2/23/15

    

Upcoming Events:   February 23-27 Classroom Spelling Bees Grades going home today. Please sign the top portion and send it back The 5th grade play will be rescheduled for April due to the snow days In session March 23	Water Bottles Research shows that students who stay hydrated perform better! Students are encouraged to bring a water bottle to school if possible.
Science: This will be our final full week on the unit for Space and the Solar System. Test Review in Class on Wednesday. Unit Test will be on Thursday. Study Guide Go to my website at    nsiders.weebly.com Put your mouse over the button at the top labeled “Science” Click the drop-down that says “Space and the Solar System Review”. The online flashcards are is the study guide. Any student who makes a hard copy set of flashcards to match the ones on my website will receive 5% extra credit on Thursday’s test. Writing the flashcards and using them to study is extremely helpful.  On average, over 95% of my students who make and use the flashcards are able to get an A on their test.	Math Ms. Blankenship This week we will be covering: -Least common multiples -Comparing and ordering fractions -Adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers →→→Mrs. Watson←←← Topics this week: Adding and Subtracting Fractions and Mixed Numbers; Line Plots Homework: 26 points due Thursday >>>Quiz on FRIDAY  over Line Plots<<< ↬Working on multiplication fact fluency at home will greatly benefit students↫
ELA info, Specials schedule, and Contact info on back!
ELA: Englebrecht: Reading Behind Rebel Lines we will be reviewing text structure, inferences, summarizing, and quoting accurately from a text. Reviewing root words, prefixes, and suffixes. AR 70% of goal by Friday In writing we will be continuing our civil war character and writing to historical fiction prompts pretending to be that character. READING LOGS DUE Monday!!   Sandusky: Civil War Informational Text sheet due Wednesday Reading Logs due Friday 27th with Parent Signature We are beginning our Civil War Journals; students are responsible for making these up outside of class time if they are absent. This ongoing project will be taking place of an essay for Unit 4. Students will be expected to respond to the prompt using correct grammatics and conventions. A grade will be given at the END of the Unit. Shultz: Reading: our focus is historical nonfiction. Currently, we are reading about the Aztec empire of Tenochtitlan. Our read aloud is Dear America, the Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl Language: we will be working on prepositions and reviewing conjunctions. Homework: reading and book log. AR: Students should be at 62% of their goal by the end of this week.

Want to talk to a teacher?

• Write a note in the red folder
• Call us at 265-2300 x4320 (Siders) x4321 (Blankenship) x4319 (Watson) x4293 (Engelbrecht) x4294 (Sandusky) x4292 (Shultz)
• Email us nsiders@stjschools.org, bblankenship@stjschools.org, swatson@stjschools.org, lengelbrecht@stjschools.org, bsandusky@stjschools.org, kshultz@stjschools.org

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

February 2, 2015

5th Grade Newsletter
February 2, 2015

Upcoming Dates:

• February 2- Parent Teacher Conferences 4-6pm
• February 3- Parent Teacher Conferences 4-6 pm
• February 5- Parent Teacher Conferences 3-6 pm
• February 6- No School
• February 12th- Skate Night; The Zone
• February 13- No School Teacher work day
• February 16-No school Presidents Day

A special thanks to all the kids who helped out at “Baggin for Bucks” on Saturday! We appreciate you giving a helping hand to the teachers- and time from your weekend!

MATH:

Ms. Blankenship - This week we are beginning our unit on fractions. We will be covering greatest common factors, least common multiples and simplifying fractions. 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 begin our lesson on Fractions. We will begin by learning about multiples and factors, as well as equivalent fractions. Students will also be reducing and simplifying fractions. All students have homework due on Thursday, February 5.  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:
We will continue working on our Space and the Solar System unit with talking about the 8 different moon phases, their names as well as what each phase looks like.  Students will have a quiz this Friday regarding the content from the past 3 weeks of information regarding this current unit..  

Students also continue to work on their Solar System Travel Flyer project and will be making “Travel Books” when we are finished with them.  Each student has been put into groups of 2 and assigned one object from our solar system.  They will be required to research, and then write persuasive reasons why someone should come visit their location “if it were possible to do so”.  

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

*Homework this week for extra credit. This week’s homework is reading. I STRONGLY recommend that students complete the homework. EVERYONE can use extra credit. The reading logs are due on Friday. Reading logs are homework and for a grade. See you at parent teacher conferences!Students should be at 48% of their goal by the end of this week.  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 we are writing our Argumentative Essays.Essays will be worth 40% of their Language grade for 3rd quarter. Students have been ‘front loaded’ on how to write each section, we have looked at peer essays, and have gone over the rubric. Students understand how this paper will be graded and specifically what I am looking for (clear claim, two focused reasons, data to support, and transition phrases). Monday we wrote paragraphs 2 and 3, and started paragraph 4. Tuesday students will be finishing 4, and writing their introduction and conclusion. Wednesday we will be revising and editing, and Thursday students will write their citations and fix any errors in their papers. Students know that if they cannot finish each days’ assignments in the class period, it will be assigned as homework. It is vital that students stay on track, this way I can monitor during class, and they can participate in the editing process on Wednesday. Reading logs are due Monday the 9th, they are worth 5 points apiece, and they must have a parent signature. 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 with Unit 4 America in Conflict. Numbering the Bones is what we will be reading this week..  This book allows students to see the Civil War through the viewpoint of a slave. We will continue discussing how viewpoint effects a story and inferencing. Our read aloud is The Mighty Miss Malone.  In language we will be reviewing context clues. In writing we will be continuing our civil war character and writing to historical fiction prompts pretending to be that character. READING LOGS DUE Monday!!  If you have any questions please email me at lengelbrecht@stjschools.org or 573-265-2300 ext: 4293.