Class Update 11/2/14

Important Reminders:

Our Cahokia Mounds Field Trip is Friday, October 7th.  Please make sure students wear comfortable walking shoes that day. It is also important that children be dressed for the weather. A few students still need signed permission slips to be turned in before Friday in order to be able to attend. Please return permission slips with $4.50 to cover the cost of the trip as soon as possible if you have not already done so.  I will be sending a follow-up email on Monday to parents who volunteered to attend the field trip.

The 5th grade music program is coming up on Sunday, October 9th at 4:45 PM. The students have been working hard to practice for the program. Here is a link to a video of one of their songs!
5th Grade Groh Video Link

Our annual Veteran's Day Assembly will take place on Tuesday, October 11th at 9:00 AM.

Wednesday, October 12th is an early release day. Children will be dismissed at 1:40. Please make sure your child knows how they will be going home that day if it is different from their normal routine.

Class Updates:

In math, we have continued to practice long division, as well as estimating quotients. Moving forward, we will continue to work on long division with increasingly more complex problems. The students will also examine interpreting the remainder in word problems.

In reading, we will be working on the skill of making predictions about what we read, based on evidence from the text. We had a successful celebration of our personal narrative unit in writing. The students were able to read pieces from all four 5th grade classrooms and leave positive feedback for each other. 

Our next unit is on informational writing. The children will be making cross-curriculum connections to what they are learning in social studies about Native Americans in this unit. We have covered how to take notes and paraphrase. In addition, we have reviewed the difference between facts and opinions.  The children have started the pre-writing process by brainstorming what they already know about Native Americans.  This week we will begin the drafting process.

In social studies, students have been working in pairs and trios to complete the research phases of their Native American projects. Most groups have now started to create their digital books on Story Jumper. Students will continue to design their books this week.

We recently took part in our annual Ability Awareness Day. The students heard four presentations about learning disabilities, physical motor disabilities, the CHADS Coalition, and spinal cord injury. Children were able to participate in a variety of hands-on activities that allowed them to better appreciate what differences we all have, and more importantly what we all have in common. Be sure to ask your child about what they learned!

Thank you to all of the parents who helped put on our classroom Halloween Party! The children had a great time - take a look at some of their costumes!