March 4th Newsletter

5th Grade Newsletter
March 4th, 2014

Upcoming Dates:

• March 4- McTeacher Night 4-8 p.m.
• March 13-Skate Night
• March 14- ALL AR GOALS DUE End of Quarter
• DARE field trip postponed due to scheduling conflict. More information to come as available.
• March 20- Music Program
• March 27-28- Make Up Days-School WILL BE IN SESSION

Parents:

• Students will be going outside for recess unless the temperature is 20 degrees or below. Please encourage your child to dress weather appropriate, for they will be going out unless there is a doctor’s note.
• 50 state tests are now being made up during recess time for those who did not label with 100% accuracy in the past three weeks.
• A new behavior structure has been implemented in 5th grade (it’s been used in the past and has good results), it’s called the ‘Clipboard’. The clipboard will last for two weeks, if a child is ‘clipboarded’ it is marked on a spreadsheet. On the 5th clipboard students lose their Fun Friday. Fun Friday will take place every other week. If a student continues to misbehave after the 5th clipboard they will more than likely be assigned an after school detention.

MATH:

Mr. Siders - Students have been working on adding unlike fractions (different denominators) and reducing their answer.  This is a very hard concept and kids have been doing very well.  We will start, the middle of this week, preparing for our next benchmark assessment.  Students will also be taking their 3rd quarter STAR Math test this week.

Ms. Blankenship - We finished our unit on fractions today, taking our end of unit test. We will be working on probability and data Thursday and Friday. We will STAR test on Friday. Benchmark testing begins next week.

Mrs. Watson- We will be working on algebra this week, exploring numerical expressions and variables. We will also be working on mean, median, and mode. Finally, students should be practicing their multiplication facts and the steps to  long division.n b

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 80% of their AR goal in order to stay on track to reach their goal. Dare essays have been written and completed. I will be grading them this week so I can return them to homeroom teachers.  The homeroom teacher will be selecting 5 of the best essays for selection of the essay winners. We will be reviewing all language skills in the next 2 weeks.  We will also practice the reading skills of problem and solution and compare and contrast for next week’s benchmark test.  We will finish our read aloud this week,  and the students will be testing on the book for a grade.  Don’t forget that AR goals will need to be completed by next Thursday, March 13. 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:This week we are working on Point of View (W 5.1). Once students have an understanding we will be moving on to Unit 4. Reading Logs due Friday. All late work for this quarter is due on Wednesday the 12th, anything after As always feel free to contact me at: bsandusky@stjschools.org, or 573-265-2300 ext: 4294

Engelbrecht: 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. We are starting Unit 4 (Civil War) this week.  We will be reading If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War and You Wouldn’t Want to be a Civil War Soldier .  Students will be identifying types of conflict in the story, point of view, and comparing and contrasting fictional and informational texts. We will also be reviewing language skills for the next  couple of weeks in preparation for our upcoming benchmark test.If you need anything or have any questions please email me at lengelbrecht@stjschools.org or 573-265-2300 ext: 4293

SCIENCE:
Mr. Siders - We will continue to work on our Solar System unit.  We are talking about the objects in our solar system including the sun, planets and moons.  We will also be talking about the moon phases as well as the length of time it takes the earth and moon to rotate and revolve/orbit.

Students have begun working on a Solar System Travel flyer.  They have been assigned an object in our solar system to be researching.  They will then be taking those facts and “spinning” them in a persuasive way as to why someone should visit that planet/moon/star (if it were possible to actually do so).  We have discussed that it would be impossible to visit many of the planets (or the sun) for various reasons but this project gives the students a way to be creative about presenting their planet’s facts.

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

February 17th, 2014

5th Grade Newsletter
February 17th , 2014

Upcoming Dates:

• February 17th; Mid Quarter Grades sent home
• February 18- 5th Grade Science Night 6:00pm  (Rescheduled)
• March 11th- Spelling Bee
• March 13- ALL AR GOALS DUE
• March 14- DARE Field Trip

Parents:

• Students will be going outside for recess unless the temperature is 20 degrees or below. Please encourage your child to dress weather appropriate, for they will be going out unless there is a doctor’s note.

