Week of May 25-May 29

DUNE'S FIELD TRIP:  I have pictures in the "photos" tab. Since my class was split up, I don't have any pictures of the girls. :( if you have photos for the blog, you can send them and I will put them on

POETRY CAFE': Thank you for joining us for this! The kids worked hard to memorize, use expression, and animations to present poems. Thanks to all those who donated items for the cafe'!
  Photos are in the 'photos' tab.

Lockers: We will be cleaning out lockers Thursday and Friday. You may want to send along something for them to bring items home in.

Absence: If you know your child will miss school the last week, you should let me know as soon as possible. Tests will need to be completed before this or they will have to take a '1'. 

IMPORTANT! Friday your child brought home a Manila envelope with information for next school year and orientation in September. Please put this in a safe place for that date.

 

HOMEWORK:

1) Math workbook page 181. 

     We wrote this in planners, I showed it to kids and we talked about how to do it. 

2) Study for Monday's science test. We have studied this week. Students assured me they had their study guides to take home- we looked at these together again on Friday.

      

MATH:  

We began one of 2 study guides for our measurement unit. The test will be Thursday June 4th.

READING: 

We will complete The Fighting Ground on Monday and have more discussion and review. The assessment will be on Wednesday June 3rd. 

WRITING:

We will finalize our poetry unit this week and students will present 1 or 2 of their poems.
 
SCIENCE:
We have been reviewing the study guide. The test will be June 1st. Students are also working in groups to create their own animals including it's classification, habitat, behavioral and physical 
adaptations. 

  

About the Week of May 18th and looking ahead...

About the Week of May 18th and looking ahead... 

DUNE'S FIELD TRIP:  WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY! The weather cooperated, we had well-behaved students, and everyone had a lot of fun! Thank you to all who volunteered and and participating in the Penny War! Leftover snacks and water are being saved for another fun 5th/6th grade activity day the last week of school.


Pencils: Please send pencils with your child!

Lockers: We will be cleaning out lockers the last full week of school. You may want to send along something for them to bring items home in. 

Absence: If you know your child will miss school the last week, you should let me know as soon as possible. Tests will need to be completed before this or they will have to take a '1'.

UPCOMING DATES:

Monday May 25th: NO SCHOOL- Memorial Day 

May 28th I will be gone. The same sub they have had the other 2 times I was gone will be there.  (Mrs. VanHuis)

HOMEWORK: 

  There is no homework for Memorial Day weekend except to practice memorizing poems or if a student has finish-up work. These students talked with me and know.

        2) Reading: ALL: Reading daily is a homework expectation.       

MATH:   

   We continue in our measurement unit. We have been reviewing past concepts and added in line plots graphs, perimeter, area, and volume. Next week we will learn about compound volumes and continue reviewing all concepts. The test will be the last full week of school. I will let you know the date this coming week.

 READING: 

We are part way through The Fighting Ground, our last genre unit. We should be finishing that this weekend.We have been reading as a class so far, discussing vocabulary, character motive and reactions to events, visualizing scenes, and summarizing information. We are also reviewing how to write a summary, write a complete response, and quote accurately from text.

WRITING:

We continue with our Poetry unit this week. This centers around grammar and figurative language review and includes poems that focus on these skills, but are also fun! Mrs. Custer and I will have a "Poetry Cafe" that parents will be invited to where you may listen to your students read and act out their own poetry and the poetry of published authors.   Poetry Cafe will be May 27th in the morning. Mrs. Custer will have hers first, and then we will trade classrooms so we have a larger area for the Cafe' and so our parents who have twins are able to see both of their children. Our Poetry Cafe will be at 9:50 in Mrs. Custer's room.
 
Science:
We reviewed and discussed body systems. We will continue that discussion next week as well as complete and study the study guide. The test will be June 1st. Students are also working in groups to create their own animals including it's classification, habitat, behavioral and physical adaptations.

Spelling Students took proofreading part of Spelling Test 30 on Thursday. We will review and take the skill section which is synonyms and antonyms on Thursday. This will be the last spelling test!

