Week of December 12th-16th

LOG CABINS were brought in on Monday. The pictures are below-take a look! I really enjoy the creativity that students are able to use with this project. The variety is what makes it interesting and fun! Students in other grades enjoy viewing them.

SPELLING BEE: We have our top 12 spellers! They will compete in the Scripps Spelling Bee on January 17^th in the gym. The top two spellers will advance to the regional competition representing our school. I was very pleased that most students chose to give this a try! Congratulations to our 12 competitors.

Allyssa Vandenberg
Karina Stork
Tori Folkert
Sydney Ruiter
Sam Sprik
Peyton Remick
Alex Murphy
Hannah Wettlauffer
Will Jordan
Bradley Osborne
Georgia Timm
Alaina Copeland

ELOQUENCE DAY:

We spent some time Thursday and Friday learning about and practicing manners. The kids thoroughly enjoy it- no matter what they say! J We dined at the Café de Eloquence here in Hamilton and used our manners-most of the time! We appreciate the assistance of all our parents cooks and servers! It was a fun event for all. Please check below for pictures! THANK YOU to all of our parent volunteers for making this event happen! We appreciate it!!!

5^th GRADE CHRISTMAS CHARITY EVENT: 5^th graders practiced the gift of giving by buying a ticket and candy cane for $1 with the money going to a pool for one of 5 charities we chose. Mr. Hoekstra drew Eddie Soerens' ticket and he chose to donate to St. Judes Children's Hospital. We raised $276 for this charity! Thanks to all!


     MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Eloquence Day:

Week of December 5th-9th

            Mrs. Blowers' Blog
December 12:  Log cabins are due.  Please do not bring them to school any earlier than 3:40 p.m. on Friday, December 9.  I will be here Monday, Dec. 12 by 7:40 a.m. if you would prefer to drop it off before the start of the school day. 

December 15:  5^th grade spelling bee begins.  We will have our first round of the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in the morning- this a change in day we needed to make.  Any fifth grader who would like to participate is welcome to do so.  The top 12 spellers will advance to the next round in January-the top 2 spellers will advance to the regional Bee.

December 16:  Friday, December 16 will be Eloquence Day.  All fifth graders are expected to dress up for this event.  Dress as nicely as you can without going to purchase anything new. This is supposed to be fun a fun way to practice manners, not stressful worrying about buying new clothes! We will be dining at the Café de Eloquence here in Hamilton.  There is no cost for this event, as we will be using our read–a–thon money. 

Christmas Party:  The Eloquence Day lunch is considered our Christmas party.  We will not have a gift exchange.  Last week you received a note about a way in which you can honor teachers and classmates this year. Please read below:

         This year we are planning an opportunity for our students to be involved in supporting a charitable organization.  On Friday, December 9, students will be asked if there is an organization that they would like to suggest.  If there are more than 5 suggestions, the fifth graders will vote for the top 5.  Once the 5 organizations are identified, students will have a chance to purchase a “ticket” for a friend, teacher, or classmate.  Tickets will be sold for $1.00 each.  Every ticket will then be put into a large jar.  The last day to purchase them will be on Dec. 16.  On the 16^th, we will have a drawing and the name that we pick out will be the name of the person who will get to choose which of those five organizations will go to!  I would like to ask that if you would choose to honor me at this time of the year that you put your money toward tickets- I am looking forward to this opportunity to teach your children about charity and giving.  

 Students will be able to purchase a ticket for someone at recesses, put the ticket and donation in a jar, and receive a candy cane to give to the person in whose name they bought the ticket.

Feel free to contact me if you have questions.

MATH:
We have been reviewing concepts in our fractions unit (fractions as division, fractions as part of a set and part of a region, and improper fractions and mixed numbers.) We also worked with equivalent fractions, greatest common factor, and simplifying fractions. Students are expected to be able to perform the operation as well as draw the fractions to show their understanding. We have been using some websites to practice concepts this week.

