- Next week, the fifth grade will be busy with a few special events. All fifth graders will be attending workshops with representatives from the Katie Brown Foundation in their gender groups. The Katie Brown Foundation focuses on teaching students about healthy relationships as they move towards middle school. Mrs. Foley-Marsello will be sending out an email discussing these events further by Monday. In her email, you will find more information about curriculum and specific issues that will addressed with our fifth graders.
- On Tuesday, acclaimed children's author Natalie Babbitt will be visiting fifth grade to speak about her writing and share an author's tea with us. Mrs. Babbitt has written over 20 classics, including the literature circle books we are concluding right now! This event will take place in the library on Tuesday morning. Students are extremely excited, and are encouraged to bring personal copies of books for Mrs. Babbitt to sign.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Katie Brown Foundation workshops, May 23-27
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Book Buzz Presentations complete!
Congratulations to all of my students for presenting a book at All School Meeting. I am very proud of each one of you who faced your discomfort of presenting in front of the school. You did a fabulous job. Here are a few pics from the classroom right before we went down to present. Also, one picture of girl power in our classroom!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Week of April 18th
Hello everyone!
I hope that you are enjoying our short week. We are relaxing here at home and as I update our blog I am is disbelief that the end of April is just around the corner.
I would like to congratulate Megan on a splendid Book Buzz presentation. We have a few more children who've handed in Book Buzz forms and will be put on the docket soon.
I am pleased that all children have handed in their Overnight permission slips. We are very excited for this fantastic opportunity to bond and make friendship ties that will carry the students into sixth grade. We are organizing the potluck food list and will get back to you shortly with your assigned contribution.
On Monday, students will have their Geometry assessment and next we'll move right into fractions. I encourage students to study over the weekend because this is a dense unit with lots of vocabulary. We'll begin a new literature circle in language arts shortly and we'll move into persuasive writing as our last writing genre of the year. I am continuing with Framing Your Thoughts curricula at a steady clip and plan to do so right through the end of the year. Please see your child's Trapper to see what work they've completed lately.
On April 27th we have a short field trip to the Zeiterion Theatre to see a presentation on government, called We The People. We will eat an early lunch and plan to leave at 12:00 and return at 2:00.
I look forward to seeing all families who will make it to Arts & Poetry Night.
Laura
I hope that you are enjoying our short week. We are relaxing here at home and as I update our blog I am is disbelief that the end of April is just around the corner.
I would like to congratulate Megan on a splendid Book Buzz presentation. We have a few more children who've handed in Book Buzz forms and will be put on the docket soon.
I am pleased that all children have handed in their Overnight permission slips. We are very excited for this fantastic opportunity to bond and make friendship ties that will carry the students into sixth grade. We are organizing the potluck food list and will get back to you shortly with your assigned contribution.
On Monday, students will have their Geometry assessment and next we'll move right into fractions. I encourage students to study over the weekend because this is a dense unit with lots of vocabulary. We'll begin a new literature circle in language arts shortly and we'll move into persuasive writing as our last writing genre of the year. I am continuing with Framing Your Thoughts curricula at a steady clip and plan to do so right through the end of the year. Please see your child's Trapper to see what work they've completed lately.
On April 27th we have a short field trip to the Zeiterion Theatre to see a presentation on government, called We The People. We will eat an early lunch and plan to leave at 12:00 and return at 2:00.
I look forward to seeing all families who will make it to Arts & Poetry Night.
Laura
Friday, April 15, 2011
Week of April 11th
Dear parents,
We have taken our study of Geometry into the wonderful world of angles! We are learning about types of angles, measurement using a protractors, and how to find the measurement of missing angles from a straight angle. There is a lot of vocabulary associated with this unit, and students will have vocab review as part of their ongoing math homework so they can begin to internalize these new words that we're using in class. I will be giving a math vocabulary quiz next week on Geometry words in the event they want to get a jump start of reviewing and learning words this weekend.
We will have a poetry reading as part of Arts and Poetry Night on April 28th. Invitations with an RSVP will go home next week. Please indicate if you plan to attend our amazing Arts and Poetry Night so we can plan accordingly. I hope to see everyone there!
