Thursday, December 8, 2011

Homework for Dec. 8

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Time for Kids due tomorrow(if it was not finished), Book Report due on Dec. 21

Spelling - Contract & Test for Wednesday

5P Math - Study Link 5.8, Journal page 149 #s 1, 3, 5, & 6, Study Guide due on Wednesday, Test on Thursday

5V Math - Mathboxes 4.11 #s 1, 3, & 4

P.E. homework due on Monday

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Homework for Dec. 7

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Dec. 21

5P Math - Journal page 146 #s 1, 2, 3, 4, & either 5 or 6, Study Guide due next Wednesday, Test next Thursday

5B Math - Test tomorrow, Study Link 5.1

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Homework for Dec. 6

Reading - Read 20 Minutes, Book Report due on Dec 21

Spelling - Contract & Test for tomorrow

5P Math - Journal page 144 #s 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

5B Math -Test on Thursday, Go Over Study Guide

5V Math - Mathboxes 5.3

Monday, December 5, 2011

Homework for Dec. 5

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Dec. 21

Spelling - Test & Contract for Wednesday

5P Math - Study Link 5.5

5B Math - Test on Thursday, Study Guide due Tuesday

5V Math - Mathboxes 5.4, one chart done

Friday, December 2, 2011

Newsletter for the week of December 5

Reading: This week in reading, we will do a variety of activities.  On Monday, we will do an outline for our extended response, and on Tuesday we will write it in paragraph format.  The question is: What does the author want you to learn from Dusty's success? Use information from the passage and your own ideas to support your answer.  The rest of the week we will use Time for Kids to focus on our other skills. Our focus skills for the week are: connect and clarify main ideas and concepts and identify their relationship to other sources and topics.  We will also continue to work on vocabulary using a variety of word analysis and strategies within context to identify unknown words.

Book Report:  Your book report for December must be a biography, memoir, or autobiography.  The presentation will be Wednesday, December 21.  For this book report you can select from one of my examples, or you can come up with your own idea.  You need to provide a detailed account of the person’s life, have a visual, and give a presentation. 

Here are a few examples:
Example #1:
     Illustration of your person
     5 character traits that relate to your person and evidence
     Write a summary about your person's life
     Do you think it was a good idea to write a biography about this person?  Why or why not?

Example #2:
     A timeline of the person's life
     5 character traits that relate to your person and evidence

Example #3: Power Point
     Photo Collage
     Birth & Childhood
     Education
     Adulthood - Family and jobs they had before becoming famous
     What made them famous
     Interesting facts about your person
     Later Years/Death

Math: In math we have started unit 5. The first lesson focused on solving parts and whole problems with fractions and finding a fraction of a whole.  We have also worked on converting fractions from mixed numbers to improper fractions and converting them from improper fractions to mixed numbers.  Last week we compared and ordered fractions and found equivalent fractions. The students also learned how to convert fractions to decimals and rounding decimals.  This week, we will continue to work on converting fractions, to decimals and work on equivalent fractions.  On Friday, we will construct, read, and label bar and circle graphs. 

Writing: This week in writing we will finish our picture book mash up. The students take two different picture books and mash them up into a new story.  When we finish the mash up books, we will begin a collaborative writing activity dealing with needs and wants using a variety of catalogs with a range of items costing between $20.00 and $60,000.  We will begin with a pre-writing activity of what a want is and what a need is.  Then I will use some online catalogs and have the kids generate a list of the items that I show into a needs or wants section.  After the lessons on needs and wants, we are going to watch some old TV classic commercials and discuss how the companies are marketing their products.  There will be a mini lesson on marketing and the different ways companies try to sell their products.  After all the mini lessons are done, the students will be put into groups, and they will be given a sample of items cut out of a magazine or they can bring in their own items.  Their group will pick one of the items to develop a marketing plan and advertise the item.  They can select how they would like to present this item: TV ad, radio ad, billboard, print ads, a web page, or Prezi.  The students need to think about who is your target and develop a marketing plan to reach the audience.  These will be presented in class.

