The Headlines

 

Your scholars continue to work hard as we take on new concepts and ideas.  Our last week before fall break should be productive and fun!

Math:  We continued our practice of the distributive property and learned how it is used in mental math.  We also began looking at bar models for problem solving.  This will continue next week as we practice multiple ways to solve word problems.

Language Arts: Our literature study of Voyage of the Dawn Treader is going very well.  We discussed personification and characterization and next week will continue with our reading.

Spalding:  Thank you for helping your students with their spelling lists; the kids seem to be getting the hang of breaking words apart using phonograms. Next week the homework will be changing.  Instead of turning it in each night, they will continue to write their words three times on M/W/F and the pretest on Thursday, but will turn all of this in together on Friday.  This counts as a grade, so it is important that it is completed!

 

Science: We discussed what a cell is and Robert Hooke, the man who discovered them.  This week we will be learning the parts of a cell and their functions.

 

History: The class did well on their Ancient Civilizations test, those students who received below a C will take their tests home and make corrections.  We started discussing the Renaissance and will continue this week.

 

Reminders:

 

I have asked the class to bring in small cans (i.e, canned corn, soup, etc.), I am hoping to use these as a place for students to organize their pens and pencils.   

 

Mondays I send home purple folders with the students work from the previous week.  These should be signed and returned the following day, and tests should also be signed and returned. Please look over the remainder of your child’s work and then you may keep it at home. 

 

Parent conferences begin the week after fall break.  I will be sending out a Sign-Up Genius link in the next couple of days with dates and times, so please be on the lookout for that.
 

 

Important Dates:

 

October 3-13: Fall Break

October 14-17: Parent teacher conferences, half days

The Headlines, September 22

The Headlines

 

Time is flying by! It is hard to believe we are only a couple of weeks away from fall break.  I am very proud of the hard work our scholars have put forth so far this year and I have confidence it will continue.

 

Math:  Last week we spent quite a bit of time on the distributive property.  It is a difficult concept to master, but one we will use quite a bit as we progress.  We are continuing with our mental math unit and will begin using bar models to solve word problems this week. 

Language Arts: Our literature study of Voyage of the Dawn Treader is going very well.  We have been using our journals to discuss the book and have also begun small group roles.  We will be doing a few mini-lessons this week on personification and foreshadowing.  In writing we are moving on with outlining.  We also had our first seminar.  Ask your child to tell you about what that looks like, they seemed to enjoy the format!

 

Spalding:  As you are aware last week was our first official spelling test.  Please make sure your student is doing their spelling homework each night.  As a reminder, the words need to be dictated, and they should put the correct marking on each word. 

 

Science: We have finished chemistry and will move on to animal cells this week.  This should be a fun unit that the kids will really enjoy!

 

History: We have almost completed our unit on Ancient Civilizations.  The test will be tomorrow.  They should have brought home a study guide on Friday, and we will review today.  Our next study is the Renaissance which we will begin on Wednesday.

 

 

Reminders:

 

I have asked the class to bring in small cans (i.e, canned corn, soup, etc.), I am hoping to use these as a place for students to organize their pens and pencils.   

 

Homework is a very important part of learning.  Not only does it reinforce the concepts we are learning in class, it is also a part of having good study skills.  Many of your students have time to work on their homework during study halls, however it may be a good idea to check in with them and make sure they are completing their work.  Homework is graded on completion and effort!

 

 

Important Dates:

 

September 26:  Half Day, 11:45 dismissal

October 3-13: Fall Break

October 14-17: Parent teacher conferences, half days

Headlines

The Headlines

 

We had a messy week in 5B!  Hopefully your kids told you about our cool science experiments and a big thank you to all the parents who volunteered their time and supplies to help.

Math:  We tested over our unit on estimation and place value this week.  It was not an easy test and the kids did a good job.  Corrections were made on the test and we started our next unit on Order of Operations. 

Language Arts: We were so excited to start our first literature study of Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  The students each have a literature journal we are working through in class.  We will use this as a guide for our reading and also a way to learn vocabulary from the book.  Although I will not take a grade on this every day, I told the class that it is very important that they complete their work, you never know when I will do a check!

Spalding:  We have almost completed our notebook and should be starting our spelling list soon. 

Science: We had a great time doing experiments last week.  Our area of study with these experiments was chemical change versus physical change and we also took a look at what Newtonian fluids are.  We presented our atom models and I was so impressed with all the hard work the kids did.  They are now hanging from the rafters!  This week we will be reviewing and then taking the Chemistry test on Friday.

History: We focused on the Incas last week and learned about their culture, this was an eye-opening discussion!  Next we learn about the Aztecs to finish the unit.  Our test will be next Monday.

Reminders:

 

Next week, we will change the way students sit in the Multi-Purpose Room awaiting dismissal. Presently, they sit alphabetically. Beginning next week, they will sit in their class section. Students will expected to sit quietly and work on a small homework assignment or read a book. There will be no open water bottles or eating of food. This will allow for a more orderly dismissal.

