As we begin the New Year...

Happy New Year!!
I pray you had a blessed Christmas and that your New Year's is equally wonderful.

This blog will serve 2 major purposes.
1.  One last announcement about late work for second quarter.
2.  Some thoughts looking ahead to third quarter.


Second Quarter:  I have almost everything from second quarter graded and recorded.  I have been diligently working over break to get that done. ( I will be finishing 5th grade Explorer reports in the next few days). Any assignment that I do not have is now marked with an M for missing and a 0.
I cannot send out personal statements for each student, so please take some time to visit Educate and check for missing work.  Everything listed is work that was due before break, and the importance of turning it in was discussed in class.

If your student has missing work, I will accept it for a late grade on Wednesday, January 4th.  
After that it is an automatic 50% or remains a 0, if report cards are complete.  If your student completes and assignment on Google classroom they will need to notify me by email so I can grade it.

Third Quarter:

Just a clarification about the grading system that I use for the classes that I teach.  All work is graded on a point system.  Which means that a test worth 25 points is entered as that, just as a homework assignment worth 25 points is entered as that.  I do not weight the tests.
**However all assignments are grouped into a category.  Homework, Tests and quizzes, or classwork.  At the end of the quarter Educate separates the categories, figures a percentage for each and then averages those together. 
This is a great system, because while not weighting tests, it gives emphasis to tests, which there may be less scores for than other work.

My categories include the following:
Homework:  These are any assignments assigned in class, that need to be completed for the next class.  Students may finish it during class time but it is assigned as homework.
Classwork:  These are things done completely in class.  Many of the social studies workbook pages fall under this, or a group activity that we only work on in class would fit here.
Tests and Quizzes:  Any test or quiz given for a subject, even if it is open note/book.

5th grade English grade is made up of 2 homework scores and 2 test scores every week.  I am removing the classwork category, even though we complete a great deal of it in class.
Literature:  This is a combination of all 3 categories.  There will be less test/quizzes scores most quarters, so studying for those is important.
5th grade social studies:  This is also a balance of the three categories.

Hopefully that clears that up for those of you trying to figure out points at home.

Third Quarter Book Report:
It is time!!  We will be completing a book report this quarter.  We will spend some time when we return focusing on reading interest inventories and how to pick a book on a certain reading level.  Students can read anything they want, any genre, as long as it is on their reading level.  It can be a book they recently read - within the last month or two, or a new book.  They will be receiving time in class everyday to read.

I will be giving them several choices on a report type, so that they can hopefully match something to their learning style.
All the directions and due dates will be posted here and on Google classroom the second week we are back.

If they received a new book for Christmas or have one they want to read, they can get started.  I will be checking books after we discuss them a little.


We will not have Spelling and Grammar that short week that we return.  We will begin again January 9th.
Both Lit classes will be working from the textbooks for a while before reading another novel.  6th grade will be doing Historical Fiction, and 5th grade Fantasy.  Both grades will watch the movie that corresponded to the novels we just finished when we return.

God bless your remaining days of break.
Mrs. Brown

Twas the weeks before Christmas

We have 7 days left of school before our Christmas break and the end of the quarter.
Again, we have much to accomplish in that time.
Thank you for your diligence in helping your child stay on top of the work we are doing.

**I have tried to post on Educate all remaining assignments and due dates for the quarter in each subject.  I will post grades as they are completed.  Remember, as well, the 5th and 6th grade Literature calendars are also posted on this blog and Google Classroom.  Your student should refer to those to make sure they are caught up on reading chapters.

5th Grade Language Arts:
One last normal week of Spelling.  Pretest is Monday, pages and final test on Thursday. I will collect Spelling books on Thursday for the last 3 weekly book grades for the quarter.  Make sure your child turns in their spelling book, completed.

Grammar:  We will work on Verbs again this week.  I requested a few students redo last week's quiz, to help with understanding, but none were corrected and returned.  If your child scored below 70% on that page, check with them about the corrections. There will be a Proofreading page on Thursday and quiz on Friday.

**We will not have Spelling or Grammar the 19th-20th, unless it is review.

Literature:  We are enjoying Sign of the Beaver.  We are about half way through the book.  Students should be reading through chapter 13 for Monday.  We will read the majority this week, and finish the book Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 19-20.
Again, there will not be a final test.  They will have 2 quizzes, 2 journals, the cabin sketch and their vocabulary folder for grades.  Check Educate or the calendar for due dates. 

5th Grade Social studies:
Monday, December 12th is the Chapter 6 test.  We completed the study guide last week, went over it, and I even handed them the answer page.  On the test there is an essay question that requires them to write a letter.  It  was on the study guide as well.  Students that wrote out the letter on paper or the chromebook, may use that and turn it in with the test. They may want to look over it for errors. If they did not, they can do it at home this weekend and bring it on Monday, or write it Monday during the test.
**The study guide again was a completion grade, meaning points were given for having it complete and at school.  Since I gave them the answers, they cannot turn that assignment in late.  Unfortunately, several students did not complete the guide.  These points cannot be made up.  If your child was absent the day it was assigned and could not get the study guide done before we went over the answers, it will not be a counted grade.

Please make sure your child goes over the study guide.  They may not use their book or notes on this test.
We will begin working on Chapter 7 and continue reading The Double Life of Pocahontas.

6th Grade Literature:
We are in the midst of reading Hatchet.  The author does a great job of describing sights, sounds and feelings in this book.  We have completed one quiz and one journal so far.  We are working on another set of questions as we read chapters 9-11.  There will be one last quiz and journal to close out the quarter.  All of these assignments are on Google classroom, and posted with their due dates on Educate.  Make sure your child keeps up with them.  We are working on Vocabulary in class.  Each student is choosing their own words as we read.  I will not be testing them on the words, so the grade (45 points) will come from the work they do in their folder.  
We are working on our Survival Competition this week. We will present on Thursday/Friday.  Good luck to the groups!

I know this is a crazy busy time of the year.  Thank you for helping your child keep up with their assignments.  Please let me know this week, if you have any questions or concerns.  I will be finalizing 2nd quarter grades over the holiday.
Have a blessed week,
Mrs. Brown

Week of Dec. 5-9

Last week we accomplished much!
5th Grade completed and turned in their Explorer essay and Coat of Arms.  These will be displayed in the hallway.
We began new Lit novels - The calendar for the rest of second quarter for these novels is posted both on Google Classroom and on this blog under 5th and 6th Literature.

We discussed students looking at where their Lit grade stands after the novels we just finished.  For this next novel there will be 2-3 quiz grades and 2 homework grades and a large vocabulary folder grade.  There will not be a final test or final vocabulary test for either book.  Students should be diligent in completing the work that remains and make sure they turn in their best.


5th Grade Language Arts:
Spelling: Pages 84-87 with pretest on Monday and final test and pages due on Thursday.
Grammar:  We are still working on verbs.  We will work through practice pages 83-85, with proofreading page 86 assigned on Thursday, due Friday.  On Friday we will take the weekly quiz on pages 87-88.

Literature:  We completed two stories on our Treasures book this week introducing the genre of Historical Fiction.  On Thursday we began the novel Sign of the Beaver.  We are all reading this novel together because it is such a great, a wonderful example of historical fiction and parallels our social studies curriculum exactly.
***Again the calendar of Chapters to read and assignments we will do is posted here under 5th grade Lit and on Google classroom under Lit.  If your child is absent they should consult the calendar to see what they missed.
We will be doing much of the reading in class, however there will be chapters assigned for home.  This book is on a 5th grade level, however feel free to read it with your child.  They can also google it on Youtube by chapters and follow along as it is read to them.   **Both of those are perfectly acceptable ass they read at home.

5th Grade Social studies:  We have turned in our Explorer projects.  This was a great project that led us through each of the steps of research and writing a factual account of a historical figure.  We used note-taking, an outline, Step up to writing procedure and editing.  In reading the rough drafts, most were very well done.  I will be reading the final essays and assigning grades.  There will be a grammar grade as well as social studies.
We will spend these last weeks of second quarter learning about the early settlements and colonies in America.  We will continue reading about Jamestown.  I am reading to them the book The Secret Life of Pocahontas by Jean Fritz.  We will then watch the Disney version of that story and make comparison, picking out the facts and recognizing the fiction.
We will do an in class project creating an ad campaign for a colony.  I will let you know about tests.  We will take  a chapter test for chapter 6 and 7.

