WEEK OF DECEMBER 9TH-13TH

WEEK OF DECEMBER 9TH-13TH

Monday Dec 16th- log cabins are due

Thursday Dec 19th- Spelling Bee "Preliminaries"

Thursday Dec 19th-Santa's Workshop

Thursday Dec 19th- Science Test 

Friday Dec 20th- Genre Unit Test 

Friday Dec 20th Eloquence Day

HOMEWORK: No Homework except for the usual reading consistently all week- all kids know they should be reading frequently all week, every week!

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FUSION PAGE   Mrs. Blowers Fusion Page
You can find fractions and other math links here as well as spelling, grammar, and sites for reading.

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MATH:
    All students have taken the Place Value Test and will bring them home on Monday- I go over each students test with them so it can take 2 days after the test for me to get through them all. We began dabbling in our next unit; multiplying and dividing fractions. We will spend this week reviewing past concepts and continue in our new unit.
Practice sites will be available under the MATH tab next week. 
 
PLEASE have your kids work on their math facts!! They are able to do XTRAMATH at home on the computer in addition to flashcards and other practice activities. I see many mistakes that are simply math facts.
  
READING
  We are enjoying "Sign of the Beaver". We have been reading this aloud as a class and discussing author techniques, vocabulary in context, using clues and background knowledge to make inferences about the text, and summarizing/retelling sections of the book. The Log cabin Project is due Monday.
 
WRITING:     
 The students are in the process of writing persuasive letters to Santa. We discussed how persuasion is all around us and part of our everyday lives. We read some examples and discussed some techniques. These are due on Wednesday. There should be enough time for these to be completed in class, but it will be homework Tuesday for anyone who needs more time.

SCIENCE:   
We did investigations about the motion of tops as well as electricity as a noncontact force. We will review this coming week for the test which will be on Thursday.

SPELLING:
  Students took the lesson 12 test on Friday. We studied contractions.
Next week's lesson 13 skill is homophones.
If your child wants to play games/ practice tests, go to: Spelling City

WEEK OF December 2nd-6th

WEEK OF December 2nd-6th

REMINDER: THERE IS NO SCHOOL ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10th. 

 Wed., Dec. 11 ... Support Staff Day

Tues., Dec. 17.... Santa’s Workshop 

Thur., Dec. 19 ...Santa’s Workshop
Fri., Dec. 20 ......PTO Popcorn - .25/bag

Fri., Dec. 20 ......5th Grade Eloquence Day

Mon., Dec. 23.... No School –The start of Christmas Break

 Mon., Jan. 6 School Back In Session

HOMEWORK: No Homework except for the usual reading consistently all week- all kids know they should be reading frequently all week, every week!

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FUSION PAGE   Mrs. Blowers Fusion Page
You can find fractions and other math links here as well as spelling, grammar, and sites for reading.

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MATH:  (Practice sites and games for this unit are under the "MATH" tab)
    This week we reviewed Place Value. A few students took the test. Everyone will take the Place Value test Wednesday. Our next unit is multiplying and dividing fractions. It is important that students are able to not only perform the operations, but draw the concepts and look at a picture and write it as an equation. We will review previous fraction skills as well. 
Practice sites will be available under the MATH tab next week. 
 
PLEASE have your kids work on their math facts!! They are able to do XTRAMATH at home on the computer in addition to flashcards and other practice activities.
  
READING
  We began our next genre unit. The theme is "Facing a Challenge". Our central novel is "Sign of the Beaver" which also ties into our history units.  The Log cabin Project is based on this book. 
 
WRITING:   
  Students wrote a short story about their Life in a Snow Globe. They drew a scene from their story in a globe, I am hanging their stories up along with their globes in the hall- so you won't see those until January. But they are REALLY GOOD! We have been reading them aloud. Next we will work on persuasive writing.

SCIENCE:   
We have been discussing contact and non-contact forces. The non-contact forces we have have learned about so far are gravity and magnetism. We performed an investigation where we made a paper clip levitate using a magnetic force. We are also discussing the forces involve in flight: drag, thrust, lift, and weight. Students are designing their own paper airplanes and testing their designs.