Today we began our fifth grade gender meetings. For the remainder of the school year, boys and girls will meet separately for a weekly morning meeting and in Mix It Up groups. This provides us the opportunity to continue supporting each gender in our grade with age-appropriate discussions of changing bodies, social elements that often present at the end of fifth grade, and the transition to sixth grade. We brainstormed topics that the girls would like to cover in gender meetings and our first topic will include internet safety and cyberbullying. We are happy to explore topics that each gender feels is important in a safe environment. We look forward to continuing the meaningful, mature discussions that have taken place. Please see me if you have any questions about gender meetings. It's a wonderful opportunity for each gender of the grade to bond before heading off to Upper Division.
Please take note that we have a short week coming up with no school on Monday or Friday.
Have a lovely weekend everyone,
Laura
We have taken our study of Geometry into the wonderful world of angles! We are learning about types of angles, measurement using a protractors, and how to find the measurement of missing angles from a straight angle. There is a lot of vocabulary associated with this unit, and students will have vocab review as part of their ongoing math homework so they can begin to internalize these new words that we're using in class. I will be giving a math vocabulary quiz next week on Geometry words in the event they want to get a jump start of reviewing and learning words this weekend.
We will have a poetry reading as part of Arts and Poetry Night on April 28th. Invitations with an RSVP will go home next week. Please indicate if you plan to attend our amazing Arts and Poetry Night so we can plan accordingly. I hope to see everyone there!
Today we began our fifth grade gender meetings. For the remainder of the school year, boys and girls will meet separately for a weekly morning meeting and in Mix It Up groups. This provides us the opportunity to continue supporting each gender in our grade with age-appropriate discussions of changing bodies, social elements that often present at the end of fifth grade, and the transition to sixth grade. We brainstormed topics that the girls would like to cover in gender meetings and our first topic will include internet safety and cyberbullying. We are happy to explore topics that each gender feels is important in a safe environment. We look forward to continuing the meaningful, mature discussions that have taken place. Please see me if you have any questions about gender meetings. It's a wonderful opportunity for each gender of the grade to bond before heading off to Upper Division.
Please take note that we have a short week coming up with no school on Monday or Friday.
Have a lovely weekend everyone,
Laura
Friday, April 8, 2011
Week of April 8th
Dear parents,
We have had a tumultuous week of illness! I hope all who've been out are feeling better. Despite my son, Diego being out all week with a terrible virus, I am still standing and healthy. I hope I didn't just jinx myself!
We had an interesting conversation about the possible government shut down today during morning meeting. We are finding many topics in the news that pertain to our study of government. We have begun to look at the three branches of government and what a democracy is. I am focusing on note-taking and summarizing text as a study skill.
We are back into the swing of things with our Read Naturally and spelling. Please encourage your child to use their iPod when practicing Read Naturally. We will continue with thirty minutes of reading daily through the end of the year. I am forever grateful for your support with this.
I hope that everyone is enjoying the lovely weather today. Have a wonderful weekend!
Laura
We have had a tumultuous week of illness! I hope all who've been out are feeling better. Despite my son, Diego being out all week with a terrible virus, I am still standing and healthy. I hope I didn't just jinx myself!
We had an interesting conversation about the possible government shut down today during morning meeting. We are finding many topics in the news that pertain to our study of government. We have begun to look at the three branches of government and what a democracy is. I am focusing on note-taking and summarizing text as a study skill.
We are back into the swing of things with our Read Naturally and spelling. Please encourage your child to use their iPod when practicing Read Naturally. We will continue with thirty minutes of reading daily through the end of the year. I am forever grateful for your support with this.
I hope that everyone is enjoying the lovely weather today. Have a wonderful weekend!
Laura
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Week of March 28th
Hi everyone!
We are back in the swing of things at school. It's been a little slow going as we get back to our routine. We have begun working on summarzing as our new reading strategy. We have discussed the purpose of summarizing, looked at different summaries, and we will begin writing summaries for books next week. Students continue their efforts with Independent Daily Reading and we have move our nightly reading to 30 minutes.
In writing we are revisiting poetry. Take a look at your child's Writer's Notebook on nights it comes home for homework to see their experimentation with this genre. They are well engaged and we are learning a number of elements of craft through this genre. Soon we will move into Persuasive Writing as our main genre for the Spring.
