5-2 Updates ~ 11/11

Hello 5-2 Parents ~

Happy Veteran's Day!  Today is a day we should all pause and think about those men and women serving in our armed forces.  With Thanksgiving right around the corner, we have much to be thankful for when remembering our military.  Looking for a way to celebrate today?  Think about having your child write a letter to a soldier thanking them for their service.  Here is a sample letter from a 5th grader:

Dear Serviceman or Servicewoman,
Thanksgiving reminds us of all we have to be thankful for.  We want to thank you for our freedom. First, we want to thank you for fighting the many battles that you have fought! Next, we know you are very brave! Last, thank you for the protection you provide for our country, cities, families and everything you protect. We appreciate you and all the sacrifices you make so that we can enjoy the many freedoms we have in the United States! We want to say we are very proud of you and all the men and women who serve our country!
Your friend always,

Please send in your child's letter if they choose to write one.  We will be collecting these letters, and sending them off to our soldiers overseas so they will receive them in time for Thanksgiving.  We will be working on writing as many of these as we can in our spare time over the next week.  Thank you!

Important Dates

Think Energy! Presentation ~ Tuesday, November 12th  - The National Energy Foundation will be presenting Energy conservation to our students, tying into our spring science unit on Energy.  This presentation will take place during our math period, so there will be no math tomorrow.  

Picture Re-take Day ~ Monday, November 18th

Progress Reports Issued ~ Friday, November 22nd - Please remind your children that they can check on their grades at any time by asking for a mid-term progress report.  They should be encouraged to own their grades this year, and understand the impact of daily work has on their final grades.

Math

My math class will be wrapping up Unit 4 Division this week.  On Wednesday, they will be taking a quiz to check on their division skills.  This quiz helps your child to recognize their readiness for the assessment.  Please ask to review the test results with your child, and help them to notice concepts they still need to study.  We will be reviewing for the test on Friday, and our final Unit 4 Assessment will be on Monday, November 18th.  i continue to encourage the students to practice their mulitplication and division facts at home on a daily basis.  Many of the students do not have automaticity with their math facts yet, and this is impacting their ability to accurately complete the division algorithm.

Mrs. Watanuki's Math
In sixth grade math the study of fractions is well under way. We began this unit by reviewing previously presented concepts, including: finding common denominators,equivalent fractions, identifying factors, least common denominators and greatest common factors. Students took a closer look at ordering fractions from smallest to largest. Your SRB is a great place to review concepts and find extra practice problems.

Social Studies

We spent the week looking at the arguments between Patriots and Loyalists in Unit 11.  They studied 6 specific historical figures, and their arguments for and against independence.  Students enjoyed using Comic Life to create Debate Cards illustrating the arguments between these two parties to help prepare them for the test.  These Debate Cards will be on display when you visit our classroom for Parent-Teacher Conferences.  Please look for the graded rubrics to come home for a sign and return tomorrow.  The Unit 11 Assessment is scheduled for tomorrow morning.  Please have your student prepare for the test by logging onto the History Alive site (link on the right hand side of this page) and taking the practice test.  They should also re-read the chapter, and memorize the arguments and actions of the 6 people we studied in this chapter.  They were given a Unit 11 Review to help them prepare for the test - please be sure they are using the text to work on this review!

Reading

We continued our study of identifying main idea and supporting details in non-fiction text this week as we read Maya Lin:  Architect of Memory.  Students became better equipped to identify the organizational structure authors use when writing non-fiction text by comparing the list structure of Rattlers to the web structure of Maya Lin.  These are challenging comprehension strategies, but with additional practice and review, students are making excellent progress in their ability to comprehend complex text.  Next week, we will return to fictional text and look again at the theme of a story.

Students should be finishing up their Revolutionary War novels this week - summaries are due by Friday, November 18th.  Students will be introduced to a Conflict Scrapbook project that they will work on this week as they finish up their novels.  We will look at the 4 different types of conflict that occur in fictional text:  character vs self, character vs. character, character vs. nature, and character vs. society.  They will be creating a scrapbook with a diary entry, letter, illustration, and newpaper article - each representing different aspects of conflict in their Revolutionary War novels. They will be given at least 5 periods to work on this project in class, with the final project due on Monday, November 18th.  Many students enjoy adding additional scrapbook items to their scrapbook - these items can be found at any craft store.  While I do enjoy seeing the creative flair that many students add to their projects with these additional items, please know that there is no expectation to purchase scrapbook items.  

