October 27th, 2014

5th Grade Newsletter
October 27, 2014

Upcoming Dates:

• October 27 - 31st Humane Society Donation Drive
• October 28th Veterans Day Flag Meeting 3:00 - 4:30
• October 31st- Halloween Parade 2:00pm
• October 31st- Halloween Party 1:30pm
• October 31st- Trunk or Treat

Homework: We are working on a letter to a Veteran for morning work. Students can work on this at home if they do not finish in class. We are asking that every child bring in the address of a Veteran that they know. If you know of more than one, please send in those addresses as well for those who do not know of one. We will be mailing letters and invitations in the next few weeks.

Information regarding opportunities in relation to our Service Learning Project (Veteran’s Day) will be coming home as well. Students can choose to write an essay for extra credit, or draw a patriotic image with the chance to have it published on our programs.

MATH:

Ms. Blankenship - We will have our test over algebraic relations Wednesday. A study guide was sent home today. It needs to be signed and returned. Thursday we will take a pre-test over our next unit of Numbers and Operations, and begin with multiplying and dividing by powers of ten on Friday. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me at bblankenship@stjschools.org or 573-265-2300 ext. 4321.

Mrs. Watson- We will be taking our test on Algebraic Relations this week on Wednesday. Study Guides will come home today or tomorrow. They need to be signed and returned. If you have questions or concerns, please contact me at swatson@stjschools.org or 573-265-2300 ext 4319. You can also check out our class webpage to explore the topics we’ve been covering in class.

SCIENCE:
This week students will be presenting their animal research project.  We will also finish up the majority of our Unit on Characteristics of Living Things.  Students will be learning about the 4 main parts of a plant and the functions (roots, stem, leaves, flower).  They will also be taking a quiz on the 5 vertebrate classes on Thursday or Friday.  Our unit test is expected to take place on next Tuesday, November 4th.

ELA:
Mrs. Shultz:  www.mrsshultzsclasswebsite.weebly.com

*Homework has been sent home for the week with the reading logs. I still have SO MANY students not returning the logs. The homework is due with the reading logs on Friday.

We expect to finish our class literature set Monday With a Mad Genius this week! Following this book, we will read a nonfiction piece, Who Was Leonardo DaVinci? We will use the texts together to compare and contrast organization of text and the nonfiction piece will be used to determine main ideas and details.Book logs are due on the last day of each week. Students are only required to read up to that point. Late logs are accepted for the grade, but not for the contest.  Students should have their reading time signed each day. There is no set amount, but 20 minutes a day is suggested. Students should be at 31% of their goal by the end of this week. This quarter, that translates into about 7  points. Please be here as much as possible and let me know what I can do for you! Please remember, if you would like to contact Mrs. Shultz you can do so by writing a note in the red folder, calling me at x4292 or emailing kshultz@stjschools.org.

Sandusky: This week students will be working on their Creative Thinker Research Essay. Last week I sent a note home with a timeline of the next week. Chances are likely that your child will have homework this week (in the form of researching). Students have been given a large amount of class time to do their research, however, some have not completed it in that time, therefore it will be assigned as homework. Tuesday students will have roughly 20 minutes to finish their research before I begin instruction on the writing essay. Each day I will do a mini-lesson on elements that students need to edit their papers on, or incorporate into their writing. The majority of class time on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will be dedicated to writing their papers. Friday we will be editing (for those students who are at that point, if they’re not they will still be writing and won’t have the opportunity to have their paper peer edited.) If your child is not done with their paper before Friday’s end, it will be homework over the weekend. All papers are due Monday, November 3rd (they will not get class time to work on them.) Feel free to contact me at:  bsandusky@stjschools.org, or 573-265-2300 ext: 4294 (my plan time is 2:00-2:50, if you call during school hours I may not be available to pick up, but you can leave me a message.)

Engelbrecht: This week we are continuing Unit 2 Inventive Thinking. We will be finishing The Invention of Hugo Cabret and focusing on mood, author’s purpose, author's viewpoint, theme and review figurative language.  In language we will be finishing  finishing conjunctions, interjections, and prepositions.  We are in editing our  informational writing (research report) this week.  It will be due Monday. There won’t be any class time to work on this on Monday, so if students aren’t finished on Friday it will be homework over the weekend. Our read aloud is Midnight Magic  we should be finishing it up Friday and AR testing. READING LOGS THIS WEEK! Due Monday!! Remember reading logs are worth 5 points and students that turn them in every week this month qualify for the Pizza Hut Book It program. If you have any questions please email me at lengelbrecht@stjschools.org or 573-265-2300 ext: 4293. Have a great week!

Week 6

	PE 1	Art	Music1	PE 2	Computers	Music 2
Monday	Blankenship	Siders	Shultz	Sandusky	Engelbrecht	Watson
Tuesday	Siders	Shultz	Sandusky	Engelbrecht	Watson	Blankenship
Wednesday	Shultz	Sandusky	Engelbrecht	Watson	Blankenship	Siders
Thursday	Sandusky	Engelbrecht	Watson	Blankenship	Siders	Shultz
Friday	Engelbrecht	Watson	Blankenship	Siders	Shultz	Sandusky

Parent Teacher Conferences

5th Grade Parent Teacher Conferences

Dear Parents,

In order to make Parent Teacher Conferences as efficient as possible, 5th grade will be holding drop-in conferences.  We would like to reserve the evening of Tuesday, October 13th for students who have homeroom with Mrs. Sandusky, Mrs. Shultz, and Mrs. Engelbrecht. On Thursday evening, we will host conferences for Mr. Siders’, Mrs. Watson’s, and Mrs. Blankenship’s homerooms. If you need to schedule a conference at an alternate time, you may do so by contacting the teacher you would prefer to conference with. Below, you will find the schedule of conferences and teacher availability.

