Saints Wax Museum

Parents,

You are invited!  As reported in our last two newsletters/blog posts, Thursday November 1st following mass at 10:10 a.m, will be our annual 5th grade Saints Wax Museum.  

Students have been researching information regarding his/her chosen saint throughout this past week.  To conclude the research and as a part of the the Museum, students will be asked to write a brief report (paragraph or slightly more) on his/her saint and do their best to memorize as much of their report as possible.  

Students will also be asked to put together a "costume" as well as find props that represent his/her saint.  Please don't feel as though you need to purchase any items.  Look for items around home that could be used.  For example, St. Christopher is pictured wearing what looks like a robe/sheet wrapped around him.  For this costume a bed sheet could be used to just drape around a student's existing clothing. St. Christopher is the patron saint of automobile drivers.  Small matchbox cars could be used as props on the student's desk to represent this particular saint.  If you are unable to find props to represent a saint, a poster could be made illustrating props.  

We ask that you encourage your child to practice memorizing his/her report at home over the weekend.  We also ask that you monitor your child's use of the internet when researching information regarding his/her saint this week to ensure that the information he/she is finding is from a catholic resource.  Additionally, we ask that you assist your child in ensuring costume/prop choices are brought to school next Thursday.

Two online resources include, www.catholic.org/saints/    or www.catholic-forum.com/saints/patron02.htm

Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.  We look forward to seeing you all next week!

Thank you.

Mrs. Schaffer, Mrs. Alsin, and Mrs. Anderson

Week 9 News

Upcoming Events

• Red Ribbon Week Activities - "Real Heroes Don't Do Drugs"
• MONDAY: 
• “Your Future So Bright, You Gotta Wear Shades”.   Students & staff may wear sunglasses or any other fun pair of glasses.
• ALICE Training - we will be sharing these strategies with our 5th graders.
• TUESDAY: 
• Be Your Own Hero”  Students and staff may wear a shirt representing an activity they are involved in or a something they are passionate about.  Uniform bottoms must be worn.
• WEDNESDAY:  
• “Favorite Literary Hero”  Students and staff may dress up as their favorite character from a book.“
• Schedule Switch - Our Wednesday and Thursday schedule will flip this week due to All Saints Day being on Thursday.  We will have PE on Wednesday, reminder for tennis shoes that day.
• THURSDAY:
• “Wear Red Day”  Students and staff may wear a red shirt with uniform bottoms.  
• SAINTS WAX MUSEUM - Thursday November 1st 10:10-10:45 in our 5th grade classrooms
• All Saints Day Celebrations in the afternoon Thursday November 1.
• FRIDAY:
• “Even Superheroes Need to Sleep”  Students and staff may wear pajamas.

Reminders

• NOVEMBER 1st NO more SHORTS or CAPRI bottoms.
• As the weather gets colder, please remember to send layers of clothing for outdoor recess.

October 29-November 2

Religion – We have been researching, writing and preparing for the Saint’s Wax Museum this week.  As a reminder, the wax museum will be held on November 1st in your child’s classroom from 10:10-10:45 (after mass).  We hope to see you there! Following the museum, we will begin a unit on the Liturgical Calendar in preparation for the church new year beginning the first week of Advent.

Reading/Language Arts –All three classes are continuing to learn about comprehension strategies.  Lessons revolve around teaching the students about the strategy, using a mentor text to practice the strategy and then suggestions on how to use the strategies in their independent reading.  These strategies will be stressed throughout the entire year. Many students are well on their way to their 40 books by the end of 5th grade! Keep on reading!

Math – We began Unit 3: Geometry this week. We are using a different study strategy to learn the concepts and all of the vocabulary that accompanies this chapter. The strategy focuses on the students not waiting to be assessed, but on the learners assessing themselves throughout a unit of study. We learned about this strategy on our last professional development day. It’s amazing how motivating using different colors of pens, highlighters, etc. and writing on anything other than lined paper. :) I am hopeful that it will also provide me the formative assessment information I need to make decisions to direct my instruction. This does not mean that we are taking a break from computation - please encourage nightly practice of math facts at home.  :) Thank you!

Social Studies -  We Are reading about American Indians and the Cultural regions they lived in and how they adapted to those environments.  Next week we will continue and also discuss why the Europeans came to America and the routes of exploration to the New World that were taken. All three 5th grades have started lessons from parent volunteers introducing Junior Achievement.  There are 6 lessons, so we will see these parents each week. This is wonderful preparation for 5th grade Biztown that will begin in January.

Language Arts – We wrapped up our non ficton quick write by writing a paragraph  detailing a battle scene similar to a scene found at the end of a Who Would Win book by Jerry Palotta.  We discussed how to write a paragraph and how to strenghthen our sentences.  We also started our Personal Narrative Unit by using Jerry Spinelli’s autobiography, Knots in my Yo-Yo String as a mentor text for ideas for our own personal narratives.  This process will continue next week. We will also begin a short grammar unit on Nouns.

Spelling – Next week’s Spelling list will consist of more plural words/rules.  We will also review synonymns, antonymns, and homographs.

