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
~ Rosaleen Dickson
Theresa Fowler
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