Happenings from the week of March 18- March 22

Happenings from the week of March 18- March 22

UPCOMING DATES:

Wed. March 27.......BEACH DAY!
Wed. March 27.......All bookmarks for reading month due
Wed. March 27.......Box Tops Pizza Party for 5th grade!
Friday May 3.........Charlton Field Trip (note came home yesterday)
Friday May 10......Track and Field Day (note soon-volunteers needed)
Tuesday May 14......Field Trip to Request Foods (no parents needed)
Friday May 31........Dunes Field Trip (info in April)
   
 Brainstormers Assembly:  Austin Rudolph was one of the 5 students to have his/her story chosen to be made into a stage play! Congratulations! He went up and sat in the Author's Chair while the play was performed. His story was about him and Scotty (Kyle Heyerman) building a snowman that comes to life. It was so fun for our class! 

              


Puberty: We have gone through all of the lessons and watched the videos on Friday. Mr. Tebo came on and showed the videos to the boys for us and we thank him for that. You may want to ask your child what questions/concerns he/she has while it is fresh in the mind. Next week I will do the very short and basic HIV/AIDS lesson.
 

MARCH MADNESS! We watched the MI State game during recess this week- it was LOUD! I let them talk me into watching some of the Duke game yesterday during recess, too.

           

Box Tops Winners!  5^th grade won the Box Tops challenge! Thank you for your assistance with this. We will have a pizza party on March 27^th

BEACH DAY! Celebrate Spring with Beach Day on March 27^th.

Options: Wear beach attire, sunglasses, bring a beach towel, etc. It needs to fit in your locker.

 
Math: We have been working on adding/subtracting fractions using place value and "quick pictures" which is drawing the problem using base 10 blocks. Students are also working on finding a pattern and using a table to problem solve. The test will be Wednesday.   

READING: We continued our discussion of the Fighting Ground as well as the online digital "bulletin board" to teach each other further about this war. It will incorporate social studies, reading, and writing curriculum. This week students read their articles and watched their videos to prepare for presenting next week. The class loves The Fighting Ground and I almost get booed when we have to stop at the end of a  section!

WRITING:   We talked about and practiced alliteration since we will be using alliteration in our newspaper article headlines. We read a few articles as examples preparing for writing our own. Students chose a person to interview about a topic and wrote their questions. I am reviewing them so they are able to either face-to-face or email interview someone. Students will write this into an article to publish in an online format. Then they will choose one other topic to write another article. We will be discussing leads, using quotation marks to quote others, and alliteration, and how the type of voice used in reporting is different from a story.

SCIENCE: Students tested planes in the gym on Monday. We reviewed how lift, thrust, drag, and gravity affects the flight. This week we also discussed static electricity as a non-contact and contact force because of negative and positive charges. We began a discussion on roller coaster physics and the kids practiced designing a roller coaster online. We will wrap that up on Monday.

Science Test:  I will begin review next week. We will review the week after spring break as well in order to be well-prepared.Test on Monday, April 22.

Spelling: We will take the lesson 22 spelling test on Monday. No spelling next week because of the 3 day week.

Happenings from the week of March 11th- March 15th

UPCOMING DATES:

Monday March 18....................... PTO Meeting
Monday, March 18.......................Puberty lessons begin.

Wednesday, March 20...................Yellow Day- Wear yellow 

Friday, March 22........................PTO FUN NIGHT

Friday, May 3…………………………………………… Charlton Park field trip (note soon)

Friday May 31^st ……………………………………… Dunes field trip (info in April)

Middle School Visit – Our 5^th graders enjoyed the visit to the middle school on Thursday. Sounds like dancing and bounce house activities were

a hit and they got to see where they will be next year.

Box Tops Winners!  5^th grade won the Box Tops challenge! Thank you for your assistance with this. We will have a pizza party on March 27^th

BEACH DAY! Celebrate Spring with Beach Day on March 27^th. More

                            about this later

 MARCH BOOK PROJECT: Students have chosen to complete their reading bookmark each week instead of a project I have. They should be reading a minimum of 20 minutes each time they read. 

 
Math: We took the Fractions Operations test Friday. It is rather lengthy so I gave them a break after some time. We have already been working on our adding and subtracting decimals unit. Students will be expected to draw pictures to show the operation. (I will give them 100’s grids to shade in for this!) We will move onto multiplying and dividing decimals and then geometry. You can help your child by practicing subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimals at home!
  

READING: We continued our discussion of the Fighting Ground as well as the online digital "bulletin board" to teach each other further about this war. It will incorporate social studies, reading, and writing curriculum. This week students searched for articles on their topics at their level, wrote a short summary and will present these next week.

WRITING:   We read an article about how manners are on the decline in our country that looked at both sides of whether this matters or not. Students chose a side to debate and are writing a short persuasive piece that will be due Tuesday.

SCIENCE: Students took the quiz on Thursday. We studied magnetism as a non-contact force and completed an investigation. We also watched a video clip about the Maglev trains that don’t make contact with the track by using a magnetic force. We also learned about the 4 components of flight: lift, thrust, gravity, and drag. We made and tested paper airplanes. Monday students will compete with their designs for the farthest flight.

Spelling: Students completed Test 21. They will come home on Monday. The lists for Lesson 22 and 23 will come home on Monday.

WEEK OF MARCH 4-8

WEEK OF MARCH 4-8

Thursday, March 14.................... 5th graders to middle school for visit/Parent meeting
Saturday, March 16 ....................Everything For Kids Sale 9:00-2:00
Monday March 18....................... PTO Meeting
Monday, March 18...................... Puberty lessons begin.

I enjoyed meeting with you last week during conferences. If you have any further questions, be sure to contact me!

  MARCH BOOK PROJECT: Students have chosen to complete their reading bookmark each week instead of a project I have. They should be reading a minimum of 20 minutes each time they read. 
 
Math: We did the study guide for chapter 8 math on Friday. We will review and the test will be on Thursday. We are moving to adding and subtracting decimals next and then multiplying and dividing decimals. We will continue to review fractions weekly.
  

READING: We have been reading and discussing The Fighting Ground this last week and will continue this week. We are practicing comprehension strategies as a whole group, pairs and individually as well as working on vocabulary. We watched a video clip showing the type of gun a Revolutionary War soldier would have used and how difficult it was to use as this is something in our  novel that the main character struggles with. We are also working in pairs to study Revolutionary War events and people and creating an online digital presentation and "bulletin board" to teach each other further about this war. It will incorporate social studies, reading, and writing curriculum.

WRITING:   Students will be presenting their biography Power Points this week. We will work on a short persuasive piece as well.

SCIENCE: We completed a study guide for an upcoming quiz. We will study in class and students will take their study guides home on Monday. The quiz is Wednesday. We will begin our investigations into flight and magnetism this week.

Spelling: Students completed Test 20. The test over lesson 21 is Friday- students already received this list to study.

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 25- FEBRUARY 28

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 25- FEBRUARY 28

Monday, March  4...................................Ned Show Assembly
Monday/Tuesday, March 4th/5th .........CONFERENCES
Friday March 8.............................Half day of school- Dismissal is at 11:40-no lunch
Saturday, March 16 ....................Everything For Kids Sale 9:00-2:00
Monday March 18....................... PTO Meeting



CONFERENCES: I look forward to visiting with you at conferences. Remember that you child is welcome to come along!! Most students have a brief iMovie to share with you! If your child cannot come or you want a conference with me without your child, you can view their iMovie on the website later.


RED CROSS: We had some people from the Red Cross come and talk about being safe at home alone. Examples of things they discussed:
 * Don't use the stove, knives, etc. just in case!
 *Do not tell people who call that your parents aren't home- 
   or just don't answer unless it is someone you know well! 
 * Don't give anyone, including friends garage code number or 
    tell where the key is hidden!  
 * Do not let anyone into the house unless it's people your parents
   have said are OK- even neighbors we don't know well shouldn't 
   be let in. 
 * Adults DO NOT need a kid's help- if someone you don't know asks for your help, ignore and walk away, say you have to go home and leave, etc.

