Next week: 


Monday:      Math Test
                     Spelling Test
                     Reading and math homework due.
                     Conferences


Tuesday:       Conferences


Wednesday:   ORANGE DAY! Wear orange, black if you don't 
                         have orange!
  
                      Release Time 2:30-3:30
                      Last day of school for the week!
                      FRIDAY SCHEDULE: We will run a Friday 
                             specials this day- we'll have Art instead of Music.


PENNY WAR: I will send home a note about the penny war soon as well as post to the blog. But if your child is talking about it-
   In brief, it is our fifth grade fundraiser for the end-of-the-year field trip to the dunes.
   The classes compete to raise the most money-pennies count for you, other coins against you.
   It is the last 3 days of school before Thanksgiving break.


I'm sure the kids were happy to be done with MEAP this week! They completed the math and science MEAPs.  Because of this testing we had loose ends to wrap up each day which made for a bit of a strange week for them.


Math: We have been reviewing concepts and completed the study guide. I always review any problems students had difficulty with as a group and/or individually. The test over Chapter 2 is Monday. We will begin our division unit Tuesday.
MANY students need to practice multiplication and division math facts. They will need to know them for all future units and knowing them well will save them time and stress.   


Writing: Students should be completing their "River Tour" narrative pieces by next Tuesday.


Reading: We finished reading "Guests" which is the focal novel of our historical fiction genre unit with a theme of dealing with change. We also read "Brother Eagle, Sister Sky" this week, an adaptation of Chief Seattle's speech when asked to allow our government to buy their lands. We writing written responses to focus questions which requires students to follow an answer plan and write from what they  learn from reading and discussing the text.
We will begin guided reading groups after the break.


Science: Students are working in groups to make a poster that gives information about a planet that they chose to research. They will present these on Tuesday.