6th Grade LIterature:  
We have begun reading Hatchet.  This is still in the realistic fiction genre, however it deals with Man vs. self and Man vs. nature plot conflicts, and so exposes them to a different type of story.  Some have read this book before and they were given the option of reading Island of the Blue Dolphin instead.  I have just a couple students reading that.
****The calendar of all the Chapter assignments and class assignments is posted here under 6th grade Lit and on Google classroom.  If your child is absent they will need to consult the calendar to see what they have missed.  Students must stay on top of these assignments, because we will end the book on the last day of the quarter.  There will not be a final test on this novel, so the grades will come from the assignments we do as we read.
We will have a survival competition activity as part of this unit.  Most of the work for that will be completed in class.

I look forward to these next couple of weeks.  They will be busy.  Encourage your child to do their best, and stay on top of their work.  If they are concerned about grades, they will need to see me before the end of the quarter.
Blessings on your week,
Mrs. Brown

Week of November 28- Dec. 2

Well - here we go!  Advent is beginning and the second quarter will be winding down quickly.  We have lots to do in these three weeks, and the time will fly.  It is crucial your student stays on top of the work and deadlines, so as not to fall behind as the quarter ends.

For the most part we will have a normal schedule for the next three weeks, including three weeks of spelling, grammar, a complete Lit unit and 2 social studies chapters.

Please check Educate at the end of the week for grades after the latest round of Literature tests.  There are numerous students that still need to take the tests, and then grades will be posted by week's end.  Make sure if your student was absent at all before Thanksgiving, they come to me to take the test they missed.

5th Grade Language Arts:  Normal spelling and grammar this week.  Pretest is on Monday, pages and final test are due on Thursday.  Spelling pages are always due on Thursday.  You can check Educate every two weeks for grades on those pages.  Some students are not completing the pages and losing valuable points.

Literature:  This week we will be introducing Historical Fiction as a new genre.  We will read 2 stories from our Treasures book and take some notes.  Both stories will have questions on google classroom to answer.  Students should also have a book on the side that they are reading during class time.
Then we will begin reading all together the historical fiction novel Sign of the Beaver   by Elizabeth George Speare.  It is a wonderful book that goes along perfectly with our social studies curriculum.  There will be a calendar of chapters and assignments posted on Google classroom next weekend for the book.

5th Grade Social Studies:  The chapter 5 test will be handed back this week.  There will be an opportunity to make corrections.  We are moving into chapter 6-7 about early settlements in America.  On Tuesday we will play the Settlement Survival Game to get a feel for the hardships these early settlers had to overcome.
There will be both a chapter 6 and 7 test before Christmas.

Explorer Essay:  We have been working on completing the Explorer essay.  Students chose an explorer and completed research notes in class.  We then matched the notes to the outline in order to write the essay.  We even looked at a sample essay and highlighted it according to the Step up to Writing procedure.  Monday and Tuesday before break we worked on writing the rough draft, which is due Monday, Nov. 28.  It is on Google classroom.  
The rough draft needs to be edited by a parent at home, before I look at the rough copy.  You can edit it on Google and send me an email or comment.  Or you can print the rough draft, edit and sign it for your student to bring to class.

The final copy on Google classroom, and the Explorer Coat of Arms are due this week Thursday, December 1st.  Again, we have worked on this project numerous days in class, so hopefully students have a good amount completed.  We will work one more day, Monday Nov. 28th to make sure all rough drafts are complete and final copies begun.


6th Grade Literature:  We have finished our novels.  We will work for 2 days only on a quick group project reviewing the books.  There are some students that still need to take or turn in the tests and vocabulary folders.  That must be done Monday/Tuesday of this week. 
We are moving on to Hatchet.  We will be reading this novel as a class, however I have given students that have already read it some choices.  On Wednesday/Thursday this week the Hatchet calendar will be posted on Google classroom with all the chapter dates and assignments.  We will read much in class, but students will be expected to read some outside of class as well.  We hope to finish it before Christmas break.
Make sure your student keeps up with the readings and assignments that go along with the book.


THere are busy weeks ahead.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Make sure to stay connected to Educate for updates on grades as the quarter ends.

Have a blessed week,
Mrs. Brown

Between Now and Thanksgiving

We have a full week this week, but a very short week next week, so I am going to attempt to map out the schedule between now and Thanksgiving.
We have lots going on between now and then as we finish both this unit of study in Literature and the chapter in social studies.

5th Grade Language Arts:
We will have spelling and grammar as normal this week, but we will not do spelling next week, and use the days for grammar review.
Spelling:  This week's pages are 72-75.  Pretest is Monday and final test is Thursday. I will collect books on Thursday to record the last two weeks' scores.
Grammar:  We continue to review and build on the skills we are learning.  We have moved on to Verbs for a few weeks.  Most students did better on last week's review page, and I used the points as extra credit.  Feel free to check any writing that your student does.  At this age, they still need editing of most things they write.

Literature:  We are enjoying the books we are reading and the process of working through the books together.  Wonderful discussion comes from the groups as they read and talk.  Again, the schedule for each book is on a document under your child's name on Google Classroom.  They can always check what needs to be completed and what is coming up.  
 *** We are assigned to finish reading the book next week Monday, Nov. 21st.  On Friday of this week, each student will bring home their vocabulary folder to study.  Each group will have 10 words from their book to learn.  We have done all the work on the vocab words in class, but students will need to study for the test.  The final test over the vocab words and the book will be next week Tuesday, Nov. 22.

5th Grade Social studies:  We are finished with chapter 5 over the early explorers, but we are going to take this week and work on a short, but formal research and writing project about an explorer.  Students will be choosing an explorer to research.  We will be completing the research mostly in class, however students can work outside of class.  We will be using the "Step Up to Writing" program to structure and write an essay about the explorer.  Again, most work will be done in class, however there will be time when students will need to show the essay to parents, for editing.  I will email any special directions needed.  The final project will be due after Thanksgiving, and again I will send details home.
***We will also take the chapter 5 test this week, most likely on Friday.  We will be preparing for it in class, and I will send out the study directions.


6th Grade Literature:
6th Grade is also finishing our Lit books this week or next.  Monday/Tuesday we are taking a quiz over what we have read so far.  We will be completing the vocabulary this week in class and it will come home next weekend to study.  All groups will have only 10 words from their book to learn, but the words must be studied at home.  The final book test will be either Monday or Tuesday next week depending on the A/B day schedule.  Students need to make sure they are keeping up with the chapters and not skipping any.  
We will work on group projects for the books, even as we move on to another selection.

Thank you for using this blog, Educate and Google classroom to discuss with your student all that is going on.  Second quarter goes very quickly, so make sure any missing work is dealt with as soon as possible.
Have a wonderful week!

Week of November 7-11

Welcome to November!  We have a very busy week ahead of us.
All lit groups are well into their books now, and we will continue to work in these groups as we read these awesome novels.

I will be out of the class on Thursday and Friday.  I am travelling to Concordia, Mequon, to complete my Colloquy program.  I have the final interview left to complete and will meet with the Professors on campus.
Please keep me in your prayers as I finish this journey.

5th grade language arts:
Spelling:  This is a regular week in spelling.  The pretest is Monday and pages 66-69 will be assigned for Thursday.  Final test is Thursday.
Grammar:  We have finished our study of nouns.  We took the weekly assessment on Friday.  Although many students did well, some struggled greatly, despite walking through the directions together in class. Rather than have them correct the quiz, we will go through it together carefully and then I will give them a review page for extra points.  I will be sending this page home along with the unit review test to be done at home on Monday.  You may want to check your child's score on Educate, and look over these pages with them, before turning them in on Tuesday.

