September 21- September 28th

DATES:
Monday, Oct. 1.............FUNDRAISER ENDS
Saturday Oct. 6.............EVERYTHING FOR KIDS SALE - 9am -2 pm
Thursday Oct. 4............SCHOOL PICTURES
Friday Oct. 5.................READATHON
Friday, Oct. 12.............Outdoor Discovery Center field trip


 
READ-A-THON:  4th and 5th grade are having a read-a-thon again this year in order to create more opportunities for field trips. A note was sent home on Thursday concerning this with information about the day and a pledge envelope. Thank you for your support!

Field Trip- We have a field trip to the Outdoor Discovery Center on October 12th. A note was sent home today on a pink half sheet.
4th and 5th grade is going on a field trip together as well- more information is coming. If you want to volunteer you MUST have a WISH form submitted. Volunteers for 5th grade are coordinated by WISH. We are holding a Readathon fundraiser to raise funds for this.


Math:
We continue MEAP review prep. Wednesday we took our first math test. This was new material to our 5th grade curriculum. Students did well. Order of operations can be difficult as there are so many steps- it is easy to make a small mistake. Students who made mistakes in their adding, multiplying, etc, but showed they understood the concept, were given the opportunity to earn back 1/2 point per problem if they could fix work and show all their work. We are now working on finding patterns and function tables. You will have seen some of this come home. I am putting tutorials on my fusion page if your child needs to review. We are also going to work with coordinate graphing

Reading:
We have continued to work on MEAP Prep., comprehension strategies, and reading for information strategies this week. We read several nonfiction articles. We discussed text signposts such as headings, bold print, italics, subheadings, graphs, captions, etc. and searched for them as we read. Students also took the SRI reading assessment Thursday.

Reading at home: I am hoping students have been reading at home frequently. Monday, October 1st we will begin our first monthly reading assignment. Students will choose a novel approved by me and read this over the month of October. They will create a project in order to share their book with the class.Presenting a project to the class can be quite stressful for kids. I try to make this as comfortable as possible!
   
Writing:
  Students' first writing piece, a narrative about something from their summer, will be in Powerschool by Monday. They have written captions for 2 photographs this week which has also allowed them to work on their technology skills. I will make these into a flippable online book which they will put on their personal websites. It will also be on my fusion page.

Spelling:
  Spelling tests are every Friday. Monday begins the new lesson. The skill for Lesson 4 is silent letters. The spelling list will be sent home Monday.  If you go on my fusion page, there are directions to get to Spelling City where students can play games and take practice tests over the spelling lists for each week. I am planning to send a spelling list each week.


Science: 
Students did very well on the quiz Wednesday over lessons 1-4 which focus on the reason for seasons and how Earth's rotation and revolution around the sun make a year and a day. The quiz required them to answer T/F AND explain the reason they answered that way. This way I can see if there are any misconceptions or if they need to be sure to include additional information. We played a jeopardy review game. We will be investigating the moon next week.



Kickball Champions: On Friday afternoons we have Friday Special Activity. We played kickball against Mrs. Maxson's team and won and then won against Mrs. Michell's class. The best part was, all students were respectful and were able to win and lose graciously - we want them to know being competitive is fine and it is great to be happy about winning, but others respect people who can win and lose without belittling others. They did an awesome job!

BACON APPLE CRISP RECIPE: After having a student ponder the question: "Why can't there be bacon pie?" I decided it was time to try out the recipe I have had for a year and never made. Some loved it, some thought it was weird. :) But here is the recipe.

Yield: One 10-inch pie

Cook Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

• INGREDIENTS
Gingersnap Crust
2 cups crushed gingersnap cookies
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup granulated sugar

Apple Filling
4 to 5 medium Granny Smith apples--peeled, halved and cored
Juice of 1 large lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon freshly grated or ground nutmeg
⅓ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Bacon-Streusel Topping
6 strips applewood-smoked bacon
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup light brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, chilled and cut into ¼-inch cubes

DIRECTIONS 1. Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, fold together the crushed gingersnaps, melted butter and sugar. Press the mixture into a 10-inch pie pan until flat and even. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, until the edges start to set, then remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely.
2. Make the filling: Thinly slice the apples. Place them in a large bowl and drizzle the lemon juice over the slices. In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, sugar and 2 tablespoons flour. Fold the mixture into the apples until the apples are just coated. Spoon the apples into the reserved crust.
3. Make the topping and bake the pie: Increase the oven temperature to 375°. In a medium skillet set over medium-high heat, fry the bacon until crisp, about 7 to 10 minutes. Drain the slices on paper towels and set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, combine the flour and brown sugar. Using your fingers or a pastry cutter, mix the butter into the flour and sugar mixture until pea-size clumps form. Crumble the cooled bacon and add it to the flour mixture. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top of the apple filling and place the pie in the oven. Bake until the top is browned and the apples are tender, about 45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

