WEEK OF APRIL 9 - 13

DATES:


Puppets due for Art...........  April 18 

Poetry Brunch ...................  April 20 at 9:40
Release Time ...................... April 20  
April 27............................... No School
May 3 ................................. Charleton Park Field Trip
    I will send a note about the trip next week again. 


Puppets:   I am getting material for this weekend for students who asked, so I am going to have the puppets due Wednesday the 18th instead of the 16th so they can finish. Puppets will be displayed in the library with the Facebook Biography Page that students created.

Please don't forget that my fusion page has several math sites and some video tutorials for your child if they need practice. Your child is aware of this and we have gone into it many times to review what is there. Go to the Hamilton website, choose "Hamilton Elementary", "classes" (on the left),
then my name on the right under "5th grade".


Math:
This week we began our second measurement unit. We used cubes to build rectangular prisms and applied the formula for finding volume and related this to our previous lessons about area. We looked at a variety of containers in order to assist us in thinking/learning about converting customary and metric units of capacity. Learning about converting customary units of weight was also part of our week.
The test will be next Thursday.


Reading: We began A Long Way from Chicago on Tuesday. Monday students viewed and discussed video clips about the Dust Bowl and a power point presentation about the 1930's/Depression as background for the book. The novel centers around siblings that travel from Chicago to visit their Grandma Dowdel in her small town home and about their experiences with her. The kids love this story.

Writing:  
We began a poetry unit this week as the note I sent home mentioned. The students are focusing on using descriptive, precise language and imagery to create a picture in the reader's mind. They are writing a variety poems. The students are looking forward to presenting one of their original poems  as well as a work by a published author. Thanks to those of you who are willing to donate food items for the Poetry Brunch! I will contact you on  Monday about what item to bring.  

Spelling:
This week's skill was the sound /j/ as in jar and how this can be spelled 3 ways using  g, j, or dg. Next week's skill will be synonyms.

Science:   Classification has been the focus this week. We discussed why scientists classify organisms and how we use classification in our daily lives. Students used an interactive site to learn about how and why animals are classified as mammals, reptiles, amphibians, etc. and then played some games that required them to apply this knowledge. Then students classified the animal cards into proper categories with their new information.

  Students are looking forward to having tree frogs and hermit crabs in the classroom as part of this unit. 

Enjoy your weekend!!