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
Sunday, February 27, 2011
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
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