As our year is underway, our class work as increased. Each day your student will have homework.
Most days each math class will have something to complete outside of class to practice skills.
My homeroom class will have spelling homework each day. Mondays will be sorting words into categories. Tuesdays students will write a definition for each word. Wednesdays, students get to have someone at home give them a practice test. Thursdays, students become creative and write a sentence using each word.
Each night students are asked to read at least 20 minutes. This time will allow students to practice reading. The only way for students to improve reading is to actually read.
If there are questions about what your child is responsible for each evening, check their assignment book. We fill it out as class each afternoon and I or a student assistant help sign off each day.
Thanks for all the support in helping our children be successful! If you forget, please check the website homework page to see what needs to be completed for that evening.
Wow! Our year is off to a great start. This, I can already tell, is going to be one of the best years. I have learned so many things about our students and how they WANT to succeed!
We have worked hard to practice excellence in behavior to make sure that we are focused on learning rather that social issues.
So many students have hit the ground running, showing me they are ready to learn and want to be a successful, productive student.
Please check with your student if there are any missing supplies. If for some reason you are having trouble locating supplies or are unable to purchase something, please let me know. We have a few extra supplies available to help students.
In the weeks to come, we get to explore the digestive system in science, tackle statistical questioning in math, and have the opportunity to share personal stories creating narratives and practice publishing personal works.
Thanks for a great start to the year!
Wow! My time back at school has flown by! I am very proud of our students and the progress they keep making. I have been taking some time to Rigby some of the students in our room. I know that they are constantly making progress and I wanted to see how much. We have a one young man move up 3 guided reading levels!!! Way to go! I have also noticed that there are three students that have reached goals of reading above grade level!!! These are huge gains in just a few months!
I have been working closely with reading teachers to help provide the best reading instruction for our students. Our reading day is now using most of the time for students to read independently while I am working with students in small groups. Students are progressing so much that as soon as I feel like I get a great group together to learn and read, everyone increases their abilities and groups are changing again. But, this is a great sign that students get to practice what they are learning and continue moving forward.
Math is getting harder as we move closer to the end of the year. Our students really need to know their math facts. I have been challenging our class with 6th, 7th, and 8th grade math problems for those who are able to handle a few harder problems, which is everyone!!! It's been a great motivation to give our students middle school level algebra problems. I am really proud of them.
If your student hasn't told you about the websites that we are using for presentations and reading response, ask them. www.prezi.com, www.edu.glogster.com, and www.edmodo.com all great amazing pieces of technology.
As I have started to get back into the routine, I find myself working smarter. I am helping the class become effective time managers by giving them options to be successful during work time. This is difficult for some students as they are use to being told what do with their time and for others hard to practice using time wisely. We are starting to relearn how to be successful students, practicing as a class and being role models for one another.
We have started our Weather unit this last week, one of my favorite! The students will get the opportunity to be meteorologists and predict our own weather forecast. He are also practicing to be successful with our ISAT testing. It is coming up very quickly, Feb 28th! One way that parents can help students is to ask questions about what they are reading and discuss vocabulary and predictions about what is coming up next. Please help your student to read chapter books and many are working on reading graphic novels. This is great but it is important to challenge reading with a chapter book.
Some have asked for a photo of Caleb. This was taken by Jenni Kenny of Creative Keepsakes by Jenni at ou
Thank you for all the thoughts and well wishes! Baby Caleb joined the world on October 14th at 6:51am. He is doing great!! He started at 7 pounds and 19 inches long and at his one month doctor's appointment he weighed 10 pounds 9 ounces and 22 1/2 inches long!!! We are adjusting at home. Sleeping through the night has changed but he is a great sleeper (at this point) and only getting up at two or three times each night. Although, I am still working on a sleep patterns during the day. He decides he wants to eat and sleep at varying times so it makes being productive very difficult. He napped for about three hours one morning and I was able to vacuum, mop, laundry and clean the kitchen! It was the most productivity I have had in the last month!
Zeus, the dog, has been a great buddy to Caleb. The first week was a little different as Zeus was not use to sharing the attention. Everyone is happy now.
I am looking forward to our first adventures to the Shedd, the zoo, and the park. Caleb is pretty amazing! Hopefully, when germs have left the school, we'll venture into school.
