Tommorrow we have homerun club. Feel free to bring in soda and a snack.

This Week in Room 33! Nov. 24-25

I hope everyone enjoys their time off with family and friends! I am so very thankful for my job and getting to spend every day teaching and learning from your children! Thank YOU for all your time and support at home!

Here's what to expect this SHORT 2-day week in 5th grade:

Science- We are wrapping up lesson 1 on classifying organisms!

Writing- We are working on our drafts for our research report on historical events. Our goal is for our readers to to think "Whoa!" We are elaborating by blending facts with our thoughts and teaching about our event like it's a story to make it more powerful to our readers. 

Math-We are multiplying decimals and multiplying decimals by powers of 10. 

Reading- We are reading nonfiction like writers and noticing how nonfiction authors make readers feel emotions! 

Social Studies- We are hoping to finally complete our text mapping project as we preview our next chapter on the age of exploration!

Reminders/Upcoming Events-

11/26-11/28 Thanksgiving Break! 

12/1-5 Book Fair

12/16- Concord Winter Festival

Adding Thoughts to our Research Notes

Primary and Secondary Sources

Today we learned about primary sources and  secondary sources. The difference is, a primary source is told by someone who witnessed or experienced the event and a secondary source is told by someone who researched the event and wrote about it. We want to research primary sources because it is certain and true. A secondary source is likely to be true but information could have been changed over time.

Busy Researchers!!!

We are BUSY with our CHALLENGING and EXCITING research projects!!! See below for a reminder on note-taking tips, our plans for research, and a link with different sources we are using on the google drive!

Sources for Research Teams

This Week in Room 33! Nov. 17-21

Wow! I hope everyone has enjoyed their snowy weekend! We have an exciting week ahead before we head into our Thanksgiving break. We will be celebrating our Blue Ribbon award this week! See below for each day's theme.

Monday- We are FLYERS! Wear GREEN and GOLD!

Tuesday- HATS off to Concord! Wear a HAT to school!

Wednesday- Show your BLUE ribbon PRIDE! Wear BLUE!

Thursday- Concord is a COMFY place to learn! Wear your PJS!

Friday- We are a 2014 BLUE RIBBON SCHOOL! We will wear new blue ribbon t-shirts!

Here's what else to expect this week in 5th grade:

Science- We are studying our new chapter on classifying organisms. We will be focusing on lesson 1- How do we classify living things? Students will be able to understand how to develop and use a dichotomous key to classify plants and animals. 

Writing- We are diving into our research for our 2nd informational piece! Students were put into research teams based on their top 3 choices of historical events they were interested in researching and writing about. Students are excited to work together to research new information that will help them write powerful informational pieces to make their readers go "Whoa!" Here are our research teams: 

The Great Depression- Grace, Lainie, Julia, Emma

Titanic- Adam, Makenzi, Willie, Joey, Blake, Jackson

D-Day- Aidan, Tommy, Chris, Jake

Gold Rush of 1849- Abbi, Marissa, Tanish, Jaiden

Boston Tea Party- Ava, Sophie, Carrigan, CiCi

Math- Students did a fantastic job on their chapter 5 test! These will come home on Monday! This week we are starting chapter 6 on multiplying and dividing decimals. Once again, students will benefit from knowing their basic multiplication and division facts. Please continue to practice them at home! 

Reading- We will be working closely with our writing curriculum by working on reading nonfiction texts to help us with our research. We will use boxes & bullets to pull out main ideas and supporting details, use and understand technical vocabulary, determine the difference between first and second-hand accounts, determine the author's bias, and see how the text brings about the reader's emotions. 

Social Studies- Within social studies we will also work closely with our reading/writing curriculum as we are reading and writing about historical events! We will continue our text mapping project as we preview our text for text features to help see the big picture of our next chapter on the age of exploration!

Reminders-

Mon. 11/17- Concord's Academic All Stars @ 6:00 in LHS Auditorium

Tue. 11/18- PTG Meeting (7:00) & Party Planning (6:00)

11/26-28 Thanksgiving Break

Chain of Thankfulness

Chain of Thankfulness

Dear Families,

It is a great time of year to reflect on how lucky we are and think about what we are thankful for. Today, your child has brought home strips of construction paper for members of your family to fill out. We are creating a chain of thankfulness for our classroom and we would love for you to join us!

Please write one thing you are thankful for on the strip of paper with your name on the back. This is not a required assignment, but more so a fun way to involve you in our classroom.

If we don’t see you before the break, we hope you have a safe and wonderful holiday with friends and family! Thank you for your time and hope to see some links come back soon!

Mrs. Schaefer and Mrs. Smith

Teaching Our Buddies!

Today we celebrated our research reports by sharing with our buddies! 5th graders did a fantastic job teaching about their tribes! I couldn't be prouder!

News Report with a GREAT Message!