Science: Last week in science we focused on the atom. The students learned that an atom is made up of protons, neutrons, electrons, and a nucleus. They also learned about ions. We discussed the periodic table of elements, and the students learned how to read it. After learning about the periodic table of elements, the students drew atoms. They also learned the difference between an element and a molecule.  We used the interactive periodic table of elements to learn more about each element.  This week we will build a salt crystal using play-doh.  Then on Wednesday, we will start learning about magnets.  In the first lesson, students will observe three different rocks looking at their similarities and differences.  In this lesson they will learn that there is a type of rock with magnetic qualities called lodestone.  In the next lesson, students will learn how magnets got their name, and on Friday they will do an experiment to see if a one unit magnet or a two unit magnet will hold more paper clips.

Social Studies: We finished our social studies unit and will move on to science for the rest of the quarter.

Spelling Unit 12:
basketball     seventy-five     rock band     everybody     fireplace     anything     take-off     skateboard
homework     two-thirds     high school     railroad     motorcycle     vice president     strawberry
freeway     car pool     comic strip     fine arts     forty-two     breathtaking     thunderstruck
runner-up     half hour     paper clip     extracurricular     cold-blooded     headache    
counterclockwise     merry-go-round     awestruck     overexposure     time-consuming     nonetheless
spreadsheet     treason     boycott     liberty     militia     assembly

HEALTHY SNACK LIST:
Due to life-threatening peanut/nuts/sesame allergies at every grade level and the fact that we change classes for math and flex groups, we are asking that no peanut/nut/sesame products be sent in for a nutritional snack. Also a list was sent home that stated the food items that will be allowed for snacks. The following items can be brought in: fruit, vegetable sticks, pretzels, cheese slices or cubes, raisins, cereal mix (i.e. Chex Mix), rice cakes, and crackers.

NEW READING INCENTIVE PROGRAM:
There is a new reading incentive program that Mrs. May is doing. To earn the prize, the fifth graders will need to read 400 minutes in a month. That is 20 minutes a night. Minutes will be checked on January 9.

Important Dates:
Spelling Test Wednesday, December 7
5th Grade Musical Wednesday, December 7 at 9:30 a.m. & 7:00 p.m.
Orchestra: Rehearsal at Hil 6:00 p.m. & Concert at 7:00 p.m.

Homework for December 2

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on December 21

Spelling - Contract & Test due Wednesday

5B Math - Test Thursday

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Homework for December 1

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on December 21

Spelling - Contract & Test for Wednesday

5P Math - Journal page 141 #s 1, 2, 3, & 4

5B Math - Study Link 4.10, Test on Thursday

Science- Quiz tomorrow

Book Order due tomorrow

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Homework for Nov. 30

Reading - Read 20 minutes

5P Math - Study Link 5.4

5B Math - Study Link 4.9

5V Math - Test tomorrow

Science - Quiz over atoms

Book Order due on Friday

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Homework for Nov. 29

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Nov. 30

5P Math - Study Link 5.3

5B Math - Study Link 4.8(optional)

5V Math - Mathboxes 5.2, Optional Test due tomorrow

Science - Ws due tomorrow

Book Order due on Friday

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Newsletter for the week of Nov. 28

Reading: This week in reading, we will be reading the story Iditarod Dream.  In the Iditarod Dream, Dusty Whittemore faces several challenges and below freezing temperatures during the Junior Iditarod race in Alaska.  He and his team of sled dogs meet these challenges and eventually win the race.The focus skills for this week are: Demonstrate understanding of structure through the use of graphic organizers and outlining with a specific focus on sequencing events and character analysis.  Using character traits, students will also infer the type of person Dusty is and draw conclusions about him.  The students will use context clues to determine the meaning of words in the story.  The vocabulary words that will be focused on during the story are: headquarters, positions, handlers, pace, and tangle.  If we have time this week we will also work on an extended response question.  If we don't have time, we will do the question on Monday.  The question is: What does the author want you to learn from Dusty's success?  Use information from the passage and your own ideas to support your answer.

Book Report: The next book report is due on November 30, and the students will present this to the class. For this report, they will need to read a nonfiction book. The assignment is making an organizer with all the important information. We did a practice one in class with our story about Roberto Clemente. If you have any questions about this report please let me know.

Math: In math we have started unit 5. The first lesson focused on solving parts and whole problems with fractions and finding a fraction of a whole.  Last week we worked on converting fractions from mixed numbers to improper fractions and converting them from improper fractions to mixed numbers. Next week we will be comparing and ordering fractions and finding equivalent fractions.  The students will also learn how to convert fractions to decimals and rounding decimals. 

