Newsletter for the week of February 27

Reading: This week in reading, we will work on nonfiction reading using a variety of stories.  Our skills will focus on: open ended questions, making connections, and working on inferences.  We will continue to work on test taking skills and go over the questions from the story Animals in Disguise.  The students will also be writing another extended response.

Book Report: Your book report for February must be a historical fiction. The presentation will be Wednesday, February 29. For this book report the you will create a book quilt, which should be a 3x3 quilt block with each of the squares being about 8x8. You should share something from the book in each of the 9 squares.  Some examples would be: character traits, setting, summary, illustration, conflict, solution, your favorite part, etc.  Make sure all 9 squares are filled in, and you will share your quilt with the class.

Math: In math we are working on unit 9.  The first two lessons focused on reading and plotting coordinate pairs.  The next lesson focused on the area of rectangles.  This week we will work on the area of triangles and parallelograms and the volume of prisms.  We will also continue to work on the extended response.

Writing: This week in writing the students will continue to work on researching an event in history.  Our prompt is: If you could go back in time and change an event in history what would it be.  The class will make two timelines.  The first showing how history really evolved with all the major events before and after the event.  They will also make a parallel timeline showing how the world might have been different if they could go back in time to change the event.  Imagine if JFK would have lived because you stopped Oswald... what would the next few decades been like?  Would the U.S. have gone to war in Vietnam?  Would RFK have run for president and been killed like his brother?  The final project will include these two timelines showing what the world was like and how it would be different and a written plan explaining how they would actually succeed in stopping the event.  We will also work on using the BIG6 steps for research.  These steps are task definition, information seeking strategies, location and access, use of information, synthesis, and evaluation.

Science: We have finished the digestion unit and our next unit will focus on stars.  This unit will be done after our unit in social studies.

Social Studies: On Monday, we have our Harriet Tubman field trip.  On Tuesday, the students will learn about the French and Indian War which leads to the taxes that are placed on the colonists.  The students will learn about taxes, and the taxes that the colonists are required to pay.  They will also learn how the colonists protested these taxes.

Spelling Unit 21:
precede     predict     prefer     pretend     pretest     prevent     preview     previous     proceed
process     proclaim     professional     program     progress     project     promise     property
pronunciation     propose     protect     ceramic     opponent     aquarium     resources     prefix
acquaintance     prearrange     preparation     preserve     presume     process     profound
productive     prohibitive     proportional     hyperbole     personification     alliteration     simile
onomatopoeia     metaphor

ISAT SCHEDULE:
Tuesday, March 6:  Session 1 for both reading and math
Wednesday, March 7: Session 2 for both reading and math
Thursday, March 8: Session 3 for both reading and math
  
BOX TOPS:
The PTA is always collecting box tops. They can be found on many different products such as: Progresso soups, Kleenex boxes, Suddenly Salad, Hamburger Helper, Tuna Helper, and many more products. Check all of your purchased goods and send in your box tops. This is an easy way for the school to make money to enrich our children at May Watts.

READING INCENTIVE PROGRAM:
To earn the prize, the fifth graders will need to read 400 minutes for this month. The prizes this month will be a ticket to the Kane County Cougars May Watts Night on May 24 & a free personal pizza at Pizza Hut.  The Kane County Cougars ticket includes a free hot dog and drink voucher, tshirt, and an opportunity to run around the bases.

LMC NEWS:
Young Authors entries are due on Thursday - late admissions will not be accepted, so bring them in on time.
We are looking for parent scorers for the Young Authors entries.  Reading will be done during the school day on Monday - Wednesday, March 5-7.  Parents can sign up to read at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0D4A4AB2EA13-readers
The Book Fair is coming!  Preview will be on March 7-9, with sales March 12-17.  We will be open during the Fun Fair!  Flyers will go home next week.  Our online homepage can be accessed directly by going to http://goo.gl/7jFU4 or go to www.scholastic.com/schoolbookfairs and follow the path to May Watts.

Important Dates:
Harriet Tubman field trip Monday, February 27
Spelling Test Wednesday, February 29
Book Report due Wednesday, February 29
Final manuscripts for young authors due on Thursday, March 1
Paw print redemption Thursday, March 1
No School Friday, March 2 Teacher Institute

Homework for Feb. 24

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Feb. 29, Alliteration Book due on  Feb.29

Spelling - Contract & Test for Wednesday

Homework for Feb. 23

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Feb. 29, Alliteration Book due Feb. 29

Spelling - Contract & Test due on Wednesday

5P Math - Extended Response

Science Fair is tonight.

Homework for Feb. 22

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Feb. 29, Alliteration Book due on Feb. 29

5P Math - Stduy Link 9.3

5V Math - Extended Response

P.E. Homework due tomorrow

Newsletter for the week of Feb. 20

Reading: This week in reading, we will work on nonfiction reading using the Time for Kids magazines.  Our skills will focus on: open ended questions, making connections, and working on inferences.  We will work ontest taking skills and go the questions from the story Ready, Set, Flop.  The students will also be writing another extended response.

