Archive for October, 2010

Class activities for Friday, October 22

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

Spelling: Today was a preview of upcoming spelling words.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences of seven or more words each are due on Fridays.

Reading: Today was a reading day in Literature Circles; some groups worked on synthesizing and making inferences as reading strategies.

Writing: We talked about how to describe characters using more than just a sentence list of attributes. Students also worked on their drafts today.

A slightly fictionalized personal narrative is due Friday, November 5. Students should be drafting at this time.

Math: None today.

Science: We wrote notes and reviewed some recent assignments about the digestive system today.

Social Studies: None on Fridays.

Behavior Update:

  • Yellow magnets: 0
  • Orange magnets: 0
  • Red magnets: 0
  • STAR Awards: 0
  • Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 0

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet. Need help with SnapGrades?

Notes:

Our Mission:
Every student in Room 130 leaves improved and prepared for 6th grade.

Class activities for Thursday, October 21

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

Spelling: Today was a spelling and skill test.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences of seven or more words each are due on Fridays.

Reading: We looked at good examples of student reading responses today.

Writing: Students worked on prewriting conferences today.

A slightly fictionalized personal narrative is due Friday, November 5. Students should be prewriting or drafting at this time.

Math: We reviewed estimating products today. Homework is to complete Journal pp. 47-49.

Science: We wrote notes about the digestive system today. We also learned about what happens to the fat, carbohydrates and protein in food when it moves through our digestive system. Homework is to finish the Dealing with Digestion review page.

Social Studies: We learned about the Southwest and Plateau American Indians today. Homework is to finish the reading notes for sections 3.4 and 3.5, if not done in class.

Behavior Update:

  • Yellow magnets: 0
  • Orange magnets: 0
  • Red magnets: 0
  • STAR Awards: 0
  • Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 0

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet. Need help with SnapGrades?

Notes:

Our Mission:
Every student in Room 130 leaves improved and prepared for 6th grade.

Didn’t we do this last year?

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

When you have the same teacher for two years, this question might come up.

In the case of academics, there are some subject areas that will review fourth grade concepts. Math is one that comes to mind. But other subjects, such as science and social studies, will be quite different.

There will be similarities in procedures as well. Reading this year will be similar to last year, with the only difference being high levels of books. Writing will also have the same procedures. The types of writing that fourth and fifth graders work on is almost identical, so students this year will be working on similar writing pieces. However, the writing strategies we work on this year will build upon and move beyond fourth grade strategies.

What about activities? You may have already noticed that we had Team Day this year, the same as last year. The events were the same, but the outcome was different. Students this year were able to work better as a team and complete more challenging tasks.

Our parties this year will be very similar to last year’s parties. We have several new students in our class this year that weren’t here last year to participate in our festivities. We also have some “old” students that didn’t make it to particular events last year, due to illnesses or other reasons.

Or you might file this under “traditions.” I personally like looking forward to special traditions yearly, and these traditions usually involve holidays. So far, I haven’t requested pizza on Thanksgiving; I look forward too much to that turkey and dressing! So it goes with our holiday events. We can all look forward to the fun we know will be coming. New students and a new year will add in differences that we can’t anticipate.

With the exciting newness of fifth grade and the expectation of familiar traditions, this will hopefully be an even better year than last year!

Class activities for Wednesday, October 20

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

Spelling: None today due to the Science MEAP test.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences of seven or more words each are due on Fridays.

Reading: None today due to the Science MEAP test.

Writing: None today due to the Science MEAP test.

A slightly fictionalized personal narrative is due Friday, November 5. Students should be prewriting at this time.

Math: We reviewed data landmarks (minimum, maximum, range, mode, median, mean) today and the class completed a MiniQuiz.

Science: None today due to the Science MEAP test.

Social Studies: None today due to the Science MEAP test.

Behavior Update:

  • Yellow magnets: 0
  • Orange magnets: 0
  • Red magnets: 0
  • STAR Awards: 0
  • Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 0

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet. Need help with SnapGrades?

Notes:

Our Mission:
Every student in Room 130 leaves improved and prepared for 6th grade.

Class activities for Tuesday, October 19

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

Spelling: None today due to the Math MEAP test.

Cursive: Ten cursive sentences of seven or more words each are due on Fridays.

Reading: None today due to the Math MEAP test.

Writing: None today due to the Math MEAP test.

A slightly fictionalized personal narrative is due Friday, November 5. Students should be prewriting at this time.

Math: We reviewed data landmarks (minimum, maximum, range, mode, median, mean) today. Homework is complete puzzle pages 67-68.

Science: None today due to the Math MEAP test.

Social Studies: None today due to the Math MEAP test.

Behavior Update:

  • Yellow magnets: 0
  • Orange magnets: 0
  • Red magnets: 0
  • STAR Awards: 0
  • Magnets moved this week (goal: 10): 0

Check your student’s Personal and Social Growth grade at SnapGrades to see if your student moved their magnet. Need help with SnapGrades?

Notes:

Our Mission:
Every student in Room 130 leaves improved and prepared for 6th grade.