 

About the Week of May 11th and looking ahead...

About the Week of May 11th and looking ahead... 

UPCOMING DATES:

Friday May 22nd: DUNES FIELD TRIP

Monday May 25th: NO SCHOOL- Memorial Day 

May 21st and May 28th I will be gone. The same sub they have had the other 2 times I was gone will be there.  (Mrs. VanHuis)

HOMEWORK: 

1) Math: Lesson: Students have a page reviewing measuring with metric units. They also have a graphic organizer to assist them.

        2) Reading: ALL: Reading daily is a homework expectation.       

MATH:   

   Our focus for measurement so far has been practicing measuring, comparing, and converting metric units of length, capacity, and mass as well as customary units of length. We will continue reviewing this and add in customary units of capacity and mass. We will also learn about line plots. Students took the 6th Grade Delta Math test this week.

 READING: 

Book club papers will come home this week- I need to get them passed back and have the kids staple them together. Those grades have been put in already. We began The Fighting Ground, our last genre unit.We have been reading as a class so far, discussing vocabulary, character motive and reactions to events, visualizing scenes, and summarizing information. We are also reviewing how to write a summary, write a complete response, and quote accurately from text.

WRITING:

I have Biographies all graded and most students have theirs returned. I will put the grades in this weekend. We began our Poetry unit this week. This centers around grammar and figurative language review and includes poems that focus on these skills, but are also fun! Mrs. Custer and I will have a "Poetry Cafe" that parents will be invited to where you may listen to your students read and act out their own poetry and the poetry of published authors.   Poetry Cafe will be May 27th in the morning. Mrs. Custer will have hers first, and then we will trade classrooms so we have a larger area for the Cafe' and so our parents who have twins are able to see both of their children.
  If you replied about donations, I will send out a slip to you on Monday as to which item to bring- and thank you!
Science:
We had our quiz on Friday over lessons 1-6.  We aslo discussed fossils and what paleontologists can discover from them. Next week we will talk about natural disasters and how they can affect climate and animal habitats. We will discuss body systems and how they work together. I am hoping there will be enough time for students to create their own animal using what they know about classification, physical and behavioral adaptations and how these work with what an animals habitat would be.

Spelling Students took Spelling Test 29 on Friday. This week's skill is synonyms and antonyms. This will be the LAST SPELLING TEST! The Lesson 30 words are in the spelling tab. Your child should study these particularly if the proofreading has been difficult for them. The spelling tests typically get a little more difficult toward the end of the year now. I will give paper copies out to anyone who wants one.

 

About the Week of May 4th and looking ahead...

About the Week of May 4th and looking ahead... 

UPCOMING DATES:

Tuesday, May 12th:   SRI Test

Thursday May 14th:  6th Grade Delta Test

Friday May 15th:  Dibels Test

Friday May 22nd: DUNES FIELD TRIP

Monday May 25th: NO SCHOOL- Memorial Day 

May 21st and May 28th I will be gone. The same sub they have had the other 2 times I was gone will be there.  (Mrs. Vanhuis)

HOMEWORK: 

1) Math: I sent home Pg 70 for students. This reviews 6th grade Delta concepts

        2) Reading: ALL: Reading daily is a homework expectation.       

MATH:   

  Students completed the Algebra Test on Thursday and most of these went home Friday. The rest will be on Monday. I talk with each students about their test even if they only missed 1, so it takes some time. Some students will retake parts of the Division Test this coming Friday if they received a '1' or '2' on any sections. We have been reviewing these concepts daily.  It would be beneficial for students to watch the "Dividing Decimals -long division" video.
  Friday we began our last unit, Measurement and Geometry. Students have many graphic organizers to assist them and we will be practicing using containers for volume and capacity and using measuring tools.