Literature:  Lit Groups!
We are moving through the novels we are reading.  Remember your child has been assigned to one of the five books in class.  They have a calendar of all assignments, and the dates they are worked on and due in Google Classroom.  We check the calendar every day to make sure they know what is due.  Most of this work is being done in class, but your child may be bringing home the book to read some at home. It is imperative they do not fall behind in their reading of the book.
This week we will work on Vocabulary for the book.

5th grade social studies:
We have taken a two day break to go over some information for the election.  We are trying to get a basic understanding of how the process works.  We are not investigating the actual candidates running.  We have investigated the history of and feelings toward the political parties.
On Monday we will use our 7th grade school election as a way to go over individual candidates and their stance on the issues.  We will examine each of the three 7th graders running, a debate they completed and the materials they have sent out. Then the 5th graders will have the opportunity to vote for one of the three 7th grade candidates on Tuesday.  We will have a special election celebration on Tuesday.

After that we will continue to work on learning about 8 explorers to the New World.  Each student will be choosing one explorer to research and create a project about.  We will begin the process of choosing explorers at the end of the week, after taking notes on the 8 in our textbook.

6th Grade Literature:
Lit Groups continue.  We meet each class time in our lit groups to either read together, write journals, or answer and discuss questions.  It is going very well.  This week we will work on vocabulary words for each book.  All assignments are on Google classroom, as well as the calendar that shows exactly what chapters need to be read and the due dates for all assignments.  We check the calendar each class time, but students who are absent or cannot remember what is due, should check it outside of class.

Blessings on the week ahead,
Mrs. Brown

Week of October 31-Nov. 4

With conferences behind us, second quarter is in full swing. Now that we know the routine, 5th graders may notice the pace pick up a bit.  We  are encouraging them to focus between classes to get where they need to be with the needed materials on time.  We are also working on transitioning in class and between classes with minimal talking.

We return to a normal schedule this week.
5th Grade Language Arts:
  Spelling:  Normal spelling this week.  The pretest will be on Monday, pages and final test on Thursday.  Second quarter words are posted on this blog under spelling. We are working on pages  58-61.
Grammar:  We will continue with our skills on Nouns this week.  The weekly proofreading page will be assigned Thursday on Google classroom and the weekly assessment will be Friday.

Literature:  We are beginning new Lit Books on Monday.  Each student will be assigned to read 1 of the 5 book choices.  They will be reading with a small group.  We will fill out a calendar on Monday, with all the chapter assignments and due dates posted.  Your child will have a copy of that on Google Classroom.  You may always read with your child!!  Each group will have journal assignments, vocabulary words and quizzes that will be done in class, but assignments may need to be completed at home.

5th Grade Social studies:  
We completed the sunken ship activity last week in class.  On Monday, we will use our notes from this activity to fill out the study guide.  There will be a quiz on chapter 4 on Tuesday.  It will be all multiple choice with no essay questions.  We will review exactly what is on the quiz on Monday, and students should bring home their study guide to review Monday night.
We will then go into chapter 5 that studies specific explorers.  Each student will eventually be choosing an explorer to study and we will work through the process of researching and writing about them together.  I will send information home when we are ready for this project. 

6th Grade Literature:
Students received their new books last week.  We spent the first class creating a calendar of assignments, that is on Google Classroom.  Each group  knows exactly what pages or chapters are due each time, and other assignments that will be given.  They should refer to that calendar to make sure they have read the correct chapters each time.  We will do some reading in class like first quarter, however some chapters will need to be read at home as well.  All 5 books are great choices, and students have the option to also read the other books at any point in time.  

It was wonderful to touch base with many of you during conferences last week.  If you were unable to attend, and still need to meet, please send me an email to set up a time.
Thanks for working closely with your student as they progress through this year.

Have a blessed week,
Mrs. Brown

Parent/Teacher Conference week

With conferences this week and 1 1/2 less days of school, our schedule will be a little lighter.  I do hope to see as many of you as possible during conference time.  It is a great time to touch base and discuss how the year is going.  I am fine if you would like to include your child in the conference with us.


5th Grade Language Arts:

We will not be doing Spelling or Grammar this week!  We will resume normal schedule next week.

Literature:  We will be working on 3 things this week.
1.  We are filming Book Trailers in class for Wonder.   The class chose groups, and have been writing a script/storyboard.  We will film this week.
2.  Precept writing - This first piece of writing will go into the digital portfolio and so we will work on editing and revising it this week.  There will be a final grade for second quarter.
3.  New LIT books!  Below are the 5 books students will be choosing from this week.  They will be assigned to read one of the books with a small group.  Each group will have journals, vocabulary, quizzes discussions and a final test on the book.
Bridge to Terabithia - by Katherine Patterson
Crenshaw - by Katherine Applegate
Dear Mr. Henshaw - by Beverly Cleary
The Great Gilly Hopkins - by Katherine Patterson
Feathers - by Jacqueline Woodson

The children have been looking at them in class.  You can Google them or go on Common Sense Media for a review.

5th Grade social studies:
We have moved on to chapter 4-5 about the early explorers to North America.
On Monday we will have another activity.  We will pretend to be on a sunken ship in the hallway.  We will locate objects found on the ship and determine what they are(good follow up to our Native American unit).
Chapter 4 like chapter 2 is very short.  We will take a quiz on the chapter possibly on Thursday, but I will let you know for sure.

6th grade Literature:
Charlotte Doyle has ended.  It is a long book, but such a good read.  We have been reading a couple of short stories from our LIT book, and completing assignments on them.  This week we will read All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury, and use it as a basis for a writing assignment
We are going to put our Charlotte Doyle essay in the digital portfolio that each child has, so we will edit and clean those up this week.
We will be choosing our next lit book this week.  The 5 choices are listed below and can be found on Google or Common Sense Media for a review.
Because of Mr. Terrupt - By Rob Blyea
Star Girl - by Jerry Spinelli
Walk Two Moons - By Sharon Creech
When Zachary Beaver Came to Town - Kimberly Willis Holt
Wonder by RJ Palacio

 We had a great first quarter.  The pace should pick up a bit in literature second quarter.  Make sure to check that assignments are being done.  There will more homework, which includes reading some at home.
Have a blessed week.

Mrs. Brown

Week of October 17-21

First Quarter wraps up - Second Quarter begins...

I will be checking one last time on Monday with those students that still have missing work.  They have been notified and hopefully have checked Educate.  All missing work is due on Monday in order to be included in first quarter grades.


We will begin second quarter this week with a relatively normal schedule:

5th grade Language Arts:
Spelling:  I will be posting second quarter words on the blog under spelling.  This will be normal week in spelling beginning with the pretest tomorrow. 
Grammar:  We continue our study of nouns this week and will work on skill pages in class Tuesday and Wednesday. There will be a proofreading page on Thursday.   We did not do one last week because we were working on our Precept writings.

5th grade Literature:  We read a story from our Treasures book last week and completed online questions.  We will read another story this week. We are going to work in literature and Ed Tech to create some book trailers for Wonder.   We will use the ipads and work in groups.  We have looked on line at some.  I can't wait to see what they come up with.

5th Grade social studies:  The Great Native American Dig was awesome.  I tweeted some pictures of both classes.  I will post some more, and copy and display some in the hallway as well.  On Friday we observed and identified the artifacts found, and using our notes took an educated guess as to the tribe each group had discovered.  The last step is this week, where we will watch  each group's presentation and reveal the tribe that went which each box of artifacts.  
We will go on to chapters 4-5 on Explorers this week.

6th Grade Literature:
We are moving on this week!  We will read 1-2 stories from our Textbook and take some notes on Plot.  However, we will quickly move into our next set of novels.  I will be returning both the Charlotte Doyle book test and vocabulary test this week.  We will not do test corrections on this test.  Some students needed to study more for the vocabulary, however most did well.

Our next novel choices:  You may want to look them up on Common Sense Media.  The students will have an opportunity to look them over this week as well, before making choices on which one to read.
Wonder  by RJ Palacio
Because of Mr. Terrupt  by Rob Buyea
Walk Two Moons  by Sharon Creech
When Zachary Beaver Came to Town  by Kimberly Willis Holt
Stargirl  by Jerry Spinelli


Have a Blessed week!
Mrs. Brown

Final Week of First Quarter

We have arrived at the final week of the first quarter.  We have accomplished much during this time, and hopefully can pick up the pace a little.

