DECEMBER DOINGS

Families, this is one of my favorite months of the school year.  We will be very productive for 3 weeks with interesting, fun, creative learning and then it is time for Winter break.  This week we were very productive as we introduced new learning in each subject.  Below is a description of the learning we are enjoying in each subject.  You will see our Discovery theme is well integrated with writing and reading.  Check out the pics of great astrolabes students created!

 

 

Social Studies:  We are getting into our Discovery game.  Students are forming their colonies and we will set sail on Monday.  The Discovery game will highlight the adventure and challenges Explorers faced on their journeys.

Reading: For read aloud time, we have been reading about the Age of Exploration in our textbook.  We have learned about the Silk Road, African trading kingdoms, and the new technology of the Renaissance in Europe.  We will are drawing connections to these famous journeys and the journeys of the characters in our chapter books.  Next week, we will continue to read about European Explorers during read aloud.  Readers will also continue their journey chapter books.

Writing:  We introduced a word study routine this week.  I planned to continue this routine through December.  However, I realized we need to shift this week for two reasons.  First, we will take our nonfiction post writing prompt.  Students will look at their pre nonfiction work and then use the skills they learned writing nonfiction during the Native American unit to respond to a writing prompt about Harriet Tubman.  Also, we are going to write some facts about bees for our Holiday door decoration: Bees on Earth.  I think you will enjoy our theme!

Math:  In math this week, we finished our decimal multiplication and division work.  Next week, we begin our algebra unit.  This is a unit kids enjoy quite a bit.  Remember Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally?  Yes, it is variables and order of operations.  Fun!

Science: We started our Matter unit this week.  We got our toes wet by exploring what matter is, practicing describing solids and liquids, observing the Periodic Table of Elements and demonstrating the Law of Conservation of Mass with lemonade.  Yum!  Next week, we will start to look physical and chemical changes.

HAPPY POTLATCH, HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Families, we started a new Friday Folder checklist for the 2nd Trimester.  Since I met with each family last week, I had the children make their comments Friday about the Potlatch and their Native American learning.  Below is a snapshot of our focus for each subject.  There is also links to Native American presentations, science inspirations and pics too!

Social Studies: We will finish everyone’s Native American presentations by Thanksgiving Break.  Then we will begin our focus on European Explorers and Colonization. This learning fits within the context of our Discovery theme.  There will be a letter with details of our theme work and due dates for more creative projects coming home soon.  

Reading: To match our Discovery theme, each child is reading an award winning chapter book with a character who goes on a journey.  We will have weekly literature journal assignments to practice our comprehension skills.  Students are independent readers for this cycle.  I will be reading shorter picture book children’s literature also focusing on characters who make journeys and European Exploration too.

Writing:  During our writing time in the Discovery theme, students will be practicing their narrative writing.  We will use inspirations from our social studies learning to craft narratives of various personal or fictional journeys.

Math:  Our math focus is on multiplication and division of decimals.  There will be a quiz over this work the first week of December.  Then our focus will be variables and algebra leading up to Winter Break.

Science:  Next week, all 5th graders are joining together to discuss our inspirations from our field work and mini experiments.  After sharing, we will begin the process to choose our Community Project Based learning focus.  This work will be integrated with our science units, starting with Matter through December.

Here are pictures and links to our Native American projects and decorations.

Ashlyn's Wampum Presentation

Ezra's Apache Presentation

OLIVER'S BOW AND ARROW

PEARL'S SHELTERS

WINTER COUNTS

MORE WINTER COUNTS

TOTEM POLE

MORE TOTEM POLE

MORE TOTEM POLE

HARPER'S TOTEM POLE DISPLAY

JACK'S IGLOO DISPLAY

SACRED BUNDLES FROM HANNAH'S LESSON

MORE SACRED BUNDLES

TERRIFIC TRIMESTER 1

What an amazing group of kids we have in Classroom C!  They were extremely productive this week as independent learners finishing up projects and assignments before the end of the trimester.  I will be busily grading math tests, lit journals, science experiments etc.. and filling out progress reports this weekend.  

Next week, students will spent almost of our time going over our 1st Trimester work and making portfolios of our best work to share at conferences.  I look forward to meeting with families next week to celebrate each child’s progress.  Students are encouraged to attend their conference to share their work but it is not a requirement.   

