Happy 1/2 Birthday, Maddie!!

5-2 Updates - 12/07

Hello 5-2 Parents ~

It was so nice to see all of you last week for conferences and discuss your child's progress during the first trimester!  Know that I am available to you at any time throughout the school year should we need to continue conversations or discuss any new issues.  I've grown so fond of all of your children, and consider it a great privilege to teach them every day...and I so appreciate all the support I receive from each of you at home!  Thank you!

Important Dates

Band Concert ~ Monday, December 8th ~ 7:00pm

See Mrs. Kuzmanoff's email for details about the concert.  Please have them here for band rehearsal at 8:10am, and back at school before 7:00pm for the concert wearing black bottoms (pants/skirt) and shoes with a white shirt.

Robert Crown Michael - Puberty Education for Boys ~ Tuesday, December 9th ~ 7:00pm ~ Please remember to send in the permission slip and $8 if you have not done so already.

This program is for boys and an adult family member.  The identical program will be presented to our students during the day in the spring with the girls' Linda program.  This offering is made by the PTA to allow parents to participate in the program with their child.

The Michael Program allows pre-adolescent boys to learn about changes they will experience during puberty. The “boys-only” format encourages open discussion about questions that arise during the onset of puberty. We discuss the physical and emotional changes that occur during puberty and also compare the female and male reproductive anatomy.  Robert Crown educators address secondary physical changes such as voice change, increased production of sweat and oil, acne, and the growth of body hair, as well nocturnal emissions and spontaneous erections.

Each participant takes home a comprehensive booklet as a resource. Booklets are available in English and Spanish.

Program Goals:
Students will…

1. Increase knowledge about human anatomy, the changes which occur during puberty, and the reasons for these changes.
2. Understand that the changes of puberty are a normal part of human development and will increase their comfort for discussing this topic with trusted adults.
3. Learn skills to take care of their bodies as they experience the changes of puberty.

Science Behind Drugs ~Thursday, December 11th ~ Please remember to send in the permission slip if you have not done so already.

Kids face tough decisions, especially regarding the issue of drug use. RCC’s “Science Behind Drugs and Prevention” program helps kids make healthy choices and lead a drug-free life. The program uses research-proven effective, interactive teaching methods. The neurological effects of drug addiction are demonstrated using the “Reward Pathway” display in the transparent brain model. Addiction is defined and the underlying neurological response to drugs that leads to addiction. This class also includes information about prevention addiction to prescription pain medications and heroin.

Program Goals:
Students will…

1. Increase knowledge about drugs and their effects on total wellness (physical, mental social, emotional) with intense focus on neuroscience.
2. Feel empowered to take personal responsibility for increasing their total wellness and increase disapproval of alcohol and other drug use.
3. Develop strategies/tools to make healthy decisions and explore alternatives to alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use/abuse.

Revolutionary War Presentation ~ Monday, December 15th ~ Please remember to send in the permission slip and $5 if you have not done so already.

This is an interactive presentation about the Battle of Cowpens.  Students will learn the different war strategies used by the British and Continental army, then have a chance to participate in a re-enactment of the battle.  Please have your child wear BLUE to school that day, as our class will be representing the Continental Army.

What's Happening in the Classroom

Math

We've been working in Unit 5 with our focus on fractions, decimals, and percents.  This is a longer unit that will take us all the way until break.  We will be taking the Unit 5 Assessment on Friday, December 19th.  Please encourage your child to be practicing their skills on Khan Academy at home.  They are assigned appropriate "recommendations" that align to our unit.  Your child works on these recommendations each day during our math hour so they should be able to access the appropriate skills at home.  Typically, students have time to master these skills during the math hour, but if a student is struggling to understand the concept, they may need more time to practice their skills at home.  Their current Common Core Packet will be due the first day back from winter break, Monday, January 5th.

