HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

This will be short, but just wanted to mention a few things.

Thank you for the cards and gifts and candy canes! They are appreciated and thank you notes were either sent home with your child or will arrive in the mail.

Charity Project:  This is a concept that Mrs. Maxson started about 3 years ago when we worked at Hamilton El. This year we raised nearly $700. Sudney Wedeven's name was drawn and she chose the money to go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
Thank you to all parents who donated candy canes and volunteered to sell them in the mornings.

Eloquence Day: I am so glad we could continue this event that was done at both Hamilton El. and Sandyview in the past! Thursday we practice manners and etiquette. I gave them a place setting and a soft cookie so could cut it and practice while we discussed. The kids were pretty excited about the whole event and it was fun.
Thank you to all parents who helped out with this event! We couldn't do it without you!

PHOTOS: I took some pictures and posted them in the "PHOTOS" section of the blog. Parents took pictures of all students so I may be able add more to this later!

Homework: Each student has an "RTI"packet that has specific items to each students that were not passed on the first Delta math test as well as review material. Your child knows he/she DOES NOT need to finish this packet. I simply said to work on a few per page or on the concepts they knew they needed more work on most...
The Delta tests six 4th grade concepts and is timed for fluency. We will take this test again in January.

Book Project: Students chose books for their book projects for January. They were given the opportunity to take the book home and begin reading over the break.
*This is not due until the end of January and they don't have the project yet.

 Writing: Students just finished a writing project. I will be grading these over the next few days. 
I will send the rubric and the paper your child wrote to you by email.

We read the article, "Are Extreme Sports Good for Kids?" and generated most of the information for this opinion piece as a class. We filled in and followed a specific outline. Then students wrote their piece. The next time your child will find the information and fill out the planning form primarily on their own.



Enjoy your extra time with your kids! :)

Both an invitation for students and a parent note went home with your child about the following events on Friday.

CHRISTMAS GIFT GIVING:   Candy cane/ticket sales will begin Monday morning and go through Thursday. $1 per ticket/candy cane combination.
Last week's blog had information about the 5th grade having no gift exchange, rather students/teachers will be able to buy a ticket/candy cane as a gift for a friend or teacher. Money will be collected and the student whose name is drawn will get to choose the charity donations will go to.
 We talked about various charities on Thursday and the importance of giving to others.
  ELOQUENCE DAY!! 
  This will be Friday, December 19th. Buses will pick us up at 10:45 and we will return no later than 12:30.
  CLOTHING:

Come to school wearing Eloquence Day outfit. Students should bring additional clothes to change into if they have PE or if they just want to change for the remainder of the day.

  *Homework this weekend- Math- this is in their planners- students have different assignments so they'll need to check their planners.
  No December Book Project, but reading is expected daily homework.

MATH: 
 There are tutorials for cross-multiplying, fractions X a fraction, and fraction X a whole number, and dividing fractions and whole numbers in the math tab. 

We continue review of adding and subtracting fractions, multiplying and dividing fractions. This week we added in division of fractions and used play dough to make models. We will have a quiz on Monday over multiplying fractions.
 
   RETEST: Next week, I will be giving any student who received a '1' on any section of the "Adding & Subtracting Fractions" test a retake of those sections missed. After all the review we have done and now doing many of the same concepts in this unit in addition to the new, this will be a good time to take it again.

LANGUAGE ARTS
  We continue with book clubs reading Long Way from Chicago. We read an article about kids and extreme sports as well as watched a video clip. Students worked on comprehension questions and we are working on writing an opinion piece choosing whether they think extreme sports are OK for kids or too dangerous.

SCIENCE:

Students took the test on Tuesday. Scores are in Powerschool, but they will not be able to take the test home until all students have completed it. We have had many absent students in the 2 classes I teach.  This coming week we will be reading nonfiction articles about forces and motion.

 

Spelling: We took the skill and proofreading tests Friday. This will come home Monday.

CHRISTMAS GIFT GIVING:  
Last week's blog had information about the 5th grade having no gift exchange, rather students/teachers will be able to buy a ticket/candy cane as a gift for a friend or teacher. Money will be collected and the student whose name is drawn will get to choose the charity donations will go to.
  Candy cane/ticket sales will begin next week and I will let you know an exact date in advance.

*This coming week I will be talking to students about various charities and having them tell the class about charities they are familiar with- I think it will take too much time to research and make it a writing project at this point as I had planned.

ELOQUENCE DAY!! Hamilton Elementary has had an Eloquence Day for years and Sandyview also joined in awhile back. This year we're bringing it to the middle school!

WHAT IS IT? Our 5th Grade Christmas Party. 
        *We teach the students table manners, how a table is set properly, etc. 
        * We seat students boy/girl at random and boys pull chairs out for girls.
        * We dress up! Girls in skirts or dresses. Boys in slacks and nice shirt, etc. What you'd wear  to church, but get as fancy as you want! I will explain this all to the kids this week.
     NOTE: This is meant to be fun, not stressful so please know that you should not feel the need to go shopping! For example: If your boy only has jeans, this is fine. We are hoping they have something other than a t-shirt.

WHEN IS IT?      December 19th
WHERE IS IT?   The Cafe' de Elequonce' - meaning we don't tell the kids where this event is held to keep it fun and we change it around on occasion. So if you find yourself being a parent volunteer- PLEASE keep this a secret from your child as they understandably find it very difficult to refrain from telling friends.

  *Homework this weekend- Math- this is in their planners-some students completed this Friday.
  No December Book Project, but reading is expected daily homework.

MATH: 
 There are tutorials for cross-multiplying, fractions X a fraction, and fraction X a whole number in the math tab. 

We continue with multiplying whole numbers and fractions and fractions by fractions. We have added in cross-multiplying and are also looking at comparing fractions. We will begin multiplying mixed numbers this week. We will have our first quiz on Friday. 
   RETEST: Next week, I will be giving any student who received a '1' on any section of the "Adding & Subtracting Fractions" test the opportunity to retake those sections. After all the review we have done and now doing many of the same concepts in this unit in addition to the new, this will be a good time to take it again.
  Reminder that if you have a can of playdough to send with your child for math, please do so.

LANGUAGE ARTS
  We continue with book clubs reading Long Way from Chicago. Students read their "Turkey" stories on Friday and we had hot chocolate. We will write a short opinion piece about a nonfiction article we'll be reading this week about kids and extreme sports.

SCIENCE:

We have been studying all week for the science test which will be on Tuesday. Students were to bring the study guide home Friday and study. We will review Monday as well. Wednesday we will be using computers to do some roller coaster activities involving forces and motion. Thursday we will go over test results.

 

Spelling:
This week's spelling words are in the spelling tab.
We took the skill and proofreading tests Friday. This will come home Monday. Students typically have a lesson, homework page (which often gets completed in class) This week's skill is contractions.

We will also focus on verbs and noun review.