The other focus next week will be on finishing up our final drafts of our Native American museum exhibits.  We have a lot of creative work to focus on and enjoy.

In the Friday Folders this week, you will see a few notes.  Please look over our Potlatch invitations and consider helping celebrate our Native American learning on this fun day.  There is also a choir invitation to attend an MU volleyball game, a letter about head lice, and the aforementioned information letter on tomorrow’s hike.

Let me know if you have any questions!  Thanks for all you do!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN/ 4 DAY WEEKEND

Families, I cannot express enough how great our class community is progressing.  We are all giving our best and making adequate academic progress.  My observation is kids are generally happy and enjoying 5th grade.  I have included a brief description of our current work.  Next week, we will focus on 3 main projects during our short week.  In the Friday Folder, there is a slip confirming our family conference time.  Please return it as soon as possible.  Enjoy the 4 day weekend!

I am sure our Halloween party will be a huge success due to our creative kids and super helpful volunteers!  Thank you so much for all your efforts!  Let me know if you have any questions.

Reading:  We finished our book clubs and lit journals.  Students will have a bit of time to work on a book share next week and we will finish up our read aloud, The Phantom Tollbooth.

Writing: We will have specific writing lessons on mechanics and organization to help kids succeed in their Native American museum exhibit rough draft.

Social Studies:  All our ss time will be spent creating written and visual rough drafts of our Native American museum exhibits.

Science: We will finish up two assignments next week:  Compost experiment plan and Observation Sheets/Word Cloud.

Math:  We did a divison check today so I can see how we are all progressing with division before we immerse ourselves in two digit divisors next week.

HALLOWEEN HAPPENINGS

Families, please read the note about Halloween expectations below.  There is also an update of our current work and a couple pics from the salsa party kids earned last week.  I made salsa from produce in Grant School gardens!

Halloween is right around the corner, and at Grant, we have some wonderful traditions.  One of yearly traditions is our Halloween parade that takes place around the playground.  The entire school gathers on the playground at 2:15 on Friday, October 30, for the parade which is followed by classroom parties.  All students are welcome to bring their costume to school in a bag to be put on before the parade.  Families are welcome to attend the parade and parties.  Please note the following costume restrictions:

            -no costumes may be worn to school

            -no scary or violent costumes

            -costumes must be age appropriate

            -costumes should be easy for children to put on (no make-up, etc.)

Learning this week:

Reading: finish Native American Lit Journals/Book Clubs with focus on important information

Writing/SS:  Choosing Native American museum exhibit and collecting research for nonfiction writing

Math: Focus on dividing by two digit divisors

Science: Finishing final copies of observation sheets and continuing compost experiment

Salsa Party:

 

MID OCTOBER UPDATE

Last week was very successful and productive.  I am very proud of our kids for collecting about $250.00 to help CCUA fight hunger.  We enjoyed our time there and sharing our donation.  We look forward to working with this group more this year. At the same time, students were very focused and productive this week on the projects out lined below.  I am taking time on Thursday to reward the kids for their recent efforts.   Let me know if you have questions about the work below.  The POWWOW theme packet will come home this week. The 5th grade team needed more time to solidify dates.

READING: Book Clubs and Literature Journal #3 with a focus on predictions
WRITING/SS: Each historian is writing a paragraph that will turn into a comprehensive website on a NA topic
SCIENCE:  While we wait for our red clover plants to grow for experiment #3, we are organizing our most inspirational observations to begin planning our community project
MATH: We will practice 2 different division strategies this week


Thank you for all the birthday wishes for Nola.  She had a blast at her party as you can see below. There is also a picture of an organism Max identified in a guide book.

OCTOBER OUTSET UPDATE

Families, the Travel Show as a huge success.  I created a page to the right with pics of geographer's creative presentations.

With the end of the Where in the World Unit and the dawn of October brings a transition for our integrated social studies learning.  Our next theme, Powwow, will be another integrated experience for our historians.  During this theme, students will explore Native American culture and choose an aspect of NA culture as the topic of a "museum exhibit" each student will create.  This integrated work will be the focus of reading, writing, social studies, art, technology and as much science and math as possible.  We will send a calendar and information packet home about Powwow this week.

