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
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