Homework:This is the last week that students will be given class time to complete their 50 State Test. They are expected to have 100% accuracy on labeling the states. If they do not master it by the end of the week students will be making the test up during recess, RTI, and morning time.

MATH:

Mr. Siders - We will continue working through our unit on fractions.  This week we will be working on adding and subtracting like fractions and reducing our answer to simplest form.  We will also be reviewing all fraction concepts common factors and greatest common factors and reducing/simplifying fractions into simplest form.  I expect us to  be ready to take our post test over fractions next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Students have been doing amazing on taking a fraction (like 3/28) and turning it into a decimal and a percent.  There are so many real world applications for this that I encourage you to practice this with your students.  Examples:  February 3/28 (3rd out of 28 days) to find the decimal and percent we are through the month.  34/365 (days in the year), etc….  

Ms. Blankenship - We are continuing our unit on fractions. This week we will work on adding and subtracting like fractions, as well as reducing fractions. We covered the divisibility rules last week, and will continue to practice those so that we are ready to reduce fractions.  

Mrs. Watson- Students will be learning about long division with 2 digit divisors. We will also be covering geometric shapes and their attributes,  number patterns, and probability. Students will have a quiz over number patterns on Thursday, February 20th, 2014. Homework will be due on Friday and covers the different ways to write a number.

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 55% of their AR goal in order to stay on track to reach their goal. We are beginning our DARE essays this week. Because we are taking a step-by-step approach to the writing process, we prefer that students complete these in class. However, you should feel more than comfortable talking about the subject matter and tossing out ideas for the project. This essay MUST be completed in order to graduate and attend the DARE field trip in March. We also continue to work on writing conventions (combining sentences) and reading for main idea and details. 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: DARE Essays is our big push this week. Monday students were given time to complete their graphic organizers (this shows how and where all the information is suppose to go). Tuesday we will start our rough drafts, Wednesday we will finish AND peer edit. Thursday and Friday we will be working on our Final Copies. If essays are not completed by Friday, they are homework over the weekend. All DARE Essays are due Monday February 24th. We will also be working on RI 5.1, inferring with nonfiction information. Students will be looking at images of Native American Tribes and inferring about their lifestyles and culture. Book Clubs continue with their Historical Fiction texts, along with daily questions and blogging. Read logs due Friday the 21st.  As always feel free to contact me at: bsandusky@stjschools.org, or 573-265-2300 ext: 4294

Engelbrecht: In Language this week we will be working on sentence structure and identifying parts of speech in a sentence. DARE Essays is our main focus this week. Monday students were given time to complete their graphic organizers (this shows how and where all the information is suppose to go). Tuesday we will start our rough drafts, Wednesday we will finish AND peer edit. Thursday and Friday we will be working on our Final Copies. If essays are not completed by Friday, they are homework over the weekend. All DARE Essays are due Monday February 24th. Reading logs will be due on Monday, students need to read two hours at home and have a parent sign the log. We will also be working on RI 5.1, inferring with nonfiction information. Students will be looking at images of Native American Tribes and inferring about their lifestyles and culture. We will also be listening to “I will Fight no More Forever”  a speech by Chief Joseph.  If you need anything or have any questions please email me at lengelbrecht@stjschools.org or 573-265-2300 ext: 4293

SCIENCE:
Mr. Siders - We will begin our unit on the Space and the Solar System this week.  

Ms. Blankenship - This week we will be continuing our unit over Weather and the Water Cycle.

Mrs. Watson- We will be continuing our unit on Weather and the Water Cycle and focusing on Climate.

