WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3

Fall Conferences
I enjoyed the opportunity to talk with you about your child's progress in 5th grade so far. Please remember as we continue the school year together that you may contact me at any time with questions or concerns, or even successes to celebrate!

Junior Achievement
During our 4th session of Junior Achievement, Mr. Blocker discussed STEM, job skills, resume writing, and interviewing. We look forward to his final visit on Wednesday afternoon when students will receive a certificate of participation in the program. We will also present Mr. Blocker with a token of our appreciation.
*If you would still like to contribute to the classroom gift, please send in $1 on Wednesday!

Halloween Party Thanks
Thank you to the parents who helped make our Halloween Party so fun! Mrs. Rossi, Mrs. Brandt, and Mrs. Infusino organized some great games and activities. Mrs. Mitchell and Mrs. O'Leary provided drinks and tasty treats. Thank you also to Mrs. Kerrigan for coordinating these efforts. The students had a "spooktacular" time!

Subject Update:

ELA (English/Language Arts)

• Spelling - There will be no spelling lesson due to the short week.
• English - We will review the uses of commas and interjections on Wednesday so that students are ready for a quick quiz on Thursday. Then we will read a short story to help us understand how to use quotation marks to "capture" a person's exact words.
• Reading - The students will finish a writing assignment about "A Boy Called Slow." Then students will begin an extended research project about Sitting Bull. They will incorporate their research into an interactive poster using a website called Glogster.

Science - Next week will be a HOOT as we preview some of the concepts from Chapter 6. We will take a close look at the barn owl in order to understand habitat, predator-prey relationships, and adaptations.

Social Studies - Students will read how English settlers established colonies in New England in search of religious freedom. It's appropriate as we head into November that we hear about the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving!

Mrs. Strong's Math Class - We will move into division of whole numbers and decimals in Unit 3. We will begin by estimating quotients and trying various methods for dividing whole numbers.

Mark Your Calendar:

Nov. 3 - No School

Nov. 4 - No School (Teacher Institute)

Nov. 5 - Junior Achievement (Final Session)

WEEK OF OCTOBER 27

Fall Conferences
I look forward to meeting with parents during Fall Conferences this upcoming school week. Please contact me if you need a reminder about your date and time.

Junior Achievement
During session 3, Mr. Blocker taught the students about unit and mass production. The students had fun assembling ballpoint pens to better understand how to make a product as efficiently as possible. We look forward to his next visit on Wednesday, October 29.
*I thought it might be nice to present Mr. Blocker with a token of appreciation on his last session of Junior Achievement. JA representatives visit schools on a purely voluntary basis, and Mr. Blocker really goes beyond what is expected in regards to preparing lessons and materials. If you would like to contribute to a classroom gift, please send in $1 before Friday!

Halloween Costume Parade and Party Reminders
Students need to bring their costumes to school on Friday. Please understand that costumes might need to be simplified for school purposes since students have a short amount of time to get ready for the parade. Also, students will be changing in classrooms designated for either girls or boys. Washrooms will not be available for costume changing. Finally, please remember that no weapons, even fake, are allowed at school.

Subject Update:

ELA (English/Language Arts)

• Spelling - The Lesson 10 pretest will be given on Monday. The students will be assigned homework during the week to practice their words, and a final test will be given Friday. *Students may only print 15 words "just in case" their cursive still needs work. Keep practicing correct letter formation at home!
• English - We will practice other ways to use commas and understand how to add interjections at the beginning of our sentences. A quick quiz on the different uses of commas and interjections is planned for Thursday.
• Reading - The students will answer text dependent questions to demonstrate their understanding of "A Boy Called Slow." Students will also relate this story back to our theme and essential questions focused on challenges.

Science - Students will work at various activity centers on Monday to review the concepts from Lesson 2 before completing an open note/book assignment on Tuesday. Then students will prepare for the Chapter 5 Test scheduled for Thursday, October 30. Since this is the first test for Science, students will receive a "How to Study" sheet worth 1 free point if completed and signed by a parent by the test day!

Social Studies - We will take a virtual "Journey to Jamestown" to see if we can can build a successful colony. Then we will learn how other European countries established colonies after searching for a Northwest Passage.

Mrs. Strong's Math Class - Students will review exponents and learn about scientific notation. A Homework Review is scheduled for Wednesday over multiplication of decimals (using models and standard method), exponents, and scientific notation. Then we will prepare for the Unit 2 Test scheduled for Friday, October 31.

Mark Your Calendar:

Oct. 27 - Oct. 30 - Fall Conferences

Oct. 29 - Junior Achievement (Session #4)

Oct. 31 - Halloween Costume Parade and Parties

Nov. 3 - No School

Nov. 4 - No School (Teacher Institute)

Nov. 5 - Junior Achievement (Final Session)

WEEK OF OCTOBER 20

Junior Achievement Program
During session 2, Mr. Blocker reviewed the profit model: revenue - expenses = profit. He also discussed the three types of resources (natural, capital, and human) and the concept of supply and demand. We look forward to Wednesday when Mr. Blocker will share about production.

Fall Conferences
Thank you to the homeroom parents who have already signed up for conferences. If you have not scheduled a conference yet, you will receive a reminder email from me with the link to Sign Up Genius. Please remember that each family should sign up for one slot.

