Parent/Teacher Conferences
This is a reminder that Parent/Teacher Conferences are scheduled this upcoming week. I look forward to meeting with each of you and having a conversation centered around your child.
Junior Achievement Has Begun
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 Tuesday, November 3rd!
Halloween Party... Thank You Parent Volunteers
Thank you to Mrs. Peterson, Mrs. Portell, Mrs. Youngfelt, Mrs. Singh, and Mrs. Mastny for organizing some great games and activities. Also, thank you to Mrs. Portell and Mrs. Orzechowska for providing drinks and tasty treats. The students had a "spooktacular" time!
Subject Update:
- ELA (English/Language Arts) - We will be reading an excerpt from the book, Touching Spirit Bear to hear about the challenges of the main character, Cole Matthews. We will also work with vocabulary from this story, and relate Cole's challenges back to the lyrics of "The Climb" from last week. We will continue working with List #4 word parts, continue working on our "challenge" narrative, and learn about interjections. There will be a quiz over List #4 word parts on Thursday!
- Science - Did your student tell you about our owl pellet investigation on Friday? Each student recorded his/her findings about the number and types of prey identified in his/her pellet. Next week, we will compile our data as a whole class in order to draw some conclusions about owls and their eating habits.
- Social Studies - We will begin Chapter 5: The Struggle to Found Colonies. The first lesson tells about England's attempts to establish a colony in North America.
- Mrs. Strong's Math Class - As we continue Topic 2, students are learning how to find the GCF of numbers using prime factorization. We will also explore the Distributive Property.
Mark Your Calendar:
Nov. 3 - Junior Achievement (Session #2)
Nov. 2-5 - Parent/Teacher Conference Week
Nov. 5 - 5th Grade PRIDE! Awards
Nov. 6 - No School (End of Conference Week)
Nov. 9 - No School (Teacher Institute)
Parent/Teacher Conferences
You should have received an email from me regarding Parent/Teacher Conferences. Although this provides an opportunity to discuss the progress of your child, please remember that you may contact me at any time with questions, concerns, or celebrations about your child.
Junior Achievement Program to Begin Soon
Our class will be starting Junior Achievement on Tuesday, October 27. Our Junior Achievement volunteer, Mr. Blocker, will be visiting our classroom for five 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.
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. Refer to the party and parade times in the Mark Your Calendar section below - this is a change to last year!
Subject Update:
- ELA (English/Language Arts) - We will read the lyrics to "The Climb," to understand the metaphor it suggests about life. We will also begin working with List #4 word parts. Students will continue to incorporate simple, compound, and complex sentences in their narratives as they work through the writing process, and they will learn more about the conjunctions used in compound and complex sentences.
- Science - Whooooo has heard about the barn owl? We have, and we've learned about some interesting behaviors and structures of this bird of prey that help it survive. We will continue to look at this nocturnal creature in the week ahead.
- Social Studies - We will review Chapter 4 to prepare for the test scheduled for Wednesday, October 28. Students have started a "How to Study" sheet which can be completed and signed by a parent for 1 free point on the test!
- Mrs. Strong's Math Class - Topic 2 has begun with a look at several math properties. We are working to understand how the application of these properties might allow us to compute more efficiently. There will be an open-note homework review on Tuesday to review the properties discussed in Lessons 1-3.
Mark Your Calendar:
Oct. 27 - Junior Achievement (Session 1)
Oct. 30 - Halloween Party (1:10 - 2:10 p.m.) and Parade (2:10 p.m.)
Nov. 2-5 - Parent/Teacher Conference Week
Nov. 6 - No School
Reminder... Mid-Trimester Check-In
This is just a reminder that Friday, October 9th marked the mid-point of our first trimester of school. If you haven't already done so, please check in with your child about his/her progress. You might review grades via PowerSchool together, ask how your child feels about his/her progress in each subject, and discuss strategies for improvement. We will be doing some goal-setting in school as well.
