Odds and Ends

Science Fair Club:  Make sure you complete your experiment or inquiry over the holiday.  Collect your data.  Do you research.  We will only meet two more times before completed boards are due!  We will meet January 10 and 17.  The Science Fair is Tuesday, January 22!

Please search your houses and cars for any books that might belong to me!  They will either have my name on them in Sharpie or have a white sticker on them.  Please bring any books back in January!  I miss them and I'm sure they are homesick!  We are desperately looking for 3 paperback copies of 13 Birthdays. They belong to the school, not me!

Classroom spelling bees will be held the first few days we get back to school.  The school wide spelling bee is January 17.  Please have your child study!  They have all been given lists; many have been given lists several times!

Most importantly, have a wonderful holiday and enjoy your family time together!  Your children are so precious and they will grow up so quickly!

Science Fair Club

All students should be completing their experiment or inquiry. They should be recording all their raw data and converting it to a graph.  Students can use microsoft Excel to make their graph or Create a Graph from our school website. Students should be doing research and printing what they find.  They should include research in their conclusion after their experiment is complete.  We will only meet 2 more times before the Fair on January 22.  We will meet on January 10 and January 17.

Hat Day!!!

5th Grade AC ELA

Tomorrow:
Word Work Test...study!!!
Character Brochures are due by noon!
Informational Writing is due by noon!
Interims are next week, so please try to be here every day.

Science Fair Club

Our Science Fair is January 22,2013.  All projects are due on that day.  All students must be doing their experiment or investigation now.  They need to repeat it at least 3 times and record their observations and their data.  They should be doing research now that they will incorporate into their conclusions later. Don't forget to use the websites we have talked about.
www.stevespangler.com
www.sciencebuddies.com
www.chem4kids.com
www.dragonflytv.com
www.sciencebob.com

4th Grade "Edward" Vocab Test Friday, December 7

Diligence

Grotesque

Duration

Mortified

Discerning

Descent

Rancid

Garb

Exhilarated

Savor

Intrusive

Loathed

Provoked

Ignored

Shuffle

Elegant

Restore

Precious

Impassioned

Pummeled

Shattered

Solemn

Fragile

horrid

SS Updates

SS HW:  Finish your Before/After Poster.  Complete your quick study sheet on lesson 1.  Save lesson 2 for tomorrow night.  You will not have a project before the holiday break, but you will have two tests.  Your first test will be on all the vocabulary from Chapter 5.  Save your homework sheets and learn all the highlighted words in the chapter.  Chapter 5 vocab test will be Wednesday December 12.  Your second test will cover content from all of chapter 5 and lessons 1 and 2 from chapter 6.  That test will be on Tuesday, December 18.  Keep working hard.  Let's finish this semester strong!

5th Grade AC ELA

Homework:  Use each of  the 8 problem words in a sentence (may, can, set, sit, let, leave, lie, lay).You must have at least 2 compoud  sentences and 2 complex.  Also, almost everyone has completed their Character Analysis Brochure.  If you have not, it is up to you to finish it before Friday at noon. I will not be providing any more computer time, so you must either use a school computer during study hall, or complete it at home.  To do it at home, you must have Microsoft Publisher.  Tomorrow is the Word Study class work grade and Friday is the test. Study hard!

5th Grade AC ELA

Homework: Some students need to finish their "non-fiction close reading" for homework.  They are reading their social studies text closely to analyze the points of view of various people regarding child labor. 
We are all going to the computer lab to FINISH our Character Analysis Brochures tomorrow.  Each student has a yellow rubric that shows exactly what is expected in each part of their project.  Please check with your child to see how they are progressing.  They can work on this at home and bring their work back and forth on a flash drive.  We are using Microsoft Publisher. 
Today we started an informational piece of writing.  They are writing about the average workday of a person in the job of their choosing.  This piece is for a test grade.  For a timed writing piece, the students are allotted 2 hours.  For this piece they are getting 2 hours and 40 minutes.  Therefore, all writing is due at the end of class on Friday. 
Thank you for talking to your children about these assignments and making sure they stay on task right up until the holiday! 

Social Studies

We discussed the Labor Movement today and had some interesting conversations.  Below is a quotation from Andrew Carnegie.  Ask your child what it means and what they think about it.  They should know both sides of the issue, the business owner perspective and the employee perspective. 

“It will be a great mistake for the community to shoot the millionaires, for they are the bees that make the honey, and contribute to the hive even after they have gorged themselves full.”