Geometry is our focus in mathematics. We have worked with geoboards to give a concrete experience of area and perimeter. Students are working with area of triangles at present and they have learned different methods to solve trianglar area problems. Our next stop will be with Parellelograms and Quadrilaterals and then we will move into angles and triangle classification. Geometryhas been a nice break from number crunching.
After concluding our study of the American Revolution, students began looking at how the government of our nation was formed. We will look at: the goals our Founding Fathers had for our country, explore the Constitution and basic structure of our government, checks and balances, and lastly, we'll look at other forms of goverment through current events. We have a field trip to the Z on April 27th to see a presentation of We The People. More information to follow.
I have backed off of checking that students are copying homework in their agendas. The habit is well-engrained at this point so I am releasing more responsibility to them to copy their homework in the morning and let me know if there are any notes in their agendas for me. So far students are following the routine as always. If you note any problems at home.
Happy Spring everyone!
Laura
We are back in the swing of things at school. It's been a little slow going as we get back to our routine. We have begun working on summarzing as our new reading strategy. We have discussed the purpose of summarizing, looked at different summaries, and we will begin writing summaries for books next week. Students continue their efforts with Independent Daily Reading and we have move our nightly reading to 30 minutes.
In writing we are revisiting poetry. Take a look at your child's Writer's Notebook on nights it comes home for homework to see their experimentation with this genre. They are well engaged and we are learning a number of elements of craft through this genre. Soon we will move into Persuasive Writing as our main genre for the Spring.
Geometry is our focus in mathematics. We have worked with geoboards to give a concrete experience of area and perimeter. Students are working with area of triangles at present and they have learned different methods to solve trianglar area problems. Our next stop will be with Parellelograms and Quadrilaterals and then we will move into angles and triangle classification. Geometryhas been a nice break from number crunching.
After concluding our study of the American Revolution, students began looking at how the government of our nation was formed. We will look at: the goals our Founding Fathers had for our country, explore the Constitution and basic structure of our government, checks and balances, and lastly, we'll look at other forms of goverment through current events. We have a field trip to the Z on April 27th to see a presentation of We The People. More information to follow.
I have backed off of checking that students are copying homework in their agendas. The habit is well-engrained at this point so I am releasing more responsibility to them to copy their homework in the morning and let me know if there are any notes in their agendas for me. So far students are following the routine as always. If you note any problems at home.
Happy Spring everyone!
Laura
Monday, March 28, 2011
March 28, 2011
Welcome back everyone!
I hope you all had an enjoyable Spring Break. For your writing homework tonight, please reflect and tell me what you did during vacation. Some guiding questions:
1. Were you home for break? Did you travel? Have any family time?
2. Was there something special you did over break?
3. Did you connect with family and friends?
4. Do you find yourelf relaxed and rejuvinated?
I hope you all had an enjoyable Spring Break. For your writing homework tonight, please reflect and tell me what you did during vacation. Some guiding questions:
1. Were you home for break? Did you travel? Have any family time?
2. Was there something special you did over break?
3. Did you connect with family and friends?
4. Do you find yourelf relaxed and rejuvinated?
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Field trip reflection homework
Friends,
Here are some guiding questions for your reflection homework if you need them:
Here are some guiding questions for your reflection homework if you need them:
- Which parts of the field trip did you enjoy?
- Which parts confirmed what you've learned about the American Revolution?
- What did you think about having the field trip at the end of our unit of study of the Revolution? Would it have been better to go on the field trip earlier?
- What did you learn from the field trip?
Please remember to write in paragraphs and self-edit your work. Stretch yourself BEYOND the bare minimum, please.
:)
Mrs. Velazquez
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Wax Museum & Field Trip
Dear parents,
We are closing in on our Wax Museum, which is this Friday, March 4th. Students will be bringing home invitations on Monday. I am very proud of the tremendous writing and research our class has engaged in. We are putting the finishing touches on our speeches and you can expect to see speech practice for homework throughout the week. My goal is for students to memorize their speeches, so I will leave ample time in homework for them to practice.