Book Report: Your book report for February must be a historical fiction. The presentation will be Wednesday, February 29. For this book report the you will create a book quilt, which should be a 3x3 quilt block with each of the squares being about 8x8. You should share something from the book in each of the 9 squares.  Some examples would be: character traits, setting, summary, illustration, conflict, solution, your favorite part, etc.  Make sure all 9 squares are filled in, and you will share your quilt with the class.

Math: In math we started unit 9.  The first two lessons focus on reading and plotting coordinate pairs.  The next lesson will focus on the area of rectangles.  We will also continue to work on the extended response.

Writing: This week in writing the students will continue to work on researching an event in history.  Our prompt is: If you could go back in time and change an event in history what would it be.  The class will make two timelines.  The first showing how history really evolved with all the major events before and after the event.  They will also make a parallel timeline showing how the world might have been different if they could go back in time to change the event.  Imagine if JFK would have lived because you stopped Oswald... what would the next few decades been like?  Would the U.S. have gone to war in Vietnam?  Would RFK have run for president and been killed like his brother?  The final project will include these two timelines showing what the world was like and how it would be different and a written plan explaining how they would actually succeed in stopping the event.  We will also work on using the BIG6 steps for research.  These steps are task definition, information seeking strategies, location and access, use of information, synthesis, and evaluation.

Science: We have finished the digestion unit and our next unit will focus on stars.  This unit will be done after our unit in social studies.

Social Studies: Last week in social studies we focused on the colonial trade routes and cities, towns and farms.  We also learned about slavery in the colonies.  This week we will learn about Frederick Douglass, the North and South growing apart, and Harriet Tubman.

Spelling Unit 20:
discuss     deduct     dismissed     develop     disease     discount    disturb     details    demand
determined    depressed     defense     disappointing     discouraged     disadvantage    
demonstrated     defeat     descent     disappear     disconnect     distract     decision     deliver
distressed     distribute     disable     describe     destroyed     disobey     disassemble     disagreed
discipline     discredit     delete     define     encyclopdeia     investor     interchangeable     reaper
stagecoach

ISAT SCHEDULE:
Tuesday, March 6:  Session 1 for both reading and math
Wednesday, March 7: Session 2 for both reading and math
Thursday, March 8: Session 3 for both reading and math
  
BOX TOPS:
The PTA is always collecting box tops. They can be found on many different products such as: Progresso soups, Kleenex boxes, Suddenly Salad, Hamburger Helper, Tuna Helper, and many more products. Check all of your purchased goods and send in your box tops. This is an easy way for the school to make money to enrich our children at May Watts.

READING INCENTIVE PROGRAM:
To earn the prize, the fifth graders will need to read 400 minutes for this month. The prizes this month will be a ticket to the Kane County Cougars May Watts Night on May 24 & a free personal pizza at Pizza Hut.  The Kane County Cougars ticket includes a free hot dog and drink voucher, tshirt, and an opportunity to run around the bases.

Important Dates:
President's Day - No School Monday, February 20
Parent Teacher Conferences - No School Tuesday, February 21
Spelling Test Wednesday, February 22
Paw Print Redemption Thursday, February 23
Book Report due Wednesday, February 29
Final manuscripts for young authors due on Thursday, March 1

Homework for Feb. 16

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Feb. 29

P.E. homework due next week

Field Trip form due on Friday

Homework for Feb. 15

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Feb. 29

5B Math - Study Link 7.2

5V Math - Mathboxes

P.E. homework due next week

Field Trip form due on Friday

Book Order due on Friday

Homework for Feb. 14

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Feb. 29

Spelling - Test & Contract due on Wednesday

5P Math - Test Wednesday

5B Math - 2 Sheets

Field Trip form due on Friday

Book Order due on Friday

Homework for Feb. 13

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Feb. 29

Spelling - Test & Contract due on Wednesday

5P Math - Study Link 7.11, Study Guide due on Tuesday, Test Wednesday

5B Math - Study Link 7.1

5V Math - Mathboxes 6.10

Field trip note due on Feb. 17

Newsletter for the week of February 13

Reading: This week in reading, we will work on nonfiction reading using the Time for Kids magazines.  Our skills will focus on: using skimming to preview reading materials and scanning to detect major visual patterns and identifying  text structure before reading, making connections to real world situations or related topics before and during reading, and working on inferences.  We will also review the use of figurative language in writing.  The students will also be writing another extended response.