SPELLING:
  Students took the lesson 11 test on Friday. We worked on apostrophes as possessives and contractions.
Next week's skill is contractions. List 12 is under the SPELLING tab.

If your child wants to play games/ practice tests, go to: Spelling City

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 18 - NOVEMBER 22

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 18 - NOVEMBER 22

Wed., Nov. 27 No School – Thanksgiving Break
Thur., Nov. 28 No School – Thanksgiving Break
Fri., Nov. 29 No School – Thanksgiving Break

HOMEWORK:
Math:   Students have a 2-sided decimal review- 10 problems
Science:  Study the study guide for the quiz
Reading: Study the study guide for the Assessment.

READING HOMEWORK PROJECT DUE DECEMBER  4TH -NOT 1ST
Students have an assignment that is due December 1st. They have received the assignment and instructions to take home. They will use the chapter book they are reading at home/ between home and school to complete a character cube. One of the goals is to be sure kids are reading at home in addition to school.

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FUSION PAGE   Mrs. Blowers Fusion Page
You can find fractions and other math links here as well as spelling, grammar, and sites for reading.

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MATH:  (Practice sites and games for this unit are under the "MATH" tab)

  This week we reviewed previously learned concepts and added in comparing decimals, adding and subtracting decimals, and rounding decimals. 
Just an FYI- our next unit will be multiplying and dividing fractions. We will review previous fraction skills throughout our Place Value unit.
PLEASE have your kids work on their math facts!! They are able to do XTRAMATH at home on the computer in addition to flashcards and other practice activities.
  There are some decimal tutorials under the "MATH" tab. 

READING
  We completed Long Way from Chicago in Book Club. Throughout, we have been working on a various comprehension strategies, discussing story elements, theme, plot, character motive, using text evidence, and vocabulary. Students completed a study guide for the Assessment on Monday.
 
WRITING:   
  Students read their tribe reports to the class. I sent home their graded rubric and your child can show you their comments and report on their Google docs.Friday we began a short story, "My Life in a Snow Globe." After break we will begin a persuasive piece.

SCIENCE:  We played jeopardy to review for the quiz as well as studied in class. Students have a study guide at home to practice for the quiz. The test for this unit will be right before Christmas. 

SPELLING:
  Students took the lesson 10 test on Friday. We worked on prefixes and adjectives this week.
Next week there will be no test as it is only a 2 day week.
If your child wants to play games/ practice tests, go to:
Spelling City 

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 11 - NOVEMBER 15

 Thur., Nov. 21 PTO All School Skating Party 
Wed., Nov. 27 No School – Thanksgiving Break
Thur., Nov. 28 No School – Thanksgiving Break
Fri., Nov. 29 No School – Thanksgiving Break

All School Skating Party
Thursday, November 21
6:00-8:00PM
Cost for Skating Admission - $4.50
Free admission if you are just watching!

HOMEWORK:
Language Arts: Students have a nonfiction piece about bees to read, respond to 5 questions, and write the main idea and 4 facts.

READING HOMEWORK PROJECT DUE DECEMBER 1st
Students have an assignment that is due December 1st. They have received the assignment and instructions to take home. They will use the chapter book they are reading at home/ between home and school to complete a character cube. One of the goals is to be sure kids are reading at home in addition to school.

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FUSION PAGE   Mrs. Blowers Fusion Page

You can find fractions and other math links here as well as spelling, grammar, and sites for reading.

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WGVU VISIT: 

The kids enjoyed their pizza party on Friday! The video taken by WGVU will begin showing after Thanksgiving and will run for 3 weeks during morning and afternoon kids programming. If students want a copy of it in order to see themselves, I will be able to provide that later.        

Extra Recess:

Our class won the extra Power Pops recess this week for the 2nd week in a row! Great job everyone!                                    

