Monday, January 30, 2017

... Blue Snowflake 99 ...5th Grade Newsletter... Blue Snowflake 99 ...
January 30th-February 3rd

Religion –We are continuing with our unit on the seven sacraments.  Students have started their google slide presentations and will continue working on these presentations next week.  After next week, students who have not completed theirs in class will likely be assigned to complete it for homework.   We are asking that students include personal photos of themselves or family members receiving the sacraments.  Any photos you may have can be uploaded directly to your child’s google account.  If it is easier to email them directly to your child’s teacher, please feel free to do so.  If your photos are hard copies, simply take a photo of the photo with your cell phone and email or upload it.  Thank you!  We will also have generic photos of the sacraments for any student who does not have a picture for any particular sacrament.  NEXT WEEK IS CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK!  PLEASE REFER TO THE EMAIL SENT HOME FROM THE OFFICE OR YOUR CHILD’S PLANNER DETAILING THE ACTIVITIES/DRESS FOR THE WEEK!

Reading/Language Arts – We are continuing to work on our MLK unit. Throughout the month of January, we have read and will continue to read various books and articles about MLK and reinforce a number of comprehension strategies during this unit.  We will culminate this unit, with an informative writing piece.  All 3 classes are in the writing process with this unit.  The finished pieces will be hanging in the hallway during conferences in February. We continue to independently read and conference to reach that 40 book mark at the end of the year!

Math –  We started Unit 5 that concentrates on fractions, decimals, and percents.  We took a little break from Everyday Math to learn the ins and outs of banking for BizTown.  Your child has been practicing how to write a check, how to write out a deposit slip, and how to “keep” a register.  It’s so funny to hear their comments about how everything is online and how it seems so strange!  :)  Please continue to encourage your child to practice basic math facts.  We will be testing on these for the second trimester when we return from BizTown.  Thank you!      

Social Studies - Students have been working hard in their businesses this week learning what their job at Biztown will be like.  We discussed what makes a quality business and also important things to know about good advertising.  Students have a family letter coming home that explains our trip on Tuesday.  Each business already decided their appropriate attire for their business.

Language Arts – We have started a unit on verbs.  We have been and will continue to take notes, participate in activities, and complete practice pages to understand verbs and to prepare for the final assessment.  No date has been set for the final assessment at this time.  We will, however, have a quiz on Monday to assess what has been learned so far.  This quiz will cover action, helping, and linking verbs. We will continue with our “Writing on Demand” unit next week as well.  This unit allows students to practice writing answers to essay questions and other types of prompts typically found on assessments.  It is important for students to understand that every piece of writing produced (long or short), in every profession (including a student) should have an introduction, details, and a conclusion.  Other helpful writing tips are provided in this unit as well (re-state the question in the answer, vary sentence length, use transition words etc).  
 

Spelling – Next week’s spelling list will consist of words that have the suffix -tion.  The fact that adding-tion to a word changes the word from a noun to a verb will also be emphasized.  For example, instructor=noun.  Instruction=verb.

Friday, January 20, 2017

... Blue Snowflake 99 ...5th Grade Newsletter... Blue Snowflake 99 ...
January 23rd-27th

Religion –We are continuing with our unit on the seven sacraments.  We’ve learned about each one individually and categorized them into Sacraments of Initiation, Service, and Healing.  We’ve also completed a bible search that relates each sacrament to scripture. Students will now be in charge of creating a google slide presentation about the seven sacraments.  We are asking that students include personal photos of themselves or family members receiving the sacraments.  Any photos you may have can be uploaded directly to your child’s google account.  If it is easier to email them directly to your child’s teacher, please feel free to do so.  If your photos are hard copies, simply take a photo of the photo with your cell phone and email or upload it.  Thank you!  We will also have generic photos of the sacraments for any student who does not have a picture for any particular sacrament.

Reading/Language Arts – We are continuing to work on our MLK unit. Throughout the month of January, we have read and will continue to read various books and articles about MLK and reinforce a number of comprehension strategies during this unit.  We will culminate this unit, with an informative writing piece.  There will still be time for independent reading and conferencing to reach that 40 book mark at the end of the year!

Math –  We started Unit 5 that concentrates on fractions, decimals, and percents.  Please continue to encourage your child to practice basic math facts.  We will be testing on these for the second trimester next week.  Thank you!      

Social Studies - What a fantastic week we have had in learning about Biztown, how money works, check writing, campaigning, speeches, interview skills, elections, and more…  Students are doing a great job trying to absorb a LOT of information.  If you write a check or use your debit card this weekend, involve your child in how this works.  

Language Arts – We have started a unit on verbs.  We will be taking notes, participating in activities, and completing practice pages to understand verbs and to prepare for the final assessment.  No date has been set for the final assessment at this time.  We have also started a unit called “Writing on Demand.”  This unit allows students to practice writing answers to essay questions and other types of prompts typically found on assessments.
 

