5th Grade Newsletter
January 28th, 2013
Upcoming Dates:
1/28-31- Spring Parent Teacher Conferences (please return if you have not! Thanks.)
2/5/13- Tutoring Resumes! (Note: NO TUTORING the month of January!)
Parents- Please note above the fact that St. James R-1 will be holding their first Spring Parent Teacher Conferences. This is a great opportunity for you to meet and discuss questions, concerns, and progress of your child through their 5th grade year.
Meurer/Siders/Richards—Math: In math we will be working on adding and subtracting decimals as well as rounding and estimating sums and differences with decimals. We will also be taking a Buckle Down practice MAP test on Wednesday, Thursday and next Monday. This practice test will be used to assess what areas each student still needs assistance in and the areas where students are doing well.
Richards—Science: We will begin the Weather and Water Cycle Unit with my next group. Students will be given a cloud observation chart which will be due February 8th. REMINDER: Science tests are to be turned in by this Friday.
Siders—Science: In science, we are currently working on Space and The Solar System. Students will be doing activities each week to reinforce concepts such as rotations and revolutions/orbits of the Earth & Moon, creation of shadows, and the different moon phases. Student are also working on a Solar System Travel Book. Kids have been placed into groups and assigned an object (a planet or the moon, sun, or pluto) and have to research their object. They will then be creating a travel flyer trying to persuade people to visit their planet using factual information about their assigned object. When finished students should have a Solar System Travel Book containing a travel flyer for all of the major objects in the solar system.
The final week (February 15th) students will be presenting their travel flyer to the class as well as receiving a take home test for the space unit which will be due by the next Friday. Students who don’t turn it in by the 22nd will be taking the test during Fun Friday.
Sandusky—ELA:We will be reviewing language and grammar skills quite a bit this week (capitalization, affixes, tense, & punctuation). Wednesday we will have a lesson on how to find information pertaining to questions using an informational text. The students will be completing two activities this week where they are looking at different aspects of Native American culture and answering higher order thinking questions in a journal format. Reading logs will be due on THURSDAY, since there is no school on Friday. Spelling words: Unit 14- aim, less, mile, mean, lame, sales, ageless, aimless, mileage, meaning, nameless, lameness, salesman, meaningless.
Shultz-ELA: Book orders are coming home today! I will not be returning the tests from last week until I complete the intervention with the students who have not mastered the skills. They should come home in next week’s folder. This week, we will have a short quiz on using affixes and answering questions using non-fiction texts. I am, again, sending home a review page for each topic.
Students are going to complete an opinion paragraph during their writing stations in response to the speech by Chief Joseph, “I Will Fight No More Forever.” Students are welcome to log on to their GoogleDoc accounts at home, however, their entire paragraph will be written at school and edited by Mr. Allen or Mrs. Shultz during its production.
Several students have books from the library missing and books from my classroom library. As you have time, please encourage them to look through the house or car for any items that may have been misplaced.
Kemnitzer-ELA:
Reading- We will continue to work on point of view. The students will compare and contrast two books on the American pioneer’s point of view about the hardships of their life. We will also be reading a great speech by Chief Joseph and learning how to write and support an opinion. I am sending home a homework sheet, “The Lewis and Clark Expedition” that will be due by Thursday, January 31, 2013. Students will be given points for doing this assignment. If the assignment is not returned by Thursday, they will be staying in Fun Friday recess to complete it. Many students did not return the homework from last week and will receive a zero if it is not completed.
AR- Students should have completed 35% of their 3rd quarter goal at this time. Please make sure that your child is reading at least 30 minutes a night. The end of mid-quarter is February 15.
Writing- Students will be comparing and contrasting the two pioneer stories and learning how to write an opinion paper.
Language - We will continue reviewing commas and learning more about verb tense.
Spelling - This week’s list includes words with the “less and ness” endings. The list of words are: man, age, aim, less, mile, mean, name, lame, sales, ageless, aimless, mileage, meaning, nameless, lameness, salesman, meaningless, homeless, priceless, hopelessness.
I hope to see you this week at conferences!
Mrs. Kemnitzer
5th Grade Newsletter
January 7th, 2012
Upcoming Dates:
1/7/13- 2nd Quarter Report Cards coming home!
1/9/13- DARE Resumes
1/21/13- MLK Day (no school)
1/28-31- Spring Parent Teacher Conferences (more information will be coming soon)
2/5/13- Tutoring Resumes! (Note: NO TUTORING the month of January!)
Parents- Please note above the fact that St. James R-1 will be holding their first Spring Parent Teacher Conferences. This is a great opportunity for you to meet and discuss questions, concerns, and progress of your child through their 5th grade year. Please be looking for information coming home soon with your child. Second Quarter Report Cards are coming home TODAY!
Meurer/Siders/Richards—Math: In Math we are currently working on Reading and Writing Decimals. This includes standard form, word form, and expanded form. These topics will lead us into comparing and ordering decimals where students will need to identify greater than/less of decimals as well as the order of a set of decimals.
This week we are kicking off our first week of HOMEWORK! Students will be sent home with the assignment on Monday, it is due on Thursday. Anyone who does not have the assignment completed and turned in on Thursday will have Study Hall on Friday to complete it. Those who HAVE IT turned in on Thursday will get a hole punch on their homework punch card! Punch Cards will be given to students this week. Keeping track of the card is the responsibility of the student. After turning homework in on time five times... students will get a small reward!