PICTURES: If you click under the "PHOTOS" tab above there are some pictures posted there. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MATH:
  This week we began our Place Value unit. We have been learning whole number and decimal place value to the thousandths. Just an FYI- our next unit will be multiplying and dividing fractions. We will review previous fraction skills throughout our Place Value unit.
PLEASE have your kids work on their math facts!! They are able to do XTRAMATH at home on the computer in addition to flashcards and other practice activities.
  There are some decimal tutorials under the "MATH" tab. 

READING
  We will wrap up with Long Way from Chicago in Book Club after which we will be working with no-fiction texts again. I am rotating among groups daily. We are focusing on comprehension strategies such as summarizing as we read, asking questions, using text clues, vocabulary building, and using text support.
 
WRITING:   
  Students are reading their Tribe Reports. Our next writing pieces will be a summary and a persuasive piece which we will begin later this week. 
 
SCIENCE: We reviewed Newton's First Law of motion and added Newton's 2nd Law of Motion performing a couple investigations to prove it. We did the study guide for our 2nd quiz which will be on Friday. We played ZAP! - a popular review game. We review the study guide in class and play jeopardy for review as well. The study guide will come home on Wednesday.
  We continue to talk about ways forces and motion apply to our lives all the time every day! 

SPELLING:
   I will send it home Lesson 10 on Monday The The test will be Friday skill this coming week is PREFIXES. We will also work on past tense and adjectives.
If your child wants to play games/ practice tests, go to:
Spelling City 

Week of November 4 - November 8

Week of November 4 - November 8

UPCOMING DATES: 
Fri.,    Nov, 15 - Pizza Party in Mrs. Blower's class
Thur., Nov. 21 PTO All School Skating Party 
Wed., Nov. 27 No School – Thanksgiving Break
Thur., Nov. 28 No School – Thanksgiving Break
Fri., Nov. 29 No School – Thanksgiving Break


HOMEWORK:
ENGLISH: Pronoun paper for those who did not complete it.
MATH: There is an adding and subtracting decimals page- 5 problems.

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FUSION PAGE   Mrs. Blowers Fusion Page

You can find fractions and other math links here as well as spelling, grammar, and sites for reading.

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PIZZA PARTY FRIDAY!      
This week I found out that I had won the WGVU Cool Teacher Award. Olivia Johnston wrote a paper about why she thought I should receive this and her paper was chosen. Congratulations to Olivia! Thanks to her our whole class gets treated to a pizza party with pop. We will also be videotaped as a class for a brief spot that will air on WGVU around children's programs.    
  I will be sending home a release form for each student which needs to be signed in order to be included in the picture and video. Please have this returned by Friday!                                           

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Outdoor Discovery Center Field trip
Sorry I missed this, but the kids enjoyed their time there and learned more about Native American culture as it ties into our social studies unit.

MATH:
  This week we reviewed concepts from our fraction unit and took the test on Thursday.  Something I continue to notice is that many students are making minor mistakes which cost them points- sometimes enough to make a difference between a '2' and a '3'. In Middle School mistakes like this can be the difference between a A and a C because the scoring is tighter. Mistakes were in subtraction, multiplication, and division facts particularly but also mistakes caused by not showing work and doing it only in their heads. 
   Students who showed they knew the material but made these little mistakes were given their tests back to fix for full points. They were also allowed to try to fix others where they didn't show work etc.  Each student goes over his/her test with me to discuss material they missed and we will continue work on these concepts.

READING
  We continue reading Long Way from Chicago in Book Club. I am rotating among groups daily. We are focusing on comprehension strategies such as summarizing as we read, asking questions, using text clues, vocabulary building, and using text support.
 
WRITING:   
  We are finishing up Tribe Reports. Our next writing pieces will be a summary and a fun persuasive piece which I will describe when we get to it!

