Twas the last week before Christmas

We find ourselves at the last week before Christmas and the end of second quarter.
We will again be finishing up several units this week and both literature classes will be celebrating the novels by watching the film version.

**All missing or late work must be turned in this week.  I will be reminding students with missing work to turn it in before quarter's end.  I will be inside all this week at lunch and recess for those needing to work on things.

5th Grade assignments for this week:
**Monday - Explorer report and Coat of Arms project is due.  I will print the report at school, but it must be complete and submitted.  All Coat of Arms projects are due in class.
Tuesday - Chapter 17 Social studies test - It will be open note and open book.  We will review for it on Monday  and any needed study materials will come home.


5th grade Language Arts:  Literature:  We have finished reading The Sign of the Beaver.  We have completed our last 2 assignments and they were turned in.  Look for a grade for the vocabulary folder and a timeline both this week.  I checked student's vocabulary folders as they finished them and circled things to be corrected.  Many students turned it in without making the corrections.

Spelling/Grammar:  We will not work on either of these this week. 

Writing:  We will take a day to assemble our Explorer reports.  We will have some time to share them in small groups.  We will probably wait to present the Coat of Arms until after break.

Social Studies:  We are going to take the chapter 17 test on Tuesday.  We have finished our Colonial billboard projects and will be voting on them this week.  The test again contains a huge amount of information, so students will be allowed to use their workbook of notes and book.  We will still review on Monday and go over any tough information.

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6th Grade Literature:  We are wrapping up the final assignments for literature.  Vocabulary folders and the final quiz are the last 2 assignments due.  We will be watching the movie version of Hatchet this week in class.  Any students with missing work will have that time to complete what is owed.
Students should check Educate!!

**Both 5th and 6th grade literature:  We will have a book report due third quarter.  Students in both grades will need to read a book that they have not read before.  It does not have to be a certain genre, but cannot be a graphic novel.  Books should be shown to the literature teacher for approval.  They may begin reading at any time.  Choices of book reports will be given out after break.

Have a very blessed Christmas
I pray your family can rejoice in the gift of Christ our Savior.

Mrs. Brown

Week of December 11-15

There is just a week and a half left in this quarter.  There is much work to be done these last weeks.
As always make sure your student stays on top of the work.

5th Grade assignments for the week:
Monday - Literature journals assigned on Friday are due on Google classroom
Monday - 2nd draft of explorer research writing is due - on Google classroom
Tuesday - Spelling assignment, on Google classroom, due Wednesday
Tuesday - we will begin a Timeline project for literature on the computer.  It will be due on Thursday
We  will be working on Literature vocabulary words this week.  Vocab folders will be due on Friday
Thursday - Spelling test


5th grade Language Arts: Literature:  We will read the end of our class novel this week.  It has been a great book to read.  We will be working on a timeline project in class.  We will be finishing vocabulary in class as well.  There will not be a final test on the book or vocabulary words. All the grades for this unit have come from the work done while we have read the book.  Vocabulary folders will need to be complete and turned in by Friday.  Next week we will watch the movie that goes with the book.

Spelling/Grammar: This is a spelling week.  We will review the words chosen last week, complete an assignment for them and take the test on Thursday.  Students should be going over their words at home a couple times over the 2 week period.  There were quite a few low spelling grades on the last test.
We will not work on a grammar skill this week.
Writing: We will work all week on the final edits and revisions for our Explorer writing.  We will go over topic sentences, edit for spelling and grammar, and discuss the final form.  Students will have time each day in class to work on the written portion of this project.  Then they will have the weekend to make any final changes and have it ready to print.
**I will be making the paper for the Coat of Arms portion of the project available tomorrow.  Students can use any medium they wish as long as it is 12x8 or larger.

Social studies: We are working in groups to create an advertising campaign for one of the colonies we are studying.  We will work on that Monday and Tuesday with presentations probably on Wednesday.  All work should be done at school.  We will then be done with chapter 7.  We will most likely take the test Tuesday of next week.  I will let you know the exact date.

***Don't forget the Explorer research project and Coat of Arms is due on Monday, December 18th.  Directions are posted on this blog under social studies and on Google classroom.

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6th Grade Literature:  We will finish reading our class novel Hatchet this week.  Monday and Tuesday students are presenting the Survival proposals in class.  They have chosen the groups and designed the survival presentation.
The final journal will be assigned Monday/Tuesday and due the following class.  Wednesday/Thursday after we complete the book, the final quiz will be assigned.  We will be working on vocabulary as we finish reading.  Vocabulary folders are due next week Tuesday/Wednesday.
There will not be a final test over the book or vocabulary words.  
It is very important that these final assignments are done correctly and turned in on time.  There will not be time to re-do them.
We will take the last 2 class times and watch the movie that was made to go along with the book.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.
Blessings on the week ahead,
Mrs. Brown

Week of December 4-8

Happy December!!
This is such a wonderful and busy time of the year as we enter the Advent season.
It is also the last weeks of the second quarter and a time to make sure all work is complete!
Encourage your student to check Educate once or twice each of the remainder weeks for any missing work.
I do not have lunch or recess duty these weeks, and I will be requesting anyone missing work, stays in with me to complete it.

We have much left to do in the weeks ahead!

5th grade was so blessed to have had the opportunity to go and see the movie version of Wonder.
 It was well done, and followed the book except for a few omissions.  The students did an wonderful job and represented our school well.  It is certainly worth seeing as a family over the holidays some time. 

5th grade assignments this week:

Monday - Literature journal from Friday is due.  On Google classroom.
Tuesday - we will make a Wanted Poster in literature on Google drawings.  Due on Wednesday.
Tuesday - we will choose new spelling words.  Individual lists due Wednesday on Google classroom.
Wednesday - Sign of the Beaver quiz questions.  Due Friday.
Explorer writing:  We will add some more research in class Monday and Tuesday.  Second draft completed with new information by Friday.
                              Directions for final project will be out Tuesday.  An email will come home.  Directions will be posted on the blog and Google Classroom.

Language Arts:  Literature:  We are plugging along with our novel Sign of the Beaver.  We read or complete an assignment everyday.  Remember the calendar is posted on Google classroom.  We have made some changes but it is correct on most parts.  Students have read chapters 11-13 for Monday.  They will be reading 14-16 for Wednesday.  We will read a portion in class, and they will have some reading time, but they may need to complete it at home.  On Tuesday we will complete a Google drawing assignment for the book.  This will be a fun way to discuss some events in the book.
We are working on vocabulary words in class. Each student is choosing the words they are unfamiliar with.  We will not have a final test, so all the vocab grades will come from their folder work. This may need to come home also if they fall behind.

Spelling/Grammar:  Grammar is on hold until we finish the second draft of our Explorer writing.  We will then go back and finish some work on nouns.  We will choose new spelling words on Tuesday.  After each student adds their own 6 words, their list will be on Google classroom. The test will be next week, Thursday Dec. 14.  That will be the end of spelling for the second quarter.

Writing:  This past week, each student spent some time looking at their first draft of the explorer writing.  We are now adding some new research to what we had.  We will use maps and timelines this week to find more information.  Then by Friday, each student needs to have the new information added to complete a second draft.  This time all second drafts should be on Google to make final edits easier.

The directions for this final project will come out this week.  The final project will be due before Christmas break.

Social Studies: We took the chapter 6 test on Thursday of last week.  Students will get those back this week.  We are moving on and will complete all of chapter 7 including the final test before break.  It is an expansion of chapter 6 looking into the expansion of the first American colonies.  As part of this chapter, students will be assigned a colony and with a group design an ad campaign to bring settlers to their colony. We will turn it into an advertising competition and allow 6th graders to vote on the best ad campaign. We will probably take the chapter test the week before break, but details will follow.

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6th Grade Literature:  We are currently on chapters 7-8 of our Hatchet novel.  Classes are working on a reaction journal due this week Tuesday or Wednesday.  We will complete a survival project this week in class.  Students will be allowed to pick a partner or a group and fulfill the requirements for survival.  Students will be voting on the best survival presentation. We will allow Stearns and Brown classes to mix together and form groups.

We are working on vocabulary words in class. Each student is choosing 15 words they are unfamiliar with.  We will not have a final test, so all the vocab grades will come from their folder work. This may need to come home to be completed.

**There are a few students that have not completed all the work from Book clubs.  This is on Educate.  A few did not complete the final individual book review.  That work should be turned in this week to receive a late grade.


Blessings on your week.  I pray students continue to be diligent in the work they have to do.
Mrs. Brown

Week of Nov. 27-Dec. 1

I hope and pray each of you had a blessed Thanksgiving with family and friends.  It is a wonderful break before we plow through the rest of second quarter.