Reading: We will choose NA book next week.  Each student will be reading a "just-right" historical fiction chapter book with a NA focused theme.   These book clubs will have weekly assignments.  We will also be reading volumes of nonfiction NA topic books/websites/maps/pamphlets during social studies.  Each book club book can also be a book share choice for our readers.  Ideally, each reader should have one book share completed already.

Writing: After a writing prompt assessment on Monday, our writers will begin an experience in crafting nonfiction research writing.  Students will begin by creating a short piece on an aspect of a NA region.  This piece will be published, with corresponding images and student art, to a class website on NA regions.  As the class discusses each region, students will be choosing the aspect of NA culture they wish to research for their museum exhibit.

Social Studies: Our focus will be on NA history and culture.  Students will work in groups to research  and create and present a website page on an aspect of a NA region.  We will spend our SS time focused on various fiction and nonfiction resources from different NA regions.  We will use everything from the textbook to short videos, images, maps, books etc... Students will also be working on a NA piece in art.

Science: This week we are meeting with a Dendrologist to discuss the results of our Stewart Park tree experiment.  He will also share with us the tools and science of his work in the field. Thanks to Matt Struckhoff for making time to come in.  Through October, we will have one and maybe two more field experiences: CCUA and maybe Grindstone Park.  Students will be spending this month sharing their observations from our field work so far.  Scientists will explore their notes and create a presentation Wordle of their inspirations in the field.  Also, we will begin another mini experiment this week.  So far we have collected data on tree leaves, wind speed and animals, and now we will make come observations on compost as we continue to work outside on our natural areas.  Thanks to Sarah Linsenmeyer for helping our scientists work in outdoor classroom areas.

Math:  Our focus on math will continue to be multiplication and solving multi step problems.  It appears we need a little more practice on 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication.  As we start to apply multiplication to solve problems, it is very helpful for students to fluently have their multiplication facts through 12.  Further down the road, mastering these facts fluency will also provide a strong support as we extend their division experience.  This would be a great time for practicing facts at home through flash cards, games, or apps.  I am posting multiplication digital resources in the Weekly Resources page.

RAMBLIN' ON UPDATE

Families, please read the update on our 5th grade work for this week.  It's Travel Show week!  Please join us anytime from 1-3 on Thursday to celebrate our geography learning with the Travel Show.

Reading:  This week is the last week readers have class time to finish their first book share.  Next week, we will be in chapter book book clubs focusing on Native American themes.

Writing:  In writing this week, we will be preparing for the Travel Show.  Also, we will find time to take a fall spelling assessment and a pre assessment for narrative writing.

Math:  Math work will focus on multiplication of whole numbers.  We will be focusing a lot on application to multi step word problems.

Science:  We will finish up our wind speed/garden animal experiment this week.  We will also visit Peace Park on Friday for some science and art integration.

Social Studies: All this week, we will be wrapping up our Travel Show geography work.  Hope to see you on Thursday afternoon.

Please see this note from Dr. Wingert about free/reduced lunch:

Lunch:

Free and reduced lunch applications are due October 1, 2015.  Each year, families are encouraged to fill out Free and Reduced Lunch applications if needed to help in paying for school breakfast and/or lunch.  Families must complete the application EACH YEAR in order to be eligible for free or reduced meals.  Coverage for this from last year’s application ends on October 1, 2015 so please fill out another application prior to October 1st for this school year.

WEEKLY UPDATE

Families, please enjoy an update from each subject below.  I am also sending home graded work in the Friday Folder.  Please make sure this work returns to school for our student portfolio work.

READING: We have been integrating social studies geography reading into our reading time.  These reading lessons from the textbook help inspire ideas for our island work.  Students are also getting time to reading book share books and get a solid start on book shares.  Next week, we will continue with this format before starting Native American themed book clubs in October.

WRITING: Most of our writing time has been focused on our Gazetteer work for our islands.  Writing skills demonstrated in this project are basic writing mechanics, alphabetizing, and formatting.  Students also completed their I AM poems.  They look fantastic.  Several writers have had time to collect images and begin recording their poems in iMovie.

