Week of February 5-9

Last week was a busy week, especially in 5th grade.
Both 5th and 6th grade ended literature units and took the final test.  Those will be posted this week.
5th grade had the awesome experience of attending JA Biztown through Junior Achievement.  This was a wonderful real world program.  We are thankful to all those volunteers that helped with this.
We will be posting and sending out some pictures of our day.

We begin new units this week in literature and writing - back into class novels.
*All students should have set a goal last week for reading the remainder of their book report book.  Reports are due end of this month.

5th Grade assignments
Monday - Past tense verbs worksheet - due Tuesday
Tuesday - Spelling word list - due Wednesday
Wednesday - Spelling assignment - due Friday
Thursday, due Friday - Literature - Quiz one for Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe

5th Grade Language Arts - Literature:  We will begin our class novel on Monday.  We will be reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.  This is an awesome example of fantasy writing, that has a wonderful Christian element to it.  We will be reading a lot of the book in class, but there will be some outside reading as well.  Feel free to read the at home assignments with your child.
We will focus on Characters during this read, elements of fantasy and again, theme.
We will be completing daily drawings and writings in our Reader's notebook.  If your child is absent they will need to make sure and find what we did in our notebooks each day.

Spelling/Grammar:  We will pick new spelling words this week.  Each students list is due and will be checked on Wednesday.  We will have an assignment due Friday.  We will continue working some with verbs this week.

Writing:  We are beginning a new writing unit.  We will be writing Fantasy short stories based on the drawings from The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.  We will begin by doing some character writing this week and then setting.  We will write focusing on the different elements before we begin a final story.  There may be some homework this next two weeks in the Writer's notebook.

Social Studies:  Last week Monday, the King of England came to our room and implemented some candy taxes without the representation of the students.  We are using that lesson to discuss how the colonists felt as we move through the historical events of chapter 10.  We will spend some more time on this chapter this week, before taking the test.
Chapter 9 tests were returned last week.  Any students wanting to make corrections will need to see me.
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6th Grade Literature: We are continuing our unit on Historical fiction by beginning a class novel.  We will be reading Number The Stars by Lois Lowry.  This is a relatively easy read for 6th grade, and we will move through the book quickly.  Some chapters will be read at school, some assigned for home.
**We will post a calendar, however it is just a basic guideline of what we will do each day.  Assignments and dates will change, and your student will need to record the actual assignments in their planner.
Any work listed on the calendar is what will be done in class that day.  Students may not work ahead on assignments.

Along with this unit we will be doing several other activities.  We will be investigating other literature surrounding this subject, including some poetry.  We will be completing a group project and a final reflection project by each student.  We will be watching a wonderful documentary and taking notes.
Our goal is to keep the focus of this unit (the Holocaust) on the positive aspects and people that came from this tragic time in history.  As we do some research, we will be guiding the students to filter carefully what they view.

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Book Report: Both 5th and 6th grade should be working diligently on completing their book report book and beginning the project.  Each class has looked individually at what they have left to read and set a daily reading goal.  They are receiving class time to read, but they will need to read outside of class.  Please check with your child on the goal they have set and where they are with their book.
Reports can be started whenever the book is completed.  Remember directions are posted on this blog and Google classroom.
If students need templates or other help, they can ask anytime.
Due dates:  6th grade - February 22 - Teasdale (A day classes), February 23 - Hieber (B day classes)
                   5th grade - February 26th.

Blessings on the upcoming week,
Mrs. Brown