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.