Our School Year Has Ended

We had a wonderful trip to Cape Cod.  We saw many different habitats and ecosystems which we had been learning about in science and we saw many sites related to our learning in social studies.  We came back windburned, exhausted, with sand in our shoes, and many lovely memories of the trip.

Upon returning from Cape Cod we had only two weeks of school left, but we made the best of them!

Now the fifth grade students have "stepped up" and are beginning their summer vacations.

Homework for April 30 - May 4

We are finishing up Chapter 10, Growing Tensions Between the Colonies and Britain and will have our final test at the beginning of next week.  Students should plan to visit the History Alive! website and practice the tutorial for Chapter 10.


We have only two more Spelling units after this week.  Students can go to Spelling City and work on some of the activities for Lesson 33 to get extra practice.

Monday, April 30, 2012

Math - 5 Minute Math - all ten questions

Language Arts - read and record pages in reading journal


Spelling - handwriting models for Lesson 33 - in cursive with proper heading on paper


Social Studies - re-read chapter 10 and practice the online tutorial for chapter 10


Science - students need to bring in jars for terrariums


Extra - money for the Cape Cod trip is due at this time, students should return their mid-trimester reports with parent signatures, health surveys are overdue

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Math - What is the Title of This Picture computation practice handout - with proper heading on paper


Language Arts - read and record pages in reading journal


Spelling - Unscramble spelling  words for Lesson 33 - in cursive with proper heading on paper


Social Studies - study for the upcoming test on Chapter 10


Science - students need to bring in jars for terrariums


Extra - money for the Cape Cod trip is due, health surveys will be collected tomorrow, instrument lessons tomorrow - bring instruments and music, computer class tomorrow - bring flash drives and ear buds, READ for the Zumba Reading Challenge

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Math - Write word problems to accompany division equations on handout and solve the equations


Language Arts - read and record pages in reading journal


Spelling - lesson 33 practice page, also visit SpellingCity for practice with lesson 33 words


Social Studies - study for test on Tuesday, complete online tutorial for chapter 10 at HIstory Alive!, practice vocabulary words at SpellingCity (please note that this is a different link that the link above to the spelling lesson)


Science - bring a trowel and dress for outside tomorrow rain or shine:  we will be collecting wildflowers and other "wildlings" to place in student-made terrariums


Extra - dress for outside, Physical Education - wear appropriate shoes and clothing, return Cape Cod packing list form, READ and record each ten minutes for Zumba Reading Challenge

Homework For April 23 - April 27

I apparently misunderstood how extra pages work in Blogger.  I had thought that I could post regularly to the homework page and it would update as a regular blog post does.  Wrong.  Wrong.  Wrong.  Evidently the extra pages are "static" and not meant to be used for regular blog posts.  Therefore, I will try to add homework to this part of the blog each afternoon instead!  Perhaps it would be less cluttered if I start a post for each week and add to that one post during that week (but date the posts) before starting a new post the following week.  We'll try and see!  I will give the title the dates of the week.


Please send me feedback.  I would like to know if you are using this blog to double check homework assignments.  Is there anything else you would like me to include?

Monday, April 23, 2012

Math - Chain Code computation practice handout - with proper heading on paper


Language Arts - read and record pages in reading journal


Spelling - handwriting models for Lesson 32 - in cursive with proper heading on paper


Social Studies - some students need to complete the map of the original 13 colonies


Science - students need to bring in jars for terrariums


Extra - money for the Cape Cod trip is due at this time.  Please send it in ASAP!!!

Tuesday April 24, 2012

Math - Code Line computation practice handout - with proper heading on paper


Language Arts - read and record pages in reading journal


Spelling - Unscramble spelling  words for Lesson 32 - in cursive with proper heading on paper


Social Studies - two students need to complete the map of the original 13 colonies


Science - students need to bring in jars for terrariums, some students need to complete their "foldables"


Extra - money for the Cape Cod trip is due at this time.  Please send it in ASAP!!!  Health surveys are due tomorrow, instrument lessons tomorrow - bring instruments and music, Walk At Lunch tomorrow - wear appropriate shoes and clothing, Computer class tomorrow - bring flash drives and ear buds

April 25, 2012

Math - Animal Cracks computation practice handout - with proper heading on paper


Language Arts - read and record pages in reading journal, some people have a grammar test retake


Spelling - student choice


Social Studies - two students need to complete the map of the original 13 colonies


Science - students need to bring in jars for terrariums, study for science quiz


Extra - money for the Cape Cod trip is due at this time.  Please send it in ASAP!!!  Health surveys are due this week, Physical Education AND Walk At Lunch tomorrow - wear appropriate shoes and clothing

April 26, 2012

Math - no math homework this evening


Language Arts - read and record pages in reading journal, some people have a grammar test retake


Spelling - student choice, test tomorrow on lesson 32


Social Studies - one student needs to complete the map of the original 13 colonies


Science - students need to bring in jars for terrariums


Extra - money for the Cape Cod trip is due at this time.  Please send it in ASAP!!!  Health surveys are due this week, Band tomorrow - bring instruments and music

April 27, 2012

Traditionally I give little to no homework on Fridays BUT...  