Both 5th and 6th grade Literature classes have a calendar for our next class novel.  The calendar takes us to the end of the quarter.  Remember the assignments listed are what we will work on that day in class, not what is due.  Assignments done before they are discussed and assigned will not be accepted.

It is a great way to know what work is done if your student misses a class for any reason.

5th Grade assignments for this week:
Look at the Literature calendar for chapters assigned.
Sketch of the log cabin from Sign of the Beaver - Monday - due Wednesday
Comprehension questions for novel - Tuesday on Google classroom - due Wednesday
Reaction journal assigned Thursday - due Friday
Explorer first draft due Wednesday
Spelling assignment Tuesday - due Wednesday
Spelling word test on Thursday
Social studies study guide for chapter 6 - Tuesday - due Wednesday
Chapter 6 social studies test - Thursday

Language Arts: Literature:  We have begun our next class novel, The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare.  It is a historical fiction book that ties so well into our history lessons in social studies.  We will be discussing the elements of historical fiction, as well as setting and plot.
Again, the calendar is posted on the blog and on Google classroom.  The assignments listed are what we will be working on that day. 
All grades from this unit will come from the listed assignments.  There will not be a final test.  Vocabulary will be done individually and the grades will come from the folder.

Grammar, Spelling:  We will have a spelling assignment on Tuesday and final test over these words in Thursday.  Students need to make sure to look over the words during the two weeks before the test.
We will continue to work on nouns in grammar.  We will only do 1 skill a week for now since we are trying to finish our writing project.
Writing:  The first draft of the Explorer writing is due Wednesday.  From there we will be looking at a few more informational writing elements.  We will add to our first draft.  Next week I will publish the final project, what is due and when it is due.

Social Studies:  We have essentially finished with chapter 6.  We enjoyed watching Disney's version of Pocahontas on Tuesday.  The students were able to pick out the historical inaccuracies, having read true accounts of Jamestown and Pocahontas.  This week we will finish up the chapter, complete the study guide, review and take the chapter test.
Study guide will be due on Wednesday.  It must be at school and completed for points.  We will go over all the answers on Wednesday so late work will not be accepted.  Students will not be able to use notes for this test.  They will need to study the information on the study guide.

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6th Grade Literature:  We have begun our new class novel Hatchet.  Calendars for both A and B day classes are posted on Google classroom.  Both classes were assigned to read the first 2 chapters over the break.  It is important to keep up with all the assignments for this unit.  We will end the unit right at quarter end, and late work will not be accepted.  Vocabulary will be done individually and the grade will come from the work in the vocab folder.
We will be returning to the original teacher for this unit, except for a survival project in the middle of the book.  Those 6th graders that were in Ms. Stearn's room first quarter will be with her again, and my students will return to my room.  The book and assignments will be the same.

This book will allow us to teach about plot and 3 literary types of conflict, all contained in this book.
There is a movie entitled, "A Cry in the Wild" that we will watch at the end of the unit.

This week students will be writing questions, they will begin vocabulary work, there will be a quiz to go along with the chapters assigned.  Students will have chapters assigned each class that will need to be read outside of class.

Thanksgiving Week

It is so hard to believe we are at the week of Thanksgiving already.  We have finished all Book clubs and begin new class books this week.

If your family misses extra days over break, please make sure all work is up to date.  We are past the halfway mark in the quarter and time goes very quickly from here to end of quarter.

5th Grade assignments week of Nov. 20-21:
Read chapter one from Sign of the Beaver.  Create a list of 10 questions, predictions etc.. in Reader's notebook
Read up through chapter 4 in Sign of the Beaver for Monday 11/27
Grammar assignment on Chromebook on Monday - due Tuesday
Spelling words on chromebook - Tuesday
Explorer first draft due Monday 11/27

5th Grade Language Arts: Literature:  On Monday we begin reading our next class novel - Sign of the Beaver.  This is an excellent Historical fiction novel that goes hand in hand with our studies of this time period in history. 
**There is a calendar of chapters and assignments posted on this blog under Literature.  Each student also has a copy on Google classroom, literature.  There will be some note taking added to the calendar, but it contains the chapters and major assignments.

Grammar/Spelling:  In this short week we will spend one day on each of these subjects.  Monday will be a review of nouns and a Google Classroom assignment.  Tuesday we will choose new spelling words.  The test will be on Thursday, Nov. 30th.  We work with the words for two weeks.  The last few test scores have had some low grades.  Make sure to review the words with your child before the test.

Writing:  We are currently writing our FIRST draft of the Explorer research project.  We have many weeks to go.  We will be working with these drafts in several ways, completing more research and then discussing the final form.  At this point, most of the work is being done at school.  The draft needs to be completed by Monday, Nov 27, in order to go on to the next step.

5th Grade Social studies
This past week we studied 3 early American settlements, including Jamestown and Plymouth.  This week we will continue to investigate these settlements.  We have been reading from Jean Fritz's The Double Life of Pocahontas.  On Tuesday afternoon we will watch Disney's version of this story in order to make comparisons to the historical account.
The study guide and test will be the week after we return after Thanksgiving. 

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6th Grade Literature:
Book clubs are finished.  The groups did a wonderful job reading the novels and have now developed a collage project and song representing their book to present to the rest of the class. Each student also has an individual book review due on Google classroom either Monday or Tuesday. Just be word of mouth, many students have borrowed  book club books to read other than the one assigned.  All the books will be available for check-out to read along with many of the sequels.
Grades for this unit are totaled and on Educate.  If your child has any missing work from this unit it should be made up immediately for a late grade, before moving on.

Monday/Tuesday we are moving on to our next class book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.  This book will allow us to investigate Plot more in depth and look at the 3 main types of literary conflict.  There will be a calendar posted for Aday and Bday on my blog.  Each student will have a calendar on google classroom.  It does not contain every assignment, but the chapters due and most major assignments are posted on the calendar which takes us until Christmas.  Please remember - the assignments listed are what we are doing in class that day.  DO NOT have your child do them ahead of time. There will never be an assignment due that we have not gone over in class.

There will not be a final book test or vocab test for this unit.  The grades will come from the work we do as we read the book.  Students will need to stay up to date with the assignments.

Blessings on your weekend and the short week ahead.  I pray each of you have a wonderful, family filled Thanksgiving.
Mrs. Brown

Week of November 13-17

This week will be a final wrap up for our Book clubs.  We will complete all the tests, turn in the vocabulary folders and complete a final project.  Be sure to look below as to what still needs to be completed and what should be done for this unit.

5th Grade social studies and writing will be overlapping.  We will be working on our Explorer research project during writing and genius hour time.

5th Grade assignments for this week:
Book Trailers - group project
Spelling assignment: Tuesday, due Wednesday
Spelling word test: Thursday
Social studies research notes:  Thursday - enough notes for writing a flash draft.
Grammar:  Proper noun sheet:  Wednesday, due Thursday
Social studies workbook pages: Due Friday

5th Grade Language Arts:   Literature:  We have finished reading our book club books.  We took the tests on Friday.  Monday, I will be making sure all the tests are complete, and touching base with students that need to look back over their tests. 
Test grades will be on Educate by the end of the week.
Vocabulary folders need to be turned in for a grade.
This week, students will be working on creating a book trailer for the book they read. We will also take some literary notes to prepare for our next book.
Spelling/Grammar:  Spelling words are posted on this blog.  You child's complete list is on Google classroom.  There will be an assignment Tuesday and the final test on Thursday.  We will do some work with Proper nouns this week.
Writing: Each student has been assigned an explorer to study. For the next 3 days we will be gathering information about the assigned Explorer. We will then write a flash draft with the information that we have.  We will then go back and evaluate other information needed. We will be working with writing non-fiction with a historical voice.

Social Studies:    We will be checking on the explorer essay, but we will move on in class to the next chapter.  Friday we started the Settlement Survival game.  Students are grouped and playing a simulation game based on 3 early American settlements.  We will then study each settlement in depth.  They will work on 3 workbook pages this week in class.
Last week's social studies test will be returned and grades posted.

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6th Grade Literature:

We will spend one more week working in Book clubs.  The B day class will take both the book test, and their vocabulary test on Monday.
We will take some literary notes on Plot vs. Theme to use in our final project.  There will be a group project with two parts to it, that will be worked on in class. 
**Each student will have an individual Book Critique to be filled out on Google Classroom.  Those are due on Thursday (A day), and Friday (B day) this week.  
Vocabulary folders should be turned in for a grade.
Educate will be updated this week, as we finish up the unit.

