Mrs. Blower's Fifth Grade Blog

DECEMBER 10 - DECEMBER 14

12-12-12 We celebrated 12-12-12 by having each of us bring 12 items in a bag. We wrote clues for them to see if the class could guess what we brought. We had a lot of fun with that! Since we have been giving our persuasive election speeches for the best fruit/vegetable, I brought in a variety of 12 fruits.

Even picky eaters had fun with this!

We tried star fruit, mango, a red pummelo, cactus fruit, mini bananas (just cuz they're so cute!) and persimmon which left the weirdest dry feeling in our mouths! We also broke open a coconut brought in by Nathan Haverdink for his speech and tried the coconut milk. Austin Rudolph brought in fresh fennel. Most agreed it was really good! Who knew? Here's a picture of the fruit we ate.

LOG CABINS- (OPTIONAL)...... Due Tuesday December 18th

Eloquence Day:..................... Friday, December 21st from 11-1.

Our location is always a SECRET! Students are expected to dress up- girls skirts or dresses if possible. Boys wear khakis/slacks and a nice shirt. We prefer no jeans, but I would NOT expect anyone to purchase something new for this. Wear the nicest ones you have if you don't own dress pants. This should be fun, not stressful!

Reading at home: There will be no project for December, but I expect students to read. They will be able to give me a short summary, written or verbal, and receive a certificate to Pizza Hut.

HOMEWORK: 1) Division page with 2-digit divisor for practice and review.
2) Read, read, read
3) Log cabin if you are making one.

Math: We have been working with 2-digit divisors and practicing strategies such as estimating, rounding, and using compatible numbers in order to work with these larger numbers. We are reviewing decimal concepts and practicing upcoming concepts as well.

PLEASE HAVE YOUR CHILD PRACTICE MATH FACTS!

RTI: As you know, this time is spent reteaching concepts that students should enter 5th grade with. We have begun focusing our attention on fractions; comparing fractions, converting improper fractions to mixed numbers, adding and subtracting fraction and mixed numbers with like denominators. I will expect them to not only be able to work the algorithm, but be able to draw and explain it as well.

Reading: Sign of the Beaver is our new genre unit and the class is thoroughly enjoying this book. It ties in well with our social studies unit. The class chose to read it as a class- they like to stop and discuss along the way and ask questions! Students are also doing some written comprehension work.

Writing:

This week students presented their campaign speeches for their fruit or vegetable. They are working on placing the videos of this on their web pages.I will video these and put them on my fusion page- kids should place them on their websites. (Have you checked out their websites from infotech??)

I am now requiring the kids to perform a lot more revising and editing on their own. Complete sentences, main idea with details that support only that idea in the paragraph, paragraphing, punctuation... some of the things we talk about frequently. Here are some pictures: