Monday, September 30, 2013
Friday, September 20, 2013
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!!
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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.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
September 9th - 13th
Monday, Sept. 16. ....... PTO Meeting 6:30-7:30 in the Media Center
Monday, Oct. 1.............FUNDRAISER ENDS
Saturday Oct. 5.............EVERYTHING FOR KIDS SALE - 9am -2 pm
Tuesday, Oct. 2............SCHOOL PICTURES and COUNT DAY
Tuesday Oct. 8.............MEAP TESTING BEGINS
Mon., Oct. 21..............PTO Meeting
MEAP PREP SITE: If you would like to help your child prepare for the MEAP at home, you can access this site: http://www.linkstolearning.com/links/TestPrep/meap.htm
I will be using this site along with other materials as well.
BIG NUMBER BUDDIES:
Mrs. Sikma asked if our class would assist her class with reading and writing big numbers. Of course we were happy to help! Here is a collage of photos that Mrs. Sikma took!
MATH:
We continue to focus on MEAP Prep review and our first unit which is Order of Operations. What does MEAP prep include? Aspects of multiplication, division, decimals, geometry, fractions, measurement, etc. The students are learning the PEMDAS means working left to right, Parentheses, Exponent, Multiply, Divide, Add, and Subtract.
The Delta math test is next week. It covers 4th grade outcomes in the areas of multiplication, division and some fraction content.
HAVE YOUR CHILD PRACTICE MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION FACTS PLEASE!
This is going to help your child move more quickly through the math work they do and feel less stress.
READING
Students took the SRI test on Friday. We continue to work on MEAP Prep material, comprehension strategies, how to find and respond to different types of questions and practice vocabulary strategies and literary devices.
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 read the book, "A Bad Case of Stripes" on Monday. The students are writing their own "Bad Case of _____" stories. We have practiced what makes a quality introduction and what signals tell us when to transition to a new paragraph- this will take some time and practice. This week we will discuss the difference between editing and revising- 2 skills that make better writers!
SPELLING:
Students took the Skills and Word tests on Friday. This will come home with them on Tuesday. Spelling list 2 will come home on Monday. The test will be the following Monday, NOT this Friday. The skill this week is double consonants.
SCIENCE:
This week we began our first science unit, Forces and Motion. Our first lesson is about motion and the forces involved. Students worked in groups to design a marble run that would allow the marble to go the SLOWEST it could without stopping from one end of a table to the others. Student are revising their first designs and repeating again on Tuesday.
Friday, September 6, 2013
September 3rd - 6th
DATES:
Monday, Sept. 16. ....... PTO Meeting 6:30-7:30 in the Media Center
Monday, Oct. 1.............FUNDRAISER ENDS
Saturday Oct. 5.............EVERYTHING FOR KIDS SALE - 9am -2 pm
Tuesday, Oct. 2............SCHOOL PICTURES and COUNT DAY
Tuesday Oct. 8.............MEAP TESTING BEGINS
Mon., Oct. 21..............PTO Meeting
MEAP PREP SITE: If you would like to help your child prepare for the MEAP at home, you can access this site: http://www.linkstolearning.com/links/TestPrep/meap.htm
I will be using this site along with other materials as well.
CONTACT ME: You should feel comfortable contacting me at anytime by email, note or phone call.
EVERYTHING FOR KIDS SALE:
If you would like to donate kid’s items to the sale with 100% of the proceeds going to Hamilton El. PTO. Last fall, the sale made about $2,000 for Hamilton El’s PTO. If you would like more information, please see the school newsletter I attached.
------------------
I have had such a wonderful week with your kids! They are fun and energizing to be around.
We had so much fun playing soccer at the end of the day today!
We are working on making quieter, quick transitions and are beginning to get that down!
Some FYI items:
- I have told the class that they are welcome to email me when they have questions about work, etc.
- We are talking about the habits of Peacemakers in the classroom and the habits of Peacebreakers.
- I am stressing to the kids that they need to be OK with making mistakes as we learn this way!
- We will keep talking about the fact that having to work hard doesn't mean we won't "get" it, we just need more time and practice.
- Ask questions- others probably have them, too!
- It's OK to talk together and work together - we learn more and faster- just stay focused on the learning.
- It's great to get the answer, but the process of getting there, persistence, how to think through a problem, hard work and working together that is also important.
- If we are feeling worried or stressed- tell Mrs. Blowers or write me a note so we can come up with strategies to cope with it. Then our brains can think better!
MATH:
We are focusing on MEAP Prep review, but also began our first unit which is Order of Operations. The students are learning the PEMDAS means working left to right, Parentheses, Exponent, Multiply, Divide, Add, and Subtract. We have spent time reviewing multiplying and dividing. Most students know the "box" method, which is good! They are uncomfortable with the "regular way" which is what we are focusing on now.
How can you help at home? Having your child do 2 or 3 multiplication or division problems a few times each week will make a big difference in their skill and confidence level.
Multiplication> 4 digits x 1 digit and 2 digits x 2 digits.
Division> 4 digits by 1 digit.
HAVE YOUR CHILD PRACTICE MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION FACTS PLEASE!
This is going to help your child move more quickly through the math work they do and feel less stress.
