A Week in Review 10/22-10/26

A Week in Review

October 22 - 26

We have worked tirelessly in all subjects, pushing ourselves each day to be the best learners that we can be! The Pacific Northwest weather has returned, but students didn't let that dampen their motivation and focus on learning!

 

Shout outs for Virtues Awards:

 

Elizabeth C. has earned a Virtues Award for showing FRIENDLINESS and JOYFULNESS. She makes our classroom a happier place with her positive attitude!

Jack Dev. has earned a Virtues Award for showing ENTHUSIASM and SELF-DISCIPLINE! He is excited about GRC and has already started reading his first book selection. Jack understands the importance of teamwork!

 

 

Reading:

Our target skill this week was "sequence of events". We used a flow chart graphic organizer to track the order of events in reading. This skill is important because it helps readers monitor their understanding and can help clarify a reader's questions. We also had many opportunities to read independently and with Mr. K where our thinking was stretched as we talked about our reading.

Writing:
After our first Cocoa and Current Events assignment, it was clear that students needed a few key ideas of summary retaught. Our work in writing this week focused on using the 5 W's (who, what, where, when, why) to extrapolate the important information from text and write concise summaries in our own words. The students used our read aloud, The Watson's go to Birmingham, and two Time for Kids news articles, Sleep Tight and A Playbook for Stopping Bullies. Mr. K modeled writing a summary and the students worked in pairs to write their own.

Math:
Our decimal unit continues! We worked this week on reviewing place value (on both sides of the decimal) as well as adding and subtracting decimals. We also emphasized the importance of correctly and neatly lining up our place values when adding. Students were given math problems that were written horizontally and their job was to neatly stack them, line up the place values, solve and double check their work! We solved problems like this:

124,675,378.943 + 114, 732, 921.7539

Science:
We have concluded our Deposition investigation. Students conducted another stream table experiment learning: what happens to earth materials that have been eroded by a river, which earth materials are deposited first as the water in a river slows down, and what happens to water flowing in a river. We used food coloring to more clearly observe the water's flow.

Social Studies:
There are many famous explorers that came to the Americas. Students used a grid to organize their learning. They learned who the explorers were, their motivations, the countries that sponsored them, the land they explored, and the impact they had. We also began talking about perspective, something that is extremely important in our country's history - the perspective of the Native Americans and the impact the explorers had on their way of life. These grids will become a study sheet for the Chapter 5 test.

Today is Mr. K's last day of teaching in our classroom! He has brought enthusiasm and excitement for the students and he will be missed. We wish him luck as he continues his student teaching adventure in 3rd grade! Good luck, Mr. K!!

Thank you for a great week,

~Mrs. Hatlestad

Upcoming Events:

 

29-Oct - Book fair begins

1-Nov - Book fair Family Night

1-Nov - Reflections art show at school

6-Nov - PTA General Assembly meeting

9-Nov - Professional day - NO SCHOOL

12-Nov - Veterans Day - NO SCHOOL

13-Nov - BSF Phonathon begins

14-Nov - Veteran's Day Assembly

16-Nov - SPIRIT DAY!



A Week in Review 10/15 - 10/19

A Week in Review

October 15 - 19

 

 

 

Happy Friday! The students deserve a weekend of relaxation - we worked hard this week!! I'm proud of the respect and responsibility that I see so often. Our class is so eager to help and eager to learn, they amaze me daily with their excitement and respect for learning.

 

 

Virtue Awards:

 

Cindy F. has earned a Virtues Award for showing the virtues of RESPONSIBILITY and SELF-DISCIPLINE. Cindy always makes sure to have her assignments turned in on time and with quality work!

 

Jack Don. has earned a Virtues Award for showing the virtues of JOYFULNESS and RELIABILITY. Jack participates in all classroom discussions, completes his assignments with quality work, and is always willing to try new things. He is an excellent example of 5th grade leadership!

 

Reading:

Off and Running by Gary Soto was our main reading selection this week from our Journeys curriculum. Students read the selection and used a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast two characters. Digging deeper into text with strategies like this, help us as readers to think critically about the text and have more thoughtful and thought provoking discussions.