Thank you so much to each and every person that came to curriculum. I can see that education is very important to all of you. I am looking forward to meeting all of the other families as other events occur.
We have had a great few first few weeks. Routines are beginning to form and they are making everyone's lives easier. Students are learning that expectations are expremely high in our classroom in preparation for the real world. This is a great group of students will be learn to challege each other in safe and approriate manners.
We have begun to study digestion in science and soon will begin hands on lessons to test what happens in our bodies. During our first unit of reading, we began thinking about predicting and using prefixes and suffixes to understand the meanings of words. As for our writing curriculum, we are practicing the ability to write for longer periods of time by practicing in short increments to build our stamina. Our students have also practiced storying with friends about different topics to practice using details to enhance a story.
I look forward to sharing more with you soon. Please let me know if there is anything that you have questions, comments, or concerns about. Thanks for all of the support thus far!!
I can't believe the two days back. The students have been rockin' and on fire!! We all entered the room Monday morning and the kids jumped right into our fabulous routine. I was very impressed by the students abilities to hold academic conversations! I knew they could!
Our science unit has been going amazingly. The students are all using the microscopes perfectly. They were able to find their own epithelial tissue (cheek cells) on individual slides! I am proud of their patience and skills.
Reading is going to become harder as it is after winter break. We are preparing students for middle school and the future. Next week will be a fluency assessment to see how the students are progressing. The fluency CBM (curriculum based measure) will seeing how many words per minute the student can read with as little or no errors if possible. To practice at home, read with your child and allow them to read aloud to you.
Math is going well! We are starting chapter 6: using and organizing data as well as practicing fractions. 5KS math class will be utilizing math stations and practice activities to enrich learning throughout the chapter.
I am excited that the students are publishing a personal writing piece this week. On Friday, students get the opportunity to dress up and present there publication. I can't wait to hear their pieces!
Check back soon for more updates!
We have concluded our current science unit: constellations. The students did great on each of their activities: creating a diagram of four types of galaxies, created their own constellation and told the story of it's creation, as well as charted the life cycle of a star.
Our new unit is microscopes and small life. We will be using microscopes to look at animal and plant cells, comparing the similarities and differences. The students are extremely excited and full of questions as we FILLED our chart with what we know and what we want to find out!
The chapter 5 math test went well. Grades will be coming home this Friday. You should be very proud of your student! Chapter 6 in math will be begin after the break.
Keep practicing reading aloud with your child. Students are improving, allow your student to talk to you about what she or he is reading to improve summarizing and retelling abilities.
Wow, is all I can say. Our students have been working very hard over the past few weeks.
In January, Georgetown will be progress monitoring all students to see how their fluency is improving. At this point in the year students should be reading 135 words correctly per minute. There are many ways that parents can help improve their student's reading ability. One way is to ask your student to read aloud to you. Their reading should should like they are speaking. Remind them to "read like you talk." Help your child read my talking about what they are reading. Conversation goes a long way in increasing reading strengths.
Math is going great! I love fractions and teaching fractions. Some students do find the concept hard but they are working extremely hard to master fractions, percents, and decimals. We have our chapter 5 math test on Friday.
Science is going extremely well! We are studying the life cycle of stars. Ask your child what a nebula, supernova, and black hole are! We have also discussed what happens when people find "pictures" in the sky and from where the stories come.
Reminder: Please remind your student to be respectful of academic time and learning space. Some students are finding ways to be silly during learning time rather than use time wisely. Thanks for all of the support!
You should be proud of your students! I am!
We have had such a busy week. Red Ribbon week as been great for the kids thus far. Thank you to all of the parents who helped organize! The kids have enjoyed it. They are looking forward to backwards day tomorrow.
Our students had a math test today over division. I noticed that students know how to do division but are slow because they do not know their math facts. IT IS SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU PRACTICE MATH FACTS AT HOME TO HELP YOUR CHILD BECOME A STRONGER MATH STUDENT!
Be sure to be asking your child about their Words Their Way words. I make an extra copy each week for them to study and practice sorting at home. Practice with them, you may notice words have some fun patterns.
Parent teacher conferences are coming up very soon: Wednesday, Nov. 4 (4:30-8:00 pm) and Tuesday, Nov. 10th ( 8:00 am - 3:00pm) Please double check that you know when yours is so that you attend on time. Let me know if you need a new time. Thank you for your support!
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