MATH: Our current math unit has been a review on addition and subtraction methods, applied to decimals too.  We will spend Friday and Monday preparing for a Tuesday assessment on this unit. Next up in math will be multiplication.

SCIENCE: We spent time observing and discussing the garden areas at Grant School.  Then groups designed an experiment to study if wind speed affects animal presence in our gardens.  These mini experiments are intended to give scientists experience with experimental design: planning variables, questions, hypothesis, etc...

SOCIAL STUDIES: We spent all our ss time on our island gazetteers this week.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading about their creative islands and viewing their interesting maps.  Today, we are introducing the travel brochure writing.  We will be writing our travel brochures and preparing for the Travel Show between now and Oct. 1.

BUDDY TIME!!!

Yesterday, we went back to the library with our preschool buddies.  Our focus was to help our buddies choose books and find a quiet spot to read books.  You can see we did an excellent job!

 

 

 

 

WEEKLY UPDATE

Families, please enjoy an update below of our work in each subject.

Reading:  We completed our DRA work this week and I will be analyzing each student's performance on this written reading assessment.  Through the rest of September our reading work will focus on nonfiction reading from our social studies textbook, focusing on geography themes to enhance our Where in the World project.  When students finish our daily work on nonfiction features, they will be reading their book share books.

Writing:  Next week in writing, we will complete our I AM poems and craft them into iMovies to share digitally.  We will also be writing about our islands a fair amount during social studies time.

Math:  Our work has turned to rounding, estimating, and mental math applied to the addition and subtraction of decimals.  This work will be integrated into our field experiences and science experiments as much as possible.  Throughout the year, we will focus on tow main parts of mathematics: application and communication, especially as they relate to multistep problems.

Social Studies:  For the rest of September, we will be writing about the geography, resources, culture, and economy of our islands.  We will be creating our Travel Brochures in preparation for our Travel Show on Oct. 1.

Science:  We completed our first experiment this week and I will be giving feedback to kids next week.  Observations have been a focus of science while we are on our field experiences.  Next week, we will continue our observations in the field and we will also prepare our next experiment, focused on Grant School outdoor ecology.

Ipads:  We introduced iPads this week to the delight of the kids.  So far, we have only downloaded a few apps but we have not used the devices in our learning routines yet.  Hopefully, we will start next week with using iMovie in writing, Google Docs in social studies and science too.

This week I will be updating photos for our field experiences this week.  Our observations connect us more to the community but will also shape our community project and learning focus for the year.

MEET NOLA! AND KAYA AND JOSHUA.

Families, it's not all snakes and fish and birds and plants in Classroom C!  We also observed a young human child last week - Nola Rose, my daughter, came to visit Friday afternoon.  You can see Max presented her with a gift and she has loved it all weekend.  Thanks Max.  It occurs to me I never took time at Open House or Back to School Night to introduce my family.  I also have a 17 year old, Kaya, and a 14 year old, Joshua.  They both attend Hickman High School.  Kaya is the captain of the dance team and is anxiously preparing for college.  Joshua is on the soccer team and just figuring out what high school is all about.  My wife, Kristin, is also an educator. She has taught 5th grade at Paxton Keeley for many years.  This year she teaches a couple UMC courses for aspiring teachers and spends time at home with Nola.  In Classroom C, we enjoy learning about each other so there is a little about me!

Thanks Max for Teddy!

MEET MAIZIE

We had a chance to view Maizie in her somewhat natural element this week.  Our jobs table got a nice shot of her striking her lunch.  You can see some nice shots of the artifacts we viewed on our trip to Ellis LIbrary by clicking on the 2015-2016 CPBL link to the right.

WEEKLY UPDATE

Families, please read the update for each subject below.  Let me know if you have any questions.

General heads up:
Homework: Some students have expressed concern and demonstrated some difficulty with our homework routines.  We discussed in circle time on Friday.  Most students stated they thought our routine was acceptable and even appreciated.  As a class, we decided kids need a homework folder and I will provide them with one if they need it.  Please know we post the homework daily on the this blog. I expect students to work no more than 45 minutes at home, unless they want to of course. Our assignments are intended to support our class projects.  Sometimes the due dates are the next day or later in the week or month.  This is to allow kids to manage their time wisely.  We think our routines are similar to middle school and hope learners will be prepared when they enter the next level of academics.  You can also check the homework daily in the planners.