 

Writing:
We were busily immersed in our Writing Workshop and this week found time to 'free write'. Free writing allows us as writers to choose our own topics and write about what is important to us. It helps us generate ideas for when we have specific topics to write about. Free writing also builds our confidence! The students are always eager to share their writing during author’s chair. Next week, we’ll continue our focus on memoirs, with specific lessons geared to helping students grow in their understanding of good writing and incorporating specific writing techniques to strengthen their writing.

 

Math:

Decimals, decimals, everywhere! We have started our 3rd Math Unit of 5th grade! Our beginning lessons focused on reviewing what decimals are, place value, and relating decimals to fractions We use "secret code cards" to aid us visually in understanding the 'size' of a decimal. This unit lays an important foundation for upcoming content in 5th grade.
 

 

Social Studies:

Why did explorers come to the "New World"? Why did they call it the "New World"? What did they find here? What did they bring with them? These are some of the questions we answered in Chapter 4 of our History Alive! curriculum. We turned our classroom into a sunken ship, students 'dove in' to find artifacts, they analyzed the artifacts and took notes in their Social Studies notebooks. We discussed what these artifacts were and how they were used by explores, and why there were important. Students looked to answer whether the artifact was: new technology that encouraged exploration, a motive for exploration, or new products from the Americas. Below is a snapshot of our 'sunken ship', inside each grid was an artifact waiting to be investigated.

Science:

We went back to our stream tables this week, but instead of focusing on erosion, this experiment introduced us to the concept of deposition. We learned that deposition is the process by which eroded earth materials settle out in another place. We learned that earth materials eroded by rivers are deposited as sediments and that heavier sediments (like sand) are deposited before lighter sediments (like clay). This experiment connected to real life because we analyzed how the Colorado River might have eroded the earth materials that make up the Colorado Plateau.

 

Cocoa and Current Events:

Three cheers for our first and successful Cocoa and Current Events! We obviously enjoyed our hot cocoa but also we were enriched and enlightened by the discussions. There is a lot going on in our world, this is one way for us to talk about the news, expand our vocabulary, and even begin analyzing writers as we look for hidden bias or point-of-view.

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

~Mrs. Hatlestad

 

Upcoming Events:

29-Oct - Book fair begins

1-Nov - Book fair Family Night

1-Nov - Reflections art show at school

6-Nov - PTA General Assembly meeting

9-Nov - Professional day - NO SCHOOL

12-Nov - Veterans Day - NO SCHOOL

13-Nov - BSF Phonathon begins

16-Nov - SPIRIT DAY!



 



A Week in Review Oct 8 - 12

A Week in Review

October 8^th – October 12^th

 

WOW!  The Walk-A-Thon was a HUGE success J  I’m very proud of all the virtues displayed this Wednesday when our 5^th graders took to the field; whether they were showing integrity by honestly counting their laps, friendliness by helping the younger students not get run over in the “jogging” lane or perseverance by collectively walking over 150 laps!  Amazing! 

 

Virtue Awards:

Kate O. for showing the virtues of RELIABILITY and RESPONSIBILITY by completing ALL of her assignments on time and with quality work! Thank you Kate for modeling excellence EVERY DAY!

Declan R. for showing the virtues of JOYFULNESS and RESPONSIBILITY by consistently being willing to help keep our classroom clean and organized! And he does it all with a smile!

  

Literacy: 

We were busy in literacy this week, but the highlight was when we viewed a live webcast of an interview with the talented and popular author, JK ROWLING. Scholastic hosted to the interview and invited classrooms worldwide to participate. Mrs. Bethel's class joined us as we learned more about JK Rowling, her new website Pottermore, and my favorite part - we listened to her read a scene from the first book in the series, The Sorcerer's Stone. Listening to the author talk about how she wrote the series fit nicely with our Writing Workshop as student use the writing process (brainstorm, rough draft, revise, edit, publish) on a daily basis. Hearing Rowling talk about different drafts and where she kept her ideas was a perfect example of how what we're doing in the classroom matches what a published author does!