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Both 5th and 6th grade Literature classes will be preparing for the next class book.  All students should have an independent reading book for this week.  6th grade will begin reading Hatchet, and 5th grade will begin The Sign of the Beaver the week of Thanksgiving.

Blessings on your week,
Mrs. Brown

Week of November 6-10

Last week was a very full week of work.  This week will be also as we complete our Book club books!

5th Grade Assignments this week
Social Studies chapter 5 test is Monday.  Students can use their note page from the workbook on the test.  A study guide with 4 other terms/questions came home Friday.  They should review this page.
Literature:  250 word Journal on Monday - due Tuesday, Google classroom
We will choose the last 2 vocabulary words in book clubs Tuesday.  Folders should come home to study.
Book club vocabulary word test- Friday
Book club book test - Friday
Spelling words assigned Tuesday - due Wednesday on Google classroom
Mentor Sentence assignments - due Thursday, Writer's notebook


Language Arts:  Literature:  We are at the end of Book clubs!  This week each group will finish reading their book.  On Monday we will write a journal in class.  It is due Tuesday.  We will use those journals to do a graded class discussion.  Groups will choose their final vocabulary words, and the folders should come home to study the words.  I recommend making the words into flashcards or Quizlet.
After Friday's tests, we will take a couple days to work on a group project.  Each group will make a book trailer for the book they read.
We will then get ready to begin our next class book.

Spelling/Grammar:  We are choosing new spelling words on Tuesday.  Again, your child's complete word list will be on Google classroom under English.  The word list is due on Wednesday, so that I can check it. The test will be next Thursday, Nov. 16.
We spent a lot of time on grammar last week.  We took a test over sentences on Friday.  We worked through the test together.  We also worked through a Mentor sentence.  This week we will have another mentor sentence.  The work will be done in the Writer's notebook and due on Thursday.

Writing:  We had an awesome Author's celebration on Friday.  Thank you to those of you that sent in a treat.  We had food, and moved around reading as many stories as possible.  Comments about the stories were put on a sheet for each student. This week we will begin talking about how to write a research report.

Social Studies: We have finished hearing about the 8 explorers and taking notes on each of them.  The test is Monday.  Students will be able to use their note taking page about the explorers in their workbook.  They will not be able to use their book and study guide.  There were a few questions on the study guide that are most likely not in their notes, so they should look over those.  They may choose to take their workbook page, and re-write the information there, in a different form that is easier for them to use.  That is up to them. 

Each student will be assigned to one of the explorers to research.  This is an independent project.  The directions will be posted on this blog under Social studies and on Google classroom.  We will work on this project in Genius hour, writing and some social studies time.

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6th Grade Literature:  We are also ending book clubs this week!
Monday/Tuesday of this week groups will be choosing their last vocabulary words.  Then each student should bring his/her folder home and begin studying the words for the test.  I recommend that they make flashcards or use Quizlet to study.
Also on this day, students will be assigned to write the last reflection journal for the book.  It is due the next class period and will receive a late grade if it is not turned in on time.  The assignment will be on Google classroom.
All chapters should be read by the end of the week.  A-day classes will take the test on Friday,11/10 and B-day classes will take the test Monday, 11/13.
There will be a final group project completed in class, and each student will have a Book critique assignment on Google classroom to complete on their own.  Those will be next week.
We will be studying Theme/Plot and figurative language through this project.

We will begin our next class book sometime next week.

Week of Oct. 30-Nov. 3

We are moving into second quarter.  We are in the midst of exciting units of study!
Book clubs are in full swing.
Thank you to those who were able to make it to Parent/Teacher conferences.  It is always good to touch base about how things are going as we partner together!  If you were unable to make it, and still would like to talk, just let me know and we can set up a time.

5th Grade Assignments for this week
Personal Narrative - due Tuesday - must be proofed by a parent
Literature Quiz Monday - due Tuesday - on Google classroom
Spelling homework on Tuesday - due Wednesday
Grammar homework on Monday - due Tuesday
Reading chapters due Monday, Wednesday, Friday - see individual book club calendar on Google classroom
Social Studies chapter test on Thursday

5th Grade Language Arts:  Literature: Book Clubs meet every day.  There is a calendar on Google classroom under the book your child is reading with the specific chapters and assignments recorded.  The calendar is set up so that it lists what assignment we are working on that day.  A due date is posted.

If you have not responded to Google classroom invites, I can send those  out.  It allows you to get notifications of assignments due on Classroom.

We are moving quickly through the Book club books.  It is important that each student reads the assigned chapters and completes the assignments on time, in order to stay in the group.  This week there will be a quiz on Monday, that is due Tuesday.

Spelling/Grammar:  We chose new spelling words last week.  The class words are posted on the blog.  Your child's complete list is on Google classroom under English, Second quarter spelling lists.  The test will be next Thursday, Nov. 2.  There will be a spelling assignment on Tuesday that is due Wednesday.
We continue to work on grammar skills that affect our writing.  We will review sentences this week and then do a lesson about proper nouns, since that is affecting writing across subjects.  We will be doing Mentor sentences this week as well.

Writing:  YEAH!!  We have reached the end of our first unit.  All 5th graders have brought home their personal narrative to be read over the weekend.  Please go over it with your child, we have spent many hours on this story.  Give them any final advice or help them make any last corrections before turning it in on Tuesday.  We will have an Author's celebration on Friday!!

Social Studies:  We completed chapter 4 which is an introduction to chapter 5 on Explorers. I will hand back the quiz on Monday.  Students will be able to make corrections even though it was only 11 points.  Parents will need to sign the corrected test. 
Students have worked in partners this week to investigate one of the 8 explorers we study.  They will present their findings on Monday and Tuesday and we will take notes in our workbooks from those presentations.
We are scheduled to take the test on this chapter on Thursday of this week.  I will let you know if that needs to be adjusted.  They will be using their note taking page again for this test, because it is too much information to remember.
Students will be choosing an explorer from a class list this week to begin researching.  This unit will cross over writers workshop, genius hour and social studies.  We will begin learning some of the writing skills as they gather information.  Most of this work will be done at school.  i will send out a timeline and directions when we get going.

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6th Grade Literature:  Weekly assignments
Chapters due each class period - individual book club calendars with chapter listed on Google classroom.
Vocabulary words - done in class - if absent student must get the words from the group
Book quiz - Thursday or Friday

Students are enjoying the Book clubs.  They meet every class time to discuss the book and often read together.  All students should have some reading that is being done at home or outside of class.  We have been working on vocabulary.  The group picks the words together and agrees on the definition to match its usage in the book.
Students must stay current with the chapters assigned and assignments, so look for missing work on Educate.  Students not keeping up may be removed from the group.
We finish these book November 10-11.

Enjoy your long weekend.
Blessings,

Mrs. Brown

Conference Week

I look forward to meeting with many of you this week for Parent/teacher conferences.  I love to have the students come along.  After all, it is their work we are discussing.  The sign up link has been sent out, or you can come by and pop in during open times.

We continue to roll into second quarter.  All grades from last week and this week will be posted for 2nd quarter.

5th Grade Language Arts: Literature:  Book clubs have begun!  This gives students an opportunity to read a book independently, while still having others to discuss it with and work together on literary elements. It also challenges them to read out loud, which is a different skill than silent reading. I love to sit in on the book clubs both as they read out loud to each other and as they discuss the books.
Each book club has a daily calendar posted on Google Classroom. It has the assignments and chapters assigned for each day of the book club, so students know exactly what to read and what homework is due.  Check it out!

Many students have chosen to check out the remaining book club books to read on their own.  They are all great choices and I have recommended that they read several of them.

Spelling/Grammar: We will be choosing new spelling words on Tuesday.  they will go on a new document for Second quarter spelling that is on Google classroom.  We will work with these words for 2 weeks.  The final test will be on Thursday, Nov. 2.
We continue working on grammar skills, focusing on skills I have noticed are weak in their writing.
There will be grammar homework on Google classroom Wednesday and Thursday this week.

Writing:We have been editing our personal narratives.  They will receive a paper copy of their narrative edited by 3 people back on Monday.  Students will have until Thursday to make corrections on the chrome book and turn in a final copy. They will have class time to work, but may need to work at home as well.  I recommend they have a parent read their final draft for any last mistakes!!
This was a challenging unit, but I am proud of how the students have incorporated so much of what we learned into their writing. For many of them, this was their first experience with a true Writer's workshop format.