Social Studies

We began the Revolutionary War unit this week with an exciting tug-of-war game in our room!  They had such a great time with this activity - it was hard to contain their excitement when I told them we were going to have a tug-of-war game!!  We used this simulation to draw some comparisons to the strategies used in the Revolutionary War by both the British and the Continental Army.  The game started with all the larger students on the red side, representing the large and well-trained British Army; and some of the smaller students on the blue side, representing the smaller and untrained Continental Army.  It looked as if the red team was going to crush the blue team.  However, after several rule changes, the Continental Army ended up defeated the British army, much to the surprise of the larger red team!  Ask your child to explain the rule changes, and the correlation to the war strategies - this will help to prepare them for the unit assessment, scheduled for Friday, December 12th.  They should also prepare for this assessment by re-reading the chapter, reviewing the unit organizer, and taking the online History Alive assessment.

Reading

This week we studied point of view in literature as we read about cowboys and cowgirls in the American West.  Since this week ended our 2nd unit in Treasures, we would typically be taking a break from Treasures this week to prepare for our Unit Assessment; however, we will be moving on to Unit 3 Week 1 next week as it ties in nicely with our Revolutionary War unit.  We will continue our literature study on point of view and perspective as they read a number of realisic fiction stories about the Revolutionary War.  They will also read 3 different accounts of Paul Revere's ride and compare information across genres - one will be a reader's theater written by a British author, Paul Revere's Midnight Ride, the second will be the famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, and the third will be a non-fiction re-telling of the events, A Shot Heard Around the World.  Students typically really enjoying reading about the same event across different genres of text, so I expect them to be quite engaged in this unit.  Finally, students will read 3 non-fiction books about different battles from the Revolutionary War and compare and contrast the events of the battles while focusing on sequence as a non-fiction internal text structure.

On Monday, students were assigned a Conflict Scrapbook - due Friday, 12/19 based on their recent novel reading of My Brother Sam is Dead.  You can find all the details about this project on Edmodo.  Students will be creating a scrapbook with 4 different entries that address the four major types of conflict found in literature:  a letter from one character to another (character vs character conflict); a diary entry (character vs self conflict), a newspaper article (character vs society conflict); and an illustration (character vs nature conflict).  They will be given some time to work on this project in class, but it is primarily to be completed at home.  We have discussed planning for a larger project and how to schedule their time wisely, and I do continue to check in on with them, giving them guidelines for where they should be in their project.  Please take some time to check in with your child's progress on this project.  You can support them by setting up a calendar with deadlines for different pieces of the project.

Writing

We have been working on research and content area during our writing time using the text George vs George, a great resource for looking at the different perspectives of George Washington and King George during the Revolutionary War.  We have focused on guided note-taking strategies for the past two weeks.  Our focus in the upcoming week will be to have students come up with a research question they have around the topic of the Revolutionary War and allow them some independent time to research the answer to their questions.  During the final week before break, all of the research and work they have done during the Revolutionary War will culminate into an editorial.  Students will choose an issue, take a position, and write an editorial that might have appeared in a newspaper in one of the colonies at the time of the war.  While the editorial will primarily be written in class, you may see them working on it at home if they have band or they fall behind in the writing.  Final editorials are due on Friday, December 19th.

Have you had enough of the Revolutionary War yet??  While the students have been HIGHLY engaged in this unit (I will admit that I just love it as well!), we will be saying goodbye to the Revolutionary War as we leave for Winter Break.  

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream.  It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.  ~ Ronald Reagan

Cheers, 

Theresa Fowler

Thank you!!

Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes today!!  Feeling the love as our extra-wonderful room moms (Mrs. Borland, Mrs. Burda, and Mrs. Ferrazza) came in for a birthday surprise from all the kiddos for me :). I am so blessed to be able to teach this special group of children...with such thoughtful parents!!  Thank you!!

Happy Birthday, Lane!!

5-2 Updates ~ 11/10

Hello 5-2 Parents ~

Happy Veteran's Day!  Tomorrow is a day we should all pause and think about those men and women serving in our armed forces.  With Thanksgiving right around the corner, we have much to be thankful for when remembering our military.  Looking for a way to celebrate?  Think about having your child write a letter to a soldier thanking them for their service.  Here is a sample letter from a 5th grader:

Dear Serviceman or Servicewoman,
Thanksgiving reminds us of all we have to be thankful for.  We want to thank you for our freedom. First, we want to thank you for fighting the many battles that you have fought! Next, we know you are very brave! Last, thank you for the protection you provide for our country, cities, families and everything you protect. We appreciate you and all the sacrifices you make so that we can enjoy the many freedoms we have in the United States! We want to say we are very proud of you and all the men and women who serve our country!
Your friend always,

Please send in your child's letter if they choose to write one.  We will be collecting these letters, and sending them off to our soldiers overseas so they will receive them in time for Thanksgiving.  We will be working on writing as many of these as we can in our spare time over the next week.  Thank you!

