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.
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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!