Social Studies:  Thursday and Friday were the Sunken Ship Exploration activity.  The students did an awesome job. They found 8 artifacts within the ship, sketched each one and then read to discover what the artifact was and why was it important.  On Monday I will give them the 11 question quiz that goes with the information from the ship. They will be able to use their notes to answer it.
We move on to Chapter 5 about the individual explorers.  This chapter is full of dates, countries and other information for each explorer.  We will break into groups to read about the explorers and then present the information to each other, taking notes together in our workbook.  This chapter test will also be open note (not book) so students need to follow as we take notes in class.
Towards the end of the chapter, each student will be choosing an explorer to research.  I will send out that information soon.

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6th Grade Literature:  Book clubs are here!!  After a wonderful book tasting on Monday/Tuesday, the 6th graders have been divided by A day and B day into 6 book clubs.  This is a mixture of students from Ms. Stearns' room and Mrs. Brown's room.  The assignments will be the same for all the groups.
Each book club has a daily calendar posted on Google classroom. It has all the assignments and chapter assignments for the entire unit posted for each day.  It is a great thing to look at if you are not sure what is due or what chapters should be read or if you are absent.
Groups will be reading some in class, but chapters are assigned each class time and due the next.  This will require outside reading for most students.  You should see the book club book around.  Most other literature work will be done in class.
We are excited about all 6 books.  We have encouraged students to check out the other 5 at some point this year.  We will make those available.

Check out the Book tasting pics on Twitter!

It is a pleasure working with your children.  Blessings on your week ahead.
Mrs. Brown

Second Quarter Begins

Last week was a great ending to the quarter.  We finished reading Wonder  and have only the very end of Charlotte Doyle left to read.
Both were great class read alouds, that gave us a chance to learn numerous literary elements, practice journaling, discussion and vocabulary.

Both 5th and 6th grade are now beginning Book Clubs where students will be assigned to a book, along with a group and will read the book as well as complete the same activities from quarter one.

5th Grade Language Arts:  Literature - We have finished reading Wonder.  We took both the vocabulary test and the book test last week.  Because of the nature of these tests, there will not be an opportunity to correct them for points.
Vocabulary folders which were done in class will be graded and added to first quarter grades.

This week the students will divide into groups and create a book trailer for Wonder.   This will be an activity just for fun and learning the steps of creating a book trailer (something they do for a grade later in middle school).

Book clubs begin tomorrow. Each book will have a calendar of chapters and due dates.  The assignments will be posted in Google classroom under the title of the book. We will read these books in 2-3 weeks.  Some of the chapters will be read at school, but much of it will be assigned to read at home.  You may certainly read with your child on those assignments.

Writing/grammar/spelling:  We chose spelling words last Tuesday.  They are on Google classroom.  The test over these words will be Thursday, October 19th.  There will be spelling homework on Tuesday of this week.  
We will also continue working on grammar skills focusing this week on subjects, predicates, run-on and fragment sentences.  This will help us greatly as we begin the final editing of our personal narratives.
I will be printing the drafts of the personal narratives this week, so that we can edit spelling, grammar and any other still needed revisions.
The final copy will be completed next week.  These will be posted on Seesaw!  We will also have an author's celebration, and may join the 6th graders and share stories.

Social Studies:  We have one presentation of Native American tribes left in each class.  We will finish that Monday and move on to the next chapter.  Final grades for the Native American test and presentations/artifacts will be added to Educate this week.  We will begin to study early exploration of the Americas. On Thursday of this week we will have a Sunken Ship treasure hunt activity.  
The second part of this chapter will include a research project on a famous American explorer.  We will work on this as part of social studies, writing, and genius hour.  All the details will come out for this project as we get closer.

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6th Grade Literature:  It was a blast reading True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle during first quarter.  We learned many literary elements, including foreshadowing.  Discussions, predictions and students analyzations of the story were wonderful.  Final tests on the book and vocabulary will be returned this week.  Because of the nature of these tests, there will not be a chance for corrections.  Vocabulary folders will still be added to the quarter grade.
But...we are moving on.  Monday and Tuesday of this week, Ms. Stearns and I will be introducing the 6 books available to read for Book clubs.  We have a great Book tasting event planned for the students.
We will be combining our two classes and dividing them among the 6 reads.  The work in this unit will be similar to the first, vocabulary, reflection journals, quizzes, and we will add graded discussions.  Each group will also complete a final project.
We will read the books in 2-3 weeks time, so chapters will be assigned to read at home.  It is imperative that students stay up with the reading in order to complete the work in class.  You may certainly read along with your student if you wish.


Blessings on your week as we begin a new quarter,
Mrs. Brown

End of First Quarter

Yes this week is the end of first quarter already.  A lot of growth and learning has taken place this quarter.
Thank you to those of you that have encouraged your student to keep up on Educate and check on assignments they have questions about.
This will be the last week this quarter to make corrections or adjust any possible assignments.

A great time to talk about this is at recess.  I am inside this week as well, and have time to work with students that want help.  Some students ask during class, while we are working on other things and that doesn't work out.

Not all assignments can be corrected, but have your student ask if they are unsure.  All corrected or missing work must be in by Friday - no exceptions!
Late and corrected work doesn't get graded immediately.  I usually grade the current class assignments first, before returning to other work.  If they turn something in this week it will be adjusted on the final quarter grade.

5th Grade Language Arts:  Literature:  We are on the last section of our class read aloud Wonder.
We will finish it this week.  There will be a final test over the book on Thursday. We completed the vocabulary words together in class.  Each student should have a folder with all 14 words, definitions and examples.  This folder should have come home on Friday.  They will have all week to look over the words.  I suggest they make or use some study aids to remember them.  The final test on the words is Thursday.  They will also turn their folder of words in on Thursday for points. These should be easy points if they kept up with the words and completed their examples.  Students that were absent or missed words, were to ask me for a copy of them.
Many of the students have asked about going to see the movie when it is released in November.  That is something we are working on and we will let you know as it develops.

We will move into Book clubs after Wonder.  Listed below are the 5 book choices for this read.  I will be going over each of them this week with the students before making choices.  Groups are based on interest and ability.
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Patterson
Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson

Common sense media is a great website to use to check out books your child wants to read.  It gives a good summary and rating of the book.

English:  Spelling - we will be choosing new spelling words on Tuesday. Your child's complete list will be on Google classroom on Thursday.  We will use spelling city on Thursday as well. The test will be the following week Thursday, October 19.
Grammar - since we are approaching the editing part of Writers workshop, we will be doing some grammar skills the next several weeks.  We will start Monday in class, and there will be an assignment on Google classroom due Tuesday.
Writing - Our new writing curriculum is awesome but intense.  We work everyday on some aspect of our story.  This week we will be working on the endings and then begin the editing process.  I am proud of the way the students keep absorbing the new skills and incorporating them into their story.
I will be printing all the drafts this week to help with editing.
I will post the date for the final writing to be completed when we get a little closer.

Social Studies:  What an awesome week in social studies!! Thank you to those of you that could stop by the dig on Tuesday or come along with us on Thursday.  If you were unable, look for some great pictures on Twitter.  We are in the final steps of this unit.
1.  First groups were assigned and each student completed research on their tribe.
2.  Then the artifacts were created representing the tribe.
3. On dig day groups buried their tribes artifacts, but then dug up artifacts from another group.
4. Wed and Friday we spent time sketching and identifying the artifacts recovered.  Groups made an educated guess which tribe they thought they had recovered.
5.  Groups are now creating a presentation to show the class about their tribe.  They will reveal to us the tribe they researched and the artifacts they created.  Reveal days will be Thursday and Friday.

The test for this unit both chapters 2 and 3 will be on Wednesday.  Students will receive a study guide Monday for homework.  It must be done and at school on Tuesday to receive points.
We will go over all the information in class on Tuesday so they can study some more.

The field trip was great.  The weather held for us.  It was interesting to see and learn about the Native Americans that lived so close to us.  The students did a great job listening, following directions and climbing to the top of Monk's Mound.

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6th Grade LIterature:  This is the final week for Charlotte Doyle.  Groups have either finished their vocab or will finish on Monday.  The folders should come home for the students to study the words.  They will need to know all 14 words, the definitions and be able to use them in a sentence. The vocabulary test will be Thursday for A day, and Friday for B day classes.  Students should use some study guide aids to go over the words.  They will also turn in their vocabulary folders on test day.  The folders themselves will be graded.  We completed the words together in class, and students added an example sentence for each word.  This should be easy points if they worked in class.  If they were absent or missed words, students will need to ask for a copy of the words.

There will also be a final test over the book on Thursday.  Since the book was a read aloud, there will not be much prep for the test, however we will look back over quizzes before hand

Ms. Stearns and I are so excited to begin book clubs.  We have the books ready and will be introducing them to the students beginning of the following week.  More about that on next week's blog.

