Mrs. Schaefer's 5th Grade Class: September 2015

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Reminders and Bravo Board Writing!

Writing Goals and Debating in our Book Clubs!

Monday, September 28, 2015

Way To Go, Miles!

Did you see one of our very own in your Principal e-note? Check out this awesome classmate below---

A HUGE congratulations to Miles, founder of the C-PLAY Kids of Concord, who accepted the $3,000 grant check from the Crestwood-Sunset Hills Kiwanis Club on behalf of Concord. This group worked hard to help make our district’s school playgrounds more accessible and fun for everyone. The C-PLAY Kids of Concord voted for the money to fund a set of Tuned Drums for Concord's new playground. The tuned drums can be seen at the following link: http://freenotesharmonypark.com/products/instrument-collection/tuned-drums/ More information can be found at the PTG’s website.

This Week in Room 33! Sept. 28- Oct. 2

One theme this year that we are focusing on is having a growth mindset! The above image is an example of how to change our thinking from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. You may have heard some quotes from your students that we use in class--- "When you're done, you've only just begun!" or "We learn from our mistakes!" and "It's okay to fail- that's how we get better!" There is ALWAYS room to grow and room for improvement- this is just another reason why we always set goals and WORK to achieve them!

This week in 5th grade...

Science- We are wrapping up our unit on scientific investigations with a test on Thursday! Students should study their science notebooks and study guides (we will go over these in class on Tuesday). Students can also use this link to study the vocabulary words---Scientific Investigations Quizlet We will begin our next unit on weather this Friday!

Writing- Thank you for taking the time to celebrate your 5th grader's 1st personal narrative in their writing portfolios and supporting them as they evaluated their work using the checklist! Today, we made goals based on the checklist and will be working towards them as we complete our 2nd personal narrative. As we draft and revise our narratives this week we will focus on stretching out the tension, catching the action or the image that produced emotion, and noticing how each character has an important role in our stories. We are learning that we become better writers by working hard to apply what we learn in mini-lessons to our own writing!

Reading- This week we are continuing to work on having meaningful and thoughtful discussions within our book clubs. Some clubs are already finishing their book and starting a 2nd one! Students are expected to be reading up to their group's stopping point each day/night so they are prepared to be an important contributor within their book club discussions. This week we are:

debating to promote rich book club discussions
reflecting on ourselves as books clubs
comparing more than one text
rethinking our themes to allow for more complexity
comparing characters' connections to a theme

Math- We are completing our unit on multiplying whole numbers and will have our test on Friday. The study guide (due Thursday) is the review in their books- pgs. 145-148 #1-9 ALL, #10-25 ODDS. It is SO IMPORTANT that your student knows their basic multiplication facts. Please quiz your child and have them practice in ALEKS (Quick Tables) or try this site---MATH MAGICIAN

Thank you for all your hard work at home- it REALLY pays off! Students can also use the following link to re-watch videos from our homework- Click Here for Ch. 2 Youtube Playlist!

Social Studies- Students will take their states quiz on Tuesday. We will start our study of Ch. 2- Ancient Americans later this week.

Reminders/Dates-

Tue. 9/29 States Quiz

Wed. 9/30 Picture Day & Be There Day!

Thurs. 10/1 Science Test

Fri. 10/2 Ch. 2 Math Test

Fri., 10/2: Custodian Day-Feel free to make a card or share a small token of appreciation for our custodians Dave, John, and Cheryl.

Tue., 10/6: PTG Board Meeting 9:00-11:00 a.m.

Fri., 10/9: Family Trivia Night 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Truman Cafeteria

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Reading Interpretively!

I am so impressed with the thinking going on during reading! Within our book clubs, we shared our ideas from our reader's notebooks, looked for patterns, and then asked "What is a larger life lesson the author could be teaching us?"

Writing Portfolios Coming Home Today!

Check out this video- Charlie and Jordan will show you our new writing portfolios and what is expected from your student! They are due Monday.

Please celebrate your student's 1st personal narrative, help them complete their self-evaluation checklist, and fill out the green sheet (includes parent signature).

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

End of the day

Reading or doing our jobs at the end of the day.

Monday, September 21, 2015

This Week in Room 33! Sept. 21-24

This week in 5th grade...

Science- We are wrapping up our unit on scientific investigations with our paper airplane investigation! We will review on Thursday and our test will be next Tue., Sept. 29. Students will use their study guide (due Thursday) and their notebooks to help them study!

Writing- This week we are completing our 1st personal narrative and celebrating them on Wednesday. After we celebrate our writing in school, students will bring their piece home to celebrate with you! Students will bring home their writing portfolio (binder) with their piece and a checklist to fill out and get signed by you. Please help them celebrate their accomplishments, but also look for & encourage setting new goals for their next piece that we will start on Thursday! These writers know that "when they are done, they've only just begun!" :)

Reading- Wow! We are doing some deep thinking and hard work in reading! We are learning that we need our brains on FULL POWER to really dig deep into our book club books and independent books. Reading can be SO MUCH MORE than just reading at the surface level if we put our mind to it.

Students are working hard on reading pages and pages of their book club books by setting stopping points each day for class reading time and for reading at home. We are working on having meaningful, supportive, and thoughtful book club discussions- ask your student for different discussion sentence starters they are trying at school and encourage them at home as well!

Math- Place value tests came home last Friday- I am SO proud of our mathematicians! We have started our 2nd chapter on multiplying whole numbers as we are studying prime factorization, powers & exponents, multiplication patterns, problem solving, partial products, and the distributive property!

Students' homework is posted in the "Daily Homework" tab at the top of the blog. They are expected to complete this every night. Each night's form includes a couple questions from the lesson taught that day, as well as a video and question or 2 previewing the next day's lesson. Students should keep their work in their math notebook and can also refer to their textbook or the online textbook. The videos are saved onto a Youtube playlist for them to refer to as well-- Click Here for Ch. 2 Youtube Playlist!

Social Studies- We will be completing another round of stations this week in which students will continue working on their political map of the United States, identify and describe the 4 regions of the U.S. in a Google slideshow, and meet with the teacher to discuss different types of resources. Students WILL be expected to know the location of all the states in a quiz next Wed., Sept. 30!

Reminders-

This Fri. 9/25- No School

Tue. 9/29 Science Test on Scientific Investigations

Wed. 9/30 States Quiz

Wed. 9/30 Picture Day & Be There Day!