Writing: This week in writing we will finish the expository paper. The prompt: If you could invite anyone living or dead to Thanksgiving dinner who would it be, and why? We will also continue working on our dead word book. When we finish the expository papers, we will start a picture book mash up. The students take two different picture books and mash them up into a new story.

Science: This week in science we will be focusing on the atom.  The students will learn that an atom is made up of protons, neutrons, electrons, and a nucleus.  They will also learn about ions.  We will discuss the periodic table of elements, and the students will learn how to read it.  After learning about the periodic table of elements, the students will build atoms.  They will also learn the difference between an element and a molecule.

Social Studies: We finished our social studies unit and will move on to science for the rest of the quarter.

Spelling Unit  :
There is no spelling this week

HEALTHY SNACK LIST:
Due to life-threatening peanut/nuts/sesame allergies at every grade level and the fact that we change classes for math and flex groups, we are asking that no peanut/nut/sesame products be sent in for a nutritional snack. Also a list was sent home that stated the food items that will be allowed for snacks. The following items can be brought in: fruit, vegetable sticks, pretzels, cheese slices or cubes, raisins, cereal mix (i.e. Chex Mix), rice cakes, and crackers.

Robert Crown:
Indian Prairie School District #204 will host a parents’ orientation to our fifth grade health unit on Human Growth and Development.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011
7:00 p.m.
Patterson Elementary School
3731 Lawrence Drive
Naperville, IL 60564
(Ashbury Subdivision;
North off of 104th St. onto Lawrence Dr.)

This unit includes, as part of its material, a visit by our students to the Robert Crown Health Center in Hinsdale.

At the health center, students have a presentation on the growth changes that are about to begin in their bodies with the onset of puberty.They also will see a twenty-minute film on human growth and development.

The purpose of the parents’ meeting is to inform you of the material your child will be seeing and to answer any questions you might have about the Robert Crown student visitation. If you have any questions about this unit or about the meeting, please contact me. I hope you will be able to attend one of the sessions.

NEW READING INCENTIVE PROGRAM:
There is a new reading incentive program that Mrs. May is doing. To earn the prize, the fifth graders will need to read 400 minutes in a month. That is 20 minutes a night. Minutes will be checked on December 1.

Important Dates:
No School November 23, 24, & 25 Thanksgiving Break
Book Report due on Wednesday, November 30
Robert Crown Parent Night Wednesday, November 30(See above)
Elementary Acivity Night at Metea Thursday, December 1
Paw Print Redemption Thursday, December 1
Spirit Day Friday, December 2
5th Grade Musical Wednesday, December 7 at 7:00 p.m.

Homework for Nov. 22

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Nov. 30

5P Math - Journal page 127 if not done

Monday, November 21, 2011

Homework for Nov. 21

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Nov. 30

Spelling - Test & Contract for tomorrow

5P Math - Journal page 128 all

5B Math - Study link 4.5

5V Math - Test tomorrow

Social Studies - Test tomorrow

Read in tomorrow

Friday, November 18, 2011

Newsletter for the week of November 21

Reading: This week in reading, we will finish up on some activities that we did not get to last week.  We will look at a double line graph and work on interpreting what the graph is telling us.  Then the students will use data to create their own line graph.  We will also read some articles and work on comprehension questions.  On Tuesday, the fifth grade is having a read in.

Book Report: The next book report is due on November 30, and the students will present this to the class. For this report, they will need to read a nonfiction book. The assignment is making an organizer with all the important information. We did a practice one in class with our story about Roberto Clemente. If you have any questions about this report please let me know.

Math: In math we have started unit 5.  The first lesson focused on solving parts and whole problems with fractions and finding a fraction of a whole.  Next week we will be working on converting fractions from mixed numbers to improper fractions and converting them from improper fractions to mixed numbers.  We will also be comparing and ordering fractions and finding equivalent fractions.

Writing: This week in writing we will finish the expository paper.  The prompt: If you could invite anyone living or dead to Thanksgiving dinner who would it be, and why? We will also continue working on our dead word book. If we finish the expository papers, we will start a picture book mash up.  The students take two different picture books and mash them up into a new story.

Science: We will go back to science after finishing our social studies chapters for this quarter.

