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.