Subject Update:

ELA (English/Language Arts)

• Spelling - The Lesson 9 pretest will be given on Monday. The students will be assigned homework during the week to practice their words, and a final test will be given Friday. *Starting the week of October 20th, students will only be able to print 15 words "just in case" their cursive still needs work. Keep practicing correct letter formation at home!
• English - We will continue our unit on capitalization and punctuation. Students will learn how to write titles correctly. A quick quiz over correcting sentences, proper nouns and adjectives, abbreviations, and titles is scheduled for Wednesday. Then we will explore the many uses of commas.
• Reading - The students will continue to work with the story, A Boy Called Slow. As we read this text again, students will identify character traits of Slow at various stages of his life, and cite evidence from the text as proof of each trait. Students will also develop their own Native American names in the tradition of the Lakota Sioux. "A Boy Called Slow Vocabulary Quiz" is scheduled for Tuesday!

Science - Ask your child how we connected various food chains to form a classroom food web. Next week, we will discover how only 10% of energy is passed from one organism to the next one in a food chain using a pyramid-shaped model.

Social Studies - The students will learn about the Battle of the Spanish Armada. Then we will read about Jamestown, the first successful English colony in North America. Why was Jamestown successful whereas Roanoke Island was a failed attempt to establish a colony? We will compare/contrast these colonies to answer this question.

Mrs. Strong's Math Class - There is a homework review scheduled for Monday over multiplication patterns, estimation, and various methods of multiplying whole numbers. Then we will multiply decimals, work more with exponents, and express really large numbers in scientific notation.

Mark Your Calendar:

Oct. 22 - Junior Achievement (Session #3)

Oct. 23 - Bus Driver Appreciation

Oct. 27 - 31 - Fall Conference Week

WEEK OF OCTOBER 13

Junior Achievement Program
During our first session with Mr. Blocker, he introduced the class to many core concepts used in business today. The class learned about entrepreneurs, cost of business (expenses), profit, and supply and demand. We look forward to our next visit from Mr. Blocker on Wednesday, October 15th!

Fall Conferences
Homeroom parents should have received an email from me with a link to Sign Up Genius. Please remember that each family should sign up for one slot. If for some reason you did not receive my email regarding conferences, please let me know!

Subject Update:

ELA (English/Language Arts)

• Spelling - The Lesson 8 pretest will be given on Monday. The students will be assigned homework during the week to practice their words, and a final test will be given Friday. *Starting the week of October 20th, students will only be able to print 15 words "just in case" their cursive still needs work. Keep practicing correct letter formation at home!
• English - We will finish the final copies of our subject/predicate poems next week. We will also begin a unit on capitalization and punctuation.
• Reading - The students are reading, A Boy Called Slow. We will be identifying the challenges faced by a young Native American as he becomes an adult member of his tribe. We will also do some "word work" with selected vocabulary from the story.

Science - We will learn how energy is passed through an ecosystem, from a producer to one or more consumers. Students will also distinguish between different types of consumers.

Social Studies - Now that we understand how the Spanish began establishing colonies in the New World, we will read how the English, French, and Dutch struggled to found colonies in North America in Chapter 5.

Mrs. Strong's Math Class - We will continue in Unit 2 exploring various methods of multiplication. We will also look at multiplication of decimals.

Mark Your Calendar:

Oct. 10 - 1st Trimester Midterm

Oct. 13 - No School (Columbus Day)

Oct. 15 - Junior Achievement (Session #2)

Oct. 16 - Fall Book Fair and Taffy Apple Sale

WEEK OF OCTOBER 6

Busy Week Ahead...
Please notice that we have a lot going on this week. I encourage students to create a study plan and review a little each night. I have built in some review games and activities during the school day to help students prepare, too.

Catching Compliments - We've Earned a Reward!
Students have caught enough compliments for a reward. The majority of students voted for lunch in the classroom with popsicles provided by Mrs. Strong for dessert. We can look forward to this special event on Tuesday, October 7th!

Junior Achievement Program
Our class will be starting Junior Achievement on Wednesday, October 8. Our Junior Achievement volunteer, Mr. Blocker, will be visiting our classroom over the next several weeks to present lessons about creating and running a business. The sessions will teach students different concepts such as supply and demand, use of resources, cost of business, and profit. This program shows students real-world applications of several ideas from Social Studies.

Subject Update:

ELA (English/Language Arts)

• Spelling - The Lesson 7 pretest will be given on Monday. The students will be assigned homework during the week to practice their words, and a final test will be given Friday.
• English - We will review all about sentences with a game on Monday. The Unit 1 "The Sentence" Test is scheduled for Tuesday, October 7! The rest of the week will be spent creating subject/predicate poems for a class book.
• Reading - The students are discussing the challenges faced by Jackie Robinson. A vocabulary quiz over our "Jackie Robinson words" is planned for Wednesday, October 8! This will be a fill-in-the blank format; students will need to determine the correct word for a blank based on its meaning and the context of the sentence.  

Science - We are learning how different plant structures (parts) allow green plants to make food through the process of photosynthesis. Ask your child to explain this process to you.

Social Studies - Students will finish up Lesson 3 about life in New Spain. Then we will spend several days reviewing for our Chapter 4 Test scheduled for Friday, October 10! The students will be completing one part of a "How to Study" sheet in class on Tuesday. If students finish this sheet with how they studied at home and get a parent signature, it can be turned in the day of the test for 1 free point!!

Mrs. Strong's Math Class - We have reviewed the concepts from Unit 1 to begin preparing for the test on Monday, October 6! Students received a "study tips" sheet to serve as a guide. Then we will move into Chapter 2 about multiplication of whole numbers and decimals.

Mark Your Calendar:

Oct. 8 - Fall Pictures (8:30 - 8:45 a.m.)

Oct. 8 - Junior Achievement (Session 1)

Oct. 9 - Blackhawks Spirit Day!

Oct. 10 - Early Dismissal (11:00 a.m.)

Oct. 10 - 1st Trimester Midterm