Happy Birthday, Luke!!

Happy 1/2 birthday, Matthew!!

5-2 Updates ~ 11/15

Hello 5-2 Families ~

Well, it certainly didn't feel like fall out there today!  What a beautiful gift a 65 degree day is in mid-November!!  Hope you all got outside to enjoy the sunny day :)

Important Dates

5th Grade Musical ~ Wednesday, November 18th ~ 7pm - The students have done an amazing job preparing for their performance!  Our final dress rehearsal will be a school assembly on Monday, then they should be ready to perform for you :)  Please plan to have your child in the classroom by 6:50pm.  See you all on Wednesday night!

Progress Reports Issued ~ Friday, November 20th - Please remind your children that they can check on their grades at any time by asking for a mid-term progress report.  They should be encouraged to own their grades this year, and understand the impact of daily work has on their final grades.  I've been impressed by the number of students who have asked me for their mid-term reports, and questioning how to improve their grades.  What a group of dedicated students!


What's Happening in the Classroom

Math

My math class started Unit 4 Division this week.  I was impressed with how well your students did on the pre-test for this unit!  We were able to move through the first two lessons very quickly on Friday, and will be through the rest of the unit by Friday, November 20th.  When we return, we will have one day of review, then our Unit 4 Assessment scheduled for Tuesday, December 1st.  Students can practice for this assessment by logging on to Khan Academy and practicing any of the division recommendations I have made to their accounts.  I continue to encourage the students to practice their mulitplication and division facts at home on a daily basis.  Many of the students do not have automaticity with their math facts yet, and this is impacting their ability to accurately complete the division algorithm. 

Social Studies

We're moving rather quickly through our Social Studies units as well!  We've spent the past two weeks looking at the arguments between Patriots and Loyalists in Unit 11.  The Unit 11 Assessments were sent home for a sign and return this weekend.  In this unit, they studied 6 specific historical figures and their arguments for and against independence.  Students enjoyed using Google Drawing to create Debate Cards illustrating the arguments between these two parties to help prepare them for the test.  These Debate Cards will be on display when you visit our classroom for Parent-Teacher Conferences.  Please look for the graded rubrics to come home for a sign and return by the end of the week.  Our class will also take the role of a colonist this week, and they will have the opportunity to engage in a debate:  Should we declare independence from the British??  We will also start and finish Unit 12:  Declaring Independence.  After discussing the events that led up to the colonists' decision to declare independence from the British, they will read the Declaration of Independence and then re-write it in 5th grade language.

Reading

Students have worked hard learning about the structure and reading nonfiction text.  Last week, they practiced finding context clues for vocabulary in nonfiction, as well as the main idea and supporting details.

Students will read a non-fiction graphic novel about an important person or event from the Revolutionary War period this week, and will be working on an Explain Everything (an iPad app) project using the novel.  Our new Common Core Standards have our students analyzing how illustrations and text contribute to the overall meaning, tone, and beauty in a graphic novel.  5th graders typically enjoy reading these novels, and are quite engaged as they learn to closely read a different type of text.

They will also have the opportunity to choose a historical fiction novel about the Revolutionary War.  Most of the novels give our students an accurate depiction of the war from a child's perspective. They will have 2 weeks to read these novels, then we will use them to take a closer look at the types of conflict in literature.  The content of these novels may be more mature than other novels they have been read because it deals with the topic of war, but they are completely appropriate for their grade level.  We find most students are quite engaged in these novels, and it provides an additional perspective to their study of the war.  The students and I will discuss the content of these book at length  when I assign them, but I wanted to give you all a heads up just in case they had any questions or wanted to discuss the book with you.  If you have any questions or concerns at all, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Writing

Students turned in their polished personal narratives on a memory with a special person last Friday.  I was so touched by so many of the stories!  Ask them to share their story with you, then perhaps ask them to share their story with the person they wrote about - in person, over the phone, or in an email.  Far too often we neglect to tell people the impact they have on our lives, and these essays are excellent ways to share those feelings.  We discussed their scores on the rubric, and we looked for specific ways to improve their scores.  This week, they planned and wrote two more personal narrative in 60 minutes.  Practicing the writing cycle - from planning to finished piece - within a time frame is an important skill for students to master.  I was impressed with their results.  These rubrics will be coming home for a sign and return this week.

Character Education
Since we have both Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving in November, I thought it would be an excellent month to focus on the character trait of Gratitude!  We started with a read aloud of Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, a poem many of the students were familiar with from earlier years.  As 5th graders, their response was mature and different from previous reads.  I was so impressed with the emotional reaction to the poem, and how they focused on the importance of having a heart of gratitude.  We discussed how focusing on all of the things we have in life to be thankful for creates a positive attitude in life.  They created a Gratitude Journal to begin recording all of the things they are thankful for in life.  They say that 21 days makes a habit, so for 21 days we are writing in our journals.  The journal will come home for Thanksgiving Break - the 21st day is on Thanksgiving.  I suggested to the students that they share their journals with their families for Thanksgiving.  We also created our own version of a Giving Tree in our classroom, and they filled the tree with leaves of gratitude.  I was so impressed with how many leaves they put on that tree!!  I am SO THANKFUL for everyone of your children, and the way they share their beautiful hearts every Friday as we have our character education discussions.

Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, 
and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Cheers ~

Theresa Fowler

5-2 Updates ~ 11/01

I hope you've all had a chance to enjoy the sun today....it was so nice to see it after so many rainy days!!  Beautiful fall weather out there today :)

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to our room moms ~ Mrs. Dattilo, Mrs. Melachrinakis, and Mrs. Zagorski ~ for a DELIGHTFUL Halloween party!!  They took great care organizing fun games, adorable crafts, and spooky food for all your children :)  We appreciate you!! Everyone had such a fantastic time, and we received multiple compliments from teachers who stopped in the room amazed by your children - they were so cooperative and well-behaved!  Look for the pictures below - photo credit to Mrs. Zagorski and Mrs. Greenwell - thank you!

On Wednesday, Mrs. Fitzpatrick and Ms. Davis took our 5th graders for an hour long team building activity - we so appreciate our leaders for taking the time to develop leadership and cooperative skills in our students with such an engaging activity!!  Unfortunately, the rainy weather forced our leaders to move this activity inside, but there were still plenty of smiles to go around :)  Look for pictures below!

Important Dates

Picture Re-take Day - Thursday, November 5th 

Veteran's Day Star Due - Wednesday, November 11th - Please look for email sent home with details.

5th Grade Musical Concert - Wednesday, November 18th

Progress Reports ~ send home Friday, 11/20

Fall Conferences ~ Monday, 11/23 & Tuesday, 11/24 ~ If you have not signed up yet, please do so ASAP.  If you need to schedule a different time, please shoot me an email and we'll find a time that works for both of us.


What's Going on in the Classroom?

Math
My math class will test on Unit 3 (Geometry) on Wednesday, November 11th.  They should prepare for the test by playing any of the Unit 3 games (Angle Tangle and Polygon Capture), studying the review that will come home on Friday, and logging on to both LearnZillion and Khan Academy to practice skills.  

Social Studies
We spent some time learning about Rising Tensions in the Colonies in chapter 10 of our History Alive book this week, and we asked the question:  Who's fault was the Revolutionary War?  Students looked at 6 different events - the French & Indian War, the Proclamation of 1763, the Quartering Act, the Stamp Act, the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and the Intolerable Acts - from both the Colonists' and the British perspective.  We discussed how important it is to look at any conflict in our life from both sides, and I was impressed with their ability to see each of the important events in history from both viewpoints.  Students will take their Chapter 10 Assessments on Wednesday.  They should be preparing by reviewing their Reading Questions and Chapter 10 Organizer. 

On Friday, Mr. Carpenter was in the classroom and took part in our social studies lesson.  Cantigny Park in Wheaton, formally owned by Colonel Robert McCormick, has an interactive First Division Museum which highlights our American Military History.  During my annual family visit to the property two weeks ago, I was able to pick up a Revolutionary War trunk, which included an authentic replication of a uniform and gear worn by Continental War soldier during the American Revolutionary War.  Students were fascinated and entertained as they pulled out the contents of the trunk, learned about each item the soldiers carried and wore, then watch Mr. Carpenter put the gear on himself.  I've included a couple of pictures below of Mr. Carpenter in uniform with the class.

Reading
We have been focused on non-fiction text in the second Schoolwide Unit, looking at the different types of non-fiction, non-fiction text features, and the structure of non-fiction.  Please encourage your child to focus some of their time reading non-fiction at home during this unit.  While they are still welcome to read fiction, and are still expected to write a BLB every other week on a fiction book, we would like to be sure they continue to grow in their ability to read and comprehend non-fiction text.

In the absence of reading assessments during our launch unit, your child's progress report reading grades this term come from a couple of sources.  Their grade will primarily come from an assessment of the skills learned during the first unit, including the reading behaviors, setting goals, using tools to support reading, and reading conversations.  They specific skills will be itemized on a rubric we will be discussing during conferences.  Their Reading Notebook is also scored on a rubric during a conference between the student and me, and the BLB responses are scored.

Writing
We will finish up our Personal Narratives this week, with our focus on revising and editing throughout the week.  They should be polished up by the end of the week, and will be submitted for grading by Friday.  Since we spent a great deal of time working on this rubric together, this grade will be considered a quiz grade.  Next week, students will be given 2 writing periods to writing a personal narrative independently.  The essay they write independently will be scored as an assessment.

Mr. Fowler and Mrs. Watanuki met with our future publishers for the first time on Tuesday afternoon - the students were quite excited about the meeting when they returned to the classroom!  Any students who were not able to participate in the class with Mr. Fowler is welcome to submit their writing for publication - Mr. Fowler would be happy to provide feedback to any student who submits a story for publication.  I included a picture of their meeting below.

“Whatever they grow up to be, they are still our children, and the one most important of all the things we can give to them is unconditional love.  Not a love that depends on anything at all except that they are our children.” 
~ Rosaleen Dickson

Cheers ~
Theresa Fowler