I hope all of you had a restful and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends.

This week…

Math – We will start our study of division.  Students will be exploring a variety of division strategies (as we did with multiplication) in hopes of finding a strategy your child is comfortable and successful with using.

Reading – We will continue reading non-fiction texts, focusing on determining the main idea and supporting details, as well as learning how to attack unfamiliar words.

Social Studies – We will continue our study of the Core Democratic Values through our reading and discussion of picture books that teach the different CDVs.  We should be wrapping up CDVs by the beginning of next week and moving into branches of government.

Writing – We will work on applying the skills learned through writing our personal essays to a new debate prompt.  Students will take a stand, write an opinion statement, and then provide personal stories as evidence for their viewpoint.

Science – We will be dissecting owl pellets on Wednesday.  The kids are going to love this.  In preparation, we will be using Monday and Tuesday as days to prepare for the dissection by completing a virtual dissection as well as reading about owl pellets.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Lock Down Drill today at 10:35am.  Remember, these drills are just to ensure that students are comfortable with the procedures and that there are no actual safety concerns currently.
• Book orders through Scholastic are due by Wednesday, 11/30.  Please remember to use our class code of QHP2K when ordering.
• We are looking ahead to our Holiday Party scheduled for Wednesday, 12/21/16 and we’d like to encourage all students to participate in our Holiday Sock Gift Exchange.  Students are encouraged to bring in a pair of fun holiday socks (unisex – good for a boy or girl).  Students will exchange socks in the morning and will then have a SOCK DAY (no shoes) for the remainder of the day.  I think the students will really enjoy this.  I thought I would try to give you as much notice as possible so that when you’re out and about, you can pick up a pair of socks if you see them.  If you have any questions regarding this, please do not hesitate to contact me.
• This Friday, 12/2/16, is an early release day.  Students will be dismissed at 12:15pm.

IMPORTANT DATES FOR NEXT WEEK

• Monday, 12/5/16 from 1:20 – 2:10 will be the combined grade 4 and grade 5 rehearsal for the Alward Holiday Program.  Please refrain from scheduling any appointments during this time if at all possible.
• Tuesday, 12/6/16 from 1:05 – 2:10 will be 4th/5th grade’s rehearsal at Fellowship Church for the Alward Holiday Program.  Please keep this date/time in mind as well as you schedule any upcoming appointments / early pick-ups.
• Wednesday, 12/7/16  from 11:30am – 12:00pm will be our class’s shop time for Santa’s Secret Shop.  This year, students will not have the opportunity to browse beforehand, so they will need to come prepared with money to buy on Wednesday if this is something they would like to participate in.

 

 

We’re almost there!  2 days until break!

Math – Students will be exploring division concepts in preparation for starting our division unit after the Thanksgiving break.

Reading – Students will continue reading non-fiction texts this week, focusing on determining the main idea and supporting details.  We will also be incorporating our study of the Core Democratic Values during this time as well.

Writing – Students have been working on their personal essays in writing.  This week they will work on writing effective conclusions as well as revising and editing their work.  Remind students that they can check their Google Doc over the holiday break for feedback from me on their writing.

Science – Students will be finishing up their study of living things and growth requirements this week as we take our quiz/test over the material on Tuesday.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• We have recently begun incorporating the website MobyMax in the classroom.  It is fabulous!  The students are able to practice skills on their level, as the website will adjust the difficulty based on student performance.  This site can be used at home as well.  I encourage you to check it out.  It’s a pretty great learning tool!
• This is a friendly reminder that your Reading Club orders are due by 11/30/16. You can place your orders online at scholastic.com/readingclub using my class activation code: QHP2K.  This is a very easy way to buy Christmas presents for your little bookworms.

UPCOMING DATES

• Tomorrow, 11/22: Jets Pizza Night
• Monday, 11/28: Lockdown Drill
• Tuesday, 12/6: Christmas Program 6:30 – 8:30
• Tuesday, 12/6 – Thursday, 12/8: Santa’s Secret Shop
• Friday, 12/16: Popcorn Friday

Just a few more days of hard work and then the students, and you, can enjoy some family, food, and relaxation over the holiday break.

