5-2 Updates ~ 10/12

Hello 5-2 Parents ~

What an absolutely beautiful day we had for the Re-enactment Day!!  The field was transformed into a Revolutionary War-time frontier Thursday night, and the students had such a great time learning as they visited the Tavern, the toymaker or learned what it was like to be in the militia or a trapper at that time.  Each student was assigned to summarize one persona's presentation ~ they took notes and pictures on iPad as they traveled from station to station.  When they returned to the classroom, they were asked to create an Explain Everything on their iPad and reflect on their experiences from the Re-enactment. Reflection is an important skill we will be focusing on this year as they learn how to look back at an experience, make connections, and think about how the experience impacted them as learners.  They integrated the information they learned on the field with the on-line biographies of each persona to create a presentation with pictures.  We will be uploading the presentations this - stay tuned!  The kids are excited and now ready to start our Revolutionary War Unit in two weeks!!  Check out the pictures I've posted below :)

Important Dates

Open House ~ Wednesday, October 22nd at 6:30pm - please plan to enjoy us for an evening at our annual Open House!  Students have fun showing their parents around the classroom and building, and it's a great chance for a chat :)

Midterms

Midterms were a little delayed this week as a result of so many students wanting to re-do some graded assignments to improve their grade - kudos to them for taking responsibility!  It took me some extra time to grade all their re-submissions.  They will go home with them on Tuesday afternoon.

Please review this mid-term with your child, then return it with a signature on Wednesday.  I have already discussed the reports with the kiddos, letting them know that I do send these home in the middle of the term so they know how their performance is impacting their grades.  They still have plenty of time to change any grade they are not pleased with.  If they are not happy with their grades, please encourage them to meet with me to discuss how they can improve their grades.  It is important as they move forward in their education that they learn how to advocate for themselves, that they understand how their daily performance impacts their grades, and that they seek support to achieve the grades they want to earn.  I have also told them that they may ask for a midterm report from me at any time to check on their grades.  It should never be a mystery to them how they are performing, and their Progress Report should never be full of surprises!  If you have any concerns at all, please don't hesitate to contact me yourself.

Math

We continue to work on computation skills in Unit 2 in my math class.  Our Unit 2 Assessment is currently scheduled for Wednesday, October 21st.  This means their CCPs will be due on Thursday, October 22nd.  Please continue to encourage your child to log on to Khan Academy to continue practicing adding and subtracting with decimals.  If they've mastered these skills, they can continue to work on their mission to enrich their math skills.

Science

Students had a great time this week learning about how our body uses the respiratory system to bring oxygen to the muscles so we can move. Their experiment had them breathing through a straw and a coffee stirrer while doing different activities to focus on how our body's need for oxygen increases as our activity increases.  It also promoted a great discussion on the effects of asthma on our respiratory system. 

We will shift our focus to the digestive system on Tuesday, when they will learn that this system breaks down food to provide nutrients to our muscles.  They will learn how salivary amalyze (the enzyme in our saliva) begins to break down different foods in our mouths.  

We will be reviewing the Human Body unit this week as well, and taking the Final Unit Assessment on Monday, October 19th.  I will be assigning a review packet on Thursday, as well as some vocabulary activities on Spelling City.  We will be reviewing in class on Thursday and Friday.  Please help your child prepare for this test by carving out some time for them to review the vocabulary and concepts for this unit each night.  They can start reviewing on Spelling City this week!

Reading

In our short reading time this week, we practiced writing and sharing excellent Book Reviews - your children are very passionate about what they read and are excited to share reviews with their friends!  I'm impressed with how many were able to "sell" their books to others.  We also spent time reading about the Re-enactment Personas and prepared questions to ask during the Re-enactment.  Next week, we will continue our Launching Unit by focusing on story elements and characters in the fictional stories we read.

I continue to meet with students individually during reading time to share their reading level and to have them evaluate their work in the Reading Notebook using a rubric.  Look for both of these pieces of information to come home with your child over the next week.

Writing

With the short week and the re-enactment, we only worked on WEX for a couple of days this week.  We spent a few days adding strong verbs and showing to our writing this week, as well as worked on combining short sentences to create longer, more interesting sentences.

This week, we will take a break from our WEX Personal Narratives to practice developing strong, descriptive language with a study on poetry.  Students will practice writing Acrostic, Cinquain, Haiku, and Diamante poems about autumn.  Students will be able to choose their favorite poem to polish up with a leaf rubbing for final publication next week - hopefully we will have them published for Open House!

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.  Hope you enjoyed your long weekend ~

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children.

 One is roots; the other, wings.

~ Hodding Carter

Cheers ~

Theresa Fowler