DATES:
Monday, Oct. 1.............FUNDRAISER ENDS
Saturday Oct. 6.............EVERYTHING FOR KIDS SALE - 9am -2 pm
Thursday Oct. 4............SCHOOL PICTURES
Friday, Oct. 12.............Outdoor Discovery Center field trip


Parent email alerts:
I have been trying to make a parent group with your email addresses in order to alert you when I post to the blog, etc. I am having some technical difficulties and Ms. Baker is helping me. Hopefully that will be ready next week. Meanwhile, you can join my fusion page and I will see if we can get that to work. I emailed the class the link to my fusion page where they can access the blog, Spelling City, and links to other math sites for help which I will add to. You can access it quickly that way.


Field Trips- these are the real dates! We have a field trip to the Outdoor Discovery Center on October 12th. 4th and 5th grade is going on a field trip together as well- more information is coming. If you want to volunteer you MUST have a WISH form submitted. Volunteers for 5th grade are coordinated by WISH.


Math:
We continue MEAP review prep. We spent a lot of time on Order of Operations and also learned about numerical expressions. EX: six decreased by 3 is 3 = 6 - 3 = 3.
We will be taking the test on Wednesday. We have been talking quite a bit about not skipping any steps when working the order of operations problems. This is when the mistakes pop up!

Reading:
We have worked on MEAP Prep., comprehension strategies, and reading for information strategies this week. Compare and Contrast is a text structure that students frequently encounter and use ever day and we continued our work with this. Cause and Effect is another text structure we worked with this week. We learned about signal words to look for in reading and use in writing this structure. We read an article about Tornadoes and searched for cause and effect situations and responded to comprehension questions. We read How many Days to America and student wrote their questions and thinking in order to focus on the strategies of questioning and monitoring their comprehension.



Reading at home: I am hoping students have been reading at home frequently. In October we will begin our monthly reading assignments which consists of reading a novel at home, creating a project, and presenting it.
 
Writing:
  Students' first writing piece, a narrative about something from their summer, is due Monday. I give minimal assistance for this first piece in order to see what we need to focus on.

Spelling:
  Our spelling skill for next week (Lesson 3) is irregular verbs. If you go on my fusion page, there are directions to get to Spelling City where students can play games and take practice tests over the spelling lists for each week. I am planning to send a spelling list each week.


Science: 
Students will have a quiz on Wednesday over lessons 1-4 which focus on the reason for seasons and how Earth's rotation and revolution around the sun make a year and a day.
Our science unit is Objects in the Sky. We have continued to investigate what causes the seasons by watching video clips and having demonstrations and discussions. Students also performed demonstrations. The 2 main reason for the seasons:
  1) The tilt of the Earth's axis (23.5 degrees)
  2) The relationship of the sun to the Earth in its rotation around the sun- basically how directly/indirectly the sun's rays are striking locations on Earth. 
  We also used data from charts to graph the daylight hours of 3 cities during the solstices and equinoxes and then analyzed the information. 

DATES:
Friday, Set. 14...............FUNDRAISER BEGINS
Monday, Oct. 1.............FUNDRAISER ENDS
Saturday Oct. 6.............EVERYTHING FOR KIDS SALE - 9am -2 pm
Thursday Oct. 4............SCHOOL PICTURES


Fusion page/blog:
I emailed the class the link to my fusion page where they can access the blog, Spelling City, and links to other math sites for help which I will add to. I sent directions to you a couple times showing how to  access these pages. I will load your email addresses into a group this weekend and send you the link as well.

Edmodo: Each student has an Edmodo account. This site is purely for education, but is set up to look like a Facebook page which was pretty exciting for the class! They were a little disappointed when I told them that they would not be able to "friend" anyone or chat to each other individually. Whatever they put on there is seen by the group- assignments would be sent directly to me though and no one would see this. I created a "class" for reading and we have played around with it a couple times, taking a poll, a quiz, and chatting to learn how to interact within the site. When we begin using it for some assignments, quizzes, etc. you will be sent a code that will allow you to access your your child's work.



