WEEK OF SEPT. 19th-23rd

HOMEWORK IS DUE MONDAY, SEPT. 26TH

MATH TEST WILL BE WEDNESDAY SEPT 28TH

FUSION PAGE: I apologize if you have not been able to regularly access my fusion page- the program began having difficulties when school started. Hopefully it works correctly by Monday for good.

MATH: 

We continued prepping for the MEAP test with review activities and a couple games. We will completed our first chapter (Numeration) and will do the Study Guide Monday with the test on Wednesday. Tuesday we'll begin our 2nd chapter which is multiplication. 

WRITING: 

Some students have completed their "Summer" writing piece and emailed it or handed it to me. Those who have not finished must have them to me by Monday.  This week we also had MEAP prep activities- reading and responding to written pieces. We'll begin a short project on writing captions and practice writing captions for pictures, focusing on sentence types and descriptive vocabulary.

READING:

We have read several nonfiction texts this week and practiced going back into the text to locate the answers. We discussed "right there" questions, 

We also read the book, "My Lucky Day" and used it to practice inferencing (reading between the lines) skills.

SPELLING: 

We took the lesson 2 tests. I will have those in Powerschool this weekend and they will come home on Monday. We continue to do grammar work which is focused on nouns and types of nouns.

SCIENCE: 

We continue to learn and try to understand the concept of seasons. We watched a couple Bill Nye video clips. Students made a model of the Earth and Sun and the presented their demonstration of the relationship between the Earth and sun and answered questions about it. We had a quiz on Friday and next we begin talking about the moon.

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 12

BOOK ORDERS DUE MONDAY, SEPT. 19TH.

HOMEWORK IS DUE MONDAY. (Reading and math)

Constitution Day: Students learned about the preamble in Mrs. Maxson's room. She taught them motions to go with the words and all of 5th grade presented it to classes during lunch. We also had cake and cupcakes decorated in Read, White, and Blue to celebrate our constitution.


MATH: 
We continue prepping for the MEAP test with review activities. We will complete our first chapter (Numeration) this coming week. The test will be Monday, Sept. 26th. Next week we'll work on rounding whole numbers and decimals, adding and subtracting decimals, and reviewing concepts.


WRITING:
Students began writing a prompt about their summer. These should be completed by the end of next week. Our next project is to learn about captions and practice writing captions for pictures, focusing on sentence types and descriptive vocabulary.


READING:
We discussed the text structure of comparing and contrasting then practiced this concept in our reading and writing. We read two historical fiction books about Japanese internment camps and compared/contrasted them as well as focused on comprehension strategies. We also focused on text features found in nonfiction texts and next week will complete an activity based on these features.


SPELLING: 
We took the lesson 1 tests. I will have those in Powerschool this weekend and they will come home on Monday.

SCIENCE: 
We continue to learn and try to understand the concept of seasons. Why do we have longer or shorter days in certain seasons? We have read, made models, and watched a couple good video clips to demonstrate what is happening. By the way, it is the Earth's tilt and the relationship the Earth to the sun in its orbit.

Social Studies:
Students have been studying the constitution and latitude and longitude.

SPELLING CITY and CONSITUTION DAY

Spelling City

Spelling City is a great way or your child to study for spelling bu playing games and taking practice tests. Your child has been on the site at school. We will have list 1 loaded by Tuesday!

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.  Then click the lesson you need. Try each area:  Teach, Test & Games. You must go through each of these activities in order.

CONSTITUTION DAY

On Friday, September 16, we will celebrate the birthday of the United States Constitution. Students are asked to wear red, white and blue again!! All fifth graders will be reciting the preamble to the constitution for the rest of the student body at lunch time.

The preamble goes like this........

We the People of the United States
In order to form a more perfect union,
establish justice,
ensure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty
to ourselves and our posterity
do ordain and establish this constitution
for the United States of America! 

SEPT 7-9

Friday September 16 is Constitution Day! Wear Red, White, and Blue!

*Our school fusion sites have been experiencing some difficulty, but keep checking it - hopefully this will be wrapped up soon.

*The first week of school is past, and we will be getting more and more into a regular school routine- with some fun thrown in here and there, of course! I look forward to getting to know each student better and will be enjoying lunch a group at a time to have some extra time with them.

*This week we played the song and video, "18 Wheels on a Big Rig" for a fun way to learn a little about Roman numerals as students run across these from time to time. We played some spelling, math, and dice games, and watched a couple funny random videos to get our energy up- they really like, "Yeah, Toast!" We practiced maneuvering through the blog and tried the fusion page. 

SPELLING: The students were introduced to Spelling City where they will be able to practice their words each week, play games, and take practice tests. This site is on the fusion page as a link. Next week we will begin lesson 1 - we'll have the word list on there soon. Homework comes home on Tuesday and tests are on Friday.

MATH: We are working on MEAP prep material- factors, multiples, multiplication, and the distributive property. We have completed the first 2 lessons in our Place Value chapter. We'll continue next week and continue to review as well. A link to  Funbrain place value games is in the links section of the blog and fusion page.