                    Andrew Carnegie

Science Fair Club

Parents, students should be doing their experiment or inquiry.  They need to do it at least 3 times!  They should also be doing their research and printing it.  They will use their research later when they write their conclusions.  Be sure to cite your research!  Use the websites we have looked at.  They have tons of information.

Edward Tulane Analysis, 4th Grade

5th Grade Social Studies

They are making main idea tables! A table can't stand without legs, just like a main idea can't stand without 3 supporting details! Ask them what the topic was! Hint: Carnegie and Rockefeller!

4th Grade working hard on their Edward Tulanes!

5th Grade ELA

5th grade is working on a Character Analysis Brochure.  It is a project/test grade.  They started a rough draft today.  Rough drafts must be completed by Thursday morning.  On Thursday and Friday we will have the lap tops to complete our projects.  The final brochures are due the end of class on Friday.  Students should be working on their rough drafts tonight and Wednesday night.  They will be using Publisher to create their brochure.

Race Day!

I promised the kids I'd let them know about my Half Marathon this morning. I finished it and was proud of my effort! I ran non-stop for two and a half hours! So, when the March writing test comes around, there are no excuses! If I can run for two hours, you all can write for two hours! Enjoy the rest of your holiday! Be ready to write when you get back. It's all about stamina!

5th Grade FOCUS

Working through some Logic Puzzles!

Science Fair Club

All students must start working on the experiement part of their project.  Try the experiment over the break. All students must start their research.  They should research different parts of their topic. Print your research and put it in your composition notebook.  I'll see everyone November 29 at 7:40!

5th Grade AC Reading

Writing to Express / Descriptive Writing! Students painted sunset scenes and wrote some beautiful descriptive pieces. Ask your child to tell you about their painting and writing. I am so proud of them!

4th Grade AC Reading

Character T-shirt project update:   Most students have completed their book for the project.  All books must be completed by Friday, November 16.  We will begin work on the project on Monday, November 26.  All students must have their chosen/completed book with them on Monday.  We will complete a graphic organizer and then begin work on the shirts.  The graphic organizer will be a class work grade and the final t-shirt will be a test grade.  Over the break, please purchase a small blank t-shirt that your child can use or a piece of poster board.  Bring one or the other on Monday, November 26.  If you cannot get either, I have tag board here that they can use.  The tag board shirts will just be a bit smaller than the others, but that's ok! 

Edward Tulane Class Novel Study:  We have completed the Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  If your child hasn't told you about the story yet, please ask them.  It's wonderful!  They are working in small groups completing informational posters showing how they have analyzed the book.  These posters will hang in the main hallway of the school.  Along with the posters, each child will make their own Edward.  They will be made from tag board, but will be dressed with fabric, buttons, etc.  If you have any fabric or embellishments that might help your child make their Edward realistic, please send them in as soon as possible.  Edward takes on many different personas throughout the story, so ask them which Edward they want to make.

Thank you so much for your help and support!

SS Students

Sequencing events

SS Test is Tomorrow!

Be sure to study all of chapter 5 and lessons 1 and 2 in chapter 6.  Be sure you know the differences in W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington.  Also, make sure you understand sharecropping and the roles of women in the 1800s. 

SS Homework

Read textbook pages 260 and 261.  Discuss credible sources and how they play a role in things like elections.  Complete page 57 in your workbook.

4th Grade AC Reading

We are starting a new project.  The students will be creating Character T-shirts where they analyze a character from their reading.  Students must tell me the name of their book tomorrow, Thursday, and must have the book completed by next Wednesday, 11/14.  We will then begin work on our t-shirts. T-shirts can be paper, poster board or an actual t-shirt.  I will let the students know the final due date as we move forward with the assignment.

And the Winner is...

Abe Lincoln with 162 Electoral votes to Washington's 63! We hope all the students had fun, learned a lot about voting, and understand the importance of making their voice heard!

Election Preparations!

5th Grade SS Date Changes

We will be moving our chapter 5 vocabulary test to Wednesday, 11/7.  We will also move our chapter 5, 6.1 and 6.2 test to Friday 11/9.  We are doing this so that we can use Monday to wrap up our Mock Election. 

5th Grade AC Reading/Writing

We are working on characterization.  We are learning to analyze characters and create our own interesting characters.  We started by analyzing Marcel the Shell...with shoes on!  We watched the original video and then we watched a school news show video made by students their age who analyzed the original video.  They are both wonderful examples of student creativity and complex thinking.  Enjoy!