End of Quarter means that all late or missing work must be turned in by Friday.  I worked last week and will again this week with any student that is missing work. Remember, even if a student is absent they need to make up the work.
Many of you have checked Educate to look for missing work.  Please do so again this week.  I will be adding quite a few grades and your student will need to check that everything is complete.

There are several test this week and writing projects.  Please read below and watch for any special emails with information.

5th Grade Language Arts:
Spelling:  This week's spelling will count for first quarter.  The pretest is Monday, and pages 46-49 are due on Thursday.  I will collect the books Thursday and record the page grades for the past two weeks.  
Spelling is getting harder.  Some students will need to study more for the test on Thursdays.

Grammar:  We are doing better with grammar.  The last week's quiz and proofreading grades were much improved.  We will incorporate some writing now, and try to apply some of the skills we have gone over.  We continue this week with plural nouns.  We will work on skills in class Tuesday and Wed.  Proofreading homework will be page 48 assigned on Thursday., with the quiz on Friday.
**Any grammar grade below 70% can be corrected and turned back in for a grade.

Literature:  We finished reading Wonder!! It was awesome.  Some of us cried when we reached the end.  Tuesday of this week we will take the test over the book.  The students should be fine on the book questions, but they can borrow a book on Monday if they want.  They will need to study the 12 vocabulary words  for the test.  They should have brought home their vocab folder on Friday.  In it are all 12 words and the definitions we did together in class.  They should have added an example to each word.  Consider quizzing them on the words a few times between now and Tuesday. 
        This week we will be working on a writing assignment for the unit.  The final assignment will be due on Friday and it will be on Google classroom.  We are working through the pre-writing together in class.
         We will read a few stories from our Treasures book, before choosing another novel to read.  

5th Grade Social studies:  It is Great American Dig Week!!
Groups are hard at work finishing their research and creating their shoebox artifacts.  We will add to it a presentation this week.  Then we will be ready!!
On Thursday or Friday of this week (we will pick the day with less chance of rain) we will carry our shoeboxes out and bury our artifacts.  Another group will dig them up and by observation and comparison with the notes we have taken, try to determine what tribe they have discovered.
This is a wonderful activity.  I will try to let you know by Monday or Tuesday which day and time each class will be doing the dig.  Parents are more than welcome to come and watch.
Chapter 2-3 test will be returned on Monday.  I will go over with the students the correction policy.  I will send an email with that policy and due date as well.

6th Grade Literature:  Charlotte Doyle comes to an end!!
We will finish this awesome book this week.  The test will be Tuesday for Caciano homeroom and Wednesday for Hieber homeroom.  The book portion of the test should be easy, however students will need to study the 12 vocabulary words we have done in class.  Caciano students should have brought that folder home over the weekend, Hieber will bring it home Monday.

6th grade will also be doing a final writing project for this unit.  We will do all the pre-writing together.  The final will be on Google classroom and at this point will be due on Friday. We will use the Step up to Writing method for this project.

We will spend a week or so going over plot, and reading a few stories from our Lit text book.  After that, students will be choosing 1 of 5 novels to read in a book group.  I love all 5 choices, and we will go over them early next week.

Let me say again, how much I love reading with your students.  I love their reactions and thoughts about what we are reading.  I truly believe there is much value in just reading good quality literature, as opposed to reading shorter stories and answering questions about them.  I realize that gives us less grades in a quarter, but I believe they gain more knowledge and understanding this way.

Have a blessed week!
Mrs. Brown

Week of October 3-7

Welcome to October !!
We have two weeks left in the first quarter. We have a lot to finish in those two weeks.
I encourage you and your child to look on Educate for any missing work.  I will be compiling a list and discussing it with the students.  All missing work, even from absences must be in by the end of the quarter in order to receive partial credit.

5th Grade Language Arts:
Spelling:  The pretest is Monday and final test is Thursday.  Pages 40-43 are also due on Thursday. The pretest we take on Monday is returned to each student so that they can see how many and which words they missed to help them study better for the final test.  I encourage them to take the pretest and leave it in the car or on the frig so that they can go over the words they missed during the week.  

Grammar:  We are continuing to work on Grammar in class each week. We have moved on to Nouns.  Some students are struggling with the skills.  I will begin to let them make corrections on pages scoring under a 70%.  Most of the pages only have 7-15 points per page, so just missing a few questions can give them a low percentage. 
Just remember it is the points that are recorded, but I am happy to let them make corrections if they did not understand the skill. 

Literature:  We are so excited to finish the Wonder book.  It has been wonderful to read.  We will finish it this week.  We will also complete our last 2 vocabulary words, and students will bring home their folders to study the words.  There will be 12 words on the final test. The final test on Wonder and the vocabulary is scheduled for Tuesday, October 11th.  I will send a reminder email home.
We will work together on the final writing assignment for this book.  It will be on Google Classroom.
We have spent some time on our CHOOSE KIND CAMPAIGN and plan to launch it in the next couple weeks.  All 5th grade students will have an opportunity to sign the Choose Kind Pledge this week.

5th Grade Social Studies:
We have begun our preparations for the Great Native American Dig!!  Students chose Native American tribes they wanted to research and have been divided into groups.  This week they will be gathering notes on 6 required topics.  They will then create a shoebox of artifacts representing those 6 topics.  Finally, they will make a presentation explaining the 6 artifacts and their tribe. Each group will need a shoebox!
When we are ready, probably Thursday or Friday October 13-14, we will hold the dig.  Groups will be burying  their artifacts in the sand pits outside and then digging up artifacts from a different group.  
Each group will use what they observe about the artifacts, and what they know about the regions, to determine which tribe they have discovered.  
The activity will depend on when we complete our research and the weather, I will let you know next weekend when we will hold the Dig!  Parents are invited to come and join the fun.
Chapter 2-3 test is Wednesday, October 5th.  An email will come home tomorrow with all the information.

6th Grade Literature:
We have learned about setting, and characters so far.  We will be finishing up with our reading of True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle this week.  We will complete the vocabulary words in our folders.  Students will bring those home to study the words.  The final test will be Monday or Tuesday next week. This week students have a 250 word journal due, and will receive grades for the character presentations.  All assignments have been on Google Classroom.  Please check Educate, and if any work is missing, go to Google Classroom to find it.  

We have a busy week ahead.  Remember to check Educate for anything missing.  If late work is turned in, please make sure I know about it, so that I can go back and grade it.  I cannot promise late work will be graded immediately.
Have a Blessed week,
Mrs. Brown

Week of September 26-30

Wow!!  How time flies!  It is already the last week of September.
We will be wrapping up in the next week or two our initial units of study, especially in Literature.
With that we have some final projects we will be working on.

**A Special note:  5th grade will be competing in our very own Olympics this week Tuesday, as a culminating event from our Genius hour research.  It should be great fun as we compete in our "created games."

5th Grade Language Arts:
Spelling:  Pretest and pages will be assigned on Monday.  We are working on compound words this week.  Pages 34-37 will be due on Thursday along with the final test.
Grammar:  We will do a review and testing of run-on/compound sentences this week.  This is a skill we will continue to come back to as we write more and more.  Then we will move on to Nouns.  The proofreading assignment this week is p. 36 and will be assigned on Thursday, due on Friday.
Grammar is difficult, but the 5th graders are catching on and working hard in class.

Literature:  We are on the last 3 sections of Wonder!  We will finish it early next week. This week we worked on explaining and illustrating the Precepts from the book.  Next week each student will choose a Precept and write about its meaning to them and the relationship it has with their life.  I will post those directions on Google Classroom.

We are starting a Choose Kind Campaign !! 

We are discussing how we can implement the things we are learning from the book in the middle school.  We have numerous ideas and hope to develop a plan this week.  We will update you when we are ready to carry it out.