Students will continue to take their weekly quiz on Fridays covering items that have been taught during the week as well as some review items from last semester. You should find the results of these weekly quizzes in your child’s Monday folder.
Science News: A few changes are taking places in science for second semester. Science will now be on Fridays, but will last for approximately 2 hours. This gives the science teachers more time with students to complete activities and hands-on projects. The other change is that Mr. Richards and Mr. Siders will both be teaching science on Fridays. Please ask your child who their current science teacher is and look below to see what is going on in their class.
Richards—Science: This week we will continue working with Weather and the Water Cycle. The cloud observation form is due this Friday. The Weather Station Chart is due the week after. We will have a take-home test on January 18th.This week we will continue working with Weather and the Water Cycle. The cloud observation form is due this Friday. The Weather Station Chart is due the week after. We will have a take-home test on January 18th.
Siders—Science: In science, we are currently working on Space and The Solar System. Students will be doing activities each week to reinforce concepts such as rotations and revolutions/orbits of the Earth & Moon, creation of shadows, and the different moon phases. Student are also working on a Solar System Travel Book. Kids have been placed into groups and assigned an object (a planet or the moon, sun, or pluto) and have to research their object. They will then be creating a travel flyer trying to persuade people to visit their planet using factual information about their assigned object. When finished students should have a Solar System Travel Book containing a travel flyer for all of the major objects in the solar system.
****As a part of this unit we will be doing a moon phase project using Oreo ccokies. If you are able to send in some packages of Oreos, it would be a huge help. We will need a lot of them for all of the students to be able to do the project.****
The final week (January 18th) students will be presenting their travel flyer to the class as well as receiving a take home test for the space unit which will be due by the next Friday. Students who don’t turn it in by the 25th will be taking the test during Fun Friday.
Sandusky—ELA:
We are beginning Unit 3, How does literature provide insight into a culture? We will begin by looking into Trickster Tales from different cultures around the world. There are some links on my websites that are very helpful (www.mrssandusky.weebly.com). This week we will be finishing up our Unit 3 Pretest, reviewing proper placement and use of commas, and researching and analyzing Trickster Tales. Hopefully we will be able to get into our literature circles this week, but if not we will for sure next week. Just a heads up; the titles for literature circles have changed. In light of beginning a new unit, I think it’s important that our reading materials have the same theme. If you would like to know what title your child will be reading, please just email me and I will be glad to let you know.
One new thing this week that all parents should be aware of (students already are) is that a reading log will come home EVERY Monday and must be returned every Friday. The logs require students to read two hours per week at home. Seeing as I do not give homework, and students are suppose to be reading on average 30 minutes a night anyways, I thought the log would be a great way for students to earn easy points for their reading grade. The two hours can be completed at any point in time during the week and logs will be accepted early if the time is completed. If the logs are not here on Friday students will miss their Fun Friday, and they will not be accepted late (unless your child is gone on Friday). Your child will either receive full credit (5 points) or a zero for incompletion/missing. AR goals and levels are being completed this week, I’ve met with several students already and will be finishing up at the beginning of the week. Your child will be coming home with a slip that shows their points and levels that will need to be signed and returned. Spelling words this week center around Unit 3 in efforts to get them familiar with some of the vocabulary they will be seeing. Unit 3 words: culture, personification, perspective, point of view, tribe, tribute, nation, cultural, nationality, nationwide, sound imagery, trickster tale, Native American, America, characters, citation, literature, insight. As always if you have any concerns or questions please contact me at bsandusky@stjschools.org .
Shultz-ELA: All of 5th grade is has started our 3rd unit for the year. This one is titled, Clues to a Culture. Among others, we will be studying the various Native American cultures and what makes each of them unique. We have introduced trickster tales and will continue with research into the tales of different cultures throughout the week. We will finish our Hatchet and The Mouse and the Motorcycle literature circles before beginning our Island of the Blue Dolphins and Walk Two Moons.
Our language focus for the week is on commas. We will be reviewing them in doorbusters and small groups. We will also be working on writing a comparison between two different Native American nations based on illustrations and captions. Students will work on typing this activity during their stations through the week.
We do not have spelling in our class. I call it “Word Study” and we do not test weekly on a list of words. This week, we will begin our jobs as word collectors. Each student has a place in his or her binder to begin collecting interesting words. This week, we will get in groups to sort the words.
Last quarter I had so many students who did NOT reach their AR goals! Please encourage your student to read EVERY night--even if it is just to review a book for the next day.
Kemnitzer-ELA:
Reading- Students will be starting Unit 3- Clues to a Culture. This week we will be reading and comparing Trickster tales and researching the countries they originate from. We will also be practicing the reading strategy of inferencing.
AR- Students have 3rd quarter goals set and should be reading 30 minutes a night. Students should be at 10% of their goal by the end of this week. I will be sending home a copy of your child’s new AR information for 3rd quarter. Please sign and return to me by Friday so I know you are aware of their new goals and reading range.
Language- This week, students will be reviewing the use of commas in any writing.
Writing -Journal writing will be the main focus for this week.
Spelling- Students will be tested on the spelling and meaning of the following words on Friday: tribe, tribute, nation, nationality, nationwide, culture, cultural, Trickster tale, personification, Native American. These words are new vocabulary used in Unit 3.
Happy New Year!
Mrs. Kemnitzer
