I hope that everyone had a wonderful winter break. We had a great last week of school in 2016. Some highlights include: our play performance, sharing Rube Goldberg projects, sharing our quarter 2 writing pieces, completing and sharing our short stories with 1st graders, donating to Dunlap Gives Back all items collected for our giving tree, a white elephant gift exchange, and a great holiday party!

We had lots of students move up a level on Super Improver during the last two weeks of 2016! Some students are on their way to making it to the top!   Ask your student where they are on our super improver chart! To move up, they just need to show improvement in anything!

Thank you to the parents that came in and helped with the holiday party. Our students had a great time!

The first week back there will be no Wonderful Wildcat because it is a 2 day week! 

An important reminder: we are beginning quarter 3! The work level will continue to increase as the students are now half way through their 5th grade year. Please encourage your student to check the blog, stay on top of  his/her assignments, and do their best! I’m so please with everyone so far! I know we can continue to grow and learn the second half of fifth grade! 

Important Dates:

Thursday, January 5- School resumes! Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Tuesday, January 10- Report cards issued for quarter 2

Saturday, January 14- Skating Party at Owen’s Center hosted by PTO 3:45 pm-5:15 pm

Monday, January 16- NO SCHOOL – Martin Luther King Day

This week we will do a lot of reviewing and setting goals for quarter 3 since it is a 2 day week. Students will not have reader’s workshop, a spelling test, or daily geography this week, but will return to a normal schedule the following week. 

Reading/Lang. Arts:

• We will introduce literature circles, and I will teach them their expectations for the month of January.
• Students will also be assigned a book at their reading level and will be required to complete a variety of activities throughout the month with the book they are assigned. There will also be a book project due the first week of February! Please ask your student to look at the requirements so that they don’t wait until the last minute to complete it.
• Our reading logs will be due each Monday. Please make sure that your child is reading for 100 minutes each night and it writing about the strategy he/she used to help them read. Please remember to sign the log so that I know they have completed their assigned reading. Students are able to use their literature circle book as the book for the reading log. 
• We will review the parts of speech in English and learn indirect objects.
• Students will also learn about how to make compound and complex sentences and how to use it in their writing pieces.
• Our writer’s workshop piece will focus on opinion writing. We have studied this already and this time we will focus on writing opinion responses based on articles and books we will read.
• Weekly journals will begin again. Please encourage students to take time on their journal entries since they have a week (or longer) to complete them.

Math: 

• We will focus on real world story problems over the next few weeks. Students will also continue to review the skills we have learned in the first two quarters as well.
• Our next chapter we will study is Chapter 10 percents.
• Remember, if you feel your child needs extra help with the math concepts, I have a math group each morning in our classroom beginning at 7:25! (We will not have math group this week, but will resume next week! )
• Please encourage your child to work on Xtra math, Frontrowed, or Khan Academy at night!

Science: 

•  We will expand on our study  about forces in motion and simple machines.
• As we continue to study this unit, there are a variety of science experiments students will complete in class.

Social Studies: 

• We will begin studying Chapter 5 on our expanding nation.
• Our goal is to take a test on Chapter 5 on Friday, Feb. 3.
• Daily Geography is a big part of our social studies grade. Most of the time spent on this is at home. Please encourage your student to take their time, use complete sentences, and do their best work.

 

Our week in pictures…..