Subject Update:
- ELA (English/Language Arts) - Students will finish their work with "A Boy Called Slow." Then we will read an excerpt from the book Touching Spirit Bear. We will continue our word work with List #3, with a quiz over those word parts scheduled for Friday, October 23rd! Students will also do some writing to incorporate simple, compound, and complex sentences in their work.
- Science - We will be previewing some of the concepts from Chapter 6 by taking a close look at the barn owl. We will look at the habitat, predator-prey relationships, and physical and behavioral adaptations of this animal.
- Social Studies - We will continue to learn how Spain gained great wealth from settlements and growth in New Spain.
- Mrs. Strong's Math Class - We will bring Topic 1 to a close with the Topic 1 Test scheduled for Tuesday, October 20th. Then we will begin our next Digits topic about equivalent expressions.
Mark Your Calendar:
Oct. 30 - Halloween Party (1:10 - 2:10 p.m.) and Parade (2:10 p.m.)
Mid-Trimester Check-In
Friday, October 9th marked the mid-point of our first trimester of school. If you haven't already done so, please check in with your child about his/her progress. Grades are a good indication of your child's current performance in the different subject areas, but also ask your child about his comfort level in the classroom, friendships formed, and how he/she feels about school in general. The Home/School Journal can also be a place to check in with your child! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns as we move forward together.
Subject Update:
- ELA (English/Language Arts) - Students will continue working with the selection called "A Boy Called Slow." They will identify different elements of the story, such as characters, setting, conflict, and theme. They will take a quiz over the vocabulary from this story on Wednesday, October 14th! Students will be introduced to list #3 of word parts, and learn about simple, compound, and complex sentences.
- Science - We will review about food chains, food webs, and the energy pyramid. The students will take an open book/note Ch. 5, L. 2 Quick Study on Wednesday, October 14th. We will then prepare for the Chapter 5 Test planned for Friday, October 16th! Students will have an opportunity to earn a free point towards their first Science test by completing a "How to Study" sheet and getting it signed by a parent.
- Social Studies - We will finish up our discussion of the Spanish conquests, and learn how Spain gained great wealth from settlements and growth in New Spain.
- Mrs. Strong's Math Class - We will continue our first Digits topic about variables and expressions. Students will learn how to use a bar diagram to model a word problem as an aid to developing an algebraic expression for it. There is an open-note homework review over Lessons 4-6 scheduled for Friday, October 16th!
Mark Your Calendar:
Oct. 12 - No School (Columbus Day)
Oct. 15 - Fall Open House, Book Fair, and Taffy Apple Sale (6:30 - 8:00 p.m.)
5th Grade PRIDE! Awards
We held our first PRIDE! Awards ceremony for 5th grade on Friday. Congratulations to Bridget for earning the Positive Attitude award for the month of September! Her enthusiasm and encouraging nature towards others really shines in our classroom.
Subject Update:
- ELA (English/Language Arts) - Students will read a selection called "A Boy Called Slow." They will work with vocabulary from this story, use the parts of the story to help them summarize it, and cite evidence from the text to support their thinking about the story. They will take a commas quiz on Wednesday, October 7 which will cover commas to set apart items in a series, introductory words, direct address, and tag questions. Students will continue to work with list #2 of word parts. The quiz over these word parts is scheduled for Thursday, October 8.
- Science - We will learn how food chains can be interconnected as food webs. We will connect the food chains created by groups of students last week into our own classroom food web.
- Social Studies - Much of the Aztec culture was lost after the Spanish conquered the Aztec people. Students are creating Aztec masks in honor of this lost Empire. Next, we will read about Pizarro conquering the Incan Empire in South America as the Spanish continue their quest for gold and other riches.
- Mrs. Strong's Math Class - We will continue our first Digits topic about variable and expressions. A homework review over Topic 1, Lessons 1-3 is planned for Tuesday, October 6. Students should review order of operations, numerical and algebraic expressions. translating between words and math, and representing word problem with algebraic expressions.
Mark Your Calendar:
Oct. 6 - Fall Picture Day
Oct. 9 - Early Dismissal (11;35 a.m.)
Oct. 12 - No School (Columbus Day)
