Sunday Update December 18th

Hello Families,

Here are some things we have be working on lately, and some things upcoming...Remember winter break starts on Friday with no school that day.

Math: We will finishing our Division unit before the winter break. So please help your student prepare and study for their test which will likely be on Wednesday. They will have a unit vocabulary sheet to study from and a review practice test, that presents problems very similarly to the test.

Science: We are diving back into science this week. Students will test variables with "lifeboats" to see which have an influence on how many "passengers" their boats can carry. Please ask your students to explain their experiments to you.

Writing: Students did a great job with the writing process last week, practicing how to make revisions and edits, using multiple drafts to produce a quality final copy.

As always, let me know if you have questions or concerns. I hope you all have a nice upcoming winter break.

Thanks,
Mr. Norman

Sunday Update 12/11

Hello Families,

Here are some updates on what your students have been up to lately....

Report Cards: Report cards went home Friday with your student.  Please sign the envelope and send it back on Monday.  We use the envelope for the final report card of the year and its return let's me know that you have seen the report card.  Inside the envelope you will find a copy of the 5th grade performance indicators as well as the report card.  As mentioned at our Parent Information Night, our goal is for all students to work toward being proficient in all areas. This is reflected on the report card as a score of a 3.  Grades of a "4" are not common for the first report card, but can be achieved.

Math:  We are underway with our unit on Division. We have started with the "Partial-Quotients" Division technique. Have your student explain how to do "Partial-Quotients" for you, by giving them any 3-digit number and dividing it by a 1 or 2-digit number.  As in, 958 divided by 9.  

In math, we are also continually checking our basic facts knowledge. Each week, your student picks one group of facts to test themselves on. They should be able to tell you which facts they have mastered, and which ones they need to practice.

Writing: We have been working on Descriptive Writing, and practicing the Writing Process. In their descriptive paragraphs, they chose one person to describe in detail and we have been practicing how to make revisions and edits to maximize the depth of our writing. Ask your student who they decided to write about...

 

Next week is the 5th grade concert!  There will be two performances during the day on Thursday, December 15 with the evening performance at 6:30. See your child next week to find out when they should arrive that evening.


Thanks,
Mr. Norman

Update 12/4

Hello Everybody!

A couple of updates...

Math:  We took our Unit 3 (Geometry) Test last week, and so your students will be bringing home their test with their "Profile of Progress" stapled to the front. Remember these scores are based on our 4,3,2,1 scale. Your students should be able to explain this to you, but if you have questions, let me know. Your students will be showing your their test, making corrections as needed and having you sign the front page to be returned to me by Wednesday. We will be starting Unit 4 on Monday, which centers around Division.

Literacy: We have been working on asking questions about our reading to help us understand and interpret meaning. Ask your students to tell you about a character named "Iqbal" (pronounced Ick-ball) that we read last week.

Writing: Last week, we studied the six traits of writing: Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Fluency and Conventions.  I look forward to continued improvement in your students' writing as we start to focus on descriptive writing assignments.


Health: We are finishing up our Brainstorms Unit on the Brain and Central Nervous System. Your students should be studying their flashcards for the Quiz on Monday.

***It's December and snow is on the ground!*** Remember that your students need proper winter attire to have fun at recess time.

Mr. Norman

Sunday Update 11/27

Hello Families,


I hope you all had a nice long weekend, here are a couple of updates...

Math: We will have a review day on Monday, and will likely take our Unit 3 Test on Tuesday or Wednesday. Please help your student study for their test and remind them how important reviewing the concepts will help them on their test.

Health: We are continuing our study of the Human Brain and Central Nervous System. Last week, we discussed the difference between conscious actions and reflexes.

Writing: We will start investigating the traits of quality writing this week. Fifth grade is a year when we really look for improvement in the quality and creativity that students use in their writing. I am really anxious to see the amazing work that this class will produce.

Another short week:  Remember that we have another short week of school, with the students getting Friday off of school. Teachers have a workshop day.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns,

Thanks,
Mr. Norman

Sunday Update 11/20

Dear Families,

Yikes! We are changing seasons!  Please check with your child this weekend that they have the necessary warm clothing that will be needed in the days to come.  Warm coats, boots, mittens, hats, etc. 

Next week is a short week.   Students will only have a half day on Wednesday, so will be picked up by buses some time around 12:30.  Talk with your child about their plan for after school that day.  Because it is a short week, the spelling list handed out today will be tested the following Friday.

Math:  We are well in to Geometry. Please note on the Study Link packet if you have any questions about the material going home.  At times, students will be or may have brought home their Geometry Template, which is a valuable (both monetarily, and for learning) tool. We have talked as a class about the importance of being responsible with our materials and not losing the tools we need to use.


Literacy: We are lucky enough to have Mrs. Holty, an EL teacher, to work with our class. The two of us, teach as a team during this period of the day. This allows to do some fun things with two teachers in the class at one time. Lately, we have been working on asking questions about what we are reading. Please ask your students about what they have been reading about in the 'Daybook'. (Woody Guthrie, B.B. King, and Opera singer Marian Anderson)


Missing Work: We had a lot of students with missing work last Friday. We have a routine where students spend their lunch and recess time on Friday, finishing any work that they have not completed yet, while eating their lunch in the room. We call it "Study Hall". Please try to communicate with your students to help them develop the responsibility to turn in quality work on time, so they don't have to spend their lunch/recess doing make-up work. If students do not finish their missing work during this time, they are to bring their missing work report home and finish missing assignments for Monday, to start the next week fresh. As a class, we have done a decent job with turning in our work throughout the beginning of the year, but last week we seemed to slip up a little.

Hope you all had a good weekend, and are looking forward to the short week.
As always, let me know if you have any questions.