Social Studies: Last week the students learned about the Pilgrims and the Puritans.  Last week we
reviewed the Pilgrims and the Puritans. They also learned about the 13 English colonies and their economies. Another lesson that was focused on last week was the different work and trade that happened in the colonies.  On Tuesday there will be a test over these lessons.

Spelling Unit 11 :
island     design     calm     column     sword     half     yolk     walked     talk     chalk    
wrinkled     wrong     autumn     solemn     aisle     foreign     lightning     benign     glistened
resign     orchids     slaughter     clambered     knowledge     habitat     colleague     acquaintance
potpourri     pneumonia     receipt     mnemonics     jeopardy     gauge     handkerchief
foreigner     temporary     natural     permanent     lodestone     special

HEALTHY SNACK LIST:
Due to life-threatening peanut/nuts/sesame allergies at every grade level and the fact that we change classes for math and flex groups, we are asking that no peanut/nut/sesame products be sent in for a nutritional snack. Also a list was sent home that stated the food items that will be allowed for snacks. The following items can be brought in: fruit, vegetable sticks, pretzels, cheese slices or cubes, raisins, cereal mix (i.e. Chex Mix), rice cakes, and crackers.

Robert Crown:
Indian Prairie School District #204 will host a parents’ orientation to our fifth grade health unit on Human Growth and Development.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011
7:00 p.m. 
Patterson Elementary School
3731 Lawrence Drive
Naperville, IL 60564
(Ashbury Subdivision;
North off of 104th St. onto Lawrence Dr.)

This unit includes, as part of its material, a visit by our students to the Robert Crown Health Center in Hinsdale.

At the health center, students have a presentation on the growth changes that are about to begin in their bodies with the onset of puberty.They also will see a twenty-minute film on human growth and development.

The purpose of the parents’ meeting is to inform you of the material your child will be seeing and to answer any questions you might have about the Robert Crown student visitation. If you have any questions about this unit or about the meeting, please contact me. I hope you will be able to attend one of the sessions.

NEW READING INCENTIVE PROGRAM:
There is a new reading incentive program that Mrs. May is doing. To earn the prize, the fifth graders will need to read 400 minutes in a month. That is 20 minutes a night. Minutes will be checked on December 1.

Important Dates:
Spelling Test Tuesday, November 22
Social Studies Test Tuesday, November 22
Market Day Pick Up on Tuesday, November 22
No School November 23, 24, & 25 Thanksgiving Break
Book Report due on Wednesday, November 30

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Homework for Nov. 17

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Nov. 30

Spelling - Contract & Test due on Thursday

5P Math - Journal page 123 #s 1, 3, 2(select 2), 4(select 1)

5B Math - Study Link 4.3

5V Math - Test on Tuesday, 2 fraction problems

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Homework for Nov. 16

Reading _ Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Nov. 30

Spelling - Contract & Test for Tuesday

5B Math - Study Link 4.2

Social Studies - Worksheet

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Homework for Nov. 15

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Nov. 30

5P Math - Math test tomorrow

5B Math - Study Link 4.2 Journal page 126

Monday, November 14, 2011

Homework for Nov. 14

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Nov. 30, Free Rice Vocabulary, Frayer Vocabulary Model

5P Math - Study Link 4.5, Study Link due tomorrow, Test on Wednesday

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Newsletter for the week of November 14

Reading: This week in reading, we will be doing a variety of activities using different text.  On Monday we are going to use the website freerice.com to work on vocabulary.  As the words get harder, we will discuss on we can define the words without any context.  Then using their books for their book reports, I am going to have them select a word they don't know and use the Frayer Model to define it. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we will be using Time for Kids to work on our reading skills.  They will work on inferential questions while reading the headline story on Tuesday.  Then on Wenesday, we will use the same magazine to work on vocabulary.  Another skill that we will focus on is building and supporting plausible interpretations with evidence from the text, which we will focus on Thursday.  On Friday, students will work on interpreting information using tables, maps, and visual aides to enhance understanding of the text.

Book Report: The next book report is due on November 30, and the students will present this to the class. For this report, they will need to read a nonfiction book. The assignment is making an organizer with all the important information.  We did a practice one in class with our story about Roberto Clemente.  If you have any questions about this report please let me know.