READING:
We completed Sign of the Beaver and reviewed for the test that was on Friday. Monday students will present their book projects. We will also be reading some shorter non-fiction texts to continue to practice skills needed for this type of text.


WRITING:
Students completed their persuasive letters to either their parents or Santa. They put them in envelopes to deliver to you in hopes they will be able to persuade you to get what they would like for Christmas!


SPELLING:
Our skill this week has been using apostrophes to show possession and in contractions.


SCIENCE:
We began talking about and experimenting with friction as a force. We also used the spring scale to measure force in Newtons.


 

WEEK OF Nov 28-Dec 2

Report Cards went home today (Friday)

Homework this weekend: Work on log cabin and November reading project.

December 12:  Log cabins are due.  Please do not bring them to school any earlier than 3:40 p.m. on Friday, December 9.  I will be here Monday, Dec. 12 by 7:40 a.m. if you would prefer to drop it off before the start of the school day. 

December 13:  5^th grade spelling bee begins.  We will have our first round of the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in the afternoon.  Any fifth grader who would like to participate is welcome to do so.  The top 12 spellers will advance to the next round.

December 16:  Friday, December 16 will be Eloquence Day.  All fifth graders are expected to dress up for this event.  We will be dining at the Café de Eloquence here in Hamilton.  There is no cost for this event, as we will be using our read –a – thon money. 

Christmas Party:  The Eloquence Day lunch is considered our Christmas party.  We will not have a gift exchange.  More information will be sent home soon regarding a way in which you can honor teachers and classmates. 

Feel free to contact me if you have questions.

MATH:
We began our unit on fractions and have learned about fractions as division, fractions as part of a set and part of a region, and improper fractions and mixed numbers.


READING:
We continue reading Sign of the Beaver, and work on vocabulary in context, context clues for comprehension, finding descriptive detail, and author techniques. We will also be reading some non-fiction pieces to continue to practice those skills needed for this type of text.

WRITING:

We have discussed persuasive techniques, examples of using persuasion, and read persuasive pieces. We also reviewed friendly letter form. Students began writing persuasive letters to either their parents or Santa. 

SPELLING:
Our skill this week is prefixes.

SCIENCE:
We have been performing activities showing balanced and unbalanced forces. We have played tug-of-war, arm wrestled, and made balloon rockets to show these forces.

WEEK Of NOVEMBER 14TH-18TH

FIELD TRIP: 
 The students loved the field trip! We visited 3 different and interesting places:
The Planetarium was a great way to put together and review what we learned in science and students felt good about all the background knowledge they were bringing to this.
 The Ben and Me play was fun!- a neat way for the kids to see how scenes from the movie and book we watched and read were played out on stage. This generated much discussion. They enjoyed the interaction during the play with the actors.
  I was very pleased with the way the students really became involved in the Ben Franklin and Gerald R. Ford exhibits. They tried things out, truly read much of the information, asked questions. They were all well-behaved and involved learners! I let the kids know how much I appreciated their behavior and interest during the trip. Thanks to all the parents and students for making this a terrific day!


MRS. BLOWERS WILL BE GONE November 17th and 18th as well as November 21-23.
I will have a minor foot surgery- Mrs. Immick and Mrs. Middleton will be here those days.
You may contact me at anytime through email.
lblowers@hamiltonschools.us

MATH:
We have been working at dividing with 2-digit divisors. It can be difficult estimating how many multiples of a number will work. We will have a couple quizzes this week along with review. The students will complete the study guide for the Ch 4 test (on Tuesday). I will be able to look at these Friday and have Mrs. Immick assist anyone with corrections, questions on Monday. Study Monday-test Tuesday. Students should email with questions.
 READING:
We are reading Sign of the Beaver, our new genre unit chapter book. The theme is facing a challenge.
We have been working on vocabulary in context, context clues for comprehension, and finding descriptive detail. We will also be reading some non-fiction pieces to continue to practice those skills needed for this type of text.
WRITING:
We have been writing expository pieces this recently. We wrote a persuasive piece about an article we read about telling white lies. We are completed a summary of an article about penguins. This week students also used an interactive site to write a Diamante poem. Next week students will be writing a short story.
SPELLING:
Our skill this week is the the meanings of the suffix "-er". It means "one who" as in teacher-one who teaches. It also means "more" as in brighter - more bright.
SCIENCE:
We have been performing activities about motion, types of motion, what affects motion, and how to calculate speed. We have quite a lot of vocabulary to learn. Students will do a crossword to assist in learning this. We discuss vocabulary each day and will have a quiz after Thanksgiving. Next up is balanced and unbalanced forces.

