked about how narrative writing needs a story arc, where the action builds up to a climax and then slowly falls to the resolution of the story.  Students shared their drafts with their writing partners to decide if their stories had a story arc.  Below are pictures of students working together with their writing partner(s).

 Some decided their story didn't really have much of a plot, so they began new drafts.  Others are continuing to develop their current drafts.  When conferencing with students, I am always looking to praise something they are doing well with their piece of writing.  Then, I offer a tip to help develop their writing craft.  I try to give advice that will carry over to different pieces of writing, as well as to their current piece.

It is still a few weeks away, but just a reminder that the quarter will end Friday, October 17th.  There will be a half day of school for students on that day.

September 14, 2014

Things have been going very well in 5th grade!  I am really enjoying everyone, and we are doing a lot of learning!

We are having fun in math workshop.  Math typically begins with a short mini lesson where the skill is introduced, and students get to practice the skill with my support.  Then, we break into our small groups, which are formed based on their understanding of the skill.  All groups get more individualized practiced with me, and they engage in hands on or technology based activities with their group when not meeting with me.  Also, students are provided with problem solving and real world math problems to work on during math workshop.  We are almost finished with chapter one, and the students have done very well with it.  Study guides went home last week, and we will be having our test on Tuesday.  If you study with your child and sign their study guide, they will receive a small amount of extra credit on their test.

Here is one of the activities that students did where they shaded in their initials in a grid.  Then, they practiced writing decimals and word form of fractions based on the number of squares they colored in of each color.

One of the activities students worked on in math this week was creating the perfect schedule for their school day.  They had certain requirements to meet, and they came up with some very creative ideas!

Our class of writers is continuing to work on personal narratives.  Some students are struggling with ideas for small moments in their life.  Ask your child what some of their ideas are, and maybe you can help them brainstorm a few other specific moments in their life that they could write about.  Last week, we examined many examples of small moments.  Students also made goals to focus on in their personal narratives.  They will be working on these goals this coming week.

In reading groups, we have been focusing on quality answers when responding to text.  Quality answers include using PQPA (part of the question in part of the answer) to restate the question, as well as using text evidence to support answers.  Using evidence from the text is extremely important this year.  We are learning how to quote the evidence that we find in the story.  Complete sentences, capitalization, and punctuation are also a big part of quality answers.

We have been learning to write a testable question and a hypothesis in science.  We also learned about the three variables in an investigation.  Our first investigation will be this week, where we will test our question: Which Oreo sinks the fastest?  Results will follow soon!

August 24, 2014

We are back in the swing of things already!  We had a great first full week of school.  It has been fun getting to know one another.  We have a wonderful atmosphere in the room, and the kids are getting along well.  Below are some pictures of a fun group activity we did where students had to work together to build a tower out of spaghetti noodles and marshmallows.  I was very impressed with what they came up with!

   

In reading, we have been discussing how to choose a book that is not too easy or too hard.  Choosing books on our level helps us improve our reading!  We also reviewed book genres, and we did a project where students cut out books from the Scholastic book orders and decided which genre they fit into. Reading groups are starting this upcoming week, and we will be setting our routines for reading workshop.

                                
         

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
We started off writing name acrostic poems as a get to know you activity in writing.  We also worked on decorating our writer's notebook which we will be using daily in writer's workshop. We will start learning about personal narratives next week.

Math workshop will also be starting next week, so we have been doing some practice centers on multiplication facts.  Students are learning about the types of activities they will be doing during math workshop.  Our first chapter that we are starting covers place value.

Students learned that anyone can be a scientist this week in science.  We talked about how we are being scientists when we observe things in the world around us, as well as when we use a process to solve a problem.  We also began learning about the tools scientists use, and we will have a quiz next week over the tools.  Look for science notebooks to come home next week so students can study their notes for the quiz.  I The quiz will be on Friday.  I will have the students write this in their assignments books on Monday.  Earlier in the week we practiced being scientists by doing a fun problem solving activity.  Ask your child how they saved Fred in science class.

March Update

A lot has been going on lately!  Before Spring Break, Long celebrated Read Across America week.  We all decorated our doors with favorite books, and our class made a Readbox with books, similar to Redbox with DVDs.

Students had the opportunity to see the Lincoln Pierce, author of the popular Big Nate series, in an assembly before Spring Break.  He showed them how he comes up with his ideas as well as how he draws his cartoons for his books.  He was very interesting!

This week another author/illustrator will be visiting Long.  On Thursday, students will meet Debra Frasier, who has written and illustrated several books for children.  Meeting different authors will hopefully encourage our little writers to keep working hard!

The MAP test, which is Missouri's standardized test that we take, will begin the week of April 21st.  Since 5th grade is tested in Communication Arts, Math, and Science, our testing goes through the week of May 5th.  During these three weeks, students will not be assigned homework.  We highly encourage them to continue their nightly reading, but it will not be officially assigned.  The goal is for students to relax and get a good night's sleep each night so they come in refreshed and ready for the test.  Please make sure they eat a nutritious breakfast each day that we are testing so they do not get hungry in the middle of the test.  

If your child is trying to earn the award for service hours, the minimum of 50 hours is due on April 11th.  Let me know if you need any additional service logs.

Please ask your child if they need more dry erase markers.  At this point in the year, many students are out of markers, so if needed please get them a few more to last until the end of the year.  Thanks!

Currently in math, we are learning about measurement.  An emphasis is place on measurement conversions for customary length, capacity, and weight, as well as metric length, capacity, and mass.  We have learned several tricks in class to help keep all of the different measurements straight.  