Math: In math we have been working on unit 4. The first lesson will focus on using friendly numbers to divide. Then we will work on dividing using the traditional method and partial quotients. Last week the students learned strategies for estimating straight path distances using a map scale.  They also learned how to make magnitude estimates for division.  These estimates will help the students place the decimal while dividing and have a range of where their answer should be.  The last lesson focused on solving number stories using division.  The students had to decided what to do with the remainder.  The three choices were: round up, ignore the remainder, or change the remainder to a decimal or a fraction.  On Monday, we will learn about variables and how to solve problems with them.  On Tuesday, the study guide is due, and we will review for the test.  The unit 4 test will be on Wednesday.  Our next unit of study will be fractions.  The first lesson will focus on reviewing fractions and solving parts and whole problems.

Writing: This week in writing we will focus on the expository paper.  We will finish our practice paper on Monday and begin a new paper on Tuesday.  The prompt for our next expository will be a guess whose coming to dinner.  The prompt: If you could invite anyone living or dead to Thanksgiving dinner who would it be, and why?  We will also continue working on our dead word book. This book will have a graveyard of overused words, and the students will make a list of synonyms for these words.  We will also continue working on combining sentences to make our papers sound more fluent.

Science: We will go back to science after finishing our social studies chapters for this quarter.

Social Studies: Last week the students learned about the Pilgrims and the Puritans.  This week we will review the Pilgrims and the Puritans.  They will also learn about the 13 English colonies and their economies.  Another lesson that will be focused on this week is the different work and trade that happened in the colonies.

Spelling Unit :
There is no spelling for this week

HEALTHY SNACK LIST:
Due to life-threatening peanut/nuts/sesame allergies at every grade level and the fact that we change classes for math and flex groups, we are asking that no peanut/nut/sesame products be sent in for a nutritional snack. Also a list was sent home that stated the food items that will be allowed for snacks. The following items can be brought in: fruit, vegetable sticks, pretzels, cheese slices or cubes, raisins, cereal mix (i.e. Chex Mix), rice cakes, and crackers.

Robert Crown:
Indian Prairie School District #204 will host a parents’ orientation to our fifth grade health unit on Human Growth and Development.For your convenience, we have scheduled two dates. Please feel free to attend any one of the sessions as follows:

Thursday, November 17, 2011                                                  Wednesday, November 30, 2011
7:00 p.m.                                                                                        7:00 p.m.
Brooks Elementary School                                                          Patterson Elementary School
2700 Stonebridge Boulevard                                                       3731 Lawrence Drive
Aurora, IL 60502                                                                            Naperville, IL 60564
(Stonebridge Subdivision;                                                          (Ashbury Subdivision;
West off of Eola Rd.)                                                                    North off of 104th St. onto Lawrence Dr.)

This unit includes, as part of its material, a visit by our students to the Robert Crown Health Center in Hinsdale.

At the health center, students have a presentation on the growth changes that are about to begin in their bodies with the onset of puberty.They also will see a twenty-minute film on human growth and development.

The purpose of the parents’ meeting is to inform you of the material your child will be seeing and to answer any questions you might have about the Robert Crown student visitation. If you have any questions about this unit or about the meeting, please contact me. I hope you will be able to attend one of the sessions.

NEW READING INCENTIVE PROGRAM:
There is a new reading incentive program that Mrs. May is doing. To earn the prize, the fifth graders will need to read 400 minutes in a month. That is 20 minutes a night. To learn more about the program go to Mrs. May's blog at mwlmc.blogspot.com.

Important Dates:
Family Math Night Tuesday, November 15 at 6:30
Math Test Wednesday, November 16
Band Concert Wednesday, November 16 at 6:30 at Hill
Robert Crown Parent Session Thursday, November 17(See above)
Paw Print Redemption Day Thursday, November 17
Book Report due on Wednesday, November 30

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Homework November 8

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on November 30

Spelling - Contract & Test due on Wednesday

5P Math - Journal page 109 #s 1, 2, 3, & 4

5B Math - Study Guide, Test on Monday, Study Link 3.8, Study Link 3.9

5V Math - Mock Test(optional), Test tomorrow

Social Studies - Worksheet 44

Monday, November 7, 2011

Homework for November 7

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Nov. 30

Spelling - Contract & Test due Wednesday

5P Math - Study link 4.3, Study Guide due next Tuesday, Test next Wednesday

5B Math - Study Guide & Test on Monday

5V Math - Study Link 3.9 & 3.10 (optional)