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