We have been having a great time in 5-2 so far this week learning routines and doing several team building activities. Hopefully, your child has come home and shared some of these fun activities with you! Not only have they enjoyed the activities, but they have spurred some excellent reflection on how to work in cooperative groups throughout the year. Our discussions have included insights on the importance of asking clarifying questions and including everyone's ideas in the process.
Important Dates and Information:
Morning Announcements - Permissions slips were sent home this week. If your child is interested in being on our Morning Announcements team, please read the information carefully, and send in the permission slip. They will be put on a rotating schedule to serve in one week intervals. You will be notified when your child is on the Morning Announcement schedule - they are expected to be here at 8:45am during that entire week.
Band ~ Band lesson will begin next week. If your child signed up for band in the spring, they received information from Mrs. Kuzmanoff on Friday to bring home to you. If you have your child's instrument at home, please have them bring it to school on Wednesday. If you rented an instrument, Mrs. Kuzmanoff will have the instruments for them. Your child will be given a schedule of band lesson - they are scheduled for Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays, with the whole band lesson at 8:10 on Wednesday mornings. Your child will be pulled for 30 minute lessons on a rotating schedule so they are not always pulled from the same subject. It is important that your child understands they are responsible for making up the work they miss while they are at their band lesson at home. In other words, on band days, they may have up to 90 minutes of homework.
Maps Testing ~
- Math ~ Monday, 9/14 ~ 9:10-10:10pm - my math class (Tranter ~ Wednesday, 9/9 ~ 9:10-10:10)
- Reading ~ Tuesday, 9/15 ~ 2:15-3:15pm
It is important that your child is in school on these days, so please make every effort for your child to be here. If your child is absent during MAPS testing, we will schedule make-ups, but it does mean they will be out of the classroom during instruction. Research shows that students perform better when they are well-rested and well-fed before taking assessments!
Band Parent Meeting ~ Wednesday, 9/16 ~ 7-8:30pm
What's Happening in the Classroom
Math ~ We started Unit 1 this week in math! We will cover Number Theory concepts in this unit, including factors and products, squaring and un-squaring numbers, prime and composite numbers, and prime factorization.
As I shared with you on Parent Night, I pre-test the students for every unit. This allows me to differentiate instruction for each lesson based on the results of the pre-test. I teach math in a workshop model, so students rotate stations. In the rotation, they will meet with me for instruction, spend time in their journals, and practice skills on Khan Academy or Everyday Math Online. If they demonstrate mastery on the pre-test, they will work on enrichment and advanced content; if they demonstrate a need for additional support, I will spend more time in instruction with them.
I also shared that homework is not graded because it is practice, but it is checked every day. If students do not demonstrate an understanding of the skills covered on their homework, they will be asked to re-do the assignment. Encourage your child to work through their homework each night - even if it is a struggle, they should do their best to complete as much of the homework as they can, but not to worry if they cannot finish it. We do review the homework every morning, so if they do not understand a concept, they will have a chance to discuss it with me.
Most nights, they will have a study link and math boxes for homework - this should take them approximately 20-30 minutes of their nightly 60 minutes of homework. If you find that your child consistently takes longer than 30 minutes to complete their math homework, please let me know!
They were also given a CCP (Common Core Packet) in math. This is a review packet of many different math skills they are expected to master in 5th grade. This packet is due at the end of the unit - the due date will be assigned as we get closer to the date. Please remind your child to complete pages when their homework load is lighter, and not to save the packet for the end of the unit. Some of the problems may be challenging - again, please have them do the best they can. We review these packets together when completed.
Science - We set up our science learning this week by doing a couple of experiments and reading complex text for answers to our questions. We started with the Meter Stick experiment - ask your child to explain why the meter stick did not fly up when I karate chopped it! They found the answer in an article, and we practiced writing responses that Stake a Claim, Cite Evidence, and Explain. I graded these online and gave your child feedback on their responses - ask them to show you their grade and feedback!
Then came the super exciting Egg Drop Day!! I hope you were able to follow along with the pictures on the blog that day :) We made the front page of AHSD25 homepage with our Egg Drop! Click here to read the article and watch the slideshow of pictures: http://www.sd25.org/pages/sd25 The photographer really captured your children engaged in the learning process! The question we asked them was which type of contraption would carry the egg safely to the ground when dropped from the ledge and then dropped from the roof! We had about 18 egg carriers make it to the roof round, and 4 carriers make it safely off the roof!! That's the most carriers that have ever made it to the roof and survived in all the years I have been at Olive!! Interestingly, the 4 that survived were the same type of egg carrier - ask your child which model worked best! But shhhhh...don't have them share it with younger siblings! We like everyone to have the same learning opportunity on Egg Drop Day :) On Friday, students were given complex text that helped them answer the question. They read the article with a friend, then answered the question independently. Some students did not finish their response during the class time allowed and brought it home for homework - this is due on Tuesday.
Reading - We learned about 6 different Notice & Note Signposts in reading this week. A signpost alerts readers to significant moments in a story, encouraging students to read closely at that point. Learning to spot these signposts and then to question their thinking enables readers to explore the text, finding evidence to support their interpretations. In short, these close reading strategies will help your children to become more careful readers. We will use them every time we read in 5th grade. Ask your child to pull out their Bookmark and explain each of these signposts to you. Your child was given the bookmark and asked to find THREE signposts in the books they are reading this weekend, and answer the questions. Please be sure they are reading for at least 20 minutes a day. The Bookmark is due on Tuesday.
We also logged on to KidBlog for the first time and discussed how to write a BLB (Book Lover's Blog). A BLB is 2 paragraphs - the first paragraph is a summary of what they have read in their book over the past week (6-8 sentences), and the second paragraph is their thinking paragraph where they explore a signpost in their book (4-6 sentences) Ask your child to log on to KidBlog and show you the expectations for our BLB's in the BLB post. Your child can always choose to write the BLB on paper instead of on KidBlog - either way is acceptable! The BLB is due on Tuesday.
Writing - We started writing this week with a practice WEX prompt. We do all our writing on computers in 5-2, so we practiced the routines of writing and turning the documents in to Edmodo. I'm reviewing their first journal this weekend to understand your children as writers, and I'm giving them feedback online.
They were also given an LA CCP (Language Arts Common Core Packet) this week. This is a review packet of the language arts skills they are expected to master in 5th grade. This packet is due in about 3-4 weeks - the specific due date will be assigned as we get closer to the date. Please remind your child to complete pages when their homework load is lighter, and not to save the packet for the end of the unit. Some of the problems may be challenging - again, please have them do the best they can. We review these packets together when completed.
Whew! We were BUSY this week! What a great start to 5th grade, though! I'm excited to settle into some routines next week :) As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns at all. Enjoy your weekend ~
“Children see magic because they look for it.”
Cheers ~
Theresa Fowler
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