Spelling – Next week’s spelling list will consist of words that have the greek roots of ology, ologist, bio, geo, astro, and hydro.

Friday, January 13, 2017

... Blue Snowflake 99 ...5th Grade Newsletter... Blue Snowflake 99 ...
January 16th-20th

Religion –We have started our unit on the seven sacraments.  We’ve been learning about each one individually and categorizing them into Sacraments of Initiation, Service, and Healing.  Next week, we will relate each sacrament to scripture. Students will be in charge of creating a google slide presentation about the seven sacraments.  We are asking that students include personal photos of themselves or family members receiving the sacraments.  Any photos you may have can be uploaded directly to your child’s google account.  If it is easier to email them directly to your child’s teacher, please feel free to do so.  If your photos are hard copies, simply take a photo of the photo with your cell phone and email or upload it.  Thank you!  We will also have generic photos of the sacraments for any student who does not have a picture for any particular sacrament.

Reading/Language Arts – We have started our unit on MLK. Throughout the month of January, we will read various books and articles about MLK and reinforce a number of comprehension strategies during this unit.  We will culminate this unit, with an informative writing piece.  There will still be time for independent reading and conferencing to reach that 40 book mark at the end of the year!

Math –  Your child will be bringing home his/her Unit 4 Oral and Slate, Open Response, and Written Assessment on Monday.  Please review with your child, sign, and return with your child.  Our next unit of study concentrates on fractions, decimals, and percents.        

Social Studies - I hope you all enjoyed viewing your Child’s hard work on their Iowa History projects.  I am still grading and will get them back as soon as I can.  We have moved right into our BizTown unit.  A letter is coming home today explaining this program a bit more.  Please read and sign the permission slip and get that back to us.  Students will be learning a great deal in a short amount of time about how a business and the economy runs.  Students will apply for the jobs they would like to have at BizTown.  Next week we will talk about the application process in the real world and practice interview skills in preparation for our interviews next Wednesday.  We will also be electing our BizTown mayor and district attorney next Thursday.

Language Arts – We are wrapping up our 3rd round of informative writing.  The students had to choose a location for Santa to vacation on Dec. 26 or a gift (product) to purchase for Santa.  Research had to be completed on a location or product to complete the written piece.  We also discussed how to choose reputable sources and how to cite our sources to avoid plagiarism.  We spent this week typing and editing our work.  All of the steps for this paper need to be completed and ready to turn in on Tuesday.  Next week we will begin a unit on verbs as well as a writing unit on “Writing on Demand.”

Spelling – Next week’s spelling list will consist of words that have the greek roots of graph, phon, photo, tele, and  scope.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

... Blue Snowflake 99 ...5th Grade Newsletter... Blue Snowflake 99 ...
January 9th-13th

Religion –Our 25 Days of Christ has wrapped up this week.  Next week we will begin learning about the seven sacraments and relating them to scripture.  Students will be in charge of creating a google slide presentation about the seven sacraments.  We are asking that students include personal photos of themselves or family members receiving the sacraments.  Any photos you may have can be uploaded directly to your child’s google account.  If it is easier to email them directly to your child’s teacher, please feel free to do so.  If your photos are hard copies, simply take a photo of the photo with your cell phone and email or upload it.  Thank you!  We will also have generic photos of the sacraments for any student who does not have a picture for any particular sacrament.

Reading/Language Arts – We have finished reading A Christmas Carol.  This was a wonderful whole class book that exposed all of the students to some quality traditional literature.  Throughout the month of January, we will read various books and articles about MLK and reinforce a number of comprehension strategies during this unit.  There will still be time for independent reading and conferencing to reach that 40 book mark at the end of the year!

Math –  Our Unit 4 test over division will be on Thursday, January 12, and Friday, January 13.  Your child has the following study items to help him/her prepare for the test: red spiral of notes, completed studylinks, and a review sheet.       

Social Studies - We have started our unit on Iowa History this week and will continue next week.  Students have chosen the manner in which they have decided to present their information; google slide, book, or a play presentation of their information.  We also spent time practicing our geographic knowledge with the geographic Bee.  Students completed this today and some students have moved on to the next written round that will be given by Mrs. Larson Monday after school.  STUDENTS know who they are.  We will start preparing for BizTown when we return from Christmas break.

Language Arts – We are continuing to work on our 3rd round of informative writing.  The students had to choose a location for Santa to vacation on Dec. 26 or a gift (product) to purchase for Santa.  Research had to be completed on a location or product to complete the written piece.  We also discussed how to choose reputable sources and how to cite our sources to avoid plagiarism.  We spent this week after break polishing up the work prior to break.  This piece should be completed next week.  This practice will lead up to a graded informative writing piece about MLK’s life and legacy.

Spelling – We ended up squeezing in a spelling test this week.  The list consisted of contractions.  Contractions should be simply have been a review of words mastered in 3rd and 4th grade.  Next week we will complete a list of words with the silent g sound.