READING
I am in the process of introducing The Daily 5 and Cafe to the class. We are also working on MEAP Prep material, different types of questions and what is required to respond to them and find the answers, and vocabulary. We began our first genre unit book, "Guests" for read aloud time. Students are reading along in their own books. We will practice vocabulary strategies, literary devices and comprehension strategies.
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 discussed writing behaviors. We read The Important Book and wrote a very short piece, "The Important Thing About Me". Next week we will begin our first writing piece.
SPELLING:
Students took Achievement Test 1 today. This is for them to have a practice run and for me to see how they perform. Spelling tests are every Friday. Monday begins the new lesson. The spelling list will be sent home Monday.
SCIENCE:
We have been doing MEAP Prep for science (we made a game of it to make it more fun!) as well as practicing group roles and how to work as a team.
MEAP Prep: We are using using a MEAP Prep site. I am working with the class on how to read the questions, to focus in on unknown vocabulary and important vocabulary, strategies for figuring out vocabulary, strategies for understanding the question when we can't figure out a vocab word, the importance of reading every answer, how to look at the answers and decide which ones don't make sense, etc.
Students used role cards for a team building activity where they tried to build the tallest tower using marshmallows and spaghetti. They had fun! I was so proud of ALL of them as no one got upset with group members and they were really working together to include each person and solve issues with their structures.
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
Monday, Sept. 16. ....... PTO Meeting 6:30-7:30 in the Media Center
Monday, Oct. 1.............FUNDRAISER ENDS
Saturday Oct. 5.............EVERYTHING FOR KIDS SALE - 9am -2 pm
Tuesday, Oct. 2............SCHOOL PICTURES and COUNT DAY
Tuesday Oct. 8.............MEAP TESTING BEGINS
Mon., Oct. 21..............PTO Meeting
MEAP PREP SITE: If you would like to help your child prepare for the MEAP at home, you can access this site: http://www.linkstolearning.com/links/TestPrep/meap.htm
I will be using this site along with other materials as well.
CONTACT ME: You should feel comfortable contacting me at anytime by email, note or phone call.
EVERYTHING FOR KIDS SALE:
If you would like to donate kid’s items to the sale with 100% of the proceeds going to Hamilton El. PTO. Last fall, the sale made about $2,000 for Hamilton El’s PTO. If you would like more information, please see the school newsletter I attached.
------------------
I have had such a wonderful week with your kids! They are fun and energizing to be around.
We had so much fun playing soccer at the end of the day today!
We are working on making quieter, quick transitions and are beginning to get that down!
Some FYI items:
- I have told the class that they are welcome to email me when they have questions about work, etc.
- We are talking about the habits of Peacemakers in the classroom and the habits of Peacebreakers.
- I am stressing to the kids that they need to be OK with making mistakes as we learn this way!
- We will keep talking about the fact that having to work hard doesn't mean we won't "get" it, we just need more time and practice.
- Ask questions- others probably have them, too!
- It's OK to talk together and work together - we learn more and faster- just stay focused on the learning.
- It's great to get the answer, but the process of getting there, persistence, how to think through a problem, hard work and working together that is also important.
- If we are feeling worried or stressed- tell Mrs. Blowers or write me a note so we can come up with strategies to cope with it. Then our brains can think better!
MATH:
We are focusing on MEAP Prep review, but also began our first unit which is Order of Operations. The students are learning the PEMDAS means working left to right, Parentheses, Exponent, Multiply, Divide, Add, and Subtract. We have spent time reviewing multiplying and dividing. Most students know the "box" method, which is good! They are uncomfortable with the "regular way" which is what we are focusing on now.
How can you help at home? Having your child do 2 or 3 multiplication or division problems a few times each week will make a big difference in their skill and confidence level.
Multiplication> 4 digits x 1 digit and 2 digits x 2 digits.
Division> 4 digits by 1 digit.
HAVE YOUR CHILD PRACTICE MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION FACTS PLEASE!
This is going to help your child move more quickly through the math work they do and feel less stress.
READING
I am in the process of introducing The Daily 5 and Cafe to the class. We are also working on MEAP Prep material, different types of questions and what is required to respond to them and find the answers, and vocabulary. We began our first genre unit book, "Guests" for read aloud time. Students are reading along in their own books. We will practice vocabulary strategies, literary devices and comprehension strategies.
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 discussed writing behaviors. We read The Important Book and wrote a very short piece, "The Important Thing About Me". Next week we will begin our first writing piece.
SPELLING:
Students took Achievement Test 1 today. This is for them to have a practice run and for me to see how they perform. Spelling tests are every Friday. Monday begins the new lesson. The spelling list will be sent home Monday.
SCIENCE:
We have been doing MEAP Prep for science (we made a game of it to make it more fun!) as well as practicing group roles and how to work as a team.
MEAP Prep: We are using using a MEAP Prep site. I am working with the class on how to read the questions, to focus in on unknown vocabulary and important vocabulary, strategies for figuring out vocabulary, strategies for understanding the question when we can't figure out a vocab word, the importance of reading every answer, how to look at the answers and decide which ones don't make sense, etc.
Students used role cards for a team building activity where they tried to build the tallest tower using marshmallows and spaghetti. They had fun! I was so proud of ALL of them as no one got upset with group members and they were really working together to include each person and solve issues with their structures.
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
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