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.