I hope you were able to get out and enjoy the weather on this beautiful weekend! While the temperature drops came quite suddenly this year, it's so nice to feel those fall temperatures rolling in.
We jumped into curriculum with both feet this week in all content areas...you may have noticed the increase in homework expectations. If you are noticing more than an hour of homework, your child is probably not using their classroom time wisely. This is a learned skill, and something we talk about often. If they're struggling at home with the amount of homework, you may want to reinforce using their independent time in the classroom to complete homework. If they seem overwhelmed, please include me in the conversation as your child may need some additional support with organization and making choices during work times.
Important Dates and Information:
Morning Announcements - If you sent in a permission slip for Morning Announcements, your children were placed on the schedule, but please be aware that there are many children who are interested in participating. This means you may not see your child on the schedule until well into the school year. I will attach the schedule to the blog when it's fully updated. You will receive an email from Mrs. Watanuki the Friday before the week your child has duty. Your child is expected to be here at 8:45 every morning they serve on Morning Announcements.
Maps Testing ~
- Math ~ Monday, 9/15 ~ 9:10-10:10pm (Tranter ~ Wednesday, 9/9 ~ 9:10-10:10)
It is important that your child is in school on these days, so please try to schedule any appointments outside of these times. If your child is absent due to illness, we will schedule make-ups, but it does mean they will be out of the classroom during instruction. Research shows that students perform better when they are well-rested and well-fed before taking assessments!
Room Rep Meeting ~ Tuesday, 9/16 ~ 3-4pm ~ I will be discussing the need for regular copy moms to help us out with the room moms. Please let me know if you're interested!
Band Meeting ~ Wednesday, 9/17 ~ 7-8pm
What's Happening in the Classroom
Math
We will be finishing Unit 1 this week with our first unit test on Friday. This year, their unit assessments will include both the material they learn in Everyday Mathematics, as well as the lessons on Kahn Academy. Your child was given a Self-Assessment at the beginning of the unit with all of the skills listed, both in Everyday Math and Kahn Academy. If you're interested in the skills they are responsible for learning this unit, please ask them to share their Self-Assessment with you. We expect them to review this Self-Assessment throughout the unit to monitor their own progress of skills taught during the unit so they don't arrive at the assessment unprepared. Ask your child if thye have re-assessed their skills in the past week! We will be reviewing for the test both Wednesday and Thursday in class, with some review work assigned as homework. I typically offer study sessions for the unit tests - this week I will offer one on Thursday during lunch and recess. Please encourage your child to attend if they are struggling with the review and need some additional time to review the skills. In addition to the Unit Assessment, students will also take a Snapshot on Edmodo - this is a Common Core aligned assessment of the standard covered during the unit.
As a reminder, please be sure your child is practicing their multiplication and division facts with your students. The automaticity of their facts becomes increasingly important as they move through the 5th grade curriculum. They can review their facts by playing Facts Dash or Facts Workshop using their Everydaymathonline.com login.
Science
Our study of the human body continued this week as we learned about bones and joints. Ask your child if they remember the three different types of joints in their body, and the location of each of these models! We will begin this week learning how the muscles work in pairs to move the bones, then they will have an opportunity to build models of joints using a variety of supplies in their science teams this week. While we don't have a unit assessment for a couple of weeks in science, it's important for students to keep up on the vocabulary learned in this unit. The graphic organizers they complete for each chapter has the most important information for each lesson - have your child continue to review these throughout the unit.
Reading
In reading this week, we opened our Treasures book to begin the first unit. Students learned to identify character traits in a variety of texts, discuss how a character changes throughout a story, and find evidence from the text to support their claims. I've included some pictures below of them working hard in their small groups :)
We took the Weekly Assessment on Friday, testing the vocabulary, comprehension strategies, grammar and spelling from the week. In 5th grade, students take their tests on MimioVote, a responder system that enters their scores using remote devices. This is a paperless system, so we do not send home paper copies of the test. They do write their written responses on an answer sheet, and I record their final test scores on this sheet (Weekly Literacy Assessment Report). These scores are broken down into the components of the test so we have a better understanding of how your child performed on the test. I also record the scores from their spelling, grammar, and vocabualry tests on the Literacy Report. Your child will bring this report home for a signature on Mondays - please be sure to sign and return. If you should ever want to see a detailed copy of your child's performance on the test, I can email you an electronic copy - simply email me a request. In addition to the Weekly Assessment, students will also take a Snapshot on Edmodo - this is a Common Core aligned assessment of the standard covered during the week.
As I mentioned on Curriculum Night, your child has the option to Re-take/Re-do any project or assessment if they are not pleased with their grade. If they do not pass the assignment or project, I will ask them to re-take or re-do it. They will complete a Re-take/Re-do Contract with me which will require additional work for the unit, then they will have the another opportunity to complete it. If your child is ever discouraged by their assessment scores, please encourage them to see me about a re-do.
Writing
We will be finishing up our Informational/Explanatory Text-Based Writing Unit this week. Students will be learning how to respond to non-fiction text in this unit. Most of the non-fiction reading they will be doing in this unit will be on the human body, so it pairs nicely with our science unit. Once those are edited and published, they will begin to work on Tall Tales, which pairs with our Tall Tale unit in reading this week. After reading several tall tales earlier in the week, they will be ready to begin writing their own tall tales toward the end of the week.
Edmodo
As you are aware, much of our daily work is completed on Edmodo. You may have logged on to see some of the work they are involved in, and perhaps noticed some late assignments. Please know that many of their assignments are completed in small groups, so one member will submit the work, leaving the other members appearing as if they did not submit the assignment. I do grade those group assignments and post them on each of their accounts, but in the interim it may look as if your child did not submit an assignment. Many of these assignments are also classwork only, and do not go home as homework. If a student doesn't finish the assignment in class, I will give them time to complete the assignment the next day in class. Again, it may appear as if their assignment is late.
The assignment notebook is where homework assignments are recorded. If your child has a late assignment, you will receive notification with a late slip and strike sheet. If you have NOT received one of these sheets, assume that your child does not have a late assignment, even though Edmodo may show a late assignment.
Have a fantastic week!
“The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.” – Pablo Casals
Cheers ~
Theresa Fowler
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