SCIENCE: We are talking about Newton's First Law of motion: An object at rest stays at rest iunless acted upon by an outside force and remains in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force. We have done some investigations for this. We also watched an NFL video clip with Lester Holt and players showing and describing how Newton's Law applies to football. Another fun one was watching a cannon-sized slingshot using a steel ball and a shot put to shoot at an old car. Students were asked to apply Newton's Law to this including velocity and inertia.
  We continue to talk about ways forces and motion apply to our lives all the time every day! 

SPELLING:
   I will send it home Lesson 9 on Monday and I remembered to place it under the Spelling tab this time. The The test will be Friday.
We have been working on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person pronouns and this coing week we will work on past tense and adjectives.
If your child wants to play games/ practice tests, go to:
Spelling City 

Week of October 28 - November 1

Week of October 28 - November 1

Tues., November 5th.........ODC Field Trip- $4.50
Wed., Nov. 6...................... Picture Retakes
Fri., Nov. 8......................... Release Time

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FUSION PAGE   Mrs. Blowers Fusion Page

You can find fractions and other math links here as well as spelling, grammar, and sites for reading.

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ODC Field Trip: 
Tuesday is our first field trip of the year. I will send a text alert as a reminder on Monday.


PUMPKIN DAY
Thank you to Mrs. Theodore, Mrs. Heavilin, Mrs. Moore, and Mrs. Pashak for coming in to help us with this activity. I will have some pictures in the "PHOTOS" section of this blog by Monday night.
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MATH:
  This week we reviewed concepts from our fraction unit. The test will be on Thursday. We will begin our Place Value unit this Wednesday.

READING
  We continue reading Long Way from Chicago in Book Club. I am rotating among groups daily. We are focusing on comprehension strategies, vocabulary building, and using text support.
 
WRITING:   
  Everyone completed their Halloween stories. One of our
focuses for this piece was using onomatopeias- sound words
such as "Whoosh!" Many students sat in the author's chair and read us their fabulous stories!

SCIENCE: We have been discussing simple machines- they make work easier by changing the amount of force needed. We engaged in investigations and discussions about the various simple machines.

SPELLING:
  Click on the "SPELLING" tab to see the Lesson 8 spelling list. I will send it home on Monday. The The test will be Friday. The spelling skill is the various spellings of the sound /s/.
We have been working on parts of speech such as nouns and verbs.
If your child wants to play games/ practice tests, go to:
Spelling City 

Week of October 21-October 23

Week of October 21-October 23

Thursday Oct 24th ...........No School

Friday Oct 25th..................No School

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FUSION PAGE   Mrs. Blowers Fusion Page

You can find fractions and other math links here as well as spelling, grammar, and sites for reading.

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CONFERENCES: Thank you to everyone for coming to conferences! Be sure to contact me at any time concerning your child. You don't have to wait for another conference.

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                                   THE HAWKEYE HUSTLE
  WOW! Thank you parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and businesses for your donations to PTO. We really appreciate your support for our school! We had fun running, walking, dancing and skipping this morning. 
  I also want to thank Mrs. Peterson fro being our DJ all day long! And of course our committee that put this together: Lisa Kramer, Cindy Kleinheksel, and Rhonda Hulst. We appreciate their dedication to our school.
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Varsity Football PLayers are doing a volunteer effort and today we had a player come in and read to us.
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MATH:
  This week we practiced finding common denominators, reducing fractions, making and drawing equivalent fractions, and adding and subtracting mixed numbers with renaming.
 
READING
   Read aloud: We are read and discussed Echohawk as well as searched for similes, metaphor, and personification.
We began book club and are working on comprehension skills.

WRITING:
 Students finished their plans. Rough drafts are due Wednesday.

SPELLING:
  I sent home lesson 7 today. The test will be next Friday.
If your child wants to play games/ practice tests, go to:
Spelling City  

Week of October 14-October 18

 Monday Oct 21st................Conferences 

 Tuesday Oct 22nd.. ...........Conferences   

Wednesday Oct 23rd..........Hawkeye Hustle

 Thursday Oct 24th ...........No School

Friday Oct 25th..................No School

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FUSION PAGE   Mrs. Blowers Fusion Page

You can find fractions and other math links here as well as spelling, grammar, and sites for reading.