WEEK of NOVEMBER 7TH-11TH

READ-A-THON
THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! Thanks for all you did to raise money for our field trip next Tuesday!
Teachers and students all appreciate your efforts!

Create a User Account on Your School Site

Please go to the site listed above and click on Student/Parents/Staff

then click on Parents (click here to register)

Enter the following:

1.    Student ID Numbers AND Birthday (up to four kids)

      (you can find your students ID number in the Powerschool by logging into Powerschool with your parent login info, click on the school Website link, the four digit code is listed in Red))

2.    An email address or user name

3.    First Name

4.    Last Name

5.    Phone Number (optional)

6.    Password (you may set this to anything you’d like)

7.    Verify the password

I you don't know your powerschool ID number, contact me.

FIELD TRIP:


Our field trip is Tuesday, November 15th!
Please wear comfortable shoes AND wear your Hawkeye PTO shirt!! (Grey) AND bring a disposable
sack lunch!! Be prepared for the weather as we will be walking between buildings.


 MRS. BLOWERS WILL BE GONE November 17th and 18th as well as November 21-23.
I will have a minor foot surgery- Mrs. Immick and Mrs. Middleton will be here those days.
You may contact me at anytime through email or my home phone- except Nov. 17th.


EMAIL ALERTS: If you would like an email alert when I post something to my fusion page, please follow the directions below. Your child also brought the directions home and they are on the blog.

MATH:
We have been working at dividing with 2-digit divisors. It can be difficult estimating how many multiples of a number will work. They have learned how to find and list the multiples using a calculator. They may use this method-the work still has to be shown just to be sure they know the steps- but they know they will not be able to rely on this for the test. We have not been using this method often so they have had a lot of practice without it. W also learned how to multiply decimals by multiples of ten.

 READING:
We are reading Sign of the Beaver, our new genre unit chapter book. The theme is facing a challenge.
We have been working on vocabulary in context, context clues for comprehension, and finding descriptive detail.


WRITING:
We have been writing expository pieces this recently. We wrote a persuasive piece about an article we read about telling white lies. We are completing a summary of an article about penguins. We wrote a compare and contrast piece together comparing Tom Sawyer and Bart Simpson.

SPELLING:
Our skill this week was the various spellings of the letter s in "sun" - soft 's' sound.
 Tests have been returned.


SCIENCE:
We have been performing activities about motion, types of motion, what affects motion, and how to calculate speed.

Email Alerts for Parents

Below are the directions for parents to become members of my fusion page. (Not the blog-although the blog is attached to the fusion page.) If you choose to do this, you will receive email alerts when I post to my fusion page. It should also alert you to calendar events, etc. that I put in. I became a member of  my son and daughter's as well - I am receiving alerts, so it should work!

www.hamiltonschools.us

Create a User Account on Your School Site

Please go to the site listed above and click on Student/Parents/Staff

then click on Parents (click here to register)

Enter the following:

1.    Student ID Numbers AND Birthday (up to four kids)

      (you can find your students ID number in the Powerschool by logging into Powerschool with your parent login info, click on the school Website link, the four digit code is listed in Red))

2.    An email address or user name

3.    First Name

4.    Last Name

5.    Phone Number (optional)

6.    Password (you may set this to anything you’d like)

7.    Verify the password

I you don't know your powerschool ID number, contact me.

