WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 30- OCTOBER 4, 2013

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 30- OCTOBER 4

A Look at Next Week:

Spelling- Lesson 5    Review unit with 30 words   -0 or -1 will be in Challenge group

               Monday- Pretest   

               Thursday- Spelling Homework Due

               Friday - Spelling test (students need to study all 30 words! 20 of them will be on the test.)

Social Studies- We will continue with Chapter 4 "Spain Builds and Empire" 

We will continue on Lesson 3 learning about the structure of society in New Spain and how the native people lost their traditional way of life.

Lesson 3- Life in New Spain-Spain gaining wealth from the settlement in North America

Reading-  Tall Tales - Tall Tales continues. We read Johnny Appleseed and Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind. We continued to identify hyperbole's, similes and looked for context clues. This week we will finish our Tall Tale unit with the students creating their own Tale. They will need to think of a main character, a problem to solve and use hyperbole's, similes and metaphors in their story. 

Reading Projects: The students are to read a REALISTIC FICTION book.

They should to have their book approved my me by Wednesday October, 2. They will be making a memory bag to go along with their story and give a small presentation at the end. The final due date for the project is November, 7.

Language Arts-  We will continue with our Sentence Unit in English. 

We will learn about :  Subject in Imperative sentences

    Conjunctions

                    Writing Good Sentences

             Run-On Sentences.

Science-   We will continue Chapter 5 on How Energy is Passed Through an Ecosystem.
We will learn about some roles animals have in the ecosystem such as producer, consumer, herbivore and carnivore. We will also learn food chains and connect and overlap food webs.

Math-  We will have our Chapter One test this Monday. We will then Begin Chapter 2: Multiply Whole Numbers  

Prime Factorization

Hands-On Prime Factorization Patterns

Powers and Exponents

Multiplication Patterns

Problem Solving Investigation

IMPORTANT DATES
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1 -  SPIRIT DAY  BLACKHAWKS COLORS!
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1- FIRST SESSION OF JR. ACHIEVEMENT WITH MR. BLOCKER
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3 EVENING - COMMON CORE INFORMATION MEETING
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4- TAFFY APPLE ORDERS DUE
COMING UP
OCTOBER 11- MOVIE NIGHT
OCTOBER 14- NO SCHOOL

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 23-27

                 
                                               WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 23- 27   


 It was wonderful meeting so many of the parents on Curriculum night. Please feel free to email me at any time with any question or concern. As a team, we can ensure the best for each student! 

A Look at Next Week:

Spelling- Lesson 4       -0 or -1 will be in Challenge group

               Monday- Pretest   

               Thursday- Spelling Homework Due

               Friday - Spelling test

Social Studies- We will continue with Chapter 4 "Spain Builds and Empire" 

We have been learning how Cortes defeated the Aztecs and what factors enabled him to do so. We are also learning about what changes the Spanish brought to New Spain. 

Lesson 2- Different Worlds Collide-Spanish conquistadors establish new colonies in North America and South America

Lesson 3- Life in New Spain-Spain gaining wealth from the settlement in North America

Reading-  Tall Tales - Tall Tales continues. We read Paul Bunyan and John Henry this week. We learned about the figurative language called hyperbole.  

We also learned about context clues and how to use them to find meaning to words that we are not familiar with. We will be reading Johnny Appleseed and Sally Anne Thunder and Whirlwind this week. 

Language Arts-  We began our unit on sentences. We began with identifying sentences and sentence fragments. We then identified the 4 different types of sentences: imperative, declarative, exclamatory and interrogative. We will now learn to identify subject and predicated, simple subject and simple predicates this week .

Science-   We will continue Chapter 5 on How Do Plants Produce Food. We are learning about the parts of the plant and photosynthesis. The middle of this week we will have an open book quiz on Lesson 1. Please have your child review their note cards .

Math-  Chapter 1 - Place Value

-Place Value Through Millions

-Compare and Order Numbers Through Millions

-Represent Decimals

-Place Value Through Thousand

-Compare Decimals

-Order Whole Numbers and Decimals

*In math, we will begin comparing decimals, ordering whole numbers and decimals,as well as problem solving.

We are finishing the last half of the chapter and will be having a chapter test coming up on Monday, September

30. The students will have everything they need to prepare for the test in their math book, math folder in their binder, and their math spiral. 

IMPORTANT DATES
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24: MAGAZINE TURN IN DAY
THURSDAY,  SEPTEMBER 26: PICTURE DAY
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27:  EARLY DISMISSAL DAY

September 16-20 , 2013

                      Week of September 16-20th

*5th Grade Curriculum Night is Tuesday, September 17th at 6:30. 

A Look at Next Week:

Spelling- Lesson 3

               Monday- Pretest   

               Thursday- Spelling Homework Due

               Friday - Spelling test

Social Studies- We will continue with Chapter 4 "Spain Builds and Empire" 

We completed the lesson on "The Voyages of Columbus" and what it led to. We will be writing a letter in first person from Christopher Columbus about what he experienced on his voyages. We will then begin Lesson 2.

Lesson 2- Different Worlds Collide-Spanish conquistadors establish new colonies in North America and South America

Lesson 3- Life in New Spain-Spain gaining wealth from the settlement in North America

Reading-  Tall Tales - The students will learn how to identify similes and metaphors along with learning how to use context clues as they read. We will also be working on identifying story structure, both exaggerated and realistic. The students will be given a vocabulary list on Monday. They should review these words all week for a vocabulary quiz on Thursday.

Language Arts- On Monday, the student will be taking a preposition quiz. They will need to find the prepositional phrase in the sentence. Also, they should know where the preposition and object of the preposition are in each prepositional phrase. Students should look out for compound objects! 