(original video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF9-sEbqDvU


(newshow video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQhMd6YLY14

SS Update

There will be a vocabulary test on Monday, 11/5.  Students will need to study all the words highlighted in yellow throughout chapter 5.  Also, the words are on all their homework sheets from chapter 5.  They are at the top in the word banks. Also, there will be a chapter test covering all of chapter 5 and the first two lessons of chapter 6 on Thursday, Nov. 8.  I will be giving out a study guide today.  Study hard and be ready!

4th Grade Mythology Head Bandz!

4th Grade AC Reading

Today 4th grade made yellow study cards for mythology.  They need to study these cards every night.  They need to know the mythological meaning and the present day meaning of all 8 terms.  There will be a quiz on Friday.  Thank you for helping them with these terms!

5th Grade

Homework tonight:  finish finding the definitions of the Word Study Words.  All Halloween Writings should be turned in!  We started a descriptive writing today.  Students really need to bring a flash drive to take work to and from school!  Thank you!

4th Grade

Homework tonight:  Finish your research on characters from Mythology.  The website we used today was www.mythweb.com.  They can also use our school website.  Go to elementary online research (under student links) and then use web path express. 

Saying goodbye to Jinsol...we will all miss you!

Science Fair Club Update

There is still confusion about dependent and independent variables.  The following link should be helpful. 

http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/help/user_guide/graph/variables.asp


Also, I found this sentence that should help.  If you fill in the blanks and the sentence makes sense, then you have identified the variables correctly:


(Independent variable) causes a change in (Dependent Variable) and it isn't possible that (Dependent Variable) could cause a change in (Independent Variable).

SS Homework

We discussed immigration in SS today.  The students have been assigned to begin a simple family tree so that they become aware of the origination of their ancestors.  They are supposed to talk to their parents to get as much information as they can to find out when their ancestors arrived in America.  This is not intended to take an extremely long period of time.  It should be a fun conversation between the family.  They also have their usual review assignment to complete tonight. 

SS and stocks

Today we discussed entrepreneurs of the early 1900s.  The students are VERY interested in stocks and the stock market.  I showed them how they can look at stocks and and see prices and growth charts.  Here is where we explored the stock market!  They are extremely curious about it.  I'm sure they'll be asking you all about stocks you might own!

www.finance.yahoo.com 

5th Grade ELA

Verb Test Tomorrow, Wednesday.  Study the verb chapter in  your Super Writer grammar book.  Review pages 47 - 64. 

Friday FOCUS

As I'm sure you've heard, our 5th grade FOCUS class is hosting a Burnette "Mock" Election.  We've been making plans and learning a lot.  We encourage you to talk to your child about the upcoming presidential election.  After all, it only happens once every four years!  The following website is amazing!  It has more than you could ever go through, but we encourage you to try!  There's a parent link that is wonderful.  Have fun exploring this site with your children.  http://magazines.scholastic.com/election-2012

Preposition Song...wonderful!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byszemY8Pl8

Another Science Fair Website....wonderful!

http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/scifair/index.html

Science Fair Club

Great meeting this morning!  We looked at so many websites to generate ideas.  To find these websites, begin at our school website.  Click on Students, student links, Elementary Online Research (at the very top).  Very near the top you will see Web Path Express.  Click on that.  You will then see a button for Science Fair Ideas.  Click on that and you will then have access to 11 different websites.  Play around with those sites.  You will be amazed at the things you find.  By next Thursday your child should have a topic, a testable question, and a hypothesis written as an "if, then" statement.  Many are off to a good start, but many still need to do lots of exploring!  Have fun!

SS News

New Flipbook project has been assigned about inventions.  It is due 10/25.
Our next test is on chapters 3 and 4 combined. It will be on Monday, 10/29.
Homework tonight is Quick Study sheet, 3.2. 
We talked a lot today about hardships on the Great Plains. Ask them to explain to you what life was like for the pioneers.  Ask them if they would take advantage of the Homestead Act.  As a class, we were pretty well split on the decision. 

5th Grade ELA

Homework:  Finish the Divide and Conquer acitivty focusing on the meanings of the words.  Master the meaning of at least 5 words tonight.
 
We are starting to do lots of work on the school computers. Each student needs to bring a jump drive/ memory stick/ flash drive, etc.  They can keep it all year attached to their bookbag. If they get behind in an assignment, they can save it to their flash drive and work on it at home. 