There will be a check-in table that you need to sign in at (regardless of the night you come), and this is where you will pick up your child’s report card, and sign in. All teachers will be available on Tuesday and Thursday evenings (please come during your scheduled night), please be patient, as there might be a short waiting period to see the teacher you need to speak with. Teachers are allotting 5-10 minute blocks to speak with you about your child in their specific content area.

October 14:

• 4-7 pm (Sandusky, Shultz, Engelbrecht homerooms)

October 16:

• 1-3:30 pm (all teachers will be available for all students, everyone welcome during this time allotment)
• 4-7 pm (Siders, Watson, Blankenship homerooms)

This is a similar schedule to what the middle school offers. We have chosen to adopt it because of the multiple teachers that each student has in a year. Please plan on attending or contacting a teacher for a different date/time. We strive for 100% attendance in Parent Teacher Conferences.

Sincerely,

5th Grade Teachers

kshultz@stjschools.org (Katie Shultz)

bsandusky@stjschools.org (Becky Sandusky)

lengelbrecht@stjschools.org (Liz Engelbrecht)

swatson@stjschools.org (Sara Watson)

bblankenship@stjschools.org (Brianna Blankenship)

nsiders@stjschools.org (Nathanael Siders)

October 6th, 2014

5th Grade Newsletter
October 6, 2014

Upcoming Dates:

• October 7th; 5th Grade McTeacher Night (DARE Fundraiser)
• October 7- PTO Meeting
• October 8- DARE begins
• October 9- Skate Night
• October 10-End of First Quarter/Need to be at AR goal
• October 14-Parent Teacher Conferences 4-7 pm Sandusky, Shultz, Engelbrecht homerooms
• October 16-Parent Teacher Conferences 1-3:30 Open for any homeroom and 4-7 pm Siders, Watson, Blankenship homerooms

Please read the letter about Parent Teacher Conferences in the Monday folder.

Homework: Cursive Week 7

MATH:

Ms. Blankenship - This week we are going to begin our unit on algebraic relations. We will be working on evaluating and writing numerical expressions, as well as reviewing the properties of addition and multiplication. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me at bblankenship@stjschools.org or 573-265-2300 ext. 4321.

Mrs. Watson- This week we will begin our unit on algabraic relations. If you have questions or concerns, please contact me at swatson@stjschools.org or 573-265-2300 ext 4319. You can also check out our class webpage to explore the topics we’ve been covering in class.

SCIENCE:
This week in Science we are talking about the 5 classes of vertebrates.  (Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Fish, & Amphibians).  Students will learn about the characteristics of each class as well as learning about examples (both common and unusual like the Bat and Whale).  

On Wednesday, the students will take their first Science Benchmark test.  This test is used to see how the kids are doing on topics so far this year and what areas still need the most work.  This will be used as a predictor for the test at the end of the year. This test will be done on the computer, as most science test the remainder of the year will be done.

ELA:
Mrs. Shultz:  www.mrsshultzsclasswebsite.weebly.com

Parent Teacher Conference Information: Mrs. Shultz will be available on Monday and Friday mornings from 7:20-7:50. She will also be available on Wednesday from 4:00-5:30 pm.

Most book logs were not returned on Friday or Monday! This week is a freebie to those students who did not turn it in. If your student returned his book log, there was a trip to my treasure box and 2 points of extra credit.  Students should have their reading time signed each day. There is no set amount, but 20 minutes a day is suggested. This week, we are learning about our benchmark testing and how it will look online.   Students should be at 100% of their goal by the end of this week. This quarter, that translates in to about 12 points. Please be here as much as possible and let me know what I can do for you! Please remember, if you would like to contact Mrs. Shultz you can do so by writing a note in the red folder, calling me at x4292 or emailing kshultz@stjschools.org.

Sandusky:Reading logs are due Friday, they will be part of 2nd quarter grades. This week we are finishing up theme (fiction), conventions, and will start inferencing in informational text. We will be doing an in class activity with the books Baseball Saved Us and Casey at Bat, although these books are being read during first quarter, these grades will be reflected in second quarter.  I will make sure to include you on my email list for assignments and newsletters, if you send me your email address. Feel free to contact me at:  bsandusky@stjschools.org, or 573-265-2300 ext: 4294 (my plan time is 2:00-2:50, if you call during school hours I may not be available to pick up, but you can leave me a message.)

Engelbrecht: This week we are beginning Unit 2 Inventive Thinking. We will be reading Leonardo Beautiful Dreamer and focusing on standard RL 5.9 Compare and Contrast.  In language for the next couple of weeks we will be working on verb tense standard L 5.1 b and c.  We are beginning our informational writing (research report). Our new read aloud is Midnight Magic. Friday is the last day of 1st quarter, students should be at their first quarter goal. Please remember that comprehension needs to be above 80%. Today I sent home an AR sheet in their Monday folder with their comprehension and percentage of goal. READING LOGS THIS WEEK! Due Monday!! Remember reading logs are worth 5 points and students that turn them in every week this month qualify for the Pizza Hut Book It program. If you have any questions please email me at lengelbrecht@stjschools.org or 573-265-2300 ext: 4293. Have a great week!

Week 3

	PE 1	Art	Music1	PE 2	Computers	Music 2
Monday	Sandusky	Engelbrecht	Watson	Blankenship	Siders	Shultz
Tuesday	Engelbrecht	Watson	Blankenship	Siders	Shultz	Sandusky
Wednesday	Watson	Blankenship	Siders	Shultz	Sandusky	Engelbrecht
Thursday	Blankenship	Siders	Shultz	Sandusky	Engelbrecht	Watson
Friday	Siders	Shultz	Sandusky	Engelbrecht	Watson	Blankenship