April 15 Newsletter

5th Grade Newsletter
April 14th, 2014

Upcoming Dates:

• April 17-Spelling Bee 6:30 p.m.
• April 29- Begin Math MAP Testing
• April 30th- PTO Wizards Game
• May 6- Begin ELA MAP Testing
• May 8- Begin Science Testing
• MAY 15- DARE Graduation and Field Trip (this is the official reschedule date)

Parents- With the warm weather attempting to start please remember our school dress code. Shorts should come down to at least their fingertips, and the straps of sleeveless shirts should be at least 2 finger widths (no spaghetti straps).  If they do not meet these expectations students will be asked to call home for a change of clothes, sent to the nurse for a change, or sent to the office in the case of  multiple infractions.

MATH:

Mr. Siders - We have begun working on review topics and MAP test preperation.  We will be doing this as well as measurement conversons for the next couple of weeks.

Students continue to practice past concepts every week like fraction to decimal and percent as well as prime vs composite, GCF, and all 4 operations (+, -, /, x) with decimals.

Ms. Blankenship - Students who need to retake the prime numbers quiz will do so on Friday. Please make sure you are studying this with your child. This week we are working on measurement conversions and elapsed time.

Math MAP testing begins April 29th, so we will be reviewing the concepts we have learned throughout the year as well. We will also be taking practice MAP tests throughout the next two weeks.
 

Mrs. Watson- This week, students will be working on Fractions, Area & Conversions, and 3D Shapes and Nets. Students will have mini quizzes Tuesday through Friday and Homework is due Friday, April 18th. Many students have started MAP testing and the rest will begin shortly, so it is very important that students be here each day and are well rested and have had a good breakfast.

If you have questions or concerns please email your student’s math teacher: nsiders@stjschools.org, bblankenship@stjschools.org, or swatson@stjschools.org. You can also visit the class web pages http://stjschools.org/fifth-grade/ for games and other sites to help review.

ELA: Mrs. Kemnitzer and Mrs. Shultz: Mondays are our library days. Please help your student remember any books from home he or she has through the week so that we can have new books to read. Students should be reading at home as often as possible. Practice makes perfect! Students should be at about 45% of their AR goal in order to stay on track to reach their goal. Mid-quarter will be April 25. Students need to be at 50% at that time with an 80% comprehension.  We will be working on all language skills by doing Daily Language.  The students will be required to do it every day and will receive a grade on Thursday and Friday.  We will practicing the reading skills of fact and opinion, drawing conclusions, and inferencing. Synonyms, antonyms, and homophones will be practiced also. The next 3 weeks will be spent reviewing for the MAP test that will start the last week of April. Our read aloud book this quarter is about a boy who lived during the Civil War.   Please remember, if you ever have questions or would like to contact Mrs. Kemnitzer or Mrs. Shultz you can do so by writing a note in the red folder, calling us at 265-2300 x4292 or emailing dkemnitzer@stjschools.org and kshultz@stjschools.org.

Sandusky: Book Orders are due Wednesday the 9th. This week we will be studying problem and solution, and reviewing language skills. We will be covering capitalization, punctuation, revisions, and parts of speech. We will also be working heavily on our constructed responses. Students were taught last week a new strategy called ‘RACE’ that helps improve their writing samples (see below for what the acronym stands for).  Book logs are due Friday. As always feel free to contact me at:  bsandusky@stjschools.org, or 573-265-2300 ext: 4294

Engelbrecht: This week we will be starting review for MAP. In language we will be reviewing figurative language, capitalization, and punctuation rules. We will continue to work on our Civil War journal based on the perspective of someone from that era. In reading we will be working on using RACE to write constructed response questions that deal with comparing two stories, point of view, and inferences. Reading logs are due on Monday, students need to read two hours at home and have a parent sign the log. If reading logs are not turned in before or on Monday, students will receive a mark on the clipboard for not turning in an assignment. If you need anything or have any questions please email me at lengelbrecht@stjschools.org or 573-265-2300 ext: 4293

R- restate the question!

A-answer each part of the question!

C- cite textual evidence!

E- explain your answer!

Week 4

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