4th Grade AC Reading

Here's a small group using the laptops to read non-fiction ebooks. Today they read about extreme thunderstorms to reinforce their science curriculum. The site is on our school website under online research. Look for Trueflix! Great stuff!

Word study fun!

5th Grade ELA

Homework:  Tonight 5th graders must finish their haunted house graphic organizer (beginning, middle, and end).  We will work on the introduction and closing sentence together. 
Study for Word Work test!  

Science Fair Club

Science Fair Club meets tomorrow, Thursday, at 7:40!  Make sure to bring your composition notebook and tabs.  Also have your topic and testable question ready to share.  We will work on the next step, writing a hypothesis.  See you tomorrow!

Wednesday 10/10

5th Grade ELA students have a Word Study daily grade tomorrow.  Please know the meanings of all 15 words tonight!  Spelling and dictation test on Friday!

We would greatly appreciate the donation of healthy snacks for our snack/prize bowl. It's empty.  We are running low on sticky notes also.  Thank you so much for sending in any donations you can. 

Our class has started a novel study on Where the Red Fern Grows.  Ask them to tell you about it.  We are just getting started, and they love it already!

The class has just finished a narrative piece on the beach.  Have your child tell you what they wrote about.  We will be starting a Halloween narrative soon.  Halloween time is the perfect time to write descriptively.  Talk about the five senses with your child...think of all the things you see, hear, feel, taste and smell during the spookiest time of year! It should be a fun paper!  We will get our creative juices flowing by sharing Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark!

I hope you' are all planning to attend Math Games and Technology Night on October 16!  You'll be glad you came!

Science Fair Club 10/4

Our first meeting went well! The assignment for this week is to bring their TOPIC and their TESTABLE QUESTION next Thursday morning.  They also need to bring a composition notebook and sticky tabs.  They each received a yellow sheet that explains the project in great detail.  The sheet also has a judging rubric on the back.  They need to keep up with this sheet the entire time of the project!  We will add it to their notebooks when we make them next week.  Please help your child identify a topic and write a testable question this week.  The following websites should be helpful.
www.sciencebuddies.org
www.school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral/
www.all-science-fair-projects.com

Election Time!

The 5th grade FOCUS students are working on hosting a Mock Election for our school.  Presidential elections are a very special time in our country and we want to make all children aware of how the process works.  We also want to build an appreciation for the right to vote that we have as citizens of this great country.  Please watch the first Presidential Debate on Wednesday evening with your child.  Discuss the issues and help them understand how fortuante we are to have the opportunity to express our opinions and beliefs.  Thank you for encouraging their civic awareness!

Book Levels

The Book Fair and conferences are in full swing!  As parents meet with teachers, the parents are being told their child's reading level.  In an attempt to help you find books that are "just right" for your child's level, I am attaching a link to a website that has great book lists. Some are organized by author, some by title, but at the top they are by reading level.  I hope you find this helpful and you find your child their next favorite book! http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante/

This and That...

Conferences: I'm looking forward to meeting with my fifth grade Reading and ELA parents on Monday and Tuesday!  This weekend, ask your children to predict what I might have to say about their performance.  It will be interesting to compare!
Social Studies students will have a lot of time to work on their time line projects on those early release days.  They analyzed their strenths and weaknesses from their flipbook projects, so they should know how to improve.  They are due Wednesday.  Thursday is their chapter 2 test.
There will be lots and lots of benchmark/interim testing next week.  Please make every effort possible to be here each day. 
Tonight:  Disco Night!  Be there!
October 16: Family Technology and Math Night!  Don't miss it!
Science Fair Club Members:  We will have our first meeting on Thursday, October 4, 7:40 am in my room.
Have a wonderful weekend!

5th Grade ELA

Homework tonight:  Go to www.wordle.net and create a wordle with all 15 "word work" words.  Test tomorrow!  5th graders created power points today reviewing many reading skills. Ask them to tell you about it.  Students are working on narratives about the beach.  They are due Wednesday, October 3.  Ask them to tell you about their piece of writing.

4th Grade

We used technology to learn about elements of poetry through Americana Poems. Ask them about it!

Science Fair Club

Please bring a composition and sticky tabs with you on Thursday, October 4. I'm looking forward to starting! Bring a few ideas with you, too!

4th Grade Reading

Fourth Graders have a text structure poster due tomorrow!  Please do your best!  Make sure to include clue words or definitions.  We are also in need of sticky notes.  If you would like to donate some, we will put them to good use!!  Thank you!

4th Grade AC Reading

These kids love the "Read to Someone" part of independent reading!