 READING: 

Book Club is complete and students have taken their assessments. Students are putting all of their assignments together with their assessments and bringing them home later this week. Tuesday we begin The Fighting Ground, our last 5th grade genre unit. A letter was sent home this week by Mrs. Custer and myself about there being some language in this book that centers around a Revolutionary War battle. I make this particular section of the book one of the ones I read aloud to the kids and replace the word. It isn't something that is throughout the book, but in one section.

WRITING:

Students have begun writing their Biography drafts. Most students have their biographies and bibliographies completed. We will begin a Poetry unit this week. Our poetry unit will center around grammar and figurative language review and include poems that focus on these skills, but are also fun! Mrs. Custer and I will have a "Poetry Cafe" that parents will be invited to where you may listen to your students read and act out their own poetry and the poetry of published authors.  
Poetry Cafe will be May 27th in the morning. We will send a note and email reminder.



Science:
We have been reading about and looking at examples of animal adaptations and how these adaptations help animals survive. We also discussed what inherited traits are. Examples are eye color, hair color, right/left handed, etc. We reviewed classification and discussed animal observation techniques. Tuesday students will have a quiz over our first 6 lessons which cover classification and adaptations.

Spelling Students took Spelling Test 28 on Friday. This week's skill is using apostrophes. The Lesson 29 words are in the spelling tab. Your child should study these particularly if the proofreading has been difficult for them. The spelling tests typically get a little more difficult toward the end of the year now. I will give paper copies out to anyone who wants one.

 

About the Week of April 27th and looking ahead...

About the Week of April 27th and looking ahead... 

* Dunes Trip Waivers need to be turned in by Monday.

* Our school is completely out of pencils so please send them with your child.

HOMEWORK: 

1) Math: I sent home a math page for students.

        2) Reading: ALL: Reading daily is a homework expectation.

              Walk Two Moons: These students were to read a section of their book.

               Gilly Hopkins: These students were to finish the last 5 pages of their book

              SOME:  Practice their fluency passage and ready to test on Thursday.

MATH:   

  We have been reviewing all concepts for our Algebra Unit. Students will take the test on Wednesday and we will begin our next unit, Measurement and Geometry on Thursday. We will also take the 5th grade Delta Math Test on Thursday this week. The 6th grade Delta will follow in a couple weeks. We have been consistently doing review for concepts on both of these tests.  Some students will retake parts of the Division Test the week of the 11th. If a student received a 1 or 2, they will need to retake that part. We have been reviewing this on homework and in class often. It would be beneficial for students to watch the "Dividing Decimals -long division" video.

 
 READING: 

We will complete book club this week and have assessments for each book.I've really enjoyed the discussion time with the groups and especially listening in as they get involved in their own discussions and finding answers to my questions and their own! Students are in groups reading, discussing and working on comprehension strategies. I sit in with groups each day, listening in and joining the discussion. They will choose a project to complete and have an assessment at the end of their book.

  We will work on nonfiction for a few days until we being our final novel, The Fighting Ground.

WRITING:

Students have begun writing their Biography drafts. These are due at the end of class on Monday including revising and editing. I will then conference with students and they will begin final drafts. These are due Monday May 11 at the latest. I have been doing a mini-lesson addressing various parts of the biography process before and after work time using student work as this is helpful in showing students expectations and answering questions. Some students may need (or want) to bring it home for homework. Students have a page with all the standards. There are several presentation, research, reading, and writing standards for this piece. 

  We will begin a Poetry unit the week of May 11th. Mrs. Custer and I will have a Poetry Party that parents will be invited to where you may listen to your students read and act out their own poetry and the poetry of published authors. We are projecting this date to be May 27th in the morning.

Science:
We have been discussing animal and plant classification and basic survival needs as well as observing and caring for our animals. We will continue our investigation  of adaptations that help animals to survive in their environment.

Spelling Students took Spelling Test 27 on Friday. This week's skill is the rules for spelling words with double letters. The Lesson 28 words are in the spelling tab. Your child should study these particularly if the proofreading has been difficult for them. The spelling tests typically get a little more difficult toward the end of the year now. I will give paper copies out to anyone who wants one.