Week of Oct. 31- Nov. 4

READ-A-THON is Tuesday Nov. 8th 
DONUTS WITH DAD is Wednesday Nov. 9
Released Time is Friday, Nov. 11th.

Read-a-thon

November 8, 2011

Our read-a-thon is going to be held this coming Tuesday, November 8 from 1:30 - 3:30.
Please look over the following suggestions as you prepare for this exciting event!

*  Come to school on Tuesday with a drink, snack, and books to read
*  Wear comfy clothes and bring a towel or blanket to spread out on.  You may bring a             small pillow or stuffed animal as long as it fits in your backpack.
*  Envelopes and pledges are due on Tuesday, November 8

Our schedule will be as follows:

1:30 - 2:00  Independent reading with your own snack and drink
2:00 - 2:30  You may choose to read newspapers, magazines, or storyworks
2:30 - 2:50  Guest Reader
2:50 - 3:10  Independent reading with a snack and drink provided by Mrs. Maxson
3:15 - 3:30  Read information books

Everyone will be given the option of reading a chapter book for the full two hours.  

Thank you to the family and friends who have supported us in our efforts to raise money for field trips and special activities this year!!

Writing: We practiced compare and contrast writing. Students will write their own next week. 


Reading: We have been reading Ben and Me as part of our genre unit whose theme is "facing challenges". We are also going to be seeing this play, watch the movie and then compare the three of them.


Math: We took the Chapter 3 math test on Wednesday and the class did quite well. We are now working in chapter 4, dividing larger numbers by 2 digit divisors. We have also been doing some review of past units.

Science: We are now working in our Forces and Motion unit. This week, students have been experimenting with what forces are able to cause a marble move the  slowest on a "track" they have designed. We will discuss these factors.  

Have a great weekend!!

Week of Oct. 17th - 21st and PHOTOS FROM OUTDOOR DISCOVERY FIELD TRIP

Please view the photos from last week's field trip below the newsletter!

On the note of field trips: Our 4th and 5th grade classes are planing a joint field trip in November. we will see a play, go to the Planetarium, and the Ford museum. We are very excited about this opportunity for your children! We are having a READ-A-THON Fundraiser in order to raise money for this. You will receive information about this at conferences.


On the note of conferences! I look forward to seeing you at conferences. You should have received a note about these conferences involving your child. You may bring your child and have him/her join us the entire time or part of the time.
  My schedule is full. I apologize in advance if I need to stop you in order to have the next conference. If you need more time, we can arrange that.


NO SCHOOL Oct. 27th and 28th.

MEAP testing has taken up much of our time this week. I really appreciate the hard work of your students! As a little reward, we learned how to play Yahtzee, discussing chance, probability, and strategy, and played a little both MEAP days.

Reading: We completed our Genre Unit novel, Guests. We also read Brother Eagle, Sister Sky, and discussed theme, and how it relates to history. We have been discussing historical fiction, pourquoi, and legend elements. We have also done vocabulary work, practiced comprehension strategies, and worked on simile and metaphor. We have reviewed and will take a short test on Monday.
  BOOK REPORT PROJECTS ARE DUE OCT. 31st. I went over directions again this week and took questions, gave more examples.

Math: We've been working on division (chapter 3). This week we practiced dividing by 10, 100, and 1,000 and long division with 1 divisor divided into a 3 and 4 digit dividend. We also practice these same concepts, but with decimals. We will complete this unit next week, review when we return from break, and then test.

Writing:  Most students have completed their River Tour pieces. They are due Monday. Some students were able to finish early enough to type them and asked me to make theirs into a flippable book. Those will be posted on my fusion site found on the district website. I should have them completed by Monday. They will be attached in the links section. Click on "Student work" and they will be under students' names.


Science: Students finished presenting their posters- I was quite impressed at the effort they gave to make these look like polished projects. They were graded on a rubric which will be sent home. We have 2 more lessons to finish, will review, and take the test the week we return.

Have a great weekend!!

The class had a lot of fun on the Outdoor Discovery Center last Thursday and learned information that applies to our social studies units. Here are some pictures!