M-STEP Snacks
Wednesday, March 25th, 2015Our class is looking for some healthy snacks for the M-STEP state test after spring break. If you can help, please contact me or the office. Thank you.
Archive for March, 2015
Class activities for Tuesday, March 24
Tuesday, March 24th, 2015Spelling: Today was a preview of upcoming spelling words.
Cursive: Ten cursive sentences, seven or more words each, are due on Fridays.
Reading: Today we practiced our class play.
Writing: Students continued to work on the draft of their fiction novel project or to start revising.
Each student has a daily writing goal of 150-400 words. The novel project is due Friday, March 27. Students should be nearing the end of their draft and be ready to start revising soon. Check StudentVue for your student’s progress.
Math: Today we practiced making equivalent fractions
Here are recent skills that should be finished:
It would be helpful for students to continue working on these skills at home if they haven’t had enough time in class to master them.
Homework is to practice math for 15 minutes or more using MobyMax or Khan Academy, and to work on MobyMax FactMaster for 5 minutes.
Science: We finished learning about Newton’s laws of motion. Homework is to finish analysis questions 1-5 on p. 36.
Social Studies: None today due to making posters for our class play.
Notes:
- Our next play practice is Wednesday, March 25 from 4-5. This is a dress rehearsal; students please wear your costume.
- Our class play, The Legend of Lightning Larry, will be on March 31. Here is the practice schedule. Our shows are at 10 am, 10:30 am, and 6:30 pm. Students please arrive at 5:30 on the night of the performance.
- Visit our Links page: keep track of all the websites we use for learning, or try something new.
- Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
- View grades, report cards, behavior, assignments, and attendance online.
- Fifth Grade Camp is May 7-8, 2015. Costs are $100 and payments are being accepted through May.
Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 6th grade.
Class activities for Monday, March 23
Monday, March 23rd, 2015Spelling: None today.
Cursive: Ten cursive sentences, seven or more words each, are due on Fridays.
Reading: Today was a reading day in Literature Circles; some groups worked on solving unknown words by breaking them into chunks.
Writing: Students continued to work on the draft of their fiction novel project or to start revising.
Each student has a daily writing goal of 150-400 words. The novel project is due Friday, March 27. Students should be nearing the end of their draft and be ready to start revising soon. Check StudentVue for your student’s progress, current as of today.
Novel Writing Project 2015
The final piece of the 3rd Marking Period will be our final fiction project of the year. Students will write and publish a novel. Each student will write their own novel, with a word goal minimum of 1,500-4,000 words, based on their reading level (each student’s minimum writing goal is equal to their reading level multiplied by 500). The novels will be written in Google Docs (docs.mrhowd.com) to make use of the word count feature. Final novels will be uploaded to Lulu.com and published as paperback books, which can be purchased for reasonable prices. So yes, students will actually write and publish their own novels. This project is based on the National Novel Writing Month Young Writers program.
Math: Today was a final class work day to finish these skills:
Skills that should be finished:
It would be helpful for students to continue working on these skills at home if they haven’t had enough time in class to master them.
Homework is to practice math for 15 minutes or more using MobyMax or Khan Academy, and to work on MobyMax FactMaster for 5 minutes.
Science: We learned about friction and how the force of friction has to be counteracted if an object is going to stay moving.
Social Studies: Students finished reading about how slaves kept their hopes alive during their difficult time in slavery. Homework is to finish reading notes p. 49 if not done in class.
Notes:
- Our next play practice is Wednesday, March 25 from 4-5. This is a dress rehearsal; students please wear your costume.
- Our class play, The Legend of Lightning Larry, will be on March 31. Here is the practice schedule. Our shows are at 10 am, 10:30 am, and 6:30 pm. Students please arrive at 5:30 on the night of the performance.
- Visit our Links page: keep track of all the websites we use for learning, or try something new.
- Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
- View grades, report cards, behavior, assignments, and attendance online.
- Fifth Grade Camp is May 7-8, 2015. Costs are $100 and payments are being accepted through May.
Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 6th grade.
Class activities for Friday, March 20
Friday, March 20th, 2015Spelling: None today due to Career Fair.
Cursive: Ten cursive sentences, seven or more words each, are due on Fridays.
Reading: Today was a STAR Reading test.
Writing: Students continued to work on the draft of their fiction novel project today.
Each student has a daily writing goal of 150-400 words. The novel project is due Friday, March 27. Students should be drafting now, with about 80-90% of the word count goal complete. Check StudentVue for your student’s progress, current as of yesterday.
Novel Writing Project 2015
The final piece of the 3rd Marking Period will be our final fiction project of the year. Students will write and publish a novel. Each student will write their own novel, with a word goal minimum of 1,500-4,000 words, based on their reading level (each student’s minimum writing goal is equal to their reading level multiplied by 500). The novels will be written in Google Docs (docs.mrhowd.com) to make use of the word count feature. Final novels will be uploaded to Lulu.com and published as paperback books, which can be purchased for reasonable prices. So yes, students will actually write and publish their own novels. This project is based on the National Novel Writing Month Young Writers program.
Math: We continued working on determining patterns in data tables today:
Skills your student should be finishing soon:
Skills that should be finished:
It would be helpful for students to continue working on these skills at home if they haven’t had enough time in class to master them.
Homework is to practice math for 15 minutes or more using MobyMax or Khan Academy, and to work on MobyMax FactMaster for 5 minutes.
Science: We learned about the Law of Inertia today–objects at rest tend to stay at rest, objects in motion tend to stay in motion.
Social Studies: None today due to Career Fair.
Notes:
- Our next play practice is Monday, March 23 from 4-5; students can stay until 6 to work on the set. This is a dress rehearsal; students please wear your costume.
- Our class play, The Legend of Lightning Larry, will be on March 31. Here is the practice schedule.
- Visit our Links page: keep track of all the websites we use for learning, or try something new.
- Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
- View grades, report cards, behavior, assignments, and attendance online.
- Fifth Grade Camp is May 7-8, 2015. Costs are $100 and payments are being accepted through May.
Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 6th grade.
School time change
Thursday, March 19th, 2015Here’s a message from our school office:
“TIME CHANGE: As you may or may not know, McGrath is one day over the State Allotment of “weather” days for the year and therefore we will need to make some adjustments prior to the end of the school year to make this day (time) up. Beginning Monday, March 23, 2015, we will be adding five (5) minutes to the school day at the beginning of each day. The school day will now begin at 8:35 a.m. All bus schedules will remain the same.”