Language Arts -  read and record pages in reading journal 


Spelling - Visit Spelling City Lesson 33 and get a head start on lesson 33 if you wish


Social Studies - test coming up at the end of next week or early the following week on Chapter 10, Growing Tensions Between the Colonies and Britain.  

• Visit Chapter 10 tutorial to get some extra practice
• Visit Social Studies Vocabulary Practice/Spelling City to practice your vocabulary words

Science -  PLEASE bring in jars for terrariums

Extra - money for Cape Cod is due today.  A few people still need to send in their money.  Health surveys will be collected on Monday.  Wear gym shoes and dress appropriately for physical education on Monday.  

Homework Assignments

I have updated this blog with a new page, "Homework Assignments".  My hope is to keep this section updated regularly with homework assignments and due dates so that parents and students can check in on a regular basis if necessary.  

I think it would be useful mainly if students are absent.  Then they can check and at least get some of their homework done before they return to school if they are feeling well enough.  Sometimes, too, students forget to write down  every assignment or forget due dates.  I hope that this will provide an efficient way for you to stay up to date.

This will mean that I will need to update the blog every afternoon after school, and I hope that I will be able to keep up with this new endeavor.  Please bear with me as I establish this new habit.

Parents

In general there is homework every night except for Fridays.  However, weekend is assigned over the weekend more frequently during the last trimester.

Homework is collected each morning and math homework is reviewed daily at the beginning of each math class. Students who have difficulties understanding their homework are expected to ask the teacher for assistance.   We are always available at lunch/recess for extra help as needed.   
Language Arts - Read and record pages read in journalsMath - every night except FridaySpelling - every night except FridaySocial Studies - occasionallyScience - occasionally

Decimals - Yikes!

We have spent quite a bit of time working on developing our understanding of fractions. Our unit, What's That Portion has focused on using percents and fractions, learning the concept of "percent" and that percent means "out of a hundred", learning some benchmark percents and their fractional equivalent, comparing and ordering fractions and percents, adding and subtracting fractions.

One site that offers practice in working with fractions is Eight Interactive Fraction Bar Games.

Students have now moved on to the next unit, Decimals on Grids and Number Lines. Some students are discovering that place value of decimal numbers can be a bit tricky and involve some careful thinking to understand properly. We have been working on understanding and comparing decimals and locating decimals on a number line as well as identifying decimals on tenths, hundredths, and thousandths grids.

One website that we have used in practicing decimals is Decimal Squares Interactive Games. Decimal Darts is a special favorite for learning the nuances between decimals of varying values. Students have asked for the link to this site, so here it is! I will also place it on the sidebar for ease of access.

Explorer Research Completed

Students worked hard to complete all the elements of the social studies research assignment. We enjoyed listening to the presentations of our classmates and learning all about "their" explorer.

Students dressed as their chosen explorer and using the document camera and the SmartBoard, they shared their maps, their time lines, navigational tools, and artifacts representing their voyages.

It was interesting to hear the presentations in chronological order of discoveries and to see how different European countries focused on different aspects of exploration and conquest. Some countries focused more on conquest, some focused on a search for the Northwest Passage, and some developed trade with the native people.

Our next focus in social studies will be to learn about the origins of slavery in the New World.

Nearly Done!

This image is a drawing of the only ship of Magellan to finish circumnavigating the globe. Magellan is one of the many explorers we have been researching for the last few weeks. We will soon create "Treasure Chests" in which we will place all the work each student has completed. We will begin giving presentations at the end of this week so that our classmates can learn some of the interesting facts about the men we have been studying.

All students have finished making maps of their explorer's routes, timelines of important events in the explorer's life have been completed, artifacts representing each explorer have been created, and we are putting the final touches on our written essays.

In the process of this research project students have kept track of the specific reference resources used, learned how to take notes from their reading, written "hooks" for their essays, developed thesis statements about the importance of "their" explorers, and learned how to use the thesis statement to help organize their essay. Later this week we will use an online program to create "Works Cited" pages to accompany the essays.

Students have worked very hard on this extended project. It's been impressive to see them share research information and help each other with technical questions related to using Google Docs and their netbook computers. We are now looking forward to hearing the oral presentations and seeing our classmates dressed up as their particular explorer.