Thanks,
Mr. Norman

Sunday Update 11/13

Hello Fifth Grade Families,


A couple of updates....

Spelling-- Your students took their first spelling test of the year on Friday. This is the first class period during the week, where we have started some flexible groupings across the three 5th grade classrooms. Your students received their new list for next week. While we do take a test on Friday, we have tried to stress that the important take away from learning spelling words and any new vocabulary, should be using them in your writing and everyday conversations.

Poetry-- We had a special guest teacher, Ms. Flom, (actually my Mother, a former teacher and principal) on Friday,  who taught the class a lesson in Haiku poetry. Students got a chance to complete their own Haiku poems, and Ms. Flom and I were amazed at the talented poets that we have in the room. A collection of these poems will be put together by Ms. Flom and added to our classroom library. I will give your student their poem back so they can keep it in their portfolio, which we will soon start compiling.
It was especially fun to have my Mother in class. We tried to keep up the illusion that she was just another guest teacher, but I wish parents could have seen the astonishment on the faces of the kids when I told them that Ms. Flom was my own Mom!

Math-- We are continuing with Unit 3 centering mostly on Geometry. In addition to helping with homework when necessary, I encourage you to ask your student about what they are learning in this unit. Any conversations they can have with you will help them process their knowledge.

Field Trip-- We will be going to our field trip at Northwestern College, with Mrs. Liadova, the music teacher to see a Children's Opera. We have been allotted 2 chaperone spots per class. I have one parent coming, but if another would like to join us let me know. I will honor requests in the order that I receive them.

Coming soon.....This week will start talking about Descriptive Writing, continue our Science Pendulum Unit, and start to settle into our Guided Reading routines.

Thanks,
Mr. Norman

Science!

We started Science this week, which I know a lot of your students were psyched about. Our first mini-unit provides opportunity for discovery with the use of pendulums to determine how variables can affect motion. Please ask them about the pendulums they built and what variables they tried, in attempt to change the amount of time their pendulum swing in 15 seconds.

Thanks,
Mr. Norman

Sunday Update

Hello Families,

I hope you all have had a nice weekend. Here are a few updates of what we have going on in Room 116.

Reading Groups:  We have started meeting in all reading groups!  Some groups are starting with reviewing some of the features of non-fiction, and are beginning with short articles/texts.  Other groups are working in a longer text to begin with.  Some are working on fluency skills, while others are working on comprehension skills.  These targeted skills are based on my assessments with individuals at the beginning of the year.  All groups will have variety through the trimester, and most of the readings will stay at school.  You should, however, be seeing them read a lot at home for their November Read-a-thon minutes!! At times I will send home the reading group texts to have kids catch up, or share what they're reading at home. 

Math:  We took the Unit 2 test last week, and your students will get them back on Monday. The tests have the same assessment cover sheet that Unit 1 had. Your students will have the opportunity to correct any mistakes they made on a loose leaf paper and staple it to the test, and turn them back in with your signature (somewhere on the cover sheet). This will be due back by Thursday. We started Unit 3 last Wednesday, which focuses on geometry skills, including angle measurement.

Spelling and Word Work: We are now officially in to both of these areas.  Your student can explain to you that Word Work will not be tested, and is mainly in their yellow spiral at school.  Spelling lists were handed out today.  Students are placed in an appropriate developmental level as per their pretesting results.  If your child thinks their words are 'too easy,' remind them that this is meant to build strategies to help them spell correctly in all of their writing, not just for a test... AND that the patterns they are using need to be able to be verbalized by them.  They should each have a sorted copy of their list in their Homework Folder.  We are encouraging them to plan some simple activities at home throughout the week to ensure that they learn the spellings of these words (and others like them), so that they can show their spelling accuracy on a test next Friday.  On Fridays they will test with 10+ words from their list and a few new words that will test their transfer of the patterns. They will then be given a new list for the next week.

Field Trip Permission Slips and Money can be sent any time for our Nov. 17 trip to Northwestern College.

As always, let me know if you have any questions.


Thanks,
Mr. Norman 

Welcome to the Room 116 Blog!

Hello Families,

        I will start to use this blog as a way of keeping you informed of the things we are doing in 5th Grade. I will try to keep this updated every week. As you can see, I have been playing around with the format on here. In my trials, I have included the last email that I sent out and our class photo from picture day, just to see what it might look like. I will have shown this to your students in class today, so they will know about it and remind you to check it from time to time.


Thanks,
Mr. Norman

 Here we are on picture day....

Updates MEA Weekend

Hello again Families,

I hope you are enjoying the long weekend. Just a couple of quick updates...

Math: We will be continuing Unit 2 in the upcoming week, with a test likely at the end of the week, possibly Thursday or Friday. Your students have a Problem Solving Packet with them and hopefully they explained that I told them I wanted 2 questions completed for Monday. I also said that if they had the time, I would like all of them to try to challenge themselves to complete all 5 problems for Monday. Please encourage them to try some different strategies for solving these, including drawing a picture or making a table.

Spelling: We took our Spelling Pre-Test earlier this week. Starting next week, we will start our word work with breaking down words into Word Patterns, Syllables, Affixes, and Derivational Relations. Look forward to helping your students learn their new words soon.

Keyboarding: We have started our Keyboarding unit in the computer lab. Please encourage your students at home to practice, remembering to not look at their fingers, while they might be on a home computer. We have discussed the immense benefit of polishing their typing skills before they get to older grades.

Thank you to everyone for coming to conferences. It was great to see some of you again, and meet some of you for the first time. Your children are very lucky to have such supportive families around them.

As always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Scott

Welcome!

Hello Families!  Welcome to my classroom blog!  While I am a beginner at this, I intend to use this to keep you updated with the happenings in Room 116 this year.

Stay Tuned for more....

Mr. Norman