 

Math:

Hurrah!!  We’ve made it through our second Math Unit – Perimeter and Area; students worked diligently to convert from inches to feet, feet to yards and much more.  5^th grade brains were put to the test this week as they were asked to solve a story problem, much like this:

“Mrs. Hatlestad wanted to build a fence around her organic veggie garden.  Her garden box is 3 feet wide and 8 feet long.  Mr. Hatlestad helped her carry 8 yards of mesh wire fencing home.  Do they have enough?”  Yikes!  In this story problem, students would need to solve the following:

·         Am I solving for perimeter or area?

·         What is the perimeter?

·         Convert from feet into yards

·         Compare the yardage

·         Do I have enough?  Why or why not?

Students will take the end-of-unit math assessment on MONDAY! Have them study, study, study over the weekend!!

 

Science:

Students worked with their teammates to conduct an experiment that simulated how the Grand Canyon was formed. We investigated water flow over earth materials in a stream table. We observed the process of erosion and knew that the 1-liter of water used in our experiment, simulated at least 1 million years of water flowing over the Colorado plateau.

 

Social Studies:

We started Chapter 4 and began investigating why Europeans left for the new world. Our first focus was on the Social Studies terms that we will use throughout this Chapter. We also watched a BrainPop! video on Christopher Columbus (on Monday, October 8th - Columbus Day).

 

In addition, to Social Studies, we also had a lesson from our two Virtues Parents, Karyn O. (Kate) and Gina M. (Katie). They showed an awesome 'wordless' video that demonstrated October's Virtue, "Responsibility". Students were also given a "Virtues Passport Book" to complete throughout the year, this booklet provides a place for them to reflect on how they are using the District wide Virtue of the Month in their daily lives.

 

Reading Buddies
Our 5th grade leaders have been paired up with students in Miss Muller's second grade class. We started our first Reading Buddy meeting by interviewing our little buddies as a way to get to know them. Since we met downstairs in their second grade classroom, we also received a tour of their room. Then, we read with our buddies. The second graders were so excited to show off their classroom and read with us! This is such a great way for our 5th grades to model excellence and leadership for the younger students in our school. I was so impressed with their focus and caring attitudes! We can't wait until next time!

Cocoa and Current Events: 
Don't forget to send in a COFFEE MUG with your student! We will be starting Cocoa and Current Events next week! Look for the information and assignment to come home with your student on Monday!

 

Thanks again for another fabulous week!

 

~Mrs. Hatlestad

 

Important Dates:

Wednesday, October 17^th:  GRC (Global Reading Challenge forms due)

Monday October 22^nd – Friday, October 25^th:  Fall Conferences

Friday, October 25^th:  Picture RE-Take Day

Monday October 28^th - Friday, November 2^nd:  Scholastic Book Fair

Wednesday, October 31^st:  Halloween (Celebration 10:30)

A Week in Review

September 29 - October 5

 

 

Another busy week has zoomed by! We were focused, hardworking, and full of enthusiasm for learning! The Leadership Field Trip to Camp Terry was a PERFECT way to end the week! This is an amazing group of 5th graders and they showed RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, HONESTY, and COURAGE on our outing. I was extremely PROUD watching these students represent our school and community.

 

 

Virtues Awards:

Rose H. for showing the virtues of JOYFULNESS and RESPONSIBILITY! Rose is always working to keep our classroom organized and running smoothly and she does all with a smile and a positive attitude.

Gabi W. for showing the virtues of DILIGENCE and RESPONSIBILITY! Gabi consistently challenges herself to go above and beyond the expectations on all of her assignments, she is a wonderful example of what it means to be a 5^th grade leader.

 

Reading:

We started work in our Journeys literacy curriculum. We focused on the target vocabulary, worked in groups to make predictions of the meaning of these words and then talk about their actual meanings. We used context clues to guide our thinking. We also read the main selection, A Package for Mrs. Jewels by Louis