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Homework:  
Reading: Reading at least an average of 20 minutes at home most days of the week is homework all year.
 Math: Students have math homework due Monday.

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CONFERENCES: Your child is welcome and encouraged to come to conferences with you. They have worked on a presentation and written goals for themselves that they'll share.

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                         ** WEDNESDAY Oct. 23rd **                                        1st Annual Hamilton El. Walk-a-Thon…
                                  The Hawkeye Hustle
  We hope for this to be the only fundraiser this year. Please have donations in by Wednesday if you chose to participate.
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  Partnering with Mrs. Sikma's Class:
You can view some photos in the "Photos" tab of the blog.

Tuesday our class partnered with Mrs. Sikma's class to assist them with revising and editing their work during infotech. This is also helpful for our own class as we are also working on improving these skills.

   MATH:
  We continue working in our unit Adding and Subtracting Fractions. We have worked on adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, equivalent fractions and finding the lowest common denominator, and add/subtract mixed numbers. We will continue to work on this into next week to strengthen these skills. We used pattern blocks and graph paper to show equivalent fractions and will keep working on this. Students can often do the "math" part of this but have a difficult time conceptualizing it in order to retain the concept.
 
READING
   Read aloud: We are reading and discussing Echohawk a novel about a boy's life as a Native American since being taken away from his "white" family as a child and living a Native American family as their son. It ties in with our Social Studies unit.

We began book club on Thursday. We will be working in small groups on reading comprehension strategies and groups will be meeting with me. 

WRITING:
 Students began researching their tribes for their reports this week using a minimum of 2 sources. We practiced writing notes and how to write these into a paragraph. They had the option of working with a partner or alone on this piece as well as a choice in how they want to present their report.

SPELLING:
  Students will took the Lesson 6 Word and Skill test on Monday. The skill for this week was the homophones their, there, and they're.
TESTS WILL NOW BE ON FRIDAYS: It doesn't work well in my schedule for Mondays.
Next week we will not have a test because of the short week, but will review some concepts.
If your child wants to play games/ practice tests, go to:
Spelling City  

SCIENCE: 
We have been studying balanced and unbalanced forces- we arm wrestled and played tug-of-war to show these concepts. We are now concentrating on simple machines and performing some investigations about these.

October 12

Tuesday, October 15...................MEAP Math Testing
Wednesday, October 16..............MEAP Science (5th grade only)
Friday, Oct. 18 PTO Popcorn .... $.25/bag

Homework:  
Reading: Reading at least an average of 20 minutes at home most days of the week is homework all year.
 Math: Students have Lesson 53 and could choose to do lesson 54 on the back side if they wanted. Not all students were ready for this part.

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CONFERENCES: Your child is welcome and encouraged to come to conferences with you. They have worked on a presentation and written goals for themselves that they'll share.

                          1st Annual Hamilton El. Walk-a-Thon…
                                            The Hawkeye Hustle
 Information and an envelope were sent home on Thursday. We hope for this to be the only fundraiser this year.
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 MEAP PREP SITE:  MEAP PREP
Click on the purple link above to have your child practice MEAP Prep material.

 MATH:  
  Students took the test over Patterns and Coordinate Graphs on Wednesday and did very well! We have been working on fraction concepts since the beginning of the school year, but Thursday we began our first full unit, Adding and Subtracting Fractions. We have worked on adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, equivalent fractions and finding the lowest common denominator. This coming week we will begin add/subtract mixed numbers.
 
READING
   We finished Guests and students wrote about ways Moss, the main character, has changed over the course of the book which is a learning target. We completed a character study   discussing character traits and focused on character motives. We continued to discuss  literary devices such as personification,simile, and metaphors.

We watched a History.com video about the Mary Celeste, a ship whose crew disappeared in the 1800's after leaving from New York, in preparation for reading about this "mystery from history" We used clues to solve this mystery on our own and searched text evidence to examine our theories. We learned a lot of new vocabulary associated with ships! We have a boating expert in Zachary to help us along.