5th Grade Social studies:

Last week we used expert groups to take notes about the regions where the Native Americans lived.

This week we will use those notes to extend our knowledge of the regions.  Then students will be choosing 1 tribe from one of the regions to research.  This research will result in the creation of shoebox artifacts and our exciting Great Native American Dig activity.  I will post the date of this event in the next week.

There will be a test over the information from the book.  It will probably be early next week, but I will send out an email when we do the study guide.

6th Grade Literature:

This week we are working on Character presentations.  We have taken notes about characters in literature and we are completing group presentations about an assigned character.  We are at a pivotal part in the story and are about to read the most shocking part so far.  We will be wrapping up the book next week. There will be a final test and a vocabulary test for the book.

We will do a few stories out of our 6th grade text book to discuss plot and will then move on to a Lit set where students will have a choice of books to read.

Have a wonderful weekend.  Enjoy the extra day.  Encourage your child to keep working hard and stay on top of their assignments!

Blessings,

Mrs. Brown

Week of September 19-22

We have another short week this week.  However since it is Friday that we miss, it will not change our schedule or assignment pattern.

Highlights from last week!!
5th graders completed their awesome 3D Physical maps of the United States.  They are hanging in the hallway.  We ate the "leftovers" on Friday.
We can't put down reading Wonder!  We love it.  We will probably finish it in the next couple of weeks.
6th grade is really getting into The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.  The plot has thickened.  The suspense is killing us!

On to this week...

5th Grade Language Arts:
Spelling:  Pretest on Monday.  Pages 26-29 assigned and due on Thursday.  We had a few students not complete their pages last week.  We check in class on Wednesdays so they know if they need to bring it home. You may need to check as well.
Grammar: We are still plugging away at the 5th grade skills.  We carefully went over last week's proofreading page before turning it in and walked through the quiz together.  Each week, both of those papers are graded and handed back in class so we can look at them.  They should be coming home for you to see.  This week's proofreading page will be p. 28 assigned on Thursday on Google classroom.
Literature: Last week we did a journal, vocabulary and a quiz for Wonder.  All of those will be returned this week.  This week we will begin to think about the extended projects for this book.  We will discuss and develop our own "Choose Kind" campaign, and be looking at the precepts from the book.  There will be a writing assignment connected to the precepts and I will send a separate email when that happens.

5th Grade Social Studies:  We are transitioning into our chapters on Native Americans.  The theme for these chapters is discovering how location of different groups and the resources they had affected their way of life.  Our physical maps were a perfect starting point for this study.  This week each student will be creating their own Origin story on a large piece of material.  They have 2 assignments due on Monday.  1 being a rough sketch of their Origin story.  The other a chart of 3 vocabulary words.  Both are in the workbook.
Next week I will elaborate on the Great Native American Dig project we will be starting!

6th Grade Literature:  6th graders have a sketch of the Seahawk due this week, either Tuesday or Wednesday.  Now that we have discussed setting, we will move on to characters.  We will be taking notes on characters this week and begin a character analysis activity in groups.  These presentations will be due next week.  We will continue with vocabulary words in class and a journal will be assigned this week.

Thank you for sharing your children with me.  I look forward to a great week ahead.
Blessings,
Mrs. Brown

Week of September 12-16

We are back to a normal week this week!  After last week's four day week plus our fitness day, we had trouble squeezing in everything that needed to be done.

Fitness day was a great thing for each student to try their hardest at the tests and set a baseline mark for improvement.  I was proud of the way the students encouraged each other.

It was great to see so many of you on Tuesday night.  If you were unable to attend I will post a copy of the information I handed out on this blog under the subject tab.  I am also happy to send home a paper copy.

5th Grade Language Arts:
Spelling:  Pre test will be on Monday this week and pages 20-23 will be assigned.  They will be due on Thursday as well as the final test.  I will collect spelling books every 2 weeks and record the scores from the pages.
Grammar:  We are a little behind in grammar but will try to catch up this week.  We reviewed some last week as we looked at the new skill.  Proofreading is due on Monday this week, since we didn't work on it until Friday and we will take the weekly assessment on Monday as well.  We will start the new skill on Tuesday.  This week's proofreading page 22 will be assigned on Thursday and due Friday.  Students are not allowed to go online and find the assignment, copy and paste it into Google classroom and then "fix" the errors.  They are to type or write the paragraph on their own, making needed corrections as they go.  I prefer this assignment done on Google classroom, but if you feel your child needs to write it instead, have them talk to me.

Literature:  We are more than halfway done with Wonder.    It has been a great book to read together.  This week we will work on vocabulary words in class and check them, and there will be 2 assignments on Google classroom, a journal and a quiz.  I will also post the assignment title and due date of these assignments on Educate, but the directions and assignment itself will be on Google classroom.

5th grade Social Studies:  We have spent 2 days on our 3D physical maps of the United States.  The groups have worked well together and the maps look great so far.  We will work one, maybe two more days in class on this project.  They will be hanging in the hallway when we are finished.
We will then continue on with chapter 2-3 about Native Americans.  We hope to be ready to begin our Native American research project and Artifact dig sometime in the next 2 weeks.  Details will follow.

6th Grade Literature:  We are doing our first Book Chat assignment where students give me information about the book they are reading on their own.  This assignment will happen every 2 weeks or so and will sometimes be with me, or on a blog or with other students.  This is to encourage and keep track of the books they are reading for the 40 Read Challenge.
We are on chapter 9-10 in True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and the book is beginning to take some twists and turns.  This week we will work on vocabulary words in class and complete a journal on Google classroom.  There will also be an assignment to sketch the Seahawk.  This assignment will be worth 25 points, and some time should be spent on it. They will be graded on how complete their sketch is.

Last week's character virtue was diligence.  I encourage you to continue to help your child with being diligent in their schoolwork.  It can be a challenge, but we are here to help them succeed.
Have a blessed week,
Mrs. Brown

Week of September 6-9

Happy Labor Day - I hope you have had a chance to enjoy the weekend and a day of rest!
It will be a busy week since we have 4 days.

I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday evening at Taste of Middle School.  This is an important night to receive an overview of your child's classes and hear straight from the teacher plans and procedures.  I enjoy sharing with the parents the exciting things we do in 5th grade and some important information about work and grading.  Please try to attend!

If you are unable to come, I will be placing a paper copy of the syllabus for the classes I teach in the 5th graders mailbox.  6th grade students can grab one if they wish.  I will also post on this blog under each tab the syllabus for a short time, so you may view it there as well.

5th Grade Language Arts:
Spelling:  We will begin spelling on Tuesday with our usual pretest and page assignment.  We will be working on pages 11-14 this week.  Because of the short week, pages and the final test will be on Friday. Students have been doing well on the final test.  It is important they finish the weekly pages as well, since they equal a test grade each week.
Grammar: 5th grade grammar is challenging.  Many have struggled with the weekly assessment the last two weeks.  Some of it is following directions.  We will continue to work on this in class.  I encourage them to highlight the directions as we go over them.  We will keep looking at our mistakes in class and reviewing.
This week we are on pages, 13-18.  Homework will be page 16 on Thursday night, due Friday.
Literature: We continue to read and discuss Wonder.   Many students have chosen to read ahead, which is fine.  We are working this week on vocabulary words which is done entirely in class.  I will be having a vocab checkpoint on Thursday to make sure they have kept up with the class.  We will have a character assignment on Google classroom this week. We will be taking our first Wonder quiz early next week.  On Friday we completed character puzzles for our own personal character.  We discussed if we were a character in the book, what would we want to be like.  Those will hang in the hallway.

5th grade social studies:  We have completed chapter one on Geography.  We will continue to review maps and geography all year.  We will use these skills a great deal as we move into chapter two on Native Americans.  The theme of chapter 2-3 is learning where Native Americans settled and how they lived based on the resources they had.  In order to bridge between chapter one and two, we will be making a 3-D Physical map of the US this week.  Look for progress on Twitter.
I will pass back the chapter one test on Tuesday.  Grades are posted.  Many students earned extra points by labeling extra locations on the map.  Grades were very good on this first test.