Important Dates

Bob Jones University's Wind Ensemble ~ Wednesday, November 12th ~ 1:45-3:00pm - We will walk to Thomas Middle School on Wednesday afternoon to enjoy a concert.  Permission slips went home last week.  If you have not returned the permission slip, please be sure you do so by tomorrow.  Thank you!

Progress Reports Issued ~ Friday, November 22nd - Please remind your children that they can check on their grades at any time by asking for a mid-term progress report.  They should be encouraged to own their grades this year, and understand the impact of daily work has on their final grades.  I've been impressed by the number of students who have asked me for their mid-term reports, and questioning how to improve their grades.  What a group of dedicated students!


What's Happening in the Classroom

Math

Unit 3 Assessments came home today for a sign and return.  Please be sure to review the test with your student, and have them return it to me tomorrow.  My math class started Unit 4 Division this week.  This is only a 2-week unit, with our Unit 4 Assessment scheduled for next Friday, November 21st.  Students can practice for this assessment by logging on to Khan Academy and practicing any of the division recommendations I have made to their accounts.  I continue to encourage the students to practice their mulitplication and division facts at home on a daily basis.  Many of the students do not have automaticity with their math facts yet, and this is impacting their ability to accurately complete the division algorithm. 

Social Studies

We've spent the past week looking at the arguments between Patriots and Loyalists in Unit 11.  They studied 6 specific historical figures, and their arguments for and against independence.  Students enjoyed using Google Drawing to create Debate Cards illustrating the arguments between these two parties to help prepare them for the test.  These Debate Cards will be on display when you visit our classroom for Parent-Teacher Conferences.  Please look for the graded rubrics to come home for a sign and return by the end of the week.  Students will also be able to participate in a debate tomorrow during our social studies block.  They were asked to choose one perspective - the British or the Colonists - and defend who they believe was right as the tensions began to rise in our country at the time of the Revolutionary War.  The Unit 11 Assessment is scheduled for Friday, November 14th.  Please have your student prepare for the test by logging onto the History Alive site (link on the right hand side of this page) and taking the practice test.  They should also re-read the chapter, and memorize the arguments and actions of the 6 people we studied in this chapter.  They will be given a Unit 11 Review to help them prepare for the test - please be sure they are using the text to work on this review!

Reading

We continued our study of identifying main idea and supporting details in non-fiction text this week as we read Maya Lin:  Architect of Memory.  Students became better equipped to identify the organizational structure authors use when writing non-fiction text by comparing the list structure of Rattlers to the web structure of Maya Lin.  These are challenging comprehension strategies, but with additional practice and review, students are making excellent progress in their ability to comprehend complex text.  Next week, we will return to fictional text and look again at the theme of a story.

Students read a non-fiction graphic novel about an important person from the Revolutionary War period last week, and have been working on an Explain Everything (an iPad app) project using the novel.  Our new Common Core Standards have our students analyzing how illustrations and text contribute to the overall meaning, tone, and beauty in a graphic novel.  They thoroughly enjoyed reading these novels, and are quite engaged as they learn to closely read a different type of text.

They were also given My Brother Sam is Dead, a novel about a boy living through the conflict of the Revolutionary War.  This novel is due after Thanksgiving Break, when we will use it to take a closer look at the types of conflict in literature.  The content of this novel may be more mature than other novels they have been read because it deals with the topic of war, but it is not graphic at all and completely appropriate for their grade level.  Many of our 5th grade classes read it across the district because it is an accurate depiction of the war from a young boy's perspective.  We find most students are quite engaged in this novel, and it provides an additional perspective to their study of the war.  The students and I did discuss the content of the book at length last week when I assigned it, but I wanted to give you all a heads up just in case they had any questions or wanted to discuss the book with you.  If you have any questions or concerns at all, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Writing