Next week we will begin book clubs where students will read and discuss their book together and meet with me to work on strategies and discussion as well.
  
WRITING:
 Students wrote a simile poem centered on fall. You will see these hanging in the hall when you come for conferences. We will begin reports about Indian tribes this week- something they are learning about in social studies.

SPELLING:
  Students will take the Lesson 5 Word and Skill test on Monday. The skill we practiced was ways to spell the /k/ sound.
  Monday I will send the word list for Lesson 6 home- the skill for this week is the homophones their, there, and they're.
If your child wants to play games/ practice tests, go to:
Spelling City 

UPCOMING DATES:

 Tuesday, October 8............ MEAP Reading Testing
 Wednesday, October 9........MEAP Reading Testing

Tuesday, October 15...................MEAP Math Testing
Wednesday, October 16..............MEAP Science (5th grade only)
Friday, Oct. 18 PTO Popcorn .... $.25/bag

Homework:  
Reading: Reading at least an average of 20 minutes at home most days of the week is homework all year.
 Math: Students have a coordinate graph review page- both sides.

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Me with my AWESOME  group of kids!! -Minus 2 that insisted on taking the picture!

                          1st Annual Hamilton El. Walk-a-Thon…
                                            The Hawkeye Hustle
The Hamilton El. PTO is happy to announce an all-new fundraising event…a school-wide Walk-a-Thon! This event, called The Hawkeye Hustle, will take place on Wednesday, October 23, 2013 during the school day and all Hamilton El. students will have the opportunity to come out and walk around the track for a specified period of time. This will be a great way for kids to have fun, be active and raise money for our school at the same time! Since this will replace the fundraiser that we usually participate in through The Goodies Factory, we are hoping that it will be a huge success so we do not have to do another fundraiser later in the year! At this time, the PTO is looking for local businesses that may be willing to help sponsor this event. If you know of anyone who may be interested, please have them contact Ronda Hulst at 616-218-3542 or at rondahulst@gmail.com for further details. Our goal is for every Hamilton El. student to receive a walk-a-thon t-shirt! More details on the walk-a-thon, along with other ways you can help, will be coming home soon, so please watch for it!
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 MEAP PREP SITE:  MEAP PREP
Click on the purple link above to have your child practice MEAP Prep material.

 MATH:  
 We began our unit on Patterns and Coordinate Graphs. Students are looking at data tables and determining patterns as well as graphing the information as coordinates on a graph. The kids are having fun with the coordinate graphing pictures they have been doing for additional practice. We will take the test for this unit on Wednesday this week.

 
READING
  During Read Aloud the past 2 weeks, we have been reading Guests which is the focal book in our first genre unit series. During this time we work on comprehension strategies through discussions. We also have been doing a character study and discussing character traits, working on literary devices such as personification, and doing vocabulary work. 

We read nonfiction articles this week and focused on cause and effect. We discussed how cause/effect relationships are part of our everyday lives. We also watched a video about similes, metaphors, and personification set to the song "Firework" which contains several of those literary devices as does our read aloud book, Guests.

How can you help at home? Reading daily builds fluency and comprehension. A 5th grade level goal is to read 130 words per minute by the end of the year.
  
WRITING:
 We have had some Author's Chair time for sharing what kids have written. We will finish this week. We also wrote simile poems to practice this concept.

SPELLING:
  Students will take the Lesson 4 Word and Skill test on Monday. The skill we practiced was silent letters. 
  Monday I will send the word list for Lesson 5 home- the skill for this week is various spellings of the /k/ sound.
If your child wants to play games/ practice tests, go to:
Spelling City 

September 30th - October 4th

Upcoming Dates: 

Wed., Oct. 2 Count Day! Picture Day!
 Thurs., Oct. 3 PTO Salem Corn Maze – 5-9PM
 Friday, Oct. 4 Homecoming 
 Tues., Oct. 8 MEAP Testing Begins
 Friday, Oct. 18 PTO Popcorn - $.25/bag 

Homework:  
Reading: Reading at least an average of 20 minutes at home most days of the week is homework all year.
 Math: Students have a review with multiplication and division problems.They know it's only 1 side of the paper. I'm trying to save paper by copying most things double-sided.