Family Conferences:  Next week, I will post days and times families can schedule a conference with me if they want.  I will do this monthly so we can meet as needed to support success, answer questions, or just say hi!

Graded work:  I will send graded work home in the Friday Folders.  Please return this work so students can add to their portfolios.

Reading: I have listened to every reader read a few pages aloud.  On Monday, each reader will complete a short story and respond to comprehension tasks in writing.  I will have a stronger idea of each student as a reader after looking at this work.  We turned in our 6 best reading responses today and we will use these as models of great reading work throughout the year.  Next week, we will also read nonfiction material in our social studies books about resources, climate, and land forms to support our island map ideas.

Writing:  Many students have completed their I AM sketch and descriptive autobiographical poem.  Next week, the completed poems will be due on Thursday.  Students who have already completed this work, will have time to create an iMovie of their work on their iPad.  We will also introduce writing a Gazetteer for our island maps next week.  The rest of our writing in September will focus on creative writing to prepare for our Travel Show on Oct 3.

Math: We completed our place value unit this week. I will be grading the tests over the weekend and sharing this work in the next Friday Folder.  Next week, we will start our unit on Adding and Subtracting Whole Numbers and Decimals.  Some of this work will be integrated and enhanced with numbers reflecting our field experiences.

Social Studies:  This week we focused on land forms and creating our island maps.  Their maps are very creative and colorful.  Maps are due next Wednesday.  On Tuesday, we will add our map scales together as a class.  Then we will focus on our gazetteers for the rest of the week.  Our work learning about landforms has provided many opportunities to discuss real examples of how nature and humans interact and shaped each others behavior.  Some of our social studies next week will be integrated with writing and our community field experiences.

Science: In science this week, we focused on experimental design.  Our first class experiment is centered on leaf length of trees in Stewart Park.  After we complete our conclusions on Tuesday, we will visit Thursday with a Forester about our results.  After completing this experiment, we will plan our next one in groups.  You can see the development of our science work by clicking the link 2015-2016 CPBL to the right.

Back to School

I had a wonderful time at the Potluck last night and I appreciate those who were able to make it to Back to School Night.  Let me know if you have any questions about anything covered.  Next week, I will be setting dates for optional family conferences for the month of September.  Any family is welcome to come in and chat about the school year or their child's progress.  For now, I want to make sure families are aware we have a walking field trip to the Ellis Library rare books section on Friday.  Our class will leave about 12:30.  Due to the heat, we will be taking our time and taking water breaks along the way.

Now its time to publicly announce the winners of our All Star Poster contest:
Maggie's design was chosen by the class to be our large All Star poster.

Ethan's design was also a class favorite.

I included a few more to demonstrate students efforts and fantastic designs.

MOVING RIGHT ALONG

Families, below you will see our focus for this week as we enter more structured learning routines and academics for each subject.

Reading: We finished describing genres and began organizing our reading notebooks.  Students are all reading chapter books and practicing recording reading thoughts in their notebooks.  We also spent time in the computer lab taking the STAR reading assessment.  This assessment is a snapshot of a reader's comprehension skills.  I will include their score in the Friday Folder.  Next week, we will also take the DRA reading assessment which adds to my understanding of each reader.  For this assessment, I will listen to each reader and they will respond in writing to a short story.  This information helps me decidde how to support each reader's growth.  

Writing: Writers are still focused on developing their I AM poem.  Our work has focused on descriptive words and phrases.  We are drafting later this week.  We will also look at some poetry stucture before we handwrite their poems.  When ipads are rolled out, one of our first tasks will be to use iMovie to make a movie of this autobiographical poem. 

Math: As mathmagicians, we are focusing on pace value, especially in decimals.  We will read, write, and compare decimals to the thousandths place.  This unit provides a deeper understanding of the quantity of decimals and games are often used to give kids practice with comparing decimals.  

Social Studies:  Each day we our discussing landforms around the world and often using numbers in math to describe them.  Students are also working on their world maps for at least 30 minutes a day.  This Friday, we will begin to focus on our island close up maps also.