Students turned in their polished personal narratives on a memory with a special person last Friday.  I was so touched by so many of the stories!  Ask them to share their story with you, then perhaps ask them to share their story with the person they wrote about.  Far too often we neglect to tell people the impact they have on our lives, and these essays are excellent ways to share those feelings.  Look for their graded rubrics to be signed and returned to come home today.  We discussed their scores on the rubric, and looked for specific ways to improve their scores.  Today, they planned their second personal narrative, and tomorrow they will write and submit their second polished piece.  Finally, at the end of the week, they will write a 3rd personal narrative in 60 minutes.  Practicing the writing cycle - from planning to finished piece - within a time frame is an important skill for students to be successful on the upcoming PARCC assessment.

Book Buddies

Our 5th graders were SO excited to get started with their Kindergarten Book Buddies this week!  Many of them fondly remember their 5th grade Book Buddies when they were Kindergarteners themselves, and were excited to give the same experience to a little kindergartener.  We met this week and just spent time on an activity that helped them get to know each other a little better.  We will be meeting with them every other Friday afternoon for the remainder of the year, working with the little ones on important literacy skills.  I've included pictures of our first meeting below:

Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, 
and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

5-2 Updates ~ 11/02

Hello 5-2 Families ~

We had an absolutely wonderful time on Friday spooking the entire 5th grade, as well as many staff members, in the Fowler Fun House!!  Hands down, it was the best Halloween party I've had the privilege of attending at Olive.  The students did an amazing job creating and designing their "stations" for the Fun House, and the room moms did a phenomenal job bringing it to life.  A great big thank you to our SPOOKTACULAR room moms:  Mrs. Borland, Mrs. Burda, and Mrs. Ferrazza for all the effort they put into planning the Fowler Fun House.  A shout out to Mr. Tsagalis and Mrs. Blumenfeld for giving up their lunch hour to labor in the decorating, not to mention all of the parents who showed up to participate in our Fun House:  Mrs. Baenke, Mrs. Ritter, and Mrs. Cates.  I think I remembered everyone (I sincerely apologize if I forgot anyone!!)  Feeling pretty blessed by such a supportive group of parents this year...THANK YOU SO MUCH!!  You have reached legendary status in my book :)

**I've included some pictures below...though they do the Fowler Fun House little justice.  It was so much more spectacular than we were able to capture with a camera!



Important Dates

Progress Reports ~ send home Friday, 11/21

Fall Conferences ~ Monday, 11/24 & Tuesday, 11/25 ~ If you have not signed up yet, please do so ASAP.  If you need to schedule a different time, please shoot me an email and we'll find a time that works for both of us.



What's Going on in the Classroom?

Math
My math class will test on Unit 3 (Geometry) on Wednesday, and pre-test on Unit 4 (Division) on Wednesday.  They should prepare for the test by playing any of the Unit 3 games (Angle Tangle and Polygon Capture), studying the review that will come home on Monday, and logging on to both LearnZillion and Khan Academy to practice skills.  As always, I will have a review session at lunch recess the day before the test (Wednesday) - please encourage your child to come if they are struggling with the concepts.  Unit 4 is another computation unit that requires automaticity of math facts and repetition.  Please encourage your child to play the Everyday Mathematics math facts games, as well as practice long division problems.

Social Studies
Students took their Chapter 10 Assessments on Thursday - look for them to come home for a sign and return early in the week.  We will move on to study the perspective of Loyalists vs Patriots in the time period just before the Revolutionary War.  Students will have a chance to learn about 6 people from that time period who are famous for their outspoken opinions.

Reading
We returned to our Treasures curriculum this week and worked on the comprehension strategy of inferencing.  This is a challenging concept as students learn to dig deeper into the text and "read between the lines," but they were able to come to a deeper understanding of the text through discussion.  Students will start our new novel groups this week as we shift our focus to the Revolutionary War.  The topic in many of these books does present the war in an age-appropriate, but realistic perspective.  Each novel presents the war from the perspective of a child about the age of your child, as they wrestle with the difficult realties of war. If you have any concerns or questions about the topics discussed in these novels, please let me know.   