READING: We read a nonfiction article about Box Jellyfish. We had a discussion about text features, practiced using context clues to figure out vocabulary in the text, and worked on looking for answers to comprehension questions within the text. We also read an article about bullying and practiced "buzzing" about it.


WRITING: We'll begin next week.


SCIENCE: We began our Objects in the Sky unit on Friday. Monday your child will be given a sheet to track of the phase of the moon each night and record it in picture form. They'll bring this home on Monday. If it's cloudy or you miss it, you can look online to find the information. 

http://www.woodtv.com/subindex/weather/lifestyle/air_quality 

SOCIAL STUDIES: The class met Mrs. Maxson and are beginning their first unit of study. Friday Mrs. Maxson gave a presentation about 9/11.

 

SUPPLY LIST 2011-2012

You may bring supplies to Open House or the first day of school.

Below is the fifth grade supply list:

·      A backpack to transport items to and from school daily (w/o wheels)

·      A pencil bag – no boxes, please.

·      1 folder for bringing items to and from school daily

·      2 Post-it pads

·      Colored pencils! (We use these most often!)

·      Markers (box of 8 is fine-your choice)

·      A Highlighter

·      4 dry erase markers- I have white boards we use frequently for work

·      Pencil Top Erasers (Optional-but if you lose them often it may be wise)

·      Hand Sanitizer (Optional- your own or a small one for whole class)

·      1 box of Tissues (Optional, but helpful)

·      Personal pencil sharpener (Optional)

Please do not bring the following:

       *Trapper keeper                  * Compass                  *Toys of any Kind!!

* I will provide a binder, white board, folders, notebooks, planners, scissors,                            pens, etc.

* If you want to bring your own pens, this is fine, but please no red or black ink.

* I allow mechanical pencils, provided they are not a distraction to the user. You’ll          need to supply your own lead!

Enjoy the rest of your summer!         

Sincerely,

Mrs. Blowers

Dunes Pictures and Summer notes

MATH WEBSITES:
  Your child received 4 pgs of websites to work on math concepts over the summer. I strongly encouraged them to visit these sites and work on concepts they had difficulties with. They are pretty self-aware and know what those are. 

SUMMER READING: 
I know you hear this every year, but READ! READ! READ!
Yes, it DOES make a difference. Your children will be expected to read an increasing amount of material, both fiction and non-fiction over the next few years. Increasing their speed will help them complete work more quickly (which they will be quite happy about!)
Reading frequently also increases vocabulary which is critical to comprehension. Improvement in reading, like improvement in sports, comes with practice. 

LAST WORDS ABOUT THE YEAR: 
  I have truly enjoyed the time with your children. Getting to know them as individuals, watching them grow and learn academically and socially. It has been such a fun class! I will miss them, but luckily I will definitely be seeing many of them around! 

6th Grade:
  They will LOVE next year!!!!
Follow the rules, work hard, and be responsible, and next year will be a successful year for all!

PHOTOS:

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!!

Week of June 6 - June 9

Monday, June 6  

Science Test- students are aware of this and wrote it in planners on Thursday. We played jeopardy to review as well as worked through a study guide and discussed it. They took it home Thursday.

 

6th grade Delta Math test:  We will take the part of this test on Monday and complete it on Tuesday. 

This tests 5th grade outcomes: Multiplying 3-digit by 2-digit numbers, division, adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions, and decimal operations. We have been reviewing these concepts.

 

We'll work on some of our poetry pieces that focus on grammar.

All three 5th grade teachers Will treat the kids to a walk to the Hawks' Nest for ice cream!

 

 

 Tuesday, June 7 - 

 1) 5th Grade Graduation (2:30 - 3:30)

                  Students should dress nicely! It doesn't have to be fancy like Eloquence Day, just nicer

                casual clothing. Bring a camera! Some students have chosen to present something from their K-5th grade years. Some have chosen to display an item. Items can be brought on Monday or Tuesday.

  2) Finish Delta math test.

 

  3) We'll have popcicles with our reading buddies today.

 Wednesday, June 8-  Choose your seat day!

 1) Silent Auction: The kids have been earning tickets this year for various reasons and I have purchased some items and gotten some donations for the auction. I sent a note (pink) home later than I should have to ask for your help in adding to the auction. If you can do so, it would be greatly appreciated by the kids and me!

2) Last Sit-n-Sip - so I'm allowing Mountain Dew!

Thursday, June 9: Last Day!

   1) Break the Rules Day - 

    You may bring gum and wear a hat. 

    Wear your track and field day shirt or grey Hamilton shirt!

  2)Last Blast

     3 bounce houses in the morning for 1/2 an hour and then a variety of activities after 2:00.

 

 3) 5th Grade Tunnel!

     To get a picture, be at the front of the building on the south side toward bus area. This is where the end is - it is around 3:30ish.

                

     4) Report cards will be sent home June 16 by mail!

 

 

I have absolutely loved working with your children this year! Thank you so much!!