Week 2

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

February 10, 2014

5th Grade Newsletter
February 10th , 2014

Upcoming Dates:

• February 12th; DARE Review with Officer Jones
• February 18- 5th Grade Science Night (Rescheduled)
• March 11th- Spelling Bee
• March 13- ALL AR GOALS DUE
• March 14- DARE Field Trip

Parents:

• If school is canceled, Parent Teacher Conferences will be rescheduled for another time.
• Students will be going outside for recess unless the temperature is 20 degrees or below. Please encourage your child to dress weather appropriate, for they will be going out unless there is a doctor’s note.
• Science Packets will be covering Weather and the Water Cycle this week, they are due on Friday, February 14th. (If students are going to music auditions in the mornings, they are responsible for making this up at a time outside of class.)
• Students will be taking their 50 state test on Friday this week. This is week 2 out of 3 in which they will be able to test in provided classtime.

Homework: We have finished with the sections of the United States. The next three weeks we are going to work on labeling all of the states. Once a student has successfully labeled all the states they do not have to take the test.  We will be giving tests on Friday.

MATH:

Mr. Siders - We will continue working through our unit on fractions.  This week we will be working on finding common factors and greatest common factors and reducing/simplifying fractions into simplest form.  

Students have been doing amazing on taking a fraction (like 3/28) and turning it into a decimal and a percent.  There are so many real world applications for this that I encourage you to practice this with your students.  Examples:  February 3/28 (3rd out of 28 days) to find the decimal and percent we are through the month.  34/365 (days in the year), etc….  

Ms. Blankenship - We are continuing our unit on fractions. Last week we covered converting improper fractions to mixed fractions as well as mixed to improper. The students did so well! You will see their quiz score during parent teacher conferences.
       This week we are focusing on converting decimals to percents, percents to decimals, decimals to fractions, percents to fractions, and fractions to decimals. We will also be working on finding the greatest common factor of two numbers which will lead into reducing fractions.

Mrs. Watson- Students will be learning about long division with 2 digit divisors. We will also be covering greatest common factor, number patterns, line graphs, and probability. Students will have a quiz over equivalent representations on Thursday, February 13th. Homework will be due on Thursday as well. Please be expecting a call or note home to reschedule your parent-teacher conference early this week.

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 44% of their AR goal in order to stay on track to reach their goal. Students will be bringing home rescheduled parent teacher conference forms today (only those that had their conference scheduled with Mrs. Kemnnitzer). In nonfiction reading, we are discussing the main idea and details of a passage. This is a skill of focus for both nonfiction and fiction reading. 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: Reading Logs this week will be due on Friday.We will be studying sentence structure (L5.3), and taking a post test on Tuesday. The only way to practice sentence structure is to test out different ways to combine and rewrite sentences. We will be doing a lot of Kagan activities with this standard so students can see how one sentence can be written in multiple ways, and still be right! Students are still blogging on their Book Club books (historical fiction), and answering text feature questions with their groups. Small groups are being pulled from Benchmark Results to help students in their area of need. Students will be introduced to RI 5.1, which is inferencing in nonfiction texts. Parent teacher conferences are being rescheduled (I’m contacting those who have a scheduled time by note or phone call), if you would like to contact me for a new time: bsandusky@stjschools.org, or 573-265-2300 ext: 4294

Engelbrecht: In Language this week we are finishing comma rules we will post test on Tuesday.  We just ran out of time last week to post test. We will be working on sentence structure. Reading logs will be due on Monday, students need to read two hours at home and have a parent sign the log. Reading logs are worth five point every week.  We will also be reading Folk Stories and discussing the theme inferences, and character traits.  If you need anything or have any questions please email me at lengelbrecht@stjschools.org.

SCIENCE:
Mr. Siders - Weather and the Water Cycle tests will be going home at parent teacher conferences.  Students did great on the unit and learned a lot of great things.  We will begin our next science unit next week.

Ms. Blankenship - This week we will be continuing our unit over Weather and the Water Cycle.

Mrs. Watson- We will be continuing our unit on Weather and the Water Cycle and focusing on Climate.

Week 1

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