Next week will be the Sons and Daughters Liberty Education Tour in Boston. This is a walking tour, so we will need to keep our eye on weather. Students should wear comfortable shoes that are warm and waterproof if there is rain or snow. Also, students should wear a warm jacket, hat, and gloves/mittens. They will need a lunch and snack that does not require heating, as well as a drink. This field trip will bring to life historic events that we have learned about. The bus leaves promptly at 8:30 and will return at 3:00.
See you at the Wax Museum! It will be lots of fun.
Laura
We are closing in on our Wax Museum, which is this Friday, March 4th. Students will be bringing home invitations on Monday. I am very proud of the tremendous writing and research our class has engaged in. We are putting the finishing touches on our speeches and you can expect to see speech practice for homework throughout the week. My goal is for students to memorize their speeches, so I will leave ample time in homework for them to practice.
Next week will be the Sons and Daughters Liberty Education Tour in Boston. This is a walking tour, so we will need to keep our eye on weather. Students should wear comfortable shoes that are warm and waterproof if there is rain or snow. Also, students should wear a warm jacket, hat, and gloves/mittens. They will need a lunch and snack that does not require heating, as well as a drink. This field trip will bring to life historic events that we have learned about. The bus leaves promptly at 8:30 and will return at 3:00.
See you at the Wax Museum! It will be lots of fun.
Laura
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Week of February 17th
Hello all,
It has been wonderful to begin the process of Parent Teacher conferences. It is a joy to work with your children and I enjoy our conversations about them. I look forward to Friday's round of meetings.
The students and I had an interesting conversation this morning. During Morning Meeting we explored the Uprising in Egypt in comparison to the American Revolution. We read Time for Kid's article about Egypt, which I have posted below. Students drew insightful comparisons between the two and then integrated a book we are reading in Mix It Up groups about a young black slave. We created a Venn diagram, which is posted below. I was thrilled to see the students making connections between the three topics and that those connections included a deep understanding of our fifth grade throughlines. Students effectively applied our study of these throughlines to each topic and articulated similarities and differences. It is exciting to see that they understand the pieces of the American Revolution AND they can apply that knowledge to new situations.
I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend!
Laura
It has been wonderful to begin the process of Parent Teacher conferences. It is a joy to work with your children and I enjoy our conversations about them. I look forward to Friday's round of meetings.
The students and I had an interesting conversation this morning. During Morning Meeting we explored the Uprising in Egypt in comparison to the American Revolution. We read Time for Kid's article about Egypt, which I have posted below. Students drew insightful comparisons between the two and then integrated a book we are reading in Mix It Up groups about a young black slave. We created a Venn diagram, which is posted below. I was thrilled to see the students making connections between the three topics and that those connections included a deep understanding of our fifth grade throughlines. Students effectively applied our study of these throughlines to each topic and articulated similarities and differences. It is exciting to see that they understand the pieces of the American Revolution AND they can apply that knowledge to new situations.
I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend!
Laura
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Time for Kids
Parents,
We have been discussing the Revolution in Egypt and talking about how it relates to our study of the American Revolution. Time for Kids has an article on it.
Time for Kids
We have been discussing the Revolution in Egypt and talking about how it relates to our study of the American Revolution. Time for Kids has an article on it.
Time for Kids
Monday, February 14, 2011
Poetry Homework
Van Gogh poetry
If you find this too late to work on tonight we'll extend the homework another day. I was slow getting the link up, friends. My apologies!
Laura
If you find this too late to work on tonight we'll extend the homework another day. I was slow getting the link up, friends. My apologies!
Laura
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Van Gogh poetry homework
Painting
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Painting/238/Houses-in-Auvers.html
Look at the link above, which brings you to a Van Gogh painting. Write a poem as Lynn Hoops showed us today. Remember to add beads to your string. Draw a string in your writer's notebook. The parts of the poem she taught you were:
I am
Like
Verbs
Moment
Bring your Writer's Notebook tomorrow as we will share our poetry in morning meeting.