Kids often know what they should or shouldn't do, but it is very important to help them have the words they would say in a situation as well.



March is Reading Month: Your child received a bookmark with reading activities. Choose at least 5. I'm doing it to!

Math:  I'm going to give you A LOT of information here!

I would like to give the Chapter 8 math test next Friday. I will keep you posted if that changes. We have been continually reviewing concepts as we add in others. 

The most difficult concepts for kids is keeping straight the difference between multiplying and dividing fractions and whole numbers.When you and I were growing up, we just memorized the math algorithm and moved on- and a lot of us have a hard time with fractions even as adults. Students are expected to be able to perform the algorithm (the math part!), draw what it looks like, explain what they are doing, and apply it in a word problem (real life situation) - this is how they will be tested in 2 years in math and we all need to prepare for it. 

 Math for kids and parents: These tutorials are something you may want to hang onto for next year if you find them helpful.
     When dividing fractions think: "How many ___ go into ___?"
Ex:  -->4  ÷ ½  > How many 1/2's are in 4? This tutorial will explain.
http://learnzillion.com/lessons/1042-divide-whole-numbers-by-unit-fractions-using-the-multiplicative-inverse

Ex: 

-->½ ÷ 4 > you are dividing 1/2's into 4 sections. (NOT the same as the above)

http://learnzillion.com/lessons/1039-divide-unit-fractions-by-whole-numbers-by-using-the-multiplicative-inverse

When multiplying fractions, think "Fraction OF a number."

 

-->4  x ½> What is 1/2 of 4?     
CLICK BELOW FOR THE LINK:
  Multiply a whole number x a fraction

This is a tutorial for multiplying a fraction x a fraction: (2/3  x  2/3)   
CLICK BELOW FOR THE LINK:

Multiply a fraction x a fraction

 

 *It would be helpful to have your child practice a few of these each week!
Multiply: 3 digits by 2 digits such as 457 x 23. 
Divide: 4 digits by 2 digits such as 6504 divide by 25.
    FEBRUARY BOOK PROJECT: students will begin presenting their iMovies next week. Technology and presentation/public speaking are part of the common core, so this has been a good way to incorporate those standards.

READING: We began the new genre unit with the theme, "Making Choices".
We read "Katie's Trunk" as an opening picture book and begin the The Fighting Ground on Monday. Just an FYI in case your child comes home telling you about this: This book does have a "bad word" a couple times during a battle which we will be replacing with "darn". I talk to the kids each year about how as they are getting older and reading more serious books, everything is not always goodness and light, there isn't always a happy or satisfying ending, and the characters have to be believable in the situation they are in. They know it isn't appropriate to say "bad" words and I have never had an issue with it in 5 years. Every 5th grade teacher uses this book- it's part of our curriculum that incorporates the Revolutionary War in language arts and social studies.
I will also be adding in non-fiction material.

 
WRITING:   Finishing Biographies this week! Students will be presenting their power points. We had some discussion about how to incorporate parts of their plans into various paragraphs where they best fit- this can be tough! For example: In which paragraph would the quotes they found fit best? Should you have a paragraph about interesting facts or try to incorporate them into other paragraphs where they may fit? What if you have one that doesn't work anywhere? How do we make it fit seamlessly somewhere?


SCIENCE:  We reviewed Newton's first law of motion: Part 1: an object in motion will stay in motion at the same speed and direction until an outside force acts on it. Part 2: an object at rest stays at rest unless a force acts on it. We demonstrated this ourselves. We also performed an investigation about Newton's 2nd law of motion and will finish this on Monday. We will have a quiz on Monday the 11th. I review in class and will give them a study guide.We have been doing a lot of putting the definitions and concepts into our own words and acting them out so they make sense. We also discuss how these concepts are applied to our daily lives all of the time!

Spelling: Students completed Test 19. I will send home the study list for lessons 20 and 21 on Monday.
 
Have a great weekend!
Laura Blowers