Writing
We will finish up our Personal Narratives this week, with our focus on revising and editing throughout the week.  They should be polished up by Friday, and will be submitted for grading by Friday.

“Whatever they grow up to be, they are still our children, and the one most important of all the things we can give to them is unconditional love.  Not a love that depends on anything at all except that they are our children.” ~ Rosaleen Dickson

Cheers ~
Theresa Fowler

5-2 Updates ~ 10/19

Hello 5-2 Families ~

Hope you had a restful weekend...great weekend for board games and football :)

Important Dates

Open House ~ Wednesday, October 22nd at 6:30pm - please plan to enjoy us for an evening at our annual Open House!  Students have fun showing their parents around the classroom and building, and it's a great chance for a chat :)

Halloween Party ~ Friday, October 31st at 1:10pm - Our Room Moms have been very busy planning an exciting party for your children - a great big thank you to Mrs. Ferrazza, Mrs. Borland, and Mrs. Burda!  I will email a letter and post a letter on this blog about the foods that will be served at the party, along with our food policy.  You should have seen a permission slip come home about lunch on Halloween Day - please return this permission slip as soon as possible so that I know your child's plans for that day.  Our Annual Halloween Parade begins at 1:30pm, with the party immediately following.  We look forward to seeing you all along the route!  Pleae refer to the Olive Blog for more information on rain plans, as well as halloween costume expectations.

Math

My math class began to work on geometric concepts in unit 3 this week.  For practice, they should be working on Khan Academy ~ Properties of Shapes at home when they have time.  I will also introduce them to another excellent resources for building Common Core Standard Skills this week - LearnZillion.  They should be working on the LearnZillion skills throughout this unit as well.

Science

We finished our Human Body unit this week with a Final Unit Assessment.  I was SO pleased with their scores on this assessment!  It looks like many students learned from their struggle with the mid-unit quiz, and worked to develop their study skills - an important 5th grade skill!  I will be sending home these scores for a sign and return this week - please look for them.  You will only receive the written portion of the test, but the score includes their mimio test results as well.  If you would like to see their mimio test results specifically, please email me and I will send you an electronic copy.

Social Studies

We begin our study of the Rising Tension in the Colonies prior to the Revolutionary War tomorrow in an exciting way!  Though I would love to share details with you....I can't spoil it!  Just be sure to ask your child about it tomorrow afternoon...it's one of my favorite days of the year (hehe!)

Reading

We wrapped up Unit 1 in Treasures this week learning the strategy of cause and effect and focusing on theme in stories about dogs.  Theme is a challenging literary element to identify in complex text, so we will work on it often this year.  Next week, we will take a break from our Treasures program since it is week 6, and turn our attention to dramas.  They will learn a little about the structure and history of dramas, and then get to participate in a character building play - should be a fun week!

We will also be working on applying all of the skills and strategies we focused on in Treasures Unit 1 to short stories and poems as a way to review for the Unit 1 Assessment on Friday.

In addition, we will start rotating for Target Time this week - some students will begin the rotation this week, and all the students will begin the rotation next week.  Target Time is a 30 minute block in our afternoon where we will focus on each student's greatest need, and provide additional instruction - it may be re-teaching or enrichment depending on their needs, but all students will enjoy rich instruction, as well as have the opportunity to experience different classrooms and instructors.

Writing

We took a break from our WEX curriculum on Personal Narratives this week and learned to develop strong, descriptive language with a study on poetry this past week.  Students wrote Acrostic and Cinquain poems about autumn - we will further our study of poetry by writing Diamante and Haiku poems this coming week.  Students will be able to choose their favorite poem to polish up for final publication later this week - hopefully we will have them published for Open House!

We will begin the process of writing our final Personal Narratives this week.  We will work slowly through the process for about 2 weeks, focusing on how to pull a Personal Narrative together into a polished piece with an engaging introduction and reflective conclusion, then they will be expected to write a Personal Narrative independently while being timed.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.  Have a fantastic week ~

Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you.