Field Trip Alert Revised! We have a field trip to the Outdoor Discovery Center, however, we now have had to change this as 5th grade teachers have a training we just learned would be on this date. I will get the new date out to you soon. If you want to volunteer you MUST have a WISH form submitted. Volunteers for 5th grade are coordinated by WISH.


Math:
We continue MEAP review adding in multiplying and dividing.
We have worked with Order of Operations this week. Students have watched a video tutorial (on the fusion page), had whole group and small group instruction and practice as well as played some games and done skill practice on the laptops for reinforcement. We will continue with the next step- adding brackets. I sent home the steps for working these problems on a pink half sheet and student have one at school. 
Homework is due Monday.

Reading:
We have worked on MEAP Prep., comprehension strategies, and reading for information strategies this week. Compare and contrast is a text structure that students frequently encounter and use ever day. We learned about signal words to look for in reading and use in writing this structure. We read two stories, The Bracelet and So Far from the Sea then compared/contrasted them. We used that information to write a compare/contrast paper.
Homework is due Monday. Read each article and respond in complete sentences to the first 4 questions. Question number 5 will discuss in class as it is presented in a bit of a confusing way for them.

Writing:
  We began our first writing prompt about our summer. Students have completed their plans, and begun introductions and drafts.

Spelling:
Spelling- Each Friday we will have 2 tests. Students will still have the spelling cloze test like last year. Additionally, there is a skills and proofreading test. I teach the skill and we practice during the week. Proofreading is something we are doing frequently in reading, writing, and spelling. If you go on my fusion page, there are directions to get to Spelling City where students can play games and take practice tests over the spelling lists for each week. If you would like a paper copy of the spelling list, please contact me.


Science: 
Our science unit is Objects in the Sky. We have continued to investigate what causes the seasons by watching video clips and having demonstrations and discussions. Students also performed demonstrations. The 2 main reason for the seasons:
  1) The tilt of the Earth's axis (23.5 degrees)
  2) The relationship of the sun to the Earth in its rotation around the sun- basically how directly/indirectly the sun's rays are striking locations on Earth. 
  We also used data from charts to graph the daylight hours of 3 cities during the solstices and equinoxes and then analyzed the information. 

Social Studies: 
Students have been working on map skills, latitude and longitude, and the preamble to the Constitution.

DATES

Friday, Sept. 14	PTO Fundraiser
Monday, Oct. 1	PTO Fundraiser Ends
Saturday, Oct. 6	PTO Everything sale 9am – 2PM
Thursday, Oct. 4	School Pictures

I don't believe the fusion site is up and running properly. I will let you know when it is available.

 

*Please read the School Newsletter sent home or view it on the Hamilton website. 

I need to thank my new class for a terrific week! It can be exhausting for them after a long summer break and they handled that and the crazy hot temperatures so well. We have been working into the school routine slowly so as to not overwhelm anyone! I have sincerely enjoyed this week with your children. I know this will be a great year for us!


Routines: We have been getting to know routines of our school and classroom. Some things are different and we are learning together. My students have been staying quite positive and rolling with whatever comes up! I am very proud of them! One of the most important things that I hope students are beginning to already learn about our classroom is to ask questions, ask for help, and not to let the small things create stress for themselves. As we get to know each other, I believe they will become more comfortable and confident in letting me know their concerns or worries no matter how big or small so we can learn and enjoy school.

Field Trip Alert: We have a field trip to the Outdoor Discovery Center on October 12th. You will receive more information later. If you want to volunteer you MUST have a WISH form submitted. Volunteers for 5th grade are coordinated by WISH.


Math:
We have begun MEAP preparation - multiples, factors, division, multiplication so far. As we are following Common Core math this year, our first unit will be "Operations and Algebraic Thinking"- sounds daunting than it is! We have already talked a little about Order of Operations. Next week we will get more involved in this. The test for this is very short as there are only two standards involved. I will send websites for help as needed.

Reading:
We have worked on MEAP Prep., comprehension strategies, and reading for information strategies this week.

Writing:
  We wrote a short piece based off of the "Important Book" and placed it on our bulletin board.
Next week we will do a personal narrative piece about our summer.

Spelling:
Spelling begins next week - I will send home a list to study on Monday!


Science: 
Our science unit is Objects in the Sky. We are investigating what causes the seasons.
Thanks for a great week! I will have some pictures next week on my blog.