5th Grade News!: September 2015

9-25-15

Turtle trot was another big success. The kids had a great time running around the track today at their recess. You can send in the money you raised for the turtle trot at anytime. I believe all money has to be in by October 9th.

Water Bottles

Please feel free to have your child bring in a water bottle to school. I actually prefer it because then I don't have students raising their hands asking to get a drink. They can just have one at their seat. It's also very helpful after specials like P.E. I just ask that they take the bottles home each night so they can be washed.

www.zearn.org

It's taken me a little while but I finally found the perfect website that supports our math program. If you want your child to get the exact math support that we teach at school, then have them log onto zearn.org. It goes right along with the common core and NY Engage or Eureka. Everyone's login is the first letter of their first name and their whole last name. (Ex: bcritz) Password is math. There are only a few students who have to add a 1 or 2 to their login because it was already taken. If they can't remember, please email me. I will add the link to the blog also.

Math

We wrapped up Module 1: Sums and Differences to 20. I had everyone take the end of module assessment on Wednesday. I will probably grade those and keep them for conferences. If you want to know how your child did on the assessment, just email me. Please give me a few days to correct them though. We have already started Module 2: Addition and Subtraction of Length Units.

Lesson 1
Objective: Connect measurement with physical units by using multiple copies of the same physical unit to measure.

Lesson 2

Objective: Use iteration with one physical unit to measure.

Language Arts

By the end of the week, your child will know a lot more about communities. We will look for answers to the question “Why might an author write a story?” We’ll read Henry and Mudge Under the Yellow Moon, a realistic fiction selection about how Henry and Mudge explore their community in different ways. We’ll also read Outdoor Adventures, a selection of e-mails between a girl and her grandmother as they discuss the seasonal changes in their communities.

Target Vocabulary: woods, turned, tops, chipmunks, busy, picked, south, grew

Phonics Skills: Words with long a, (gate), long i (mine) (VCe); hard and soft sounds for c (car, cent)

Vocabulary Strategy: Multiple-meaning words

Comprehension Skill: Author’s purpose—tell why an author writes a book

Comprehension Strategy: Analyze/ evaluate—tell how you feel about the text and why

Grammar Skill: Statements and Questions

Science

We wrapped up our unit on rules, laws, and communities. We will move forward with some earth science next week but I wanted to introduce the scientific method first. We will kick off science next week by taking a closer look at Earth. We will discuss the different layers of the Earth and eventually focus in on the crust. The main focus will eventually be on the different types of slow and fast changes that take place on Earth's surface.

9-18-15

Turtle Trot

Turtle Trot collection envelopes and information have been sent home this week. The Turtle Trot is the primary fundraiser for Lake Center Elementary. Please consider helping your student(s) collect funds to support our staff and school.

The Turtle Trot event will take place next Friday, September 25th. Feel free to join us out on the track and cheer on your student or jump in and help at a water station. The event will take place during recess.

Our recess time starts at 10:56.

Online Donations

Please note, the link for online Turtle Trot donations is: www.gofundme.com/Turtle-Trot-2015. This is a great way to collect donations from distant relatives and friends

Vacation Make - Ups

Please know that every instructional minute at school is valuable. Your students are involved in classroom discussions, hands-on experiments/activities, partner sharing, whole group and small group academic instruction based on their needs and so much more each and every day ! When a student is pulled out for a vacation, it makes it extremely difficult on everyone involved, especially the student. We do understand that sometimes vacations get scheduled during school due to unavoidable circumstances. Therefore we want to make sure we let you know how we will be handling these types of absences in terms of make-up work in grades K-5. If your student misses school he/she will not receive any of the work in advance of the vacation. Instead, upon returning to school, your student’s teacher will hand your student his/her missing work from that particular time frame with a due date on it. For example, If your student missed a week of school then it would be due in one week. Please note that your student will have access to our online resources while on vacation to keep up with their skills in reading and math through Core 5 and IXL. We encourage you to use these resources. We will not send home any textbooks as they are often left on vacations and the cost to replace is quite high. Thank you in advance for your support. We LOVE having ALL our students with us each and everyday!

Snacks

Please bring in one snack for the whole class once a month. If your child is a picky eater, they may want to bring in their own snack each day. Let's try and keep the snacks somewhat healthy. Please stay away from sweets like rice krispy treats, oreos, etc... Some good examples would be fruit, cheez-its, goldfish, pretzels, gogurts, string cheese, etc... Even though we don't have any peanut allergies in our room, let's stay away from all nuts anyway. There are other kids close by that have severe nut allergies. The pre-packaged snacks are the easiet to hand out but I can also make the big bags or boxes work too.

Picture day is next Thursday, September 24th!

Language Arts

During the next few weeks, we’ll explore the theme Neighborhood Visit. Through our reading, we’ll visit neighborhoods both imaginary and real, filled with friends to meet! As we read, we’ll explore the Big Idea “There are different kinds of communities.”

This week we begin by reading about Henry’s move into a new neighborhood. As we follow his search for a pet in the realistic fiction selection Henry and Mudge, we will think and talk about the question “Why is the order of events in a story important?” We will also read an informational text called All in the Family.

Target Vocabulary: curly, straight, floppy, drooled, weighed, stood, collars, row

Phonics Skills: Words with short a (can); words with short i (dig); CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant) such as win

Vocabulary Strategy: Alphabetical order

Comprehension Skill: Sequence of events—tell the order in which things happen

Comprehension Strategy: Infer/predict—uses clues to figure out moreabout story parts

Grammar Skill: Subjects and Predicates

We always begin the year talking about communities, rules, rights, and responsiblilties. We read a few cute stories the emphasize the importance of rules and laws. We read about "Rolly the Raccoon" who didn't know the correct way to behave at school. We also read about a story called Shiver, Gobble, and Snore. It was about 3 friends who discovered what it was like to live in a land with no rules or laws. Everyone will get a chance to create some silly rules next week and some important rules. Then we will jump right into some science with Earth's changes.