6th grade Literature:  The 40 Read Challenge is in full swing.  All 6th grade students are reporting to me a book they are reading.  We will have our first Reading chat assignment on Google classroom this week, where they will tell me about the book they are reading.
In class we continue to Read True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.  We are working in class on vocabulary for the book.  We will have our first quiz this week on Google classroom.  We will be taking notes on parts of a story and complete a project about the setting of the book next week.

As always please let me know if you have any questions about this week's work.  Continue to check Educate for posted grades and check anything that is missing.
Have a blessed week,
Hope to see you Tuesday evening!
Mrs. Brown

Week of August 29-Sept. 2

We have made it through the first full week of school, and both classes and after school activities are picking up.
We are continuing hard to work on organization and time management in order to help your child succeed in getting their work completed on time.
As the weeks go on, we will fall into a pattern with many classes, and that should help.

5th Grade Language Arts
Spelling:  There is never spelling homework over the weekends, however students can look over and study the words for the upcoming week or even begin pages if they wish (Spelling words are on this blog under spelling). Next week we will take the pretest on Monday and assign pages 8-11.  Spelling pages are due on Thursday!
The final test is also on Thursday!

Grammar:  Just like this week we will spend Tuesday and Wednesday working through the skill pages together in class.  Homework page 10 will be assigned on Thursday on Google classroom.  We will go over the page before they correct it. The weekly assessment will be Friday.

Literature:  We are almost done with the first section of the Wonder book.  We are enjoying it and it leads to great discussion.  Last week we completed both comprehension questions and a reaction journal for the book.  Those grades will be posted this week.  In addition this week we will begin vocabulary for the book.
The book goes great with our Character Formation Project!
Many kids have read ahead which is fine.  They just can't spoil what happens next!

5th Grade social studies:  We will be finishing our Geography chapter this week.  We have 2 maps to color that will be graded.  We are in the process of locating countries that participated in the Olympics on the map using latitude and longitude.  The last activity to tie us into chapter 2 will be a 3D map of the United States.

There will be a Geography chapter 1 test on Thursday, Sept. 1.  We will review this week and a study guide will come home Tuesday allowing them 2 days to go over the information.  They will need to know the 7 continents, 5 oceans, how to locate places using latitude and longitude, the four hemispheres, locate the state of Missouri and 5 other states.  I will send an email this week about the study guide and reminder for the test.

6th Grade Literature:   We have completed our Survivor Island project.  Groups presented their decisions last week.  We are now working through the evaluation process.  Students are evaluating the collaboration in the group as well as their own part in the project.  All group projects will be graded on an individual basis according to the work each student did.
We are reading The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by AVI in class together.  It is a wonderful adventure book that does a great job with character development.  Students will be listening and following along with the story, then there will be comprehension quizzes, reaction journals, vocabulary, a setting assignment that they will complete as we read.  Journals and comprehension questions will be on Google classroom, vocabulary is in their folder, and the other projects will be assigned in class.
This week we will do a reaction journal and vocabulary.  Next week there will be a comprehension quiz.
As part of our 40 Read Challenge  ( read 40 books between 5th and 6th grade) each student will need to have their own book that they are reading this week.  Miss Albers and I both have a great classroom library.

Thanks for sharing your children with me.  I am so excited to have my 6th graders back again this year.  Literature will be a blast!  I am delighted in the kindness and enthusiasm of the 5th graders.
Blessings on your week ahead,

Mrs. Brown

And We're Off...

We are off and running for the 2016-2017 school year.
The new 5th graders did a great job adjusting to all the "new" at the middle school.  It will take a while before things run smoothly, but we will get there.

A couple of highlights - Everyone has managed to get into and back out of their locker.  We have a few lockers that still need a little organizational help. If your child did not have locker shelves, consider making this purchase to help them out.

We have now managed to work through the A/B day rotation.  That will become a little more clear as we do it.  Honestly, I have messed up the schedule as much as anyone with all the changes we have made.

We have attended two band meetings.  Look for some information to come home this week or next about choosing instruments.  Band is a great 5th grade opportunity.

And some updates for the week:

5th Grade Language Arts:
Spelling:  We began spelling today by taking a pre-test.  It is a great tool to identify the words we have the most trouble spelling.  A 100% on the pre-test means you do not have to take the final test.  Pages 2-5 in spelling are due on Thursday.  We worked on pages 2-3 today and will look at 4-5 tomorrow.  Students are able to work at their own pace, as long as the pages are complete by Thursday.  The weekly word test is on Thursday afternoon.
Grammar:  We will begin grammar skills tomorrow.  We will work on the first 2-3 pages together in class.  There will be grammar homework every Thursday on the chromebook, however many will finish it at afternoon study hall.

Literature:  We are reading together in class the book Wonder  by RJ Palacio.  It is one of the best books I have read from recent years.  We will use this book to guide us through the parts of literature response (summary, comprehension, reaction journals, vocabulary) and learn a great deal about ourselves and how we treat others.  I highly recommend parents read this book as well.  Tuesday we will be answering comprehension questions, and Wednesday we will complete our first journal on Google classroom.

5th Grade Social Studies:

Our first unit of study is world/US geography.  We will spend some time reviewing maps and globes and latitude and longitude.  We will be using latitude/longitude to locate cities from the Rio Olympics.  We will eventually be working on a 3D map of the physical features in the United States.  We will be shooting for our first test, the end of next week, but I will let you know exactly when it is and what will be on it.

6th Grade Literature:
We are working on a team building project called Survival Island.  We will be presenting those on Wednesday and Thursday.  Our first novel is a class read aloud called The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by AVI.  We will use it as a review of the parts of a story and character development.  We will be using comprehension questions, journals and vocabulary as we read it.

I am so pleased to be working with all of you in these subjects.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Final posting of work...

Well - this is it.  We are down to the final days of work and assignments to be turned in.
I just want to say what a wonderful year it has been.  I have so enjoyed going through Literature and history with your children.  I learn so much from them and their reactions to things each year, and I count myself lucky to be in this position.

Here is a listing of what is left and when it is due.
**Check Cornerstone.  We are keeping it updated.  I will accept late work until the last day!!!
If your student completes something late, they must give it to me or send me an email to check Google Classroom, otherwise I will not know!


5th Grade Language Arts:

Thursday, May 12:  Final Novel test and vocabulary.  Vocab folders should be home!
Friday, May 13th:  Character book due - each student has created their own.
Tuesday, May 17th:  Group Pop-up book due.  We will have a Gallery Walk with these last two projects that day.  Both receive grades.

Monday, May 23: Fairy tales - Individual stories

5th grade Social Studies:

Thursday, May 12:  Traveling the Trail activity
                                  Individual presentations due
Friday, May 13th:  Note taking page from presentations due.  Students will begin these on Thursday and complete them on Friday.  They will have access to each presentation in their group to complete the note taking page.
Monday/Tuesday, May 16-17:  In class we will go over Chapter 18 together.  We will be doing some work from the workbook.  This will prepare us for our upcoming field trips.


6th Grade Literature:  All groups have completed reading their novel.

Thursday/Friday of this week they will complete their classwork - Blogging and respond, journal and discussion.  These will both receive grades along with a quiz they have already taken.
Please Check Cornerstone to make sure that it is all complete!

Monday/Tuesday, May 16-17th:  Final evaluation of the novel as well as vocabulary.  Vocabulary folders should come home over the weekend to study.

After that we will use our remaining time to complete their group final project - A Game board based on the novel they read.  We hope to have time to play the games and evaluate them.


Thank you for all your support this year.  It has been wonderful sharing with your children.  I will miss the 6th graders after 2 years, and I look forward to working with the 5th graders again in Literature!
Mrs. Brown

Week of May 2 - 6

We are in our last two full weeks of classes.  That means that the majority of tests, projects, and daily work will be completed in this time frame.
Encourage your student to work hard these next two weeks and stay on top of all work.  We hope to see the same great work and effort we have seen all year!