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                           Homecoming is Friday!  
          We will be dressing in BLACK and GOLD!!
            ------------------------------------------------------
             1st Annual Hamilton El. Walk-a-Thon…
                           The Hawkeye Hustle
The Hamilton El. PTO is happy to announce an all-new fundraising event…a school-wide Walk-a-Thon! This event, called The Hawkeye Hustle, will take place on Wednesday, October 23, 2013 during the school day and all Hamilton El. students will have the opportunity to come out and walk around the track for a specified period of time. This will be a great way for kids to have fun, be active and raise money for our school at the same time! Since this will replace the fundraiser that we usually participate in through The Goodies Factory, we are hoping that it will be a huge success so we do not have to do another fundraiser later in the year! At this time, the PTO is looking for local businesses that may be willing to help sponsor this event. If you know of anyone who may be interested, please have them contact Ronda Hulst at 616-218-3542 or at rondahulst@gmail.com for further details. Our goal is for every Hamilton El. student to receive a walk-a-thon t-shirt! More details on the walk-a-thon, along with other ways you can help, will be coming home soon, so please watch for it!
              THE SHIRT ORDER FORMS THAT CAME HOME ARE YOUTH SIZES.  
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 MEAP PREP SITE:  MEAP PREP
Click on the purple link above to have your child practice MEAP Prep material.

 MATH:
The class took the test over Order of Operations on Friday. Most had theirs sent home. I had a few that I didn't get the opportunity to meet with so I will send those home on Monday. We will begin our next unit, Patterns and Coordinate Graphs on Monday and continue review work.

 How can you help at home:  
Have your child practice math facts.

READING
  During Read Aloud the past 2 weeks, we have been reading Guests which is the focal book in our first genre unit series. During this time we work on comprehension strategies through discussions. We also have been doing a character study and discussing character traits, working on literary devices such as personification, and doing vocabulary work. 

  During reading we read 2 books this week: So Far from the Sea and The Bracelet. Both center around Japanese internment camps in the U.S. in the 40's. We had a lesson about comparing and contrasting and began to compare these books. We will write a compare and contrast piece Monday.
  The students in this class have a lot of stamina during reading! I am very impressed and proud of them. They love to read! 

How can you help at home? Reading daily builds fluency and comprehension. A 5th grade level goal is to read 130 words per minute by the end of the year.
  
WRITING:
   We looked at caption writing this week. We practiced by having everyone write captions for what I put on the screen. Then students found their own pictures from a site I gave them, followed the checklist, and wrote their own captions on the laptops. I will be putting these together in a book this week which I will share with you.
* Most students are finished with our "Bad Case of..." stories. I am giving a few a couple extra days to complete their typing.

SPELLING:
  Students will take the Lesson 3 Word and Skill test on Monday. The skills we practiced was irregular verbs. 
  Monday I will send the word list for Lesson 4 home- I have it ready to go so it won't be late! The skill we will work on is silent letters: listen, folk, etc.
If your child wants to play games/ practice tests, go to:
Spelling City 

Spelling City Directions

-Go to:  http://spellingcity.com

-Click on "find a list".  

-In the "search" section, click on "teacher" and then type in "Maxson". 

-Click on Robin Maxson at Hamilton Elementary.

  You may try any lesson.  Try each area:   Teach, Test & Games.  You must go through each of these activities in order.

SCIENCE: 
We have been learning how to get the speed of an object. Tools needed: stopwatch, measuring tape. 
Formula: Distance/Time= Speed 
We have been playing some vocabulary games as well.

Students can practice their science vocabulary by going to this site.Study Stacks
I will be adding terms to science and math throughout the year.