Science- We are completing our section on "Getting Ready for Science."  We have been learning about all the tools the scientists use. They will finishing our short lesson and having a quiz on Tuesday. We will then begin our first unit on Energy and Ecosystems. We will look at " How Plants Produce Food". 

Math-  Chapter 1 - Place Value

-Place Value Through Millions

-Compare and Order Numbers Through Millions

-Represent Decimals

-Place Value Through Thousand

-Compare Decimals

-Order Whole Numbers and Decimals

IMPORTANT DATES

5th GRADE CURRICULUM NIGHT IS TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17TH AT 6:30 

EARLY DISMISSAL IS ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27

Week of September 9 -13

                           Welcome to a New School Year!

We have been busy organizing our supplies and our binders, getting to know our classmates, and getting familiar with our classroom routine.
                                                      What a Great Class!!


Next week, we will begin all of our first units.

A Look at Next Week:

Spelling- Lesson 2

               Monday- Pretest   

               Thursday- Spelling Homework Due

               Friday - Spelling test

Social Studies- Chapter 4

Lesson 1- The Voyage of Columbus and what it led to

Lesson 2- Different Worlds Collide-Spanish conquistadors establish new colonies in North America and South America

Lesson 3- Life in New Spain-Spain gaining wealth from the settlement in North America

Reading- We have been finishing a few projects and will begin Tall Tales this week. The students will learn how to identify similes and metaphors along with learning how to use context clues as they read. We will also be working on identifying story structure, both exaggerated and realistic.

Language Arts- We are starting with a unit on Prepositions. We will identify both the preposition and object of the preposition. 

Science- We have started with the section of "Getting Ready for Science." On Friday, September 6th, we had a fun "secret " for our young scientists. Make sure you ask them about it when they come home from school!  Next week, we will begin with "What is the Scientific Method " and "What Inquiry Skills Do Scientists Use."

Math-  Chapter 1 - Place Value

-Place Value Through Millions

-Compare and Order Numbers Through Millions

-Represent Decimals

-Place Value Through Thousand

-Compare Decimals

-Order Whole Numbers and Decimals

Important Days:

9-10 Magazine Drive Kick-Off

9-11  Spirit Day, Wear Red, White and Blue

9-17 Curriculum Night 6:30

Have a great weekend!

Welcome Back!

Welcome to a new school year!  It was wonderful to see everyone at open house.  I hope everyone is finally settling in.  This is my second year teaching fifth grade at Prairieview and I look forward to getting started in November.  Before I moved to Prairieview I taught Language Arts and Reading for five years at Lakeview.  As you know I am on my maternity leave until November and Mrs. McHale is teaching your students until that time.  I am working on settling in with my 2 year old, Jonathan, and my 2 month old, Tomas.  We had a great summer and are looking forward to the fall and football season.

I know this past week has been very busy, learning new routines and going over classroom expectations.  I hope everyone enjoyed the PBIS assembly on Friday.  Next week is busy as well with our first round of MAPS testing.  Students should be sure to have a healthy breakfast and get plenty of sleep.

Important Days:
Monday- No School, Labor Day
Wednesday- Math MAPS Testing
Thursday- Reading MAPS Testing

Baby Shower

Thank you all so much for such a wonderful shower!  We had delicious treats, that included pink and blue frosted cup-cakes, fruit, cheese-its, and juice.  Following our fun snacks we played many shower games including:  dressing the baby relay race (pictured above), blind tasting baby food, filling out nursery rhymes, and guessing the size of my stomach.  The kids and I had a wonderful time.  Thank you to everyone for being so generous and thoughtful.

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend, and is looking forward to our up-coming events!

Monday:
We have the 5th grade talent show at 8:15, and the school picnic.  For the picnic we are asking that for safety reasons all students wear their gym shoes to school.  Then in the afternoon we have our PBIS assembly called "Rope Warriors."

Tuesday:
The fifth graders will be going bowling in the morning.  Students are welcome to bring money for the snack bar at the bowling alley, and need to bring a sack lunch.

Wednesday:
Our last day of school!  Students are dismissed at 9:30.

The End is Near...

The end of the school year is almost here, and we have lots of fun activities planned over the next week and a half.  Here are the highlights and important information regarding these events:

Tuesday, May 28th:  Students will attend a presentation by the local libraries regarding their summer reading programs.  This is always such a fun way for the kids to keep on reading during the summer.  I highly encourage all my students to take part in this wonderful activity!

Wednesday, May 29th:  The students will attend a talent show featuring select fourth and fifth graders, as well as a few teacher surprises!  It's always such a nice way to showcase some of the wonderful talent that our student body has, and maybe even encourage others to discover their own talent!

Friday, May 31st:  In the afternoon, the fifth graders will have their end of the year celebration.  Students will enjoy some special treatment that day, but I can't say what it is....it's a surprise!  I can tell you to make sure that they have gym shoes on that day, though!

A Look at Next Week:

Spelling- We are done with Spelling for this year.  :)

Social Studies- We will be entering the 1800's in Chapter 11 and learning about the War of 1812.

Reading- We will finishing our novels:  Holes, and The White Giraffe.  

Language Arts- Students will be doing some creative writing and will have a few lessons on adverbs.

Science- Students will be reading Chapter 12 on Oceanography.  They will be taking an open note assessment on Lesson 12.1 on Wednesday.

Math-  We will be taking a quiz over Lessons 15.2-15.4 on Wednesday.

Important Days:
Tuesday-  Library Visit
Wednesday-  Talent Show
Friday- 5th Grade End of the Year Celebration

Have a great weekend!