Today in reading, we practiced having intellectual discussions with partners using response prompts to show our deep thinking about the video below. We are learning that it is important to say more than just "That was interesting!" or "That was cool!" We were also able to pick out the main idea of the news story as well as the message behind the story. We were even able to make connections to our own book clubs we have at school (literature circles)! Check it out!

Thank You from Miss Ballard

Dear Students and Families,

I just wanted to say thank you for such a wonderful student teaching experience.  I really enjoyed the past twelve weeks and am sad to have to leave Room 33.  Thank you for all of the last day cards, gifts, and flowers.  (I felt really appreciated!)  I know that I am leaving you in good hands with Mrs. Schaefer and Mrs. Smith and wish you a wonderful rest of the year!

Sincerely,
Miss Erica Ballard

properties of addition

today in math we learned about the different properties. Associative,idenity,communitive- julia and lainie

This Week in Room 33! Nov. 10-14

We have a busy and exciting week ahead of us!

Here's what to expect this week in 5th grade:

Science- Weather tests will be coming home Monday Tuesday! As a reminder, test grades in the 70s may be fixed and returned, grades in the 60s MUST be fixed and returned. Our next unit of study will be chapter 3 in our text on classifying organisms!

Writing- We are working on redrafting our research reports on our native american tribe onto clean, lined paper. Their completed research reports are due Wednesday for our celebration! 

Writing portfolios will come home Wednesday and will be due 

Friday. Students are responsible for showing a parent their research report, their self-evaluation checklist, and their green sheet (needs parent signature). Please take this time to celebrate your student's writing and discuss goals for the next piece!

We will begin work on our 2nd research report at the end of the week. Students will work in research teams and will choose a historical topic for their 2nd piece! 

Math- We will finish our chapter on adding and subtracting decimals this week with lessons on addition properties and subtracting decimals. We will review on Thursday and our test will be on Friday. The study guide (pgs. 367-369) will be due Thursday.

Reading- We are continuing our study of determining importance and finding the main idea of a text. This is especially important when we are researching nonfiction texts. When we are able to determine the most important ideas of a text, we can then make conscious decisions on what we want to include in our research reports! 

We are also focusing on having meaningful discussions where we can respond personally and intellectually in conversations about nonfiction texts. We have been learning to use response prompts such as-

I wonder why...

It surprised me that...

I knew... but I never thought...

I used to think... but now I am realizing...

Now I understand why...

I agree/disagree with ______ because...

Adding on to what ______ said...

I can see ______'s point, but...

Social Studies- I couldn't be PROUDER of our native american projects! Wow! I was SO impressed! I will be posting the google presentations on the blog this week. Also, if you are able to, feel free to check out the models on display in the library- they are outstanding! 

We will begin to study chapter 3 on the age of exploration. We will focus on the importance of previewing a nonfiction text's features to help aid in understanding the content. We will be "text mapping" the chapter- be on the lookout for pictures!

Important Dates/Reminders:

Tue. 11/11- Veteran's Day Assembly! 9:00 AM

Wed. 11/12- Early Release!

*Fortel's Pizza Fundraiser is DUE Wed!

Fri. 11/14- Picture Retakes

Mon. 11/17- Concord's Academic All Stars @ 6:00 in LHS Auditorium

11/17-11/21 Blue Ribbon Week Celebration!

Sharing Our Native American Projects

Weather Test on Thursday!

Click HERE for the Weather Study Guide!

Students can study:

• Study guide & textbook
• pg. 295-297 in textbook
• Flashcards in science notebook
• Science page on blog- Click HERE

This Week in Room 33! Nov 3-7

Here's what to expect this week in fifth grade:

Science- We will be reviewing for our weather unit test this week. The test will be on Thursday.  Students can use their science textbooks and flashcards to study (in their science notebooks). A more in-depth study guide will be added to the blog/emailed to you on Monday.

Writing- We will be continuing to work on our Native American tribe research reports this week. Students will be revising their "flash draft" and adding more information as they research.  Students should be writing ten minutes each night, and it is helpful if they use this time to research more on their tribe.

Word Work- We will be having our next spelling test on Friday of this week.  Students should have their word work contract completed by that time.

Math- After many weeks of division, we are excited(!) to move on to adding and subtracting numbers with decimals.  

Reading- We are continuing to learn about pulling the main idea and supporting details out of non-fiction texts.  Students should also be reading their literature circle books. Their next segment of assigned chapters will be due this Tuesday.  Students should have read the assigned chapters and written a Post-It note to show their thinking.

Social Studies- On Monday and Tuesday, we will be finishing up any remaining work for our Google Slides presentation on our Native American tribe.  Students should be ready to present their slides and the model of their dwelling this Wednesday!  The model of their tribe's dwelling (teepee, wigwam, etc.) should be completed at home.

*Fri., Nov 7- Ms. Ballard's last day
*Tues., Nov 11- Veteran's Day Assembly
*Wed., Nov 12- Early Release