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Painting/238/Houses-in-Auvers.html
Look at the link above, which brings you to a Van Gogh painting. Write a poem as Lynn Hoops showed us today. Remember to add beads to your string. Draw a string in your writer's notebook. The parts of the poem she taught you were:
I am
Like
Verbs
Moment
Bring your Writer's Notebook tomorrow as we will share our poetry in morning meeting.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Week of January 31
Dear parents,
Students are in the thick of researching figures of the American Revolution. We have been dedicating double periods to reading and note-taking as we link our reading and writing curriculums for this project. We are moving quickly through the research process and we aim to begin drafting our papers next week. Students have learned about using multiple sources of information, finding quality websites, determining important information, organizing information, and keeping a bibliography. Next, we will learn the elements of writing expository text including writing quality introductions and conclusions.
In math, students are learning the process of long division. For some students this takes repetition. We are color coding long division problems to show steps, we've learned a dance to help us remember the steps of long division and we're using two websites to help practice long division problems online. These websites are listed on the blog so students can access them at home to practice.
In integrated Mix It Up groups we continue to examine perspective through a read aloud titled Caesar's Story. Students are examining life as a slave during the Revolutionary time period. They are amazed by what Caesar has to endure and how much our lives have changed in 250 years. Students will be working in small Mix It Up groups to create a triarama beginning on Monday. They will examine voice, conflict, and resistance as it pertains to events in the book for this project.
We have a lot happening in the weeks to come. In addition to our Wax Museum research, students are working diligently on their Rube Goldberg simple machine projects. I have added new dates for the coming month to our What's Happening section of the blog.
I look forward to meeting with you all during parent teacher conferences. See you then if not sooner!
Laura
Students are in the thick of researching figures of the American Revolution. We have been dedicating double periods to reading and note-taking as we link our reading and writing curriculums for this project. We are moving quickly through the research process and we aim to begin drafting our papers next week. Students have learned about using multiple sources of information, finding quality websites, determining important information, organizing information, and keeping a bibliography. Next, we will learn the elements of writing expository text including writing quality introductions and conclusions.
In math, students are learning the process of long division. For some students this takes repetition. We are color coding long division problems to show steps, we've learned a dance to help us remember the steps of long division and we're using two websites to help practice long division problems online. These websites are listed on the blog so students can access them at home to practice.
In integrated Mix It Up groups we continue to examine perspective through a read aloud titled Caesar's Story. Students are examining life as a slave during the Revolutionary time period. They are amazed by what Caesar has to endure and how much our lives have changed in 250 years. Students will be working in small Mix It Up groups to create a triarama beginning on Monday. They will examine voice, conflict, and resistance as it pertains to events in the book for this project.
We have a lot happening in the weeks to come. In addition to our Wax Museum research, students are working diligently on their Rube Goldberg simple machine projects. I have added new dates for the coming month to our What's Happening section of the blog.
I look forward to meeting with you all during parent teacher conferences. See you then if not sooner!
Laura
Friday, January 21, 2011
Week of January 17th
Howdy all,
As part of FA's bicentennial celebration this year, we opened the time capsule that had resided in the library for 25 years. It was a lot of fun to see what Friends was like 25 years ago. The school has decided to create a new time capsule to be opened a quarter of a century from now. Our class has been collecting ideas for a contribution to a new time capsule. After brainstorming ideas, the students settled upon photographs, a Patriots ticket, and picture of the Peace Day peace sign all of Friends formed with their bodies last Fall. Sam has volunteered to bring in a Patriots ticket stub and we will make a collage of pictures over the next week to place in the time capsule. I'll post pictures of it here when we're finished.
We are in the midst of reading Caesar's Story in Mix It Up groups, which meet twice weekly. In these integrated groups we are exploring the American Revolution era through the eyes of a slave boy who grapples with the ideas of freedom, loyalty to family, and growing up. This historical fiction book is set near Williamsburg, VA and provides accurate details about what life was like for slaves in the 1700's. We are discussing the plot, examining literary elements and practicing reading strategies as we go. SBS students are engaging in discussion groups with their peers and are doing a wonderful job participating, sharing ideas and knowledge, and engaging in an integrated setting. Kudos to each and every student in my class!