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Cheers ~

Theresa Fowler

5-2 Updates ~ 10/11

Hello 5-2 Parents ~

What an absolutely beautiful day we had for the Re-enactment Day!!  The field was transformed into a Revolutionary War-time frontier Thursday night, and the students had such a great time learning as they visited the Tavern, the school or learned what it was like to be in the militia or a trapper at that time.  Each student was assigned to summarize one persona's presentation ~ they took notes and pictures on iPad as they traveled from station to station.  This weekend, they've been asked to log on to Edmodo and reflect on their experiences from the Re-enactment. Reflection is an important skill we will be focusing on this year as they learn how to look back at an experience, make connections, and think about how the experience impacted them as learners.  Next week, they will integrate the information they learned on the field with the on-line biographies of each persona to create a presentation with pictures.  We will be blogging our presentations - stay tuned!  The kids are excited and now ready to start our Revolutionary War Unit in two weeks!!  Check out the pictures I've posted below :)

Important Dates

Columbus Day ~ Monday, October 13th - No School!  Enjoy!!

Open House ~ Wednesday, October 22nd at 6:30pm - please plan to enjoy us for an evening at our annual Open House!  Students have fun showing their parents around the classroom and building, and it's a great chance for a chat :)

Midterms

Midterms were a little delayed this week as a result of catching up from our day off, and my district meeting on Tuesday...but they did make it into their hands on Friday afternoon. 

Please review this mid-term with your child some time this weekend.  I have already discussed the reports with the kiddos, letting them know that I do send these home in the middle of the term so they know how their performance is impacting their grades.  They still have plenty of time to change any grade they are not pleased with.  If they are not happy with their grades, please encourage them to meet with me to discuss how they can improve their grades.  It is important as they move forward in their education that they learn how to advocate for themselves, that they understand how their daily performance impacts their grades, and that they seek support to achieve the grades they want to earn.  I have also told them that they may ask for a midterm report from me at any time to check on their grades.  It should never be a mystery to them how they are performing, and their Progress Report should never be full of surprises!  If you have any concerns at all, please don't hesitate to contact me yourself.

Math

My math class will be taking their Unit 2 Assessment on Wednesday, October 15th.  We will have one more day of review on Tuesday, as well as a study session at lunch.  Please encourage your student to attend if they are struggling with the content. They brought home a review on Friday. Please have them pull this out this weekend to review the skills - I try to remind them not to save all the studying for the night before a test!

Science

Students had a great time this week learning about how our body uses the respiratory system to bring oxygen to the muscles so we can move. Their experiment had them breathing through a straw and a coffee stirrer while doing different activities to focus on how our body's need for oxygen increases as our activity increases.  It also promoted a great discussion on the effects of asthma on our respiratory system. 

We will shift our focus to the digestive system on Tuesday, when they will learn that this system breaks down food to provide nutrients to our muscles.  They will learn how salivary amalyze (the enzyme in our saliva) begins to break down different foods in our mouths.  As part of the experiment, your child will be eating the following foods:

Orville Redenbocker popcorn

Keebler club crackers

Brownville bread

Carrots

Apples

Nestlé Chocolate Chips

Please let me know if your child cannot have any of these foods due to allergies. 

We will be reviewing the Human Body unit this week as well, and taking the Final Unit Assessment on Friday.  I will be assigning a review packet on Wednesday, as well as some vocabulary activities on Spelling City.  Please help your child prepare for this test by carving out some time for them to review the vocabulary and concepts for this unit each night.  They can start reviewing on Spelling City this weekend!

Reading

We are in the middle of Unit 1 Week 5 in reading - we started it last week and will finish up this week. Their packets and spelling activities are due on Thursday when we will be testing.  We are focused on identifying the problem and solution in a fictional story, and using those to identify the author's message, or theme, that can be found in the story. We have been discussing how the author is very intentional in the choices they make as to how a character acts, what happens to them in the story, and how they choose to solve the problem. It is in these literary elements that we can find the message the author is trying to put forth in their writing. 

Writing

With the short week and the re-enactment, we only worked on WEX for a couple of days this week.  We will spend a few more days adding strong verbs and showing to our writing this week, as well as dialogue, then students will begin work on their Final Personal Narratives next week. 

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.  Enjoy your long weekend ~

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children.

 One is roots; the other, wings.

~ Hodding Carter

Cheers ~

Theresa Fowler