Memoirs are being wrapped up as we begin poetry in writing.  Students enjoyed writing acrostic poems about themselves, as well as about other topics.  At the end of the poetry unit, the students will make a book to hold all of their poems.

Our reading groups finished the books we were reading before Spring Break, and we are starting to do some test preparation for the MAP test.  

In science, we have been learning about the solar system.  The test over the unit is coming up on Wednesday, and students took home their study guide on Friday.  Please make sure they study at home before the test.  Next up, we will be focusing on simple machines and forces.

The students are always making neat things in art, and here is a sample of what they were working on recently.  They all turned out really well!

January Update

What a month!  I'm sure that with five snow days since the beginning of January, we have set some records!  Even with all the crazy weather, we still have been busy since coming back from Christmas break.

We took two field trips this month.  First, we visited Sheldon Concert Hall and saw an amazing jazz performance.  Most of the kids were tapping their feet along with the music!  Last week, we went to Busch Stadium to participate in the CAP program.  This program provides students with opportunities to apply what they learn in the classroom to real life situations.  I think we all had fun, especially since we got to explore different parts of Busch Stadium.  They were going to take us out to the dugout, but unfortunately there was too much ice and snow.

Another exciting part of 5th grade is DARE!  Officer Ed is scheduled to start his DARE lessons this week.

In writing, we are finishing up our second set of informational writing.  Students worked hard adding text features and thought provoking introductions and conclusions to their writing.  Most are publishing their writing now, while a few students are finishing up their drafts.  Our next writing unit will involve writing memoirs.

In reading, we have been studying cause and effect relationships in fiction and non-fiction.  Next we will be reviewing different key story elements, such as: character, setting, problem, and solution.

In math, we have been learning geometry.  There is a lot of vocabulary in geometry, but the students seem to like that there isn't much calculating so far.  We are covering topics such as: lines, angles, symmetry, polygons, congruency, triangles, quadrilaterals, and more.

PRISM projects seem to be coming along well!  Please make sure to check your child's PRISM book to see that they are meeting each due date.  The next due date is Friday, January 31st.  The students need to have completed multiple trials of their experiment.  In their book, they should make a chart and a graph to show their results.  Hopefully PRISM boxes will start coming home this week.  If you have any questions about the project, please let me know.

In science class, we have been studying the classification of living things.  We focused on vertebrates and invertebrates last week, and we even made a model backbone with pasta, gummy candy, and pipe cleaners!

I am keeping my fingers crossed that February will bring us warmer weather!  I know the kids are ready for some outdoor recess!

December Update

I hope you all are enjoying the winter weather!  It sounded like the kids had a lot of fun on their first snow day.  Just a couple of reminders about upcoming events.  We will be having an early release this Wednesday, so please make sure your child knows his or her going home plans.  Also, later this week students will receive a copy of the spelling bee newspaper.  It has a variety of spelling activities as well as a list of words that can be used to practice for the spelling bee.  We will have our class spelling bee next week to determine who our classroom winners will be.  These class winners will participate in Long's spelling bee on Friday, January 17th.

 Most of the students did well with multiplication, but a few students really need to practice their facts.  Please work with your child at home to make sure they know their facts.  As a fun culmination of the unit on multiplication, students worked in groups to create a multiplication board game.  There were many creative ideas, and the games turned out great.  They enjoyed getting to play games created by their classmates!

Currently we are studying division, and we will have a test over this skill before Christmas break. Look for a study guide to come home later this week or early next week.

In reading, we are using context clues to figure out the meaning of unknown words when we read. Also, we started new reading groups last week so your child has a new reading group book.  Reading groups are a great way for the students to apply the strategies and skills we are learning in reading.

The students are doing a great job in writing!  We had our celebration early in November when we read aloud our personal narratives.

Now we are using what we have learned about informational writing and applying it to Native Americans, a topic we have learned about in social studies.  The students are discovering many interesting things about Native Americans and how they lived.  Later this week they will take what they have learned when researching Native Americans and write a rough draft of their information.

Too bad we just finished learning about weather before the big snow storm hit!  Hopefully the students had a better understanding of what caused it, though.  Before Christmas break, we will be learning about matter and light in science.  Currently, we are studying the states of matter and conservation of matter.

5th Grade Happenings

A lot of things have been happening in 5^th grade!  Edward Jones and the St. Louis Rams teamed up to do a program with our students on Tuesday.  Students made cards to send to the soldiers overseas to help cheer them up over the holidays.  Also, we got to meet Emory Blake, a player from the Rams.  He signed autographs  and posed for pictures with the kids.  Another fun event from Tuesday was meeting the Rams mascot, Rampage.  He really got the kids excited! 

Last Thursday we had a great Halloween party.  The kids loved dressing up in their costumes and participating in the fun games during the party.  Thank you to all of the parents who helped plan our party!

In math, we completed our chapter on graphing and data.  We are now beginning multiplication, so PLEASE make sure to practice math facts with your child.  If you go to multiplication.com there are pretests the students can take.  This can give you an idea of what facts they haven’t mastered yet.  By 5^th grade, we expect students to know their facts from 1-12.  They should be able to quickly say the answers to these facts. 

In reading, we are studying author’s purpose.  Students are determining why authors write different texts, and they also are applying this when inferencing about author’s opinions.   Most reading groups just finished their books, so we will starting new books next week. 

Students are making lots of growth in writing!  We are finished with personal narrative, and we are moving onto a new genre: informational writing.  Next week we will begin learning to paraphrase and take notes when researching.  

In science, we are continuing to study the water cycle.  Ask your child how we made it  rain in the classroom!