The SBS program may just be catapulting itself to "Super Cool" status. Why, you ask? SBS buddies will begin a Legos Robotics program on Monday. SBS buddy partnerships are cross-age groupings with fifth graders pairing with Upper Division students in the Sally Borden program. Each partnership will build a Lego robot of their design. These robots will be able to move, turn, pick things up, move items, flash lights and a host of other capabilities. The SBS teachers are very excited to see our students in action. Many of the boys and girls in SBS have an impressive capacity to build and design things and we know they will create impressive robots! Stay tuned for pictures on our blog!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Laura
As part of FA's bicentennial celebration this year, we opened the time capsule that had resided in the library for 25 years. It was a lot of fun to see what Friends was like 25 years ago. The school has decided to create a new time capsule to be opened a quarter of a century from now. Our class has been collecting ideas for a contribution to a new time capsule. After brainstorming ideas, the students settled upon photographs, a Patriots ticket, and picture of the Peace Day peace sign all of Friends formed with their bodies last Fall. Sam has volunteered to bring in a Patriots ticket stub and we will make a collage of pictures over the next week to place in the time capsule. I'll post pictures of it here when we're finished.
We are in the midst of reading Caesar's Story in Mix It Up groups, which meet twice weekly. In these integrated groups we are exploring the American Revolution era through the eyes of a slave boy who grapples with the ideas of freedom, loyalty to family, and growing up. This historical fiction book is set near Williamsburg, VA and provides accurate details about what life was like for slaves in the 1700's. We are discussing the plot, examining literary elements and practicing reading strategies as we go. SBS students are engaging in discussion groups with their peers and are doing a wonderful job participating, sharing ideas and knowledge, and engaging in an integrated setting. Kudos to each and every student in my class!
The SBS program may just be catapulting itself to "Super Cool" status. Why, you ask? SBS buddies will begin a Legos Robotics program on Monday. SBS buddy partnerships are cross-age groupings with fifth graders pairing with Upper Division students in the Sally Borden program. Each partnership will build a Lego robot of their design. These robots will be able to move, turn, pick things up, move items, flash lights and a host of other capabilities. The SBS teachers are very excited to see our students in action. Many of the boys and girls in SBS have an impressive capacity to build and design things and we know they will create impressive robots! Stay tuned for pictures on our blog!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Laura
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Week of January 10th
Hello everyone!
We are very excited to have a new piece of technology at our fingertips. A Smartboard has been installed in our classroom! This interactive whiteboard will become a centerpiece of my teaching and the students' learning. The Smartboard is a wall-sized computer screen, which is operated by finger-touch as well as colored Smart pens. Markings on the board can be saved and printed. Imagine how wonderful it will be to revisit math problems we've solved together as a group, the effectiveness of printing out sample problems we've solved to be used as homework support, and the ease with which we can revisit brainstorming sessions. The list of applications goes on and on...
Technology becomes an integral part of our fifth grade year as we move forward. Students now use software tools independently and communicate information with them. Below is an example of what they put together for a Social Studies project on events of the American Revolution. Students completed these projects one week. They took one event from the Revolution, researched it, identified key information and chose a software application to communicate what they learned. We pulled the projects together in a PowerPoint presentation and they will use this to study. With the Smartboard we'll be able to use these projects as teaching and learning components in the classroom.
In terms of curricula, we have completed our multiplication unit, begun a unit of division, continue to work on our fiction pieces, and continue our study of the American Revolution. Next week we will explore voices of the American Revolution including women's roles and contributions to the Revolution (of which there were many!), African American voices, Native American voices, Patriots, Loyalists, and Great Britain's voice. Soon students will explore historical figures from this time period and select and individual whose voice they believe needs to be heard because of their contributions to history. They will embark on an extensive research project that includes an expository paper written about their figure. From this research and paper, our Wax Museum is born. Students will create a speech from their paper, dress in costume, choreograph movements and literally become their person for a Wax Museum presentation, which we will open to families and certain classes in the school. Stay tuned forward to more information about our Wax Museum, which will be scheduled in March. It is an amazing compilation of work and learning.
There are a few new math games listed on the blog. They pertain to division facts. In class, students seemed to have a good understanding of how to use their multiplication facts to work backwards and get division facts. I will emphasize the importance of commiting as many division facts to memory as possible. Multiplication and division fact fluency continues to be important as students will form a solid foundation for fraction number sense. I appreciate your continued support in practicing them at home. Students can use their multiplication fact triangles to practice their division facts. I will be checking with students to make sure they still have their triangles. If you notice your child needs another set please send me a note and I'll make sure they get home.
