What an absolutely beautiful day we had for the Re-enactment Day!! The field was transformed into a Revolutionary War-time frontier last night, and the students had such a great time learning from as they visited the Tavern, the school or learned what it was like to be in the militia or a trapper at that time. Each student was assigned to summarize one persona's presentation ~ they took notes and pictures on iPad as they traveled from station to station. Next week, they will integrate the information they learned on the field with the on-line biographies of each persona to create a presentation with pictures. We will be blogging our presentations - stay tuned! The kids are excited and now ready to start our Revolutionary War Unit in two weeks!!
Here are some pictures of the fun we had today ~
Important Dates
Columbus Day (No School) ~ Monday, October 14th
SIP Day (No School) ~ Tuesday, October 15th
Science Behind Drugs ~ Thursday, October 24th - Permission slips came home for all of the Robert Crown presentations for 5th graders last week. Please sign and return as soon as possible. This is the first of 4 presentations the 5th graders will participate in with Robert Crown. Science Behind Drugs is a program that presents the physiological dangers drug use can have on the body. They will also participate in the Linda/Michael Program which presents the physical changes puberty brings; and the Life Begins program which presents conception to birth. If you have any questions about any of these programs, please do not hesistate to contact me.
Open House ~ Thursday, October 24th at 6:30pm - please plan to enjoy of for an evening at our annual Open House! Students have fun showing their parents around the classroom and building, and it's a great chance for a chat :)
Midterms
In the chaos of the afternoon, returning from the Re-enactment a little late and packing up quickly, I forgot to hand out the Mid-term Progress Reports! Ooops! I will email each report to you individually this weekend.
Please review this mid-term with your child some time this weekend. I have already discussed the reports with the kiddos, letting them know that I do send these home in the middle of the term so they know how their performance is impacting their grades. They still have plenty of time to change any grade they are not please with. If they are not happy with their grades, please encourage them to meet with me to discuss how they can improve their grades. It is important as they move forward in their education that they learn how to advocate for themselves, that they understand how their daily performance impacts their grades, and that they seek support to achieve the grades they want to earn. If you have any concerns at all, please don't hesitate to contact me yourself.
Math
My math class began Unit 3 - Geometry Explorations - this week. We will practice measuring angles with protractors and studying the properties of polygons. Please help your child review the concepts taught in this unit by playing the unit 3 games in Everyday Mathematics.
Science
Students had a great time this week learning about how the digestive system breaks down food to provide nutrients to our muscles. On Tuesday, students learned how salivary amalyze (the enzyme in our saliva) begins to break down different foods in our mouths. As them what kinds of foods salivary amalyze breaks down!
We will be reviewing the Human Body unit next week, and taking the test the Final Unit Assessment on Friday. I will be assigning a review packet next week. Please help your child prepare for this test by carving out some time for them to review the vocabulary and concepts for this unit each night.
Reading
We spent this week learning about the structure of dramas, summarizing and analyzing dramas, and finally performing a Reader's Theater called Accepting Responsibility. Students were given the freedom to stage the play as they wanted, complete with props...I was SO impressed with the production quality!! You all have a bunch of actors and actresses as children! I did video tape them and hope to be able to post them, but had trouble getting the video off of my iPad. I will be working on it - I'll let you know if I can figure out how to post them. We will be continuing dramas next week during the short week - hopefully, I'll be able to properly record those!
We also took the Unit 1 Assessment today - students will bring home these grades for a sign and return on Monday. On their assessment form, you will also notice review quiz scores for this unit vocabulary, spelling, and grammar.
Writing
With the short week and the re-enactment, we only worked on WEX for a couple of days this week. After correcting some of their Revision Assignments on Tuesday, students will begin work on their Final Personal Narratives next week. I will also send home a WEX Summative Rubric early next week - this scores your children in their writing behaviors. Please look for it to sign and return the next day.
As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. Enjoy your long weekend ~
There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children.
One is roots; the other, wings.
~ Hodding Carter
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