5th Grade Language Arts:  This is our last week of formal spelling and grammar from the book!!
Pretest on Monday for spelling, pages assigned and due on Thursday.  Final word test on Thursday.
Grammar skills taught Tuesday and Wednesday.  Proofreading page assigned on Thursday, due Friday along with the weekly assessment.

After this week we will be doing some diagramming in English, and writing an original fairy tale.

Literature:  Book groups are going strong.  Students should be reading chapters at home to be prepared for class.  In class they are working on vocabulary, journals, blogging and discussions.  All of these activities receive points, so they have to work during class time.

Character book- Each individual student has been assigned a character book to complete for the novel they are reading.  This is not a group project.  Each student is making their own book.  Hopefully your student has begun the work on this project.  They can certainly use study hall time to work on it.  Students have directions but we will post them on Google classroom for you to view.

5th Grade Social studies:  We are working on chapter 15 - The Bill of Rights.  Students are divided into groups and assigned one of the first 10 Amendments.  They have read about it, filled out some information and are now working on creating a digital project about the Amendment.  We hope to share them when we are done.
**This Thursday will be the chapter 15 test.  It will be open note/book since there is so much information with these Amendments.  Students can prepare by reading over the chapter and making sure they have all the information filled out in their workbook.

**Remember test corrections and extra credit sent home last Friday are due this Friday, May 6th. 

6th Grade Literature:  Group Myth projects are due today and tomorrow.  We will be presenting them a few at a time.
 We have 5-6 book groups going in each class.  Students are reading outside of class and working on vocabulary, journals, quizzes, and blogging in class.  Keep checking Cornerstone for completed work.

On Thursday we will be taking our field trip to the Jewish Community School.  We will leave CCLS around 9am and return at lunch time.  Parents are welcome to go with us or meet us there - just let me know!

Keep working hard!!  Keep checking Cornerstone!!  Let's finish strong.
Have a blessed week!
Mrs. Brown
Miss Sell

Week of April 25-29th

We had a wonderful day on Friday.  It was great to welcome so many Grandparents and special friends.  The kids loved having guests for the day.  I hope it was a wonderful memory for your family.
We have a few weeks left of normal schedule, before the last few weeks of craziness set in. We have a lot to do in this time and so once again, encourage your student to continue working hard and keep up with all their assignments.

5th grade Language Arts:  Spelling - normal schedule this week.  We will be working on pages 180-183.  We will have a pretest Monday and final test and pages on Thursday.
Grammar - also will follow a normal schedule with skill pages Tuesday and Wednesday and a proofreading assignment on Thursday, quiz on Friday.

Literature:  We have begun reading our final novels.  Students are in groups of about 5-6 to read 4 different novels.  They should be reading their chapters outside of class.  They are doing journals, vocabulary and this week quiz questions on the chapters in class.  Keep checking Cornerstone to see if they missed any assignments.
There will be both a group project and an individual project to go with each book.

5th grade social studies:  We  are working on chapter 14, the writing of the Constitution.  Students were assigned vocabulary words on Thursday that are due Monday.  We will be reviewing tomorrow and then  playing a Constitution game on Tuesday.  We will take the Chapter 14 test on Wednesday, April 27.
It is not open note/book, students will need to study.
Chapter 15 is on The Bill of Rights and we will work in groups to study the Bill of Rights and find present day situations that still relate back to those amendments.

6th Grade Literature:  We have divided into small groups, to read our last novels.  We have 5-6 novels being read in each class.  Students should do most of the reading outside of class.  They are completing journals, vocabulary, discussions and this week quiz questions in class.  There will be a final test and project for each book.

I have hung our Holocaust projects in the hallway.  We had a few wonderful video productions as well.  I will be deciding this week which projects will go to the Holocaust Museum for competition.  I will take some pictures this week of the wall and post them on Twitter.  Come see and read them if you can.
We will be travelling to the Saul Mirowitz Jewish School on Thursday, May 5th to end our Holocaust study and share what we have learned with students from this school.  We did this last year and it was a wonderful experience.  I will send a separate email this week with the details.  We will be able to take several parents along that would like to attend.

Remember there is no formal 4th quarter book report, but each 5th and 6th grade student needs to give at least one book talk for points.  They may give more for extra points.

Have a very blessed week!
Mrs. Brown

Week of April 18-22

WE made it through testing week!!  Overall the students did very well.  They worked hard on the tests and did their best.  We are grateful that it was nice outside and we were able to go out for fresh air in the afternoons.

This week we are back to our normal schedule and classes.  Just a reminder we are already at the half way point in fourth quarter and those last weeks go very quickly.  Make sure your child is up on all their work.  Those with missing work will be pulled from extra activities to complete what was due.

5th grade Language Arts:  Spelling this week is pages 174-177.  Pretest is Monday, pages and final test are Thursday.
Grammar pages are 173-177.  We have struggled a little bit with adverbs.  This week we will deal with double negatives.  There will be an assignment on Thursday that is due Friday.

Literature: Students are in groups by the novel that they are reading.  They will receive a calendar of assigned chapters and homework on Monday.  It will be both in printed form and shared on Google.  They should be reading the book at home.  You may read it with them.  Again, because of the timing, students that fall behind and do not complete their work, will be pulled from the group to work alone.

Social Studies:  We have 3 chapters left that we need to cover before our trip to Springfield in May.  The first two are on the Constitution, U.S. Government and the Bill of Rights.  They are very important, but we will move through them rather quickly.  There will be a chapter test on both of them.  One will be next week probably Wednesday.

6th Grade Literature:  We are finishing up our mythology unit.  Students this week will be assigned a partner project.  We will review for the unit test and take the test on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.  Students will receive a study guide to help them prepare.

We will then move into our final novel.  We are offering 6 novel choices.  Students will be assigned to one book to read along with a small group.  Pages will be assigned to read outside of class, so that the journals, quizzes, discussions and vocabulary can be done in class.
They will receive their books and assigned pages Wednesday/Thursday this week.

*Students must read the pages and be able to complete the assigned work.  If they fall behind, they may be removed from their group to work independently.

I am looking forward to receiving the Holocaust projects this week.  I will be submitting some to the Holocaust museum and some will travel with us on May 5th.

Miss Sell is doing a wonderful job working with the classes.  By next week she will be taking over most of the classroom teaching.  We work together on all the lessons she presents. She has brought some great new ideas to the units we have done.

Testing Week

Welcome to testing week.  We will still have classes this week, just not on our regular schedule and most will be modified.

Please check what is due for the week!!
We will also use this week to make up late and missing work.  Make sure to check Cornerstone throughout this week for work that is late or missing.  Assignments such as practice tests or study guides that are assigned for a completion grade cannot be made up.  Students know this ahead of time.


5th grade Language Arts:  We will not do Spelling or Grammar this week!

Literature:  Partners are finishing writing a fractured fairy tale. We will be sharing those in class this week.  We may also begin work on our final writing project of writing an original fairy tale.

We will be looking at our final Literature set of novels.  We have 4 novels to choose from that students will read.  We will look at all 4 books and by the end of the week, students will be placed in a literature group and assigned to one of the books.
This final book will follow the format we have used all year for novels.  Students will read chapters at home and complete quizzes, journals, vocabulary words and discussions for points.

5th grade Social Studies: We had a great lesson last week where each student looked at 6 different objects from the 1770's.  They filled out observation forms on each object and then made an educated guess who the items belonged to and what the items were used for. As long as they made good observations and filled out the final question, they received full points.  Grades are posted.
  We will continue to watch some Liberty Kids videos this week on the Revolutionary War and read one more section in our books.  On Friday students will receive the chapter 13 test as a take home test that will be due on Monday.


6th Grade Literature:
Holocaust Reflection Projects:  Last week Monday I assigned the students to a final individual reflection project for our Holocaust unit.  Each student is to turn in a written, art or video reflection of the things we studied and read in this unit.  The directions are posted on Google Classroom.
The project is due next Monday, April 18th.  Some of the projects will be sent into a competition sponsored by the Holocaust Museum in St. Louis, others will travel with us to The Morowitz Jewish School on our field trip May 5th (details to come).