Writing

Students will finish up their second personal narrative this week - they are writing about a time they had to do something that frightened them.  Their stories of personal courage are so inspiring!

We will begin another unit on poetry at the end of the week, finishing it up the following week.  This time we will be analyzing the tone and mood of a poem, looking a little closer at the figurative language and structure, and determining the theme of a couple of Robert Frost poems.

Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, 
and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

5-2 Updates ~ 11/03

Hello 5-2 Parents ~

I hope you've all had a chance to enjoy the sun today....it was so nice to see it after so many rainy days!!  Beautiful fall weather out there today :)

Important Dates

Halloween Party ~ A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to our room moms ~ Mrs. Orzechowski, Mrs. Thompson, and Mrs. Tader ~ for smoothly running such a wonderful celebration with the kiddos in my absence!  I am so sorry that I missed such an important day with the kiddos - unfortunately, a family emergency kept me from coming to school that day :(  Everyone reported that they had a fantastic time, despite the weather and schedule confusion.  If you took pictures that you would like me to post on the blog for all to see, please email them to me - thanks!

Fill the Nest ~ Paper bags were sent home two weeks ago for you to start filling with canned goods to donate to our community's food pantry.  We are ready to start collecting these bags, so please help us to Fill Our Nest by sending in non-perishable food items!!  Thank you so much for your generous spirit :)

Spirit Wear Pajama Day ~ Friday, November 8th - Come to school in your comfy clothes :)

Veteran's Day ~ Monday, November 11th  - NO SCHOOL!

Think Energy! Presentation ~ Tuesday, November 12th  - The National Energy Foundation will be presenting Energy conservation to our students, tying into our spring science unit on Energy.  More information will come on this presentation - watch for details.

Progress Reports Issued ~ Friday, November 22nd - Please remind your children that they can check on their grades at any time by asking for a mid-term progress report.  They should be encouraged to own their grades this year, and understand the impact of daily work has on their final grades.

Math

My math class began Unit 4 - Division Algorithms this week.  This is a quick unit where we review long division.  You can support your child at home by continuing to review math facts with them, and giving them long division problems with decimals.  I continue to discuss with your children the importance of being able to recall their mulitplication facts with automaticity - many of them are still lacking the ability to quickly recall their facts.  Please consider making flash cards a regular part of your homework time, or having them log on to play Facts Dash on a daily basis.  Not having quick recall of their facts will greatly impact their math performance going forward.

Mrs. Watanuki's Math
This week:
In sixth grade UCMP math we are finishing up a unit on pre-algebra concepts this week. Prior to our test on Halloween students studies the difference between general patterns and special cases; and aplied this knowledge to using formulas to solve problems of many types. We explored the concept of algebra being a mathematical language, for which we need to learn the rules. The concepts of using variables to represent unknown values, and evaluating expressions were presented. Students also used formulas to complete tables and graphs; both of which were used to answer questions. Additional concepts covered were spreadsheets and addition of signed numbers.Keep up the daily fact practice for those students who have not completed all timed tests at this point. Much progress was noted! This group appears to be algebraically minded!

Next week:
In sixth grade math the study of fractions is well under way. We began this unit by reviewing previously presented concepts, including: finding common denominators,equivalent fractions, identifying factors, least common denominators and greatest common factors. Students took a closer look at ordering fractions from smallest to largest. Your SRB is a great place to review concepts and find extra practice problems.

Social Studies

We wrapped up Unit 10 with an assessment this week - I was impressed with how engaged the students have been in this unit, and how well they performed on the test!  They seem to really be enjoying learning how our country was formed, and debating the differing perspectives of people who lived at that time.  I love watching how their minds expand to consider these differing viewpoints, and we spend time discussing how to apply these new ideas to their own lives when resolving conflict.  Such great learning happening for them!

We will continue our perspective discussions next week as we start Unit 11, as we look at the differing views of some specific Loyalists and Patriots who were important in the forming of our country. 

Reading

In reading this week, students focused on identifying the main idea and supporting details in non-fiction text as we read about snakes.  They are becoming more comfortable at looking at how an author chooses to organize text to help us understand the main idea.  We will continue looking at the main idea of non-fiction text next week, as we compare the text structure of Rattlers to a different type of text structure in our new text. 

Writing

We finished up our first Personal Narratives this week - look for their rubrics to come home early this week for a sign and return.  We will be continuing to respond to Personal Narrative Prompts through the next week using Learn Zillion - look for more information about this Common Core website in an email from me this week.

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” 
― Albert Einstein