Week 8 News (week 7 was conference week)

Upcoming Events

• IOWA ASSESSMENTS - We will be taking Iowa Assessments each morning this week, Students may bring a healthy snack and drink.
• MISSION AWARENESS DAY - Friday October 26th.  Students may dress down with a donation 
• SAINTS WAX MUSEUM - November 1

Reminders

• SHORTS, CAPRI bottoms - May still be worn until November 1st.
• LATE-SLIPS - Students will receive 3 lates in each subject.  On the third late in the same subject, they will serve a detention on the following Wednesday after school until 4:00.
• Extra Layers - As the weather changes, so does the temperature of our classrooms.  Students must be in SFA approved sweatshirts /fleece inside the building.  They may wear whatever they want out to recess. 

October 22-26

Religion –  We began our unit on Saints this week.  This will lead us to the annual 5th grade Saint’s Wax Museum.  Please save the date! The wax museum will be held on November 1st in your child’s classroom from 10:00-10:45 (after mass).  For this project, the kids will choose a saint to research. They will then write an informative report about their saints and dress up as their saints for our wax museum.   It is always a lot of fun to see the kids dressed up as their saints. Look for more information to come home soon regarding this special event.

Reading – All three classes are learning about comprehension strategies and how to apply them to independent reading (fiction or non-fiction).  The comprehension strategies that we will focus on throughout the year include schema, questioning, monitoring and fixing up, synthesis, sensory image, determining importance, and inferring.  Many students are well on their way to their 40 books by the end of 5th grade! We are advising that students be around 13 books by Thanksgiving. Keep on reading!

Math – We are finished up with Unit 2 and are going to begin Unit 3: Geometry.  You will be receiving your child’s Unit 2 results next week. Please encourage continued practice of basic math facts. Thanks!

Social Studies - We have been discussing Native Americans and their Land, how they adapted to different environments, and the routes they took to North and South America.  We will continue this discussion next week and also look at European Exploration.

Language Arts – We have wrapped up our unit on The Sentence.  Corrected tests will be handed back next week. We will now take our sentence knowledge and begin a unit on paragraph writing in Grammar.  In Writing last week, we used the mentor text Water Dance to help us brainstorm ideas to write about an object from the object’s point of view.  This week we worked on a non fiction piece of writing by using the mentor text, Who Would Win?  Students had to choose two animals to research and then determine who would win in a battle based on their strengths etc.   We will begin the writing process for our first formal, graded paper next week-the personal narrative.

Spelling – We will NOT have a spelling test next week due to Iowa Assessments.

GRANDPARENTS Day

What a fantastic morning we shared with many Grandparents and Grandfriends.  We feel so blessed to be a part of your children's lives and seeing them with grandparents is always one of our favorite days.  We loved that many students came to each class to show their Grandparent what their routine looks like.  All three of us were so proud of the students that "shared" a grandparent with friends who did not have one attend.  Here are some of the pics I took...ENJOY

   

   

   

   

     

         

     

     

           

     

     

     

     

Social Studies Textbook

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Week 6 News

Upcoming Events

• FRANCISfest - October 7
• CONFERENCES - October 8, 9, and 11th
• BOOK FAIR - Monday 5th grade students will be shopping at the book fair. Cash and Checks will be accepted at that time.
• ADORATION - Tuesday we will visit the Blessed Sacrament in the church.
• SPIRITWEAR- Tuesday October 9th, SFA or Dowling shirt with dress code bottoms. 
• NO SCHOOL - Thursday, 11th and Friday, 12th 
• NO SCHOOL - Monday the 15th, Staff Development 
• GRANDPARENT/GRANDFRIEND Day - October 19  
• SAINTS WAX MUSEUM - November 1

Reminders

• SHORTS, CAPRI bottoms - May still be worn until November 1st.
• LATE-SLIPS - Students will receive 3 lates in each subject.  On the third late in the same subject, they will serve a detention on the following Wednesday after school until 4:00.
• Extra Layers - As the weather changes, so does the temperature of our classrooms.  Students must be in SFA approved sweatshirts /fleece inside the building.  They may wear whatever they want out to recess. 

October 8-12

Religion –October is the month in which the Catholic Church honors the Rosary.  K-5 will be participating in weekly Rosary prayer services. The Rosary will be held on Tuesday October 9th in the church at 9:00 in the church. We are studying the parts of mass this week and will wrap it up next week.  Mrs. Schaffer’s class will be taking the assessment on Monday the 8th, Mrs. Anderson's class will assess on Wednesday the 10th. We will then begin a unit on saints. This will lead us to the annual 5th grade Saint’s Wax Museum. Please save the date! The wax museum will be held on November 1st in your child’s classroom from 10:10-10:45. Watch for more information to come about this special event.

Reading/Language Arts – We’ve wrapped up our unit on genre and will be moving into a unit on plot.   Conferencing and letter writing are going really well! Many students are well on their way to their 40 books by the end of 5th grade!  Keep on reading!

Math – We continue to work in Unit 2 which focuses on estimation and computational procedures. Please encourage continued practice of basic facts.

Social Studies - We presented student's amazing timelines today. They will be hanging in the 5th grade hallway for all to view during conferences. Next week we will get signed-up on Google classroom and TCI which is our online 5th grade social studies textbook.

Language Arts – We are continuing to work through The Sentence unit.  We learned about simple, compound, and complex sentences and conjunctions this week.  We will continue practicing with them next week. In writing, we’ve continued to use mentor texts to assist us is coming up with ideas to write about.  We read Patricia Polacco’s My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother and Meteor to see how authors use events in their own lives as inspiration for writing.  

Spelling –There will not be a spelling list/test next week due to a short week for conferences.