Science: During science time, we are using our observations to collect, organize, and analyze data.  Our first model experiment will be about trees and their leaves and will use data collected at Stewart Park.  This experiment will be performed in groups and as a class to model experimental design components such as variables constants, hypothesis, data tables, graphs, and conclusions.  

WEEK 1 RECAP

This was truly a very nice start to the school year.  We have a positive community with eager and cooperative learners.  I am very pleased with the progress we have made this week.  We eased in to each core subject with creative and enjoyable activities.

Reading: We have already read 3 books, including our first chapter book read aloud, The Phantom Tollbooth.  Students have their own book tubs and each student has picked out a few books.  Our discussions have focused on responding to books, identifying book genres, and understanding the 5th grade Book Share expectations.

Writing: Students have started their writing journals with a Personality List which also serves as a topic list.  We are incorporating these ideas into a I AM poem, art, and technology project.  

Math: Mathmagicians have enjoyed 3 games which students can use throughout the year during extra math time.  We are building multiple towers to start our investigation into place value and math language.  These towers are also designed to decorate our room a bit too!

Science:  Our beginning science activities focused on making observations and descriptions.  After looking at examples of famous scientist journals, we practiced science descriptions ourselves.  We were so good at it, we decided to practice in the field today at Stewart Park.  I will post some examples of descriptions and pictures shortly.

Social Studies:  Today we introduced the famous Where in the World Project.  This project focuses on geography and integrates art, writing, and reading heavily.  Students will be creating their own island focused on a theme.  As we travel around our community in September, geographers will be inspired to include important aspects of community into their island.  Please read the Where in the World packet in the Friday Folder this weekend.

Friday Folder:  The folder this week has a lot of information for your weekend reading!  Please let me know if you have any questions.  This blog post is copied as the newsletter this week.  Please let me know either by email or writing a note in the Friday Folder if you would like me to continue to put a paper copy in the Friday Folder.  Otherwise, I will rely on blog posts and emails and meeting in person to share ideas and questions about our classwork.  Concerning the weekly behavior chart:  I will fill this out each week (/ means satisfactory, -- needs improvement).  Each student and I will alternate each week making comments about their progress and school experience.  I do these digitally so I can easily keep a record of each week’s progress.  

I am looking forward to a wonderful year!  Enjoy your weekend.

2nd DAY STORIES

On Day 2 we had our first art class.  Students also met Maizie, our corn snake.  We shared I AM writing ideas which we are using for a poetry project.  The class played another math game they can use during math free time.  We also read Animalia by Graem Base.  This book providing fun alliteration ideas and helped students get artistic ideas for starting our Word Wall.  I also introduced the traditional 5th grade Book Share routine during reading.  Families will learn more about this on Back to School Night.  The rest of the day was full of routines, nametags, sticks, and indoor recess practice.  Overall, another fine day.

 

 

 

1st DAY FEATURES

 Today was an enjoyable day as we organized our class, learned about each other, and started routines.  We had PE today, enjoyed a read aloud, and a math game too.  I am looking forward to tomorrow.  Below you will see pictures of our first read aloud and a little shared writing from our creative kids.  Enjoy.

We read Whose Butt by Stan Tekiela.  This is a nonfiction book about animals.

Some of us even knew this one!

Pearl had may extra facts about the pronghorn, the fastest land mammal in America!

You try: Whose behinds are these?

It's a classroom of Grant All-Stars! 

All-Stars are hard working learners on a lifelong journey of learning.  Their habitat is in Classroom C surrounded by gardens.  You can hear them speak English, French, Spanish and more.  Some of their activities include gymnastics, baseball, dance, travelling, soccer, basketball, football, biking, pogosticking, art and music.  

END OF YEAR EXCITEMENT

All-Star Generals, what a great year to celebrate!  After our busy last two weeks and a short trip up North, I finally can sit down and share a few pics of our last days together.  Also, please check out the final wrap up of our Stream Organism and Litter Community Project complete with our donation amount raised and pictures. I will email families and community partners a link of the movie.

Enjoy these end of the year pics, thanks to all, and have a wonderful summer!

GRADUATION PICS:

READING TO BUDDIES AND FIELD DAY PICS:

 

 

 

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