THIS WEEK…

Math – Students will spend this week reviewing multiplication skills that they struggled with on Friday’s review test.  Students will take their final Unit 2 math test later this week.  If students answered the questions correctly on the review test, they will get to omit those questions on the final test.  They will only need to complete the questions they missed, having the opportunity to show me that they do know how to solve those problems.  Students will be bringing home their review tests tomorrow and should spend the next few nights reviewing the problems they missed so that they can accurately answer similar questions on the final test later this week.

Reading – We have begun our unit on non-fiction texts.  We will be learning how to read non-fiction texts as well as present information we’ve learned from those texts.  Students are encouraged to find a non-fiction text to read during our independent reading time for this unit.  They may still read books of their choice for their at-home reading.  We will also be incorporating a study of Core Democratic Values (social studies) during this unit as well.

Writing – Students are working on writing personal essays.  This week, students will be brainstorming ideas for their personal essays, forming opinion statements, and determining personal stories that will work as evidence for their opinions.

Science – Students will wrap up their study of food chains/webs this week and will move into a discussion of animal instincts vs adaptations for survival.  Please continue to regularly check the science tab on the blog of electronic practice of the skills we are learning in class.

LOOKING AHEAD…

• Thursday, 11/17 – Tornado Drill
• Friday, 11/18 – Popcorn Friday
• Tuesday, 11/22 – Jets Pizza Night
• Wednesday, 11/23 – Friday, 11/25 – Thanksgiving Break
• Monday, 11/28 – Lockdown Drill
• Tuesday, 12/6 Alward Christmas Pageant (Grades K-2 at 6:30 and Grades 3-5 at 7:30)

I apologize for the delayed posting…

Math

This week in math we will be reviewing multiplication strategies, while focusing on word problems.  We will take Quick Quiz #4 on Thursday and our end of the unit Review Test on Friday.  I will spend the weekend grading and evaluating the Review Tests to determine reteach groups for next week.  Their Unit Test will be sometime early next week and they will only need to complete the problems they get incorrect on the Review Test.  Please spend this week practicing multiplication with your child, with a special focus on those word problems.

Reading / Social Studies

This week we will be beginning our new unit on non-fiction texts.  Students will be exploring non-fiction text features such as headings and subheadings, photos, captions, and glossaries.  We will be discussing how all of these features are put in the text purposefully by the author to help us better understand the topic they are writing about.  We will also be using this unit to incorporate our Social Studies unit on the Core Democratic Values.  We will be reading a lot of texts with a social studies focus during this time.

Writing

Students will be finishing their oral sharing of their realistic fiction stories this week.  We will then begin our personal essay unit.  Students will learn to write about their lives in new ways as they begin writing mini stories to support bigger ideas.  They will be examining mentor texts to determine how authors use personal experiences to support an opinion they have about a topic.

Science

Students will continue to explore living things this week, focusing heavily upon the interactions within a food web.  They will be able to describe the importance of each link within the web and how even the slightest interruption in the web can have devastating effects for different organisms in that ecosystem.

CLASSROOM ANNOUNCEMENTS

• I am so happy to have already met with so many great families for conferences and look forward to meeting with the rest of you tomorrow and Thursday.  Remember…we are a team.  If you ever have any questions of concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.  I want to help in any way that I can.
• The Book Fair will be going on all week.  Our Book Look Day is today, so students should be completing a wish list this afternoon.  Our Book Buy Day is on Thursday, so if you are interested in purchasing any books for your child through the book fair, please send in money with them on Thursday morning.  You may also make purchasing before or after your conferences this week.
• The November Scholastic Book Club order will be submitted this Friday.  If you haven’t made a purchase yet and would like to, please place those orders online by Friday morning.  Thank you to those of you that made purchases during the month of October.  Those purchases allowed every student in the classroom to receive a book as well as our classroom library to grow.  Thank you for your continued support.

UPCOMING DATES

• Wednesday, 11/9 and Thursday, 11/10 are the remaining Parent Teacher Conferences – If you’re unsure of your date or time, please email me and I can resend it to you.
• Thursday, 11/10 Terry Hall Skating Party 6:30 – 8:30
• Thursday, 11/17 Tornado Drill at 2:00pm
• Friday, 11/18 Popcorn Friday