I continue to see an infectious enthusiasm for independent reading in our class. It is an immensely rewarding feeling to see reluctant readers become confident, capable and invested in reading. I thank you, thank you, thank you for your hard work and consistency at home with our commitment to reading. it continues to pay off huge dividends.
Lastly, some students are requesting permission to bring in treats for the class. We love to take part in each other's baking, so please feel free to send in healthy treats if you child wishes to bring them. We've chatted about ways to cut down on sugar such as substituting applesauce, halving sugar called for in recipes and choosing alternate recipes that are not high in sugar. We have a few wonderful bakers in our class who seem to enjoy sharing their culinary talents with their classmates. Such good fortune we have!
Speaking of culinary talents, I write to you on the Tuesday evening before the snow storm. Emilio, my six year old, has promised to make pancakes and serve breakfast in bed if we have a snow day! As you can see, I believe in early training where the kitchen is concerned!
I wish you the happiest of New Years everyone!
Laura
We are very excited to have a new piece of technology at our fingertips. A Smartboard has been installed in our classroom! This interactive whiteboard will become a centerpiece of my teaching and the students' learning. The Smartboard is a wall-sized computer screen, which is operated by finger-touch as well as colored Smart pens. Markings on the board can be saved and printed. Imagine how wonderful it will be to revisit math problems we've solved together as a group, the effectiveness of printing out sample problems we've solved to be used as homework support, and the ease with which we can revisit brainstorming sessions. The list of applications goes on and on...
Technology becomes an integral part of our fifth grade year as we move forward. Students now use software tools independently and communicate information with them. Below is an example of what they put together for a Social Studies project on events of the American Revolution. Students completed these projects one week. They took one event from the Revolution, researched it, identified key information and chose a software application to communicate what they learned. We pulled the projects together in a PowerPoint presentation and they will use this to study. With the Smartboard we'll be able to use these projects as teaching and learning components in the classroom.
In terms of curricula, we have completed our multiplication unit, begun a unit of division, continue to work on our fiction pieces, and continue our study of the American Revolution. Next week we will explore voices of the American Revolution including women's roles and contributions to the Revolution (of which there were many!), African American voices, Native American voices, Patriots, Loyalists, and Great Britain's voice. Soon students will explore historical figures from this time period and select and individual whose voice they believe needs to be heard because of their contributions to history. They will embark on an extensive research project that includes an expository paper written about their figure. From this research and paper, our Wax Museum is born. Students will create a speech from their paper, dress in costume, choreograph movements and literally become their person for a Wax Museum presentation, which we will open to families and certain classes in the school. Stay tuned forward to more information about our Wax Museum, which will be scheduled in March. It is an amazing compilation of work and learning.
There are a few new math games listed on the blog. They pertain to division facts. In class, students seemed to have a good understanding of how to use their multiplication facts to work backwards and get division facts. I will emphasize the importance of commiting as many division facts to memory as possible. Multiplication and division fact fluency continues to be important as students will form a solid foundation for fraction number sense. I appreciate your continued support in practicing them at home. Students can use their multiplication fact triangles to practice their division facts. I will be checking with students to make sure they still have their triangles. If you notice your child needs another set please send me a note and I'll make sure they get home.
I continue to see an infectious enthusiasm for independent reading in our class. It is an immensely rewarding feeling to see reluctant readers become confident, capable and invested in reading. I thank you, thank you, thank you for your hard work and consistency at home with our commitment to reading. it continues to pay off huge dividends.
Lastly, some students are requesting permission to bring in treats for the class. We love to take part in each other's baking, so please feel free to send in healthy treats if you child wishes to bring them. We've chatted about ways to cut down on sugar such as substituting applesauce, halving sugar called for in recipes and choosing alternate recipes that are not high in sugar. We have a few wonderful bakers in our class who seem to enjoy sharing their culinary talents with their classmates. Such good fortune we have!
Speaking of culinary talents, I write to you on the Tuesday evening before the snow storm. Emilio, my six year old, has promised to make pancakes and serve breakfast in bed if we have a snow day! As you can see, I believe in early training where the kitchen is concerned!
I wish you the happiest of New Years everyone!
Laura
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