We are working on myths. The classes have a myth assignment due this week.  We will be doing a myth comparison Monday and Tuesday in class using the Disney version of Hercules and an original written version.  It will be due the following class time.

Students will be choosing their final book of  the year to read at the beginning of next week.  They will read one last novel.  Chapters should be read at home and journals, discussion, quizzes and vocabulary will be completed at school.
**Students not keeping up with their assignments will be pulled from their group and work by themselves.


Encourage your child this week!  Tell them how smart they are and that they can and will do an awesome job on the testing.  Get plenty of sleep and eat well!!
Have a blessed week,
Mrs. Brown

Week of March 29-April 1

Full steam ahead into 4th quarter!!
This quarter always goes so quickly and yet we have so many things left to do.  Encourage your student to stay on top of all their work this quarter and check those deadlines and due dates.

5th grade Language Arts:

**We will not have spelling or grammar this week.  We have enough weeks to cover what remains and we can skip this short week.  We will be doing some grammar review and attempting to diagram sentences!

Literature: Students have turned in their digital story pages to me.  I will spend this week taking them and putting them on a website to create a digital magazine.  I will share the link with you when it is complete.  Each child wrote their own news story and then compiled them into a magazine page with images.  I can't wait to see the final project.

Last week we read a fairytale from the Treasures book.  Tuesday we will take a quiz on the story. They also have a worksheet that is due from the story.  This week we will read as many fairy tales as we can.  We will be comparing different versions of the same tale.  Each student will fill out 2 comparison venn diagram pages.

Writing:  We will have a fun writing project with partners where they will write a fractured fairy tale using everyday objects, they pick from a basket, in their tale.  Then ultimately we will be writing individual fairy tales.

4th Quarter novel:  We will read one more novel 4th quarter.  Hopefully we will begin it the week of achievement tests.  Students will have 4 books to choose from and will be assigned one to read.  We will follow literature circle procedures as we have before with journals, discussions and quizzes.
There will be a final group project.

5th grade social studies:  Tuesday we will complete our stations.  We have been working in stations on understanding the Declaration of Independence as well as spies and codes from the Revolution.I will assign a study guide on Tuesday, we will review on Wednesday and the test will be on Thursday.  I have created an online quiz game that is on Google Classroom.  They can use that to help them study.

*I realize that there is science due this week as well.  They will need to use their study hall time efficiently.

6th Grade Literature:  We will end our Holocaust study this week.  We will complete the watching of Paper Clips - a documentary about a school and their Holocaust project.  I will assign the quiz to go with the movie Tues/Wed.  Students can use their notes on the quiz.
There will be one final writing/art/video project I will assign this week.  It will be due next week.

**Our Holocaust presentations are this week Thursday and Friday.  6 Caciano will present in my room on Thursday, 3/31 from 9:35-10:35.  I am not sure of the order of groups.
6 Hieber will present on Friday 4/1 at that  same time.
Parents are certainly welcome. I am excited to see what the groups have come up with and how they have chosen to present their information.  

We will begin a unit on Myths and Legends after this.  We will be reading one last novel beginning around April 11th.  Students will have a choice of numerous books to read, and will pick one.

Holy Week update

On this short Holy week we will follow a normal schedule.
5th and 6th grade are both completing projects that go along with the novels we have read.

Before we left for break, I returned to all the students their final literature test on the novel we read, and the grade sheet for 3rd quarter book report.  Hopefully these came home so you can look over them.

**Just remember - there will not be a formal written book report for 4th quarter, however we will do Book Talks, so each student will still need to read a book of their choice and be ready to report on it orally to the class.  Students can sign up for more than one book talk for extra credit.

5th Grade Language Arts:  Spelling follows normal schedule this week.  Pretest on Monday with pages assigned and graded with final test on Thursday.
Grammar skills Tuesday and Wednesday with homework on Thursday and quiz on Friday.

Literature:  We will write, edit and assemble our digital magazine this week based on The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.  We will share the link in next week's blog.
We will be going back into the Treasures book for a few stories after this.

5th grade social studies:  The debates were a wonderful activity.  The students learned so much and were able to express what they learned in the form of debate questions and answers.  Thank you to all those that were able to attend.  I will continue to post some pictures and short videos of the two classes' debates.
We will move on to chapter 12 and The Declaration of Independence.  These chapters will contain several activities but chapter tests as well.

6th grade Literature:  Just before break we watched an excellent movie that paralleled the book Number the Stars.  This week we will finish the group projects we have been working on as we research more in depth the Holocaust.  Groups have been assigned a topic and they are developing a presentation that includes a map, timeline, Animoto video, symbol research and a person associated with their topic.  We will be presenting to the 7th grade history classes the week after Easter.  I will let you know the exact dates and time and parents are welcome to come and view the presentations. I hope to show them the documentary "Paper Clips" as we finish this unit and discuss the lessons that we have learned from this time in history.

We will then move to a quick unit on Greek mythology before reading our final novel.

**Joining us the Tuesday after Easter is Miss Brittany Sell.  She is a senior at Concordia Wisconsin and will be student teaching with me during the 4th quarter.  We look forward to the new ideas and enthusiasm she will bring to our classes.
I hope spring break has blessed each of your families with rest and time together.  I look forward to jumping back into it when we return.

Mrs. Brown

End of Third Quarter

We have come to the end of the third quarter.  Absent work will be accepted until Tuesday.  All late work was due this past Friday.  This is a great time to sit down and evaluate study habits, effort and grades and set some goals.  The fourth quarter moves very quickly, so students will need to stay on top of their work.


Although this week begins the fourth quarter we will still be wrapping up units and events from third quarter.

5th grade language arts:  We will have spelling this week and it will count for fourth quarter.  Pretest and pages assigned on Monday and final test on Thursday.  On this blog under 5th grade you can check out the remaining weeks for spelling.  We will skip the week after Easter and Achievement test week.  We will not have spelling the short week in May of field trips or the last week.  We will work on other activities.
Grammar:  This follows the same schedule as spelling, so weeks with no spelling also will have no grammar.  We will complete a writing project 4th quarter.

Literature:  Overall, the classes loved reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.  It is an excellent book and we had wonderful discussions about it.  We made a chart this week comparing the book with references to the Bible.  The students picked out so many connections.

This week we will focus on creating a digital magazine/newspaper to go along with the book.  Each student will be writing an article for the publication.  We will share the link with you when complete.
We will watch the movie that goes along with the novel at the end of this week.  We will split it up over 2-3 days because of its length.  If you prefer your child not see the movie in class, please let me know and I will make other arrangements.  It is rated PG.

5th grade social studies:  This will be an exciting week in social studies.  We have been working hard preparing to hold our Loyalist vs. Patriot Debate.
5 Akerson will have their debate on Thursday, March 10 at 8:30am in the Atrium room off the lobby.
5 Brown will have their debate on Friday, March 11 at 8:30am in the Atrium room off the lobby.

Parents are invited and encouraged to come.  All students will have some part in the debate.
We will try to record the debate but it is often too long to send.

6th grade literature:  6Hieber final test for Number the Stars is Monday.  Make sure to bring your vocabulary folder to turn in as well.
We will watch the movie that parallels the book this week.  We will also be hard at work on our research projects.  We hope to be ready to present the week before Easter, but we may not make it until after Easter.  I will let you know by week's end.  We will also be watching the wonderful documentary "Paper Clips" and using that to wrap up our study on the Holocaust.

BOOK TALKS:  4th quarter will not have a formal book report to turn in, however... students will be required to read at least one book outside of class and do an oral report on the book.  There will be a sign up document and we will begin March 21st.  The directions and form are posted under both 5th and 6th grade literature.


Third quarter had wonderful lessons and books in it and I so enjoyed reading about and hearing the thoughts of the students as we worked through these topics.  They have grown in many ways and can do a wonderful job of expressing themselves.
Fourth Quarter I will insist on their best work, including correct spelling and grammar on all written assignments.  They can certainly use the chromebook to help them.  Both 5th and 6th grade will read one more novel (choice books in a lit set) and complete a large writing project.  Keep checking with them and checking Cornerstone to make sure they do not fall behind.