With this new system, you will receive a new placard for your vehicle. Students will bring this home on Friday. If you have more than one Archway student, your oldest student will bring home the new placard. Please begin using this placard on Monday, September 15th. If you do not receive a new placard please e-mail Mr. Posner at jposner@archwayarete.org

 

 Important Dates

 

  Progress Reports sent home: Friday, Sept. 14, these will only go to students who need to      improve their grades. 

  Spalding and Singapore Night: September 17th, 6-8 pm

Headlines, September 7

The Headlines

 

I hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day and had time to relax with friends and family.  The week went very quickly in our classroom and we covered a lot in our four days together!

Math:  Last week we continued our unit on estimation. We discussed multiplying and dividing with powers of ten and practiced prime factorization.  This week we will review the unit and test over the material and then move on to order of operation.   

Language Arts: We will finish Prince Caspian on Monday and are very excited to begin our first Literature study of Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  Please double check with your student to be sure that they have a copy of the book AT SCHOOL!  In writing we worked on summarizing longer passages, and the class seems to be really grasping how to do this.  They will complete a final draft of a passage next week and will begin discussing how to outline.  In grammar we have started punctuation rules and this will continue into this week. 

 Spalding:  We are continuing setting up our notebooks and reviewing phonograms and rules.  As a team the fifth grade classes are hoping to complete laying this foundation as soon as possible so that we are able to begin our spelling lists.  I will keep you up to date on our progress.

 Science: Everyone is enjoying our unit on chemistry.  Last week we learned about The Periodic Table, atoms, and had a presentation by a very knowledgeable water expert (My dad!).  It was great for our scholars to see how science is used in our everyday lives.  Next, we will finish our unit on chemistry, completing some fun experiments and looking at the atom models.

 History: Our focus last week was the Mayans, we learned about their daily lives and history, and I loved the students Pok-ta-Pok cards!  We will study the Aztecs next week and learn about their culture.

Reminders:

Atom projects are due Tuesday, please remember that these are to be student completed and should be the Bohr Model.  We discussed how to do this in class, but please let me know if you have any questions!

 

Important Dates:

 

  Progress Reports sent home: Friday, Sept. 12

  Spalding and Singapore Night: September 17th, 6-8 pm

 

Bohr Model Slide Show

Yesterday I sent home the information sheet for the atom model which is due next Tuesday.  We will be talking more about this in class, but this link is a great tool to use to help you build a Bohr Model for the project.

http://www.slideshare.net/dumouchelle/how-to-draw-bohr-diagrams-slideshare

Please let me know if you have any questions!


Mrs. Anderson

The Headlines

The Headlines

 

It has been a very busy week in 5B!  We are delving deep into our curriculum and really getting to know one another.  It was so nice to see those of you that came for curriculum night on Thursday.  I hope you found the content helpful and came away excited for all that your scholar will be learning this year.  For those of you that did not make it, please take a few moments to look over the PowerPoint presentation and contact me if you have any further questions.

 

Math:  We are now in our first unit on estimation and rounding.  This week we practiced estimating with whole numbers up to the billions and also reviewed finding least common multiples and greatest common factors.  Next week we will estimate with multiplication and division up to the thousands place. 

Language Arts: We are still reading Prince Caspian and the students are really enjoying it; it is setting an excellent foundation for our next literature study of Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  In writing we began our study of diagramming sentences by learning about different types of pronouns and their jobs.  We will have a quiz over this next week.  We also will start Writing with Ease, focusing on summarizing and copy work.  There will be NO spelling words this week, but please start practicing the phonogram cards.  We will start quizzing over these soon.

Science: Scientific Inquiry tests have been graded and will be returned for corrections to be made on Monday. Half credit will be given for each correct answer once it is returned.  We began our Chemistry unit by learning about matter and elements.  Next week directions will come home for their element model.  This will be completed at home and presented in class.

 

History: This was the first week of our new unit, Ancient Civilizations.  We are beginning with the Mayans and next week will concentrate on the Incas.  We will be learning about ancient life and will have some writing assignments to go along with this unit.

 

Reminders:

This is a repeat statement for those of you who attended curriculum night, but I believe it is worth re-stating.  The curriculum at Great Hearts is of the highest quality and can often be quite challenging.  Therefore, the grades your child is bringing home may not be what you are used to seeing, please don’t panic!  We offer extra tutoring before and after school if needed and are here to help your child succeed.  This is also an excellent opportunity to teach them how important it is to study and be prepared for class J.

 

Important Dates:

  Picture Day: Thursday Sept. 4

  Spalding and Singapore Night: September 17th, 6-8 pm

Spalding Update

Your student may come home telling you that we had a guest teacher who gave the Spalding lesson.  This was Margie Clouse, who is the director of our program.  Margie has thirty-five years of experience teaching Spalding and is quite an expert!

We are taking her advice and doing a little back-tracking in our lessons.  We will spend this week learning some of the basic phonogram rules and patterns and will not be giving any new words for testing. 

The good news for your scholars is that they don't have a spelling test this week :)

Hopefully we will be back into our spelling words next week!

Mrs. Anderson