Book Report: Your book report for February must be a historical fiction. The presentation will be Wednesday, February 29. For this book report the you will create a book quilt, which should be a 3x3 quilt block with each of the squares being about 8x8. You should share something from the book in each of the 9 squares.  Some examples would be: character traits, setting, summary, illustration, conflict, solution, your favorite part, etc.  Make sure all 9 squares are filled in, and you will share your quilt with the class.

Math: In math we have been working on unit 7.  The first two lessons focused on standard notation, exponential notation, and number word notation.  Last week the students learned about scientific notation and using parentheses.  They also learned about the order of operations.  The order is parentheses, exponents, multiplication/division, and addition/subtraction.  The students made line graphs and worked on short answer responses.  Last week the students continued to work on order of operations, and adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers.  On Monday & Tuesday we will review the concepts that were taught during this unit, and on Wednesday they will take a test.

Writing: This week in writing the students will continue to work on researching an event in history.  Our prompt is: If you could go back in time and change an event in history what would it be.  The class will make two timelines.  The first showing how history really evolved with all the major events before and after the event.  They will also make a parallel timeline showing how the world might have been different if they could go back in time to change the event.  Imagine if JFK would have lived because you stopped Oswald... what would the next few decades been like?  Would the U.S. have gone to war in Vietnam?  Would RFK have run for president and been killed like his brother?  The final project will include these two timelines showing what the world was like and how it would be different and a written plan explaining how they would actually succeed in stopping the event.  We will also work on using the BIG6 steps for research.  These steps are task definition, information seeking strategies, location and access, use of information, synthesis, and evaluation.

Science: We have finished the digestion unit and our next unit will focus on stars.  This unit will be done after our unit in social studies.

Social Studies: This week in social studies we will be focusing on the colonial trade routes and cities, towns and farms.  We will also be learning about slavery in the colonies, Frederick Douglass, and the North and South growing apart. 

Spelling Unit 19:
remove     interview     repeat     interrupt     respect     interfere     represent     relocate     international
review     interpret     interstate     remarkable     intermediate     intersection     recommend     interject
intervene     resource     remained     interdependent     interconnect     recognize     reassure     recede
interact     reactivate     reinvestigation     recaptured     interdepartmental     interplanetary     intercostals
recuperate     recurrent     intergenerational     planetarium     neutral     telescope     photosphere
chromosphere
  
BOX TOPS:
The PTA is always collecting box tops. They can be found on many different products such as: Progresso soups, Kleenex boxes, Suddenly Salad, Hamburger Helper, Tuna Helper, and many more products. Check all of your purchased goods and send in your box tops. This is an easy way for the school to make money to enrich our children at May Watts.

READING INCENTIVE PROGRAM:
To earn the prize, the fifth graders will need to read 400 minutes for this month. The prizes this month will be a ticket to the Kane County Cougars May Watts Night on May 24 & a free personal pizza at Pizza Hut.  The Kane County Cougars ticket includes a free hot dog and drink voucher, tshirt, and an opportunity to run around the bases.

Important Dates:
Valentine's Day Parties Tuesday, February 14
Spelling test Wednesday, February 15
Math test Wednesday, February 15
Robert Crown Followup Thursday, February 16
President's Day - No School Monday, February 20
Parent Teacher Conferences - No School Tuesday, February 21
Book Report due Wednesday, February 29
Final manuscripts for young authors due on Thursday, March 1

Homework for Feb. 10

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Feb. 29

Spelling - Test & Contract due on Wednesday

5P Math - Study Guide due on Tuesday of next week, Test Wednesday

Field trip note due on Feb. 17

Homework for Feb. 9

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Feb. 29

Spelling - Test & Contract due on Wednesday

5P Math - Study Link 7.9, 7.10, Study Guide due on Tuesday of next week, Test Wednesday

5V Math -

Field trip note due on Feb. 17

Homework for Feb. 8

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Feb. 29

5P Math - Study Guide due on Tuesday of next week, Test Wednesday

5B Math - Study Link 7.1, Study guide, Test Thursday

5V Math - Study Link 6.9

Science - Test tomorrow

Field trip note due on Feb. 17

Homework for Feb. 7

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Feb. 29

Spelling - Contract & Test due on Wednesday

5P Math - Study Link 7.8, Study Guide due on Tuesday of next week, Test Wednesday

5B Math -  Study Link 6.12, Study guide, Test Thursday

5V Math - Study Link 6.8

Science - Worksheet, Test Thursday

Field Trip form due on Feb. 17

Homework for Feb.

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Feb. 29

Spelling - Contract & Test due on Wednesday

5P Math - Study Link 7.7, Study Guide due on Tuesday of next week

5B Math - Study guide, Test Thursday

Field Trip form due on Feb. 17

Newsletter for the week of February 6

Reading: This week in reading, we will work on nonfiction reading using the Time for Kids magazines.  Our skills will focus on: using skimming to preview reading materials and scanning to detect major visual patterns and identifying  text structure before reading, making connections to real world situations or related topics before and during reading, and working on inferences.  The students will also be writing another extended response.

