A Girl with a Cape, by Amy Logan

We loved our author's visit from Amy Logan.  She gave a very energized and engaging talk about how kindness affects others and how there is a super hero inside everyone.  The kids were not only excited to meet and listen to Mrs. Logan, but they were exuberant when they walked into school this morning to find out they had their own "capes" made by our PTO.  Thank you to all on PTO who helped make this author visit extra special.

A Look at Next Week:

Social Studies- We will finish our web-notes on the Puritans, and will read Lesson 5.4 "The Thirteen English Colonies."

ELA
Reading- We will continue to work in our ELA centers during Daily 3.  We will continue to research different topics regarding Sitting Bull, and begin our Glogster.

Essential Questions:  

How can challenges affect yourself and those around you (i.e family, friends, etc)?

How do characters, real and fictional, respond to challenges  (both positively & negatively)?

How are challenges conquered in literature and informational text?

Word Work- Spelling:  Students will be studying Lesson 13, and will take a test on Friday.
Vocabulary-  Students will play word games on the iPad and Scrabble.

Language Arts- Students will turn in their published pieces of writing on Wednesday, and will continue our unit on punctuation.

Science- We will finish our discussion on succession.  The Lesson 6.2 open-note quiz has been pushed back to Wednesday.
Essential Questions:  How do organisms compete and survive in an ecosystem? How do ecosystems change over time? How do people affect ecosystems?

Math-  We will take a Lesson 2.1-2.5 quiz on Tuesday.  Then we will be going over the distributive property, and estimating products.

Important Days:

Friday - End of First Trimester

Have a great weekend!

Author Visit

Amy Logan, author of A Girl with a Cape, is visiting our school on Friday, November 14th.  Ms. Logan wrote this story about a little girl who is ready to make a big difference in the world.  She eventually gets frustrated because she feels there is no big moment in her life that she can make a difference in.  However what she didn't realize is that every time she was nice to someone, it made a difference in that person's life.  This is a story about "paying it forward" and remembering that there is a superhero in everybody.

In class we have decorated our own capes.  Every morning we then pass the capes around the room and write down one positive comment about the cape's owner.  It is a nice way to start off our day!

A Look at Next Week:

Social Studies- We will finish our web-notes on Lesson 5.3 "New European Colonies."  Students are reading about the Pilgrims, Puritans, and the first Thanksgiving.

ELA
Reading- We will continue to work in our ELA centers during Daily 3.  We will compare and contrast how Slow and Jackie Robinson handled the challenges in their lives.  Then we will research different topics regarding Sitting Bull. 

Essential Questions:  

How can challenges affect yourself and those around you (i.e family, friends, etc)?

How do characters, real and fictional, respond to challenges  (both positively & negatively)?

How are challenges conquered in literature and informational text?

Word Work- Spelling:  Students will be studying Lesson 11, and will take a test on Friday.
Vocabulary-  Students will play word games on the iPad and Scrabble.

Language Arts- We will finalize our published pieces of writing, and will begin our unit on punctuation.

Science- We will finish taking notes on Lesson 6.2, and take the open-note quiz on Thursday.
Essential Questions:  How do organisms compete and survive in an ecosystem? How do ecosystems change over time? How do people affect ecosystems?

Math-  We will cover Lessons 2.2-2.5.  We will be learning about exponents and finding patterns in multiplication.

Important Days:

Tuesday- Picture Re-takes
Friday - Author Visit

Have a great weekend!

Halloween

Thank you to everybody who helped make our Halloween party a success!  Thank you so much for bringing in supplies, setting everything up, and organizing the games.  The kids had a great time!

A Look at Next Week:

Social Studies- We will finish our web-notes on Lesson 5.2 "New European Colonies," and will begin to read Lesson 5.3.

ELA
Reading- We will continue to work in our ELA centers.  We will discuss how Slow's character changes as he grows up, and students will be introduced to our research project on Sitting Bull.

Essential Questions:  

How can challenges affect yourself and those around you (i.e family, friends, etc)?

How do characters, real and fictional, respond to challenges  (both positively & negatively)?

How are challenges conquered in literature and informational text?

Word Work- Spelling:  Students will not have Spelling this week.
Vocabulary-  Students will continue to make skits about their vocabulary words on the iPad, and will have a vocabulary quiz on Friday.

Language Arts- We will continue to apply our writing strategies by revising fragments and run-on sentences.  Students are going to be revising their published piece of writing.

Science- We will finish reading Lesson 6.2, and begin to take our web-notes on this lesson.
Essential Questions:  How do organisms compete and survive in an ecosystem? How do ecosystems change over time? How do people affect ecosystems?

Math-  We will begin Chapter 2, and will be focusing on prime factorization, and exponents.

Important Days:

Monday- No School
Tuesday- No School- Teacher Institute- Go Vote!
Friday - Family Bingo Night 6:30-8:00pm

Have a great week!

A Peek at Next Week

A Look at Next Week:

Social Studies- We will finish our web-notes on Lesson 5.1 "Jamestown," and will be begin to read Lesson 5.2.

ELA
Reading- We will continue to work in our ELA centers.  We will finish listening to "A Boy Called Slow," and students will be introduced to our research project on Sitting Bull.

Essential Questions:  

How can challenges affect yourself and those around you (i.e family, friends, etc)?

How do characters, real and fictional, respond to challenges  (both positively & negatively)?

How are challenges conquered in literature and informational text?

Word Work- Spelling:  Students will be studying Lesson 10, and will take a test on Friday.
Vocabulary-  Students will continue to work on Marzano's strategies for making words more meaningful.  We will continue to look at how to use some vocabulary apps on the iPad, and how to use iMovie to enhance our tableaux and skits.

