Yet another storm blows through Arlington Heights on a Friday and knocks the power out!! Twice in a few weeks is a first...let's hope the trend doesn't continue! I do hope you were able to enjoy unexpected day off with your child, though :)
Well, it definitely felt like fall was in the air today...brrr! Now that the weather is turning colder, please be sure that your child has appropriate outerwear. We will be going outside for recess everyday, unless it is raining. They need to be dressed warm enough to be outside for 30 minutes at a time. It’s also a good idea to label ALL outwear – gloves, hats, scarves, coats, boots – with their names. It would amaze you how many items end up unclaimed in the lost and found!
Mid-term Grades ~ It's hard to believe, but we're already halfway through the first trimester!! I will be sending home mid-term grade reports this week for you to sign and return. The purpose of these grade reports is not only to communicate their progress to both you and your child, but also to continue to encourage your child to take ownership of their grades. If your child is not pleased with their grades, please encourage them to come to me to discuss how to improve their grades.
Tenth Inning ~ We had our first Tenth Inning Celebration on Tuesday of this week...and the kids had a blast!! I've included some pictures below. Students were able to choose from a variety of activities: indoor games, movies, arts & crafts, and online games. We are so proud of those students who earned the reward of our Tenth Inning celebration! An additional bonus of a Tenth Inning HW pass was given to those students who didn't receive any strikes at all during the month of September! We started a new month, which means a clean slate for everyone...hoping to see everyone at the end of the month celebration :)
Mid-term Grades ~ It's hard to believe, but we're already halfway through the first trimester!! I will be sending home mid-term grade reports this week for you to sign and return. The purpose of these grade reports is not only to communicate their progress to both you and your child, but also to continue to encourage your child to take ownership of their grades. If your child is not pleased with their grades, please encourage them to come to me to discuss how to improve their grades.
Tenth Inning ~ We had our first Tenth Inning Celebration on Tuesday of this week...and the kids had a blast!! I've included some pictures below. Students were able to choose from a variety of activities: indoor games, movies, arts & crafts, and online games. We are so proud of those students who earned the reward of our Tenth Inning celebration! An additional bonus of a Tenth Inning HW pass was given to those students who didn't receive any strikes at all during the month of September! We started a new month, which means a clean slate for everyone...hoping to see everyone at the end of the month celebration :)
Important Dates
International Walk to School Day ~ Wednesday, October 8th - Encourage your child to walk to school on Wednesday in celebration of International Walk to School Day! Our staff will be at a number of pick-up points throughout the neighborhoods, looking forward to walking to school with your children :) See the Olive Blog for pick-up points, and join us for the walk!
Re-enactment ~ Thursday, October 9th - Permission slips came home last week. If you have not returned it yet, please sign and return as soon as possible. The Re-enactment is an interactive demonstration of life during colonial times set up in our field. It is conveniently scheduled near the beginning of our Revolutionary War unit, and serves as an excellent introduction to the unit. Students will have the opportunity to interact with pioneers living on the frontier during this time period to gain a unique perspective of what life was like during the Revolutionary War. Always a favorite for the 5th graders!
SIP Day (No School) ~ Friday, October 10th
Columbus Day (No School) ~ Monday, October 13th
Team Building with the Principals ~ Tuesday, October 21st at 9:10 - another favorite activity of our 5th graders! Mrs. Fitzpatrick and Mrs. Perri will be treating our kiddos to a special team building activity - they keep the details quite secret until then...can't wait to see what they do with them!
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 :)
Math
My math class continued to work on computation in unit 2 this week, as well as making magnitude estimate. We will finish up the unit this week, and start our review for the Unit 2 Assessment on Thursday. We'll have one more day of review the following Tuesday (I don't like to test after a long weekend), then our Unit 2 Assessment is scheduled for Wednesday, October 15th, which means the Autumn CCP is due the next day - Thursday, October 16th. Please continue to encourage the students to practice addition, subtraction, and multiplication with decimals and their multiplication facts, as well as log on to Khan Academy as a way to prepare for the assessment. They have assigned missions on Khan they should be completing for each unit.
Science
Students took their first science test this week on lessons 1-6 in the Human Body - please look for those tests to come home for a sign and return. This was our first content area assessment this year, and an excellent opportunity for students to start improving their study skills. If your child is not pleased with their test score, please encourage them to request a re-test. Studying for a test is a specific skill many students struggle to learn in 5th grade, so we discuss often how we can intentionally prepare for an assessment. We discuss what studying looks like, and the resources we can use: re-reading the chapter, creating flashcards, creating quizzes, reviewing the graphic organizers. As the content gets more complex, students need to spend more time with the information independently, and this doesn't come naturally for some students. Please encourage them to spend time studying prior to assessments! If they need any additional help, please encourage them to come see me :)
Reading
This week we focused on the strategy of summarizing as we read non-fiction stories about space. Students learned to identify the main idea in each section or chapter, and bring those main ideas together to form a summary. They were asked to apply these skills to their Clements novel, and write a summary this weekend of the portion of their novel they have read thus far. Summarizing is a challenging skill for 5th graders to master, and we will work on this consistently throughout the year.
Your child should also be finished with their Clements' novel, and we will be wrapping up our discussions on the novels this week. After the novel, we will be moving on to Reader's Theater with students - an excellent way to engage the students in fluency reading with expression! They do love to act!
Writing
We continued to focus in our writing - this week we focused on setting and sound. We took a walk to the corner of Arlington Heights Road and Olive to enjoy a beautiful day, while listening to the many sounds in our community. They recorded as many sounds as they could, then took their lists in to create an entry detailing what they heard and saw. I've posted some pictures of this activity below. One of the most important skills to develop in young writers is observation - the more they notice, the more developed their writing will become! You can help your child develop their sense of observation by pointing out sights, sounds, smells, textures, and tastes as you experience life with them.
“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
As always, should you need anything at all, please don't hesitate to contact me! Have a delightful weekend :)
Cheers ~
Theresa Fowler
No comments:
Post a Comment