Book Report: Your book report for February must be a historical fiction. The presentation will be Wednesday, February 29. For this book report the you will create a book quilt, which should be a 3x3 quilt block with each of the squares being about 8x8. You should share something from the book in each of the 9 squares.  Some examples would be: character traits, setting, summary, illustration, conflict, solution, your favorite part, etc.  Make sure all 9 squares are filled in, and you will share your quilt with the class.

Math: In math we have been working on unit 7.  The first two lessons focused on standard notation, exponential notation, and number word notation.  Last week the students learned about scientific notation and using parentheses.  They also learned about the order of operations.  The order is parentheses, exponents, multiplication/division, and addition/subtraction.  The students made line graphs and worked on short answer responses.  This week the students will continue to work on order of operations, and adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers.  On Friday, we will work on another extended response. 

Writing: This week in writing the students will be working on researching an event in history.  Our prompt is: If you could go back in time and change an event in history what would it be.  The class will make two timelines.  The first showing how history really evolved with all the major events before and after the event.  They will also make a parallel timeline showing how the world might have been different if they could go back in time to change the event.  Imagine if JFK would have lived because you stopped Oswald... what would the next few decades been like?  Would the U.S. have gone to war in Vietnam?  Would RFK have run for president and been killed like his brother?  The final project will include these two timelines showing what the world was like and how it would be different and a written plan explaining how they would actually succeed in stopping the event.  We will also work on using the BIG6 steps for research.  These steps are task definition, information seeking strategies, location and access, use of information, synthesis, and evaluation.

Grammar:  Our focus for grammar will be identifying root words, prefixes, and suffixes.

Science: In science we have started our digestion unit.  Last week the students learned about their teeth and oral health.  Last week they learned about their stomach, small intestine, and large intestine.  This week we will learn about the accessory organs.  These organs are the liver, gall bladder, and the pancreas.

Social Studies: We will start social studies after our digestion unit.

Spelling Unit 18:
nontoxic     income     unknown     unusual     involved     unlike     inspector     unless     indeed
nonprofit     invisible     nonsense     incredible     uncomfortable     inconsistent     unfortunately
nonfiction     nonviolent     uncover     informal     inexperienced     unproductive     unsightly
inspiration     nonrefundable     indescribable     inevitable     nonresident     invalid     involuntary
insurance     unhurried     unending     nebula     supernova     galaxy     Betelgeuse    
astronomical unit
  
BOX TOPS:
The PTA is always collecting box tops. They can be found on many different products such as: Progresso soups, Kleenex boxes, Suddenly Salad, Hamburger Helper, Tuna Helper, and many more products. Check all of your purchased goods and send in your box tops. This is an easy way for the school to make money to enrich our children at May Watts.

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 for this month. The prizes this month will be a ticket to the Kane County Cougars May Watts Night on May 24 & a free personal pizza at Pizza Hut.  The Kane County Cougars ticket includes a free hot dog and drink voucher, tshirt, and an opportunity to run around the bases.

NAPERVILLE READS 2012 - ANTONIO SACRE:
Free tickets are available for a presentation at Wentz Hall, North Central College, on Thursday, Feb. 9th at 7:00 p.m.  Tickets are available at any Naperville Public Library or Anderson's Bookshop.  If you would like an autographed book, order forms are available on the May Watts Website.

MAY WATTS BOOK EXCHANGE:
Bring in gently used books, and receive tickets for "shopping" on Thursday and Friday.

Important Dates:
Spelling test Wednesday, February 8
Hill Super Bowl Math Night Wednesday, February 8
Science test Thursday, February 9
Paw print redemption Thursday, February 9
Robert Crown field trip Friday, February 10
Math test Wednesday, February 15
Book Report due Wednesday, February 29
Final manuscripts for young authors due on Thursday, March 1

Homework for Feb. 3

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Feb. 29

Language Arts - A to Z due on Monday

Spelling - Contract & Test due on Wednesday

5B Math - Study guide

P.E. - Study your routine

Homework for Feb. 2

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Feb. 29

Language Arts - A to Z Book due on Monday

Spelling - Contract & Test due on Wednesday

5B Math - Study Link 6.10

5V Math - Extended Response, Comparison Sheet

Homework for Feb. 1

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due on Feb. 29

Language Arts - A to Z

5P Math - Study Link 7.5

5V Math - Study Link 6.6

Science - Quiz over digestive diagram

Talk about events in history for the "worm hole"

Homework for January 30

Reading - Read 20 minutes, Book Report due tomorrow

Spelling - Contract & Test due Wednesday

5P Math - Study Link 7.3 & Mathboxes 7.3

Science - Quiz on Thursday, Stomach Worksheet

HILL FORM DUE TOMORROW