Language Arts- We will apply our writing strategies by revising fragments and run-on sentences.  Students are going to be publishing a piece of writing from their Writer's Notebook.

Science- We will finish discussing Lesson 6.1, and take an open-note assessment on Wednesday.  We will then preview and begin to read Lesson 6.2.
Essential Questions:  How do organisms compete and survive in an ecosystem? How do ecosystems change over time? How do people affect ecosystems?

Math-  We will finish reviewing Chapter 5 and take a test on Tuesday.  We will then preview and begin Chapter 2, focusing on multiplying whole numbers.

Important Days:

Monday- Parent/Teacher Conferences
Tuesday- Parent/Teacher Conferences
Thursday- Parent/Teacher Conferences

Friday - Halloween- 1:15 Parade

Have a great weekend!

A Peek at Next Week

A Look at Next Week:

Social Studies- We will finish reading Lesson 5.1 "Jamestown," and will continue to work on note-taking skills.  During this lesson we will focus on making web notes.

ELA
Reading- We will continue building our reading stamina, and setting up our ELA centers.  We will read with partners and listen to the story called "A Boy Called Slow."

Essential Questions:  

How can challenges affect yourself and those around you (i.e family, friends, etc)?

How do characters, real and fictional, respond to challenges  (both positively & negatively)?

How are challenges conquered in literature and informational text?

Word Work- Spelling:  Students will be studying Lesson 9, and will take a test on Friday.
Vocabulary-  Students will continue to work on Marzano's strategies for making words more meaningful.  We will continue to look at how to use some vocabulary apps on the iPad.

Language Arts- We will be working on our writing stamina in our Writer's Notebooks, and find themes in our writing.  We will also be looking at conjunctions, and how to make more complex sentences.

Science- We will begin to read Chapter 6 "Ecosystems and Change."  We will read Lesson 6.1 "How do organisms compete and survive in an ecosystem?"  Again, we will focus on taking notes through webs.
Essential Questions:  How do organisms compete and survive in an ecosystem? How do ecosystems change over time? How do people affect ecosystems?

Math-  Students will take a Lesson 5.4-5.7 quiz on Monday.  They will then continue to work with subtracting decimals.

Important Days:

Thursday- Bus Driver Appreciation Day

Have a great weekend!

Sign-up for Conferences

A Look at Next Week:

Social Studies- We will begin Chapter 5 "The Struggle to Found Colonies."  We will preview the chapter, discuss our background knowledge, and read Lesson 5.1 "Jamestown."

ELA
Reading- We will continue building our reading stamina, and setting up our ELA centers.  We will discuss our Native American name, and look at the Sioux culture.  

Essential Questions:  

How can challenges affect yourself and those around you (i.e family, friends, etc)?

How do characters, real and fictional, respond to challenges  (both positively & negatively)?

How are challenges conquered in literature and informational text?

Word Work- Spelling:  Students will be studying Lesson 8, and will take a test on Friday.
Vocabulary-  Students will continue to work on Marzano's strategies for making words more meaningful.  We will look at how to use some vocabulary apps on the iPad.

Language Arts- We will be working on our writing stamina in our Writer's Notebooks.  We will also review writing in complete sentences.

Science- Students will work with their partners to come up with their own Photosynthesis or Energy Pyramid song, that explains those processes.  
Essential Questions: How do plants produce food?  and How is energy passed through an ecosystem?

Math-  Students will be adding decimals, and will be subtracting decimals using base-ten blocks.

Important Days:

Monday- Columbus Day- No School
Thursday- Book Fair/Taffy Apple Sale 6:30-8:00pm

Friday - Early Dismissal, Spirit Day- 5th Grade Wears Red

Have a great weekend!

Junior Achievement

We will begin Junior Achievement next week.  Mr. Blocker will be coming to present the curriculum to our class on Tuesday mornings.  The curriculum covers basic economics and the discussion of topics such as starting up a business, and how to act on a job interview.  The students are always very excited about the program, and Mr. Blocker does an excellent job.  We look forward to starting next week.

A Look at Next Week:

Social Studies- We will present our power point presentations on the Columbian Exchange, and continue to read our Time For Kids magazine.  
Essential Questions:  How can one country impact another?  and What can we learn from the Columbian exchange that has impacted other countries today?

ELA
Reading- We will continue building our reading stamina, and setting up our ELA centers.  We will do a close read from the book Teammates about the challenges Jackie Robinson faced.  We will also continue to comparing the challenges in Teammates to the challenges in the poem "Mother to Son."  

Essential Questions:  

How can challenges affect yourself and those around you (i.e family, friends, etc)?

How do characters, real and fictional, respond to challenges  (both positively & negatively)?

How are challenges conquered in literature and informational text?

Word Work- Spelling:  Students will be studying Lesson 7, and will take a test on Friday.
Vocabulary-  Students will continue to work on Marzano's strategies for making words more meaningful.  They will continue to make our vocabulary "note-cards" in the back of our Reading Notebook.  They will also practice acting out our vocabulary words, and turning our pictures and skits into an iMovie.  

Language Arts- We will be working on our writing stamina in our Writer's Notebooks.  We will take a quiz on subjects and predicates on Thursday.

Science- Students will review Chapter 5 and have their test on Thursday.
Essential Questions: How do plants produce food?  and How is energy passed through an ecosystem?

Math-  Students will take a quiz on Lessons 5.1-5.3 on Monday.  Then we will be using models to demonstrate our understanding of adding decimals.

Important Days:

Wednesday - Picture Day
Thursday- Spirit Day- Blawkhawks Day 

Friday - Early Dismissal, Spirit Day- 5th Grade Wears Red

Have a great weekend!