Friday, September 21, 2012

A Week in Review
September 17 - 21
 


 

This was a fantastic week for Room 210!  It seems like we have this “school” thing down to a science now; kids are working well with the routines in the classroom and our community is running like a well-oiled machine!  We continued to work hard with diligence and focus!
 
Virtues Awards:
Ben Y. for showing the virtues of RESPONSIBILITY and ENTHUSIASM! Thank you for taking your learning seriously and for your excitement about everything! You make our classroom a happy place!


Reading:
Don't be a book hog! Students learned to keep a record of their reading interest and a list of books they want to eventually read. This makes way more sense than stacking a load of books on our desks (or our night stand) but it also ensures that we'll remember what we planned on reading next. We analyzed characteristics of fiction and nonfiction and also worked in teams to analyze different texts, sorted them into genres, and used evidence to support our reasoning. Students are continuing to take the DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) and have been very focused during independent reading, it truly is a magical time in our classroom.


Writing:
Is your story a "watermelon story" or a "seed story"? We focused our week on how good writers zoom in and focus on one part of a story or experience they want to share instead of giving a laundry list of events. For example, we analyzed two pieces of writing, the first piece wrote about many events from a vacation, in the end the writing seemed more like a list instead of a descriptive narrative that captured the reader's attention. The second piece took one event from the first story, zoomed in and described with fantastic detail and wonderful imagery the event. Ask your child about the lady wearing curlers, running around like she was having a heart attack! We challenged ourselves to brainstorm seed stories and began writing them.


Math:
What are PEMDAS and Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally? Why they are an acronym and a pneumonia device that help us remember the "Order of Operations" of course! Parentheses, Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, Subtract! We practiced solving parenthesis and writing equations to solve word problems using parentheses. We also solved comparison and combination problems, practiced with factors, solved multistep word problems and studied the Properties of Multiplication (Commutative, Associative, and Distributive).


Social Studies:
We've wrapped up our geography lesson this week with a focus on geographic terms that describe land and water as well identifying the physical features of the United States. We ended the lesson by creating a HUMAN MAP! Students used their bodies to represent the physical features of the US. Using kinesthetic movements such as these, will help us remember the physical features of the US.


Science:
We concluded our gummy bear experiment by writing our conclusion. We discovered the answer to the scientific question, "Do gummy bears dissolve faster in vinegar or water?" with the answer, "vinegar". When we returned to school on Monday, the gummy bear in vinegar was completely dissolved, leaving the vinegar yellow and allowing us a perfect opportunity to write our first scientific conclusion of 5th grade. We will start our Landforms unit next week!
 
Curriculum Night: 
Thanks for all the support for Curriculum Might, we know it’s a long week and a long day, and so appreciate you taking the time to join us!!  Thank you to all the volunteers who have signed up for jobs in the classroom or within the school.  Lastly, a huge “Shout Out” to Deena E. and Karyn O. for stepping up as our Room Parents!  If you have any questions or concerns about our curriculum, please don’t hesitate to send an email or ask!
 
Happy Friday!
 
~Mrs. Hatlestad


Important Dates:
·         Monday, September 24th – Try DI for the day & Smart with Art begins
·         Tuesday, September 25th - 1st $ turn in day for Walk-A-Thon pledges
·         Tuesday, October 2nd – 2nd $ turn in day for Walk-A-Thon pledges
·         Thursday, October 4th – Enrichment Curriculum Night
·         Friday, October 5th – Camp Terry (all day field trip)
·         Tuesday, October 9th – 3rd $ turn in day for Walk-A-Thon pledges
·         Wednesday, October 10th – Walk-A-Thon
·         Thursday, October 11th – Pajama Day!

 




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