Any missing or corrected work for 6th grade must be in this week.  Have your student check Educate!

Looking forward to a great end to the first quarter.
Have a blessed week,
Mrs. Brown

Week Of October 2-6

Only two weeks left in the first quarter!!  That is so hard to believe.  I have spent some time going over with students assignments that are still missing or incomplete.  They should continue to check Educate and discuss with teachers grades that are a concern.  Do not wait until the last day of the quarter to ask!!

As the quarter comes to an end, we are wrapping up many of our units as well.  Some will include a final evaluation, vocabulary work or final writing piece.  I will send notices as we approach these finals.

5th grade Language Arts: Literature:  We plan to finish reading Wonder by the week's end or early the following week.  We have so enjoyed this wonderful book and have had amazing discussions about the topics that it brings up.  We will be finishing vocabulary this week as well.  Vocabulary words have all been done in class and are in a vocab folder.  The folder itself will receive a grade, and there will be a test over the words as well.  I will notify you of the exact date of the vocab test as we get closer.  There will be a final test over the book as well.  Students should not have to study for the book test.  I will notify you of that test date.

We will then be moving on into book clubs.  There will be 4-5 choices of books that students can read.  I will publish a list of those, so that you can review them.  Students will be placed in a book based on interest and reading level.

English/Writing:  Spelling words were chosen last week Tuesday.  Your child's words are on Google classroom. They have 20 words.  We have used Spelling City to practice.  They will have Spelling homework Tuesday of this week, due on Wednesday.  The test over these words is Thursday, October 5th.
I am so proud of the 5th graders in writing.  They have worked so diligently in writing their personal narratives.  This past week I had them take the story and begin a new draft from the start, trying to tell the same story in a different way.  We will use this week to revise those drafts.  The following week will be editing and the we will publish our first story!!
The stories will be on Seesaw and we will let you know when that happens.
As we get to the editing stage, we will take some time and go over some grammar skills.  There will be grammar homework, posted on Google classroom.

Social Studies:  We have a big week ahead in social studies.  Groups have spent two days researching their Native American tribe.  Now they are working on creating artifacts to represent their research.  Each group will need a shoe box to hold their artifacts. Artifacts must be completed and in the shoe box by Tuesday morning.
Akerson's class will go outside for the dig at 8:25 am Tuesday. It will end around 9:25.  We will be at the sand pits on the far end of the playground.
Brown's class will head out about 10:45.  We will be finished at 11:45.
    Wednesday, we will sort and evaluate the artifacts dug up by each group.  We will hypothesize what tribe the artifacts came from.
Thursday is our field trip to Cahokia Mounds.  We are so excited to get to visit this historic site in our own backyard.  We will leave CCLS at 10:45 and return at 2:45.  All students need a sack lunch (throw away)!  If you plan to attend, and have not told us, please let us know by Tuesday.  Parents will need to transport themselves, but cannot transport students - even their own.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

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6th Grade Literature:  This week we will wrap up our reading of True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.  Students are working in groups to create character presentations that focus on the 5 types of characterization.  This author uses all 5 types.  Presentations will be this week and worth 40 points.
This week will also be Quiz #2 for the book.  It will be on Google Classroom.
At the end of the week we will complete vocabulary for the book.  Vocabulary has been done together in class.  It is kept in a vocabulary folder.  Folders will be graded as well as a final test over the words.
We are setting the final vocabulary and book test for True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle for Thursday/Friday October 12/13 (depending A/B day).

We will move on from Charlotte Doyle into Book Clubs.  There will be 5 book choices for 6th graders to read.  All have the same genre and similar theme.  We will post the books next week so that you can look at them.  Students will be placed by interest and reading level.

6th graders need to make sure they have checked Educate.  There is still some outstanding work at this time and only 2 weeks left in the quarter.  I will accept the work even if it is late.

I am looking forward to a great week ahead.
Blessings on your weekend - hopefully you can find time to fellowship at the Carnival or CCLS Sunday.
Mrs. Brown

Week of September 25-29

We completed a very busy week last week.  We turned in several significant assignments.
Students are working hard and checking their progress.

If your student has resubmitted work after making corrections, I will be posting those updated grades this week.  I do not allow for corrections on all assignments, so your child should speak to me if they need to resubmit an assignment.
For the most part if I feel they have completed the material correctly, I will allow them to try again.

5th Grade Language Arts:  Literature:We are engrossed by the book Wonder at this point.  We cheered on Friday when Auggie forgave Jack and they became friends again.  We are using this book as a catalyst for discussing our own treatment of people that are different than us or our classmates.  The 5th grade will have a vital role in our school wide Kindness Challenge that is beginning.

We completed Word Puzzles for the characters on Friday.  I will be printing those.  This week we will work on vocabulary words in class, and begin looking at the Precepts that go with the story.  By the end of the week we will take the second quiz for the book(on Google classroom).

English/Writing:  We continue to work on our personal narratives.  We will do some re-writing this week and focus on the theme of the story.  We will then begin to edit our stories looking at the grammatical parts of them.  We will be doing some grammar skills in class and some work will be assigned on Google classroom.

We will be choosing new spelling words on Tuesday.  The class words will be on the blog, the complete list for your child will be on google classroom.

Social Studies:  Hopefully you received the parent note outlining some upcoming events in social studies for 5th grade.  In class, we are finishing up the notes for the unit.  We have created a chart that will be our notes for the final test.  This week, students will be choosing a tribe to study in depth and prepare for the Great Native American Dig.  The necessary information for this project will be posted on Google classroom under social studies.
        I will be collecting and grading the workbooks again this week.  Look for those grades on Educate.

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6th Grade Literature:  We are more than halfway done with The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.  We worked on notes about the setting of the story this week.  Students are sketching the Seahawk as an assignment.  They may use the book or PDF of the book on line for help.  Journals will be graded and posted as well.  We have done more vocabulary in class.  This week we will go back and look at characters again, taking further notes on that literary element. Students will be put into groups and assigned a presentation on one of the characters.  We will be using our notes for the specific information that must be in the presentation.

We will be wrapping this book up within a couple of weeks.  Look for information about the final test and vocabulary.

Looking forward to a busy but wonderful week ahead,
Mrs. Brown

Week Of September 18-22

A look at the week past and into the week ahead....

As grades are posted this week, encourage your child to check his/her  grades and discuss with teachers missing work or low scores.  I am happy to talk to students about their grades at a break time.

If your student is having missing or late work, encourage them to write everything in their planner and bring that home each night and check off work as they complete it.  Make sure as you work with your student, it is their responsibility to complete the work and return it to school.

5th Grade Literacy:  Literature:  Students were assigned a reflection journal on Thursday.  It is due Monday.  They had time in class to work on it, but many took it home to complete.  It is on Google Classroom under literature.  We will go over the quiz from last week and journals on Monday.  We have been working together on much of this, allowing students to add to their answers as we discuss in order to complete the assignments correctly.  We went over the quiz answers in class before they turned it in, so they could determine if they were correct or needed to add more details to their answers.
We are beginning the Jack chapters this week in Wonder.  We are working on vocabulary together in class.  Hopefully on Friday we will be ready to complete a character Word Puzzle on the chrome book.
Students will receive an Independent reading assignment on Tuesday of this week.  It will be due on Thursday.

Writing/Spelling/Grammar:  We have chosen our new spelling words.  Class words are posted on this blog under English.  Your child's complete list is on Google classroom under English.  We worked on Spelling City this week Thursday with the words.  If your student received a score of less than 10 on the Spelling list, that means they need to correct words.  They are marked on the document.  The test will be this week on Thursday.  We will have a spelling assignment on Tuesday of this week.
In writing we are ready to write the draft of our final personal narrative.  We will be working on that Monday and Tuesday of this week.  As we go through the editing of these stories we will be picking up grammar skills.  Look for grammar homework next week.

5th grade social studies:  We have completed chapter 2 which is really an introduction to chapter 3 on Native Americans.  We did 3 workbook pages together that will be graded.  Students were assigned the vocabulary words in their workbook as well.  That will be collected and graded this week.  There will be no chapter 2 test/quiz.  This week we will be working in Expert groups to go over the regions of the US that the Native Americans lived in.  Students will work in small groups to become experts on one region.  Then they will report the information to a larger group.  While we complete this, students will be creating their Origin stories on canvas.  Those will hang in the hallways.  There should be little or no homework this week in social studies.

6th Grade Literature:  I realize that this goes out to all 6th grade students and families.  Ms. Stearns and I team teach literature, which means we are completing the same assignments at approximately the same time.  However the information in this blog may be slightly different if your student has Ms. Stearns for literature.  I am sending it to all 6th grade, since the information is essentially the same.
Students had an independent reading assignment over the weekend that is due on Monday. (Brown teacher).  This will be in their Readers notebook.
We will be taking a look the first part of this week at last week's assignments.  The character theories were full of flaws and not everyone followed directions.  We will also look over last week's quiz.  I will allow students to make corrections on these assignments, since they are the first we have done.
Students will be assigned the first reflection journal on Google classroom Mon/Tues of this week.  It is due the next class period. 
At the end of the week, students will be assigned a sketch of the Seahawk.  We will be going over notes about setting, and then sketching the setting of this book.  The drawings will need to include a list of things that will be posted on Google classroom.  The assignment is worth 25 points and students will have several days to complete it.
We are very much enjoying this book.  My class has requested a day just to read from Charlotte Doyle.  Again, the book is rich in literary elements, actually combines several genres, and leads to wonderful discussion about the author's craft and the characters themselves.

Blessing on your week,
Mrs. Brown

Week of Sept. 11-14

We have two short but productive weeks.  At about halfway through the first quarter, students should be in the swing of things and on track.  Please let me know if you have concerns about that.

Remember to check Educate on a regular basis to keep informed of grades and late, missing or incomplete assignments.  If students are absent, they will need to check about any work that was missed.

Thank you to all of those that were able to attend School Night in Miniature last Tuesday.  We had a wonderful turn out.  The information I went over is posted on this blog under the appropriate class heading.  I am also happy to send home a paper copy handout if you want one.


5th Grade Literacy:  Literature - We are approaching the halfway mark in the book Wonder.   We spent time last week analyzing 4 of the characters.  That was an assignment on Google classroom, that we worked on in class and then finished as homework if needed.  Those grades will be posted on Educate and you can see the grade on classroom.  **On Tuesday of this week students will be assigned a quiz for the book.  It will be on Google classroom.  We will work on it during class, but they are able to complete it at home.  They can use the book to help them out.  The quiz is due on Wednesday.  
We will work on vocabulary words together in class on Wednesday.  Students should be able to complete these in class time.  On Thursday they will be assigned a second reflection journal.  It will be assigned on Google classroom and due on Monday.  Directions will be on the document on classroom.
        Lastly, I conferenced with students during independent reading on Friday to see where they are in the book they have chosen.  They have a weekend assignment to read 25 minutes, record it in their reading log and write a 1/2 page reflection in their readers notebook. This is due Mon. 9/11.

English/Writing:  We took our first spelling test on Thursday.  I am grading both the spelling homework and tests this weekend.  Those will be posted on Educate.  I will be working with students this week that struggled greatly, mostly because of choosing inappropriate words for their level.  This will be a bit of a learning curve for most.  We will choose new words on Tuesday of this week.  Class words will be posted on the blog.  Each child's complete list will be on Google classroom.  They will need to have 20 words chosen by Wednesday.  The final test is next week Thursday, September 21.  Between now and then, we will work on 2 spelling websites and have at least one homework assignment.
       We are coming to the end of the instruction portion of writers workshop for personal narratives.  This week I will meet with each student and look at what they have been writing and set some goals.  They will be working to find a seed idea that they can develop into a published narrative.  We will write our Flash Draft on Thursday.  This is a 20 minute write of the first draft of this narrative.  They will have a choice between paper or chrome book.  The next weeks then will focus on revision, grammar skills and then final edits for this piece.  There will not be homework this week in the writers notebook.

Social Studies:  We have finished our 3D Physical maps.  This week each student will take their group's map and explain it.  These will be posted on Seesaw.  It was a great learning experience.
             The second quiz for that chapter is posted on Educate and returned to students.  They are able to make test corrections and turn back in.  Remember, parents must sign the test, and students must notate where they found the correct information in order to receive points.
We have moved on to the next unit on Native Americans.  We are taking notes on the introductory information for this unit.  This is being done in the workbook.  This unit includes a project where each student will create and record an origin story.  We will spend a few weeks on studying specific tribes, creating artifacts and then we will be ready for The Great Native American Dig activity.  I will post the date and times for this as we get closer.  And the culminating activity is our field trip on October 5th to Cahokia Mounds.  Information will come out for that as well.  All work this week will be done in the workbook.  We will begin it in class, but if not completed, it should come home as homework.

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6th Grade Literature:  I have met with each student this week about the book they are reading independently.  We have read each day during class.  I have encouraged them to read these same books outside of class as well.  I am not requiring them to record every time they read, but it will be assigned as homework from time to time.   In class we are on chapter 6-7 of True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.
Last week students worked on developing a theory about 3 characters and showing proof with examples from the book.  That assignment should be complete and turned in, however I will accept them Mon/Tues this week.  We also  began a quiz over the chapters we have read so far.  We will finish those on Mon/Tues and they will be due the next class.  
Both of these assignments are on Google classroom.
We will look at setting of the story this week and take notes in class.  Students will be assigned a sketch of the Seahawk.  Directions will be on Google classroom and the sketch will be on paper.  It will be assigned either Mon/Tues or Wed./Thurs depending on how far we get in class.  It is due the next class period.
      We will also begin working on vocabulary words this week.  This will be done together in class.

Thanks for sharing your children with me.  I love reading and discussing with them about what we read.  We will continue to expand on these thoughts and ideas as we read deeper in our books.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns this week.  Thanks!
Blessings on the week ahead,
Mrs. Brown

Week of September 5-8

We had a great week last week and have hit the ground running.  We will work hard over this week and next, to make sure all students are organized, using their notebooks and Google classroom correctly and completing assignments.
It is a bit of a learning curve this year, especially in Language Arts with the new curriculum and addition of Reader's and Writer's Notebooks.
We will be specifying on our planners if the assignment is in the Notebook (N) or Classroom (C).  Hopefully that will help with some confusion.

**I hope to see as many parents as possible Tuesday evening for Taste of Middle School. I am anxious to go over the new curriculum with you and explain some of the wonderful things about Middle school.  If you are unable to attend, please let me know and I will send home a copy of the materials that we go over that evening.

This week's assignments:

5th Grade Language Arts:  English - Writing/Spelling:  We did begin Spelling last week.  Together as a class we chose 14 words.  Each student then added 6 of their own words to make 20.  Your child's complete list is on Google classroom under English.  The first 14 words that everyone is learning are posted on this blog, under the English/Spelling tab.  The students have worked with their words on Moby Max and will be bringing home Spelling homework on Tuesday.  
They will be taking a Spelling test on Thursday on their 20 words.  Please look over these words with them this week.
                  Spelling will run on a two week cycle.  We will choose new words next week Tuesday, work on them through various assignments and then be tested on them again Thursday, Sept. 21st.

Writer's workshop is going well.  Thank you for reading through your child's notebook and making a comment last week.  Look for this notebook to come home about once each week with an assignment.  It may be completing a story or other writing work.  Again, we will note in the planner that this is Notebook homework.  After one more week or so of lessons on Narrative writing, we will begin a story draft that we will work through publication.  I am confident your children have written more with this curriculum than years past.

Literature:  We are through part one in Wonder and have begun part two.  Last week we began vocabulary to go along with the story.  This will be done for this class book completely together.  Each student needed a 3 prong folder for vocabulary.  Check with your child - a few needed to find one.  This week we will focus on Characters by analyzing them and finding proof of our theories.  We will work on a word puzzle about each character.  Coming most likely at the end of this week will be a quiz on Wonder chapters we have read so far.  It will be on Google classroom.

5th Grade Social Studies:  Tuesday, September 5th is the second half of the Geography quiz.  We went over the study guide on Friday, and it should have returned home to go over.  This half will have multiple choice and some fill in the blanks - no maps to label.  I will be speaking to a few students about studying again for the first map labeling quiz and taking it over.  Most students did well.
**We hope to finish our 3D maps of the US Tuesday or Wednesday.  We will be going on to the next chapter on Native Americans.

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6th Grade Literature:
We are splitting our class time now into two parts.  The first part of each class is spent in Independent reading.  Each student has a reading partner and they meet often with them to discuss the book they are reading or go over questions I have posed.  I am keeping tabs on the reading through the reading log and conferencing as they read.  This is what the Reader's notebook is used for.  It will most likely come home once a week with a reading assignment.
The second half of our class is reading together as a class.  We are in the beginning chapters of True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.  We have taken some literary notes about characters and will use those this week to develop theories about the major characters and proof of our theories from the story.
We will use this book to go over many literary elements that we will use all year.
On Thursday and Friday of this week the first quiz on Charlotte Doyle will be assigned.  It will be on google classroom and due the following class period.


Thanks for being patient as we dig into this new curriculum.  I have so enjoyed seeing the reading and writing and thinking your children have done already.
Blessings on your week,
Hope to see you Tuesday night.

Mrs. Brown

August 28-September 1

WOW!  What a week.  Experiencing Monday's Eclipse together as a school was absolutely wonderful.  What an amazing display of God's wonderful creation.  I am still in awe every time I think about it.  And the students were fantastic as they watched and listened and took it all in.  Thanks to those parents that were able to join us that day on the very hot asphalt.

This week had lots of other activities in it as well.  We used our reading logs for the first time, and every student has a book to read.  The 6th grade went on a trip to the Kirkwood library and were amazed by the number of books to check out!! And all classes received their first assignments.

**In this blog, I will go over the 5th grade glasses and assignments first.  Then I will label and discuss 6th grade.  No need for 5th grade parents to read about 6th grade and vice versa.  I think there was some confusion last week as 5th grade parents thought 5th grade was travelling to the library.

5th Grade Language Arts:

5th Grade English:  We have done an incredible amount of writing!!  Just ask your child!! We are working through a unit on Personal Narratives and I have asked them to write every day.  We will continue working on specific writing techniques to make a good personal narrative.  Right now all the writing has been done in the writing notebook.  At some point this week, I will be asking them to show you and share with you some writing from their notebook.  

**We will add spelling to English this week.  On Tuesday we will work together to create a list of words.  Each student will add some of their own words to the list.

Students will record their personal spelling list on Google Classroom. Class words will appear on this blog under the English tab.

We will work on these words for two weeks.  The test over these words will be Thursday, September 7th.

5th Grade Literature:  Together as a class we are reading Wonder by RJ Palacio.  It is an amazing book that identifies and develops characters.  It is also a wonderful book for teaching perspective, and how to think and reflect on a book.  Lastly, it has an amazing lesson about our differences and how to treat all people.
**On Friday students were given their first assignment.  It is posted on Google Classroom.  It is a reflective journal of what we have read so far.  We spent time last week practicing and looking at other reflective journals.  It is due on Monday.
As we read this week we will continue looking at character development and begin vocabulary.  We will be working on vocabulary words together in class for this first book.

Students are also reading independently and keeping a reading log.  They only need to record the time and pages they read at school in class or at home if it is an assignment.  Other reading they do outside of that does not need to be recorded.  I don't want them to become bogged down with keeping track of pages and time.  I have checked the book that your child is reading.  I encourage parents to do the same.  I have a huge variety and levels of books in my room.  Parents have the final say if they want their child to read a book or not.
I use and encourage parents to use Common Sense Media website to plug in books, get an honest review to help make a decision.

5th Grade Social Studies:  Our first social studies test is Tuesday, August 29.  Students should have brought home a study guide with 2 practice maps and the information that is on the test.  This guide is just for them to review and practice at home.  They do not need to to return it to school at all.  We will review one more time in class on Monday.
On Wednesday of this week we will begin a project.  Students will be placed in groups and construct a 3-dimensional physical map of the U.S.  This will help us visualize the landscape of the U.S. which will play into U.S. history all year long.  It will be especially vital information for our next unit on Native Americans.  All the work will be done at school, however some students choose to bring materials from home to use.

**As with all group projects, when I choose the groups, students will fill out an end evaluation explaining the exact work that they did to assist me in grading the project. Individual work will figure into each student's grade.

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6th Grade

Literature:  We have finished our first collaborative project on Survivor Island.  This was a brief group project that did not have a right/wrong answer, but required group members to listen to each other, discuss ideas and come to a consensus.  All of these are wonderful skills that we will use repeatedly in class.  Students are filling out evaluations about the group work and their part in the group.  Grades for this project will come from that evaluation.
**My goal is to introduce the 6th graders to See Saw - a program used at the elementary building and in 5th grade that allows students to share their work, presentations, videos etc... with parents.  Hopefully this week, we can load all the students in.  We will post the Survivor Island presentations and allow you to view them and discuss with your child.  I then will use it 2-3 times a month to allow you to see book reviews, journals, and other projects or presentations from class.

True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle,  by AVI.  This is the class read aloud that we will begin reading.  We will use this book to work through notes about setting and characters.  This is information we will apply all year to the different forms of literature that we read.  Students will be completing journals, vocabulary and other assignments for grades.  They will not be assigned to read chapters to this book at home unless they are absent!!  Next week we will begin vocabulary and they will have their first quiz over the chapters read.

Our last component of this class is Independent Reading.  We enjoyed our trip to the Kirkwood Library.  We strongly encourage you to have a library card somewhere for your family.  Ms. Albers and I both have a great many books in our room, but after visiting the library, we are just scratching the surface.  We will from time to time go on line to the libraries to search or reserve books.  Students may use a County Library card for this purpose.  You may also acquire a Kirkwood Library card even if you do not live in Kirkwood and even if you already have a County card.
We will be reading each day, and posting our reading into a log.  Sometimes this log and independent book will come home for homework!  Students will be assigned to read for a certain amount of time and write about it in their Readers Notebook.  Look for that sometime this week!
Students only need to record their reading time and pages during class time or if given for homework.  They do not need to keep track every time they read.

Welcome to the 2017-2018 School year

Welcome to the new school year.  We have had 3 awesome days and the 5th graders are catching on quite well to the schedule and moving between classes.  Encourage your child to ask if they are unclear or forget anything!

This first full week, we will continue to get our feet wet, and begin diving in full force to our curriculum.  I will explain below some of what will be coming up.

5th Grade Language Arts:
Literature:  We are beginning the first 2 components of literature.  #1 We are working on finding an independent reading book for each student.  We have gone over the books in our classroom.  Books may be brought from anywhere or on a kindle.  It would be great if each student could have a book to begin reading by mid week.  We will be using our Readers notebook to jot down thoughts and ideas about what we read.
#2 We have also begun reading the book Wonder by RJ Palacio together in class.  This will be our read aloud and we will begin to work on vocabulary, writing responses, and comprehension as we read in class.
**This week you should see the Readers Notebook come home with a book and an assignment.

English/Writing:  On Friday we took our Pre-writing assessment.  Students wrote a Personal Narrative for 20 straight minutes.  I have read them and we will use those as a guide for this unit.  At the end of the unit, students will produce a completed, edited, published work and take a final writing assessment.
This week we will begin breaking the writing process into parts.  Again, the Writers Notebook should come home at least once, with a written assignment in it.
**This is a process.  I will not be asking students to compose, edit and finalize a story in one sitting.  Just have them work on the one piece I give them at home.

We will wait and begin spelling next week.

5th Grade Social Studies:  We have begun our first chapter which covers basic Geography terms and maps.  We will be working through some partner Geography challenges this week in our workbook.  Maps will be graded for completion and correctness.  We will be have 2-3 short Geography quizzes.  I will let you know when the first one is and what will be covered on it.  It may be on Friday of this week depending on how the challenges go.

6th Grade Literature:  As  I told the classes, this is my absolute favorite class to teach, because we only have to worry about reading.  How awesome is that!!  Similar to last year, there will be multiple components of this class.
#1.  Each student will be required to have an independent reading book at all times.  This year we will be doing mini lessons and completing assignments based on these books.  We will be working hard to get each student placed in an appropriate book in the first couple weeks. You should see the Readers Notebook come home at least once a week with an assignment. These assignments will be graded.
#2.  We will always have a class book or book club  that we will be working through together.  We have not started this book yet.  We will be reading in class The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by AVI.  It is a fantastic adventure book that covers the elements of literature wonderfully.
We will work through vocabulary, comprehension and reaction writing with this book.
** We plan to go to the Kirkwood Library on Wednesday or Thursday of this week. Make sure you have responded by email or written note that your child can attend.  Children without permission will need to stay back at school.
We are currently working on a collaborative group project that has quite the dilemma in it.  Groups have to work together to find a consensus and back up their reasons.  Ask your child about this activity!



Thanks for sharing your children with me.  I am so excited to get going on our new reading and writing curriculum.  It is quite a change from what we have done, especially the writing portion.  It will take a while for all of us to understand and catch on to this new work.

Please let me know if you have any questions for this week.
Blessings,
Mrs. Brown

Calendar of Remaining assignments

This has been a very busy week.
Here is a calendar of what is remaining.  There may be a few added assignments, but this paints a very good picture of the major assignments left and when they are due.

Continue to check Educate as grades are posted.  If work is turned in late, I will mark it as late, and it will be graded by the end of the quarter.

Continue to encourage your child to work hard until the very end of the year!


5th Grade Language Arts:

Spelling pages 186-189.  Books collected on 5/11 for the final time.
Spelling Test 5/11
Grammar Proofreading sentences due 5/12
Grammar weekly assessment 5/12 or 5/15
Grammar Diagramming page due 5/23

They will be receiving a grade from Mr. Akerson for the Newspaper writing they did.  They may receive one more grade for the completed Fairy tale we are writing.


Literature:  This week we turned in a Journal, Author biography and Chapter Quiz. Please check Educate.  Numerous students did not have the assignments complete.

There will be one last Lit book journal due next week on May 16.  It will be on Google classroom and have numerous parts to it. Students should be finishing their books for next week as well.
We will have a final book test for the last novel.  That right now is scheduled for May 16th, but I am moving it to Monday, May 22.  As long as the have finished the book they will be good.

We continue to work on Fairy tales and will complete the individual story we have been writing.  This project has been more about the process of writing than the outcome, but there will be a final grade for the story. That will be the last week, May 23rd as well.


5th Grade Social studies:
We have so much left to do, but most of it will not have graded assignments.  We are finishing our chapters on the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Students are working in groups right now to write a Constitution for a new civilization on Mars.  The final copy is due Thursday, end of the day. This will receive a grade, as they have taken notes individually during this process. We plan to have a signing ceremony on Friday, complete with Quill pens and ink!!
     There will be a homework assignment, workbook page 88 on Thursday that is due Friday.  On Friday,while we are signing documents, they will be working on the study guide for chapters 14-15.
       The test over these two chapters will be next Tuesday, May 16th.  We will review on Monday with a game and looking at the study guide.

We will spend some time Tuesday afternoon looking at some information about Lincoln and the Civil war for our field trips. We will get through as much as we can.

The last week we will spend some time talking about Westward expansion.  We have a great activity called Traveling the Trail that we will try to get to some time that week!


6th Grade Literature:  We are finishing up 2 units at the same time.  We have finished our Mythology unit and will be taking the final test this week (H - Thurs., C - Friday).  Students have received a study guide with all the information for the test on it.

Students should also be finishing the novel they are reading in a book group.  They will receive the final assignment for their Lit book next week Mon/Tues and it will be due on May 22/23rd.
Next week Mon/Tues. we will do our 6th grade final Genre test.  Students will be given a container with 4 books.  They must identify the Genre of each book and give reasons to back up their answers.  They can review their notes on each genre and its elements in order to prepare.

Neither of these last tests will have correction opportunities, so make sure your child is prepared.

Our last activity will be designing a game based on a book they have read.  We will also total up the number of books read these last 2 years!

Achievement Test week

Welcome to Achievement test week.  Help your child to do their best this week, by providing them with good nutrition and lots of sleep (no staying up late to watch the Blues and Cardinals)!

Children will need a supply of #2 pencils, a ruler and calculator.  They should have a water bottle that closes, and a healthy snack for each morning.  Please don't send bags of chips and donuts, but find something with protein or nutrition.  They may have a small bag of mints of some kind, but they don't need to bring a giant bag.

If you feel your child needs a stress distraction, please send me note, as these have become a huge disruption in class and most are used as toys.  They won't be allowed in the room after testing week, but if your child needs to use one this week, I will need a note.

5th Grade Language Arts:  No Spelling this week.  I have collected their books and will record the past two weeks and any missing weeks' pages.  There will only be one more week of spelling and so any missing pages must be completed.
Grammar:  We will review and do last week's assessment this week.  Otherwise in grammar, we will be writing this week.  We are working on individual fairy tales.  Story maps have been turned in, and so we will begin stories this week.

Literature:  Students have been assigned to one last novel to read.  They are reading this book with a group of 4-6 other students.  All work for these books will be on Google classroom.  Each book has its own class on Google classroom, so look for the book title to find the correct assignments.
Also on classroom for each book, will be posted the calendar of chapters due and assignments.  Please refer to that to make sure your student is completing the work.

Social Studies: We will be working hard this week on our chapter about the US Constitution.  The workbook pages that we are taking notes on is due on Monday.  Most students had 1-2 sections left, but they are due Monday.  We will watch a great video, play a wonderful simulation game, and in groups students will be writing a constitution for a settlement on Mars.
We will move directly into the next chapter on The Bill of Rights.  This will be a combined test, most likely at the end of next week (Friday, May 12).

6th Grade Literature:  Please check Educate at the end of the weekend, for the five grades that have been assigned for our Holocaust unit.  Missing or incomplete work can be turned in still, but will not receive full credit.
We are going to finish our short mythology unit this week.  We have read 3 myths and completed 2 assignments on Google classroom.  Many students didn't complete the homework assignment and will receive a 0 grade unless it is completed and turned in for late credit. This week we will do a comparison on Hercules with a story and the movie.
Students have also chosen a last novel to read.  They had many choices and could choose something of their own as well as long as there were at least 2 people reading the story. Each group is deciding the pace at which they will read the book, but the book must be completed by May 12.  There will be 2 journals and a question set for each book.  They should be able to tell you which book they are reading and show you their progress.

Our experience last Monday to the Jewish Community School was awesome.  I will send a separate email this week about it with some pictures.  Ask your child about it.

****Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher:  It has come to my attention that several 6th grade girls have read this book.  It is a relatively controversial book as well as Netflix series.  I don't believe the content is appropriate for 5th or 6th graders, but that is up to parent discretion.  I am including the review of this book from Common Sense Media for you to look at if your student is interested in reading the book.  I do not have it on my shelves.  It is certainly worth reading together or reading it first before allowing your child to read it.
Common Sense Media review of Thirteen Reasons Why

Make sure your student gets lots of rest this week and good nutrition for testing.  Continue to check for missing work, and strive to get it turned in for late credit.
Blessings on your week,
Mrs. Brown

Week of April 24-28

We have lots of great things happening this week, as we close out some units and move on to final units.

**6th Grade:  We will be taking our Holocaust field trip on Monday, April 24 to the Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School.  Our connection to this school comes through Rick Schmidt, a CCLS parent that teaches at the school.
We are looking forward to hearing some of their history, possibly hearing from a Holocaust survivor or relative of a survivor, and collaborating on a reflective project.

5th Grade Language Arts:  Spelling: Normal week in spelling, with pretest on Monday, pages and final test on Thursday this week.  We are working on pages 180-184.

Grammar:  We will begin our last major part of speech as we study Prepositions.  We will do the skill pages together.  We will do the Proofreading page this week and the final assessment.

Literature:  We will be writing individual Fairy tales this week.  We will begin with the story map on Monday that will be due on Wednesday.  The story map will receive a  grade as well as the story itself.
On Monday, students will be listing their choice of novel to read.  There are 5 choices, and I will divide the class into 5 groups.  Novels will be assigned by Wednesday, and we will complete a calendar for each group.  Calendars will be posted on Google classroom.  We will do most of the reading of this final novel in class, but some outside reading will be required.  You may read along with your child at home if you wish.  There will be 2 journal assignments, and 1-2 quizzes on the novel as the groups read.  Those will be on Google classroom when they are assigned.

5th Grade social studies:  We will be finishing up our Revolutionary War presentations this week and those will be graded.  Students have been taking notes on each presentation in class and that will also receive a grade.  We  will begin Chapter 14-15 on the Constitution and Bill of Rights this week.  We will first read about and study the US Constitution. We will complete workbook pages as we work through the text. Then students will be challenged to create their own constitution for a new civilization on Mars.  This will leads us into the chapter on the Bill of Rights.  It will be a combined test on these chapters.

6th Grade Literature:  We have begun a short unit on Mythology.  We have read one myth together and students are assigned 2 more stories from their yellow Lit book.  There is an assignment with those stories posted on Google classroom.  The assignments are due on Wed. for Caciano and Thursday for Hieber.  We will also do a comparison of Hercules stories as an assignment.
Our last novel to read will be a choice novel.  Students must find a book that at least one other student in the class is also reading.  It must be in the Fantasy, Science fiction, mystery genre.  Students must have their book chosen by either Wednesday or Thursday's class.
As students read the novel, there will be journaling and discussions that will be graded.
We will take 2 final tests - one on our mythology unit, and a final exam on Genre.  This test will be May 15/16 and I will go over what is on the test as we get closer.

We still have lots of work left to do.  Encourage your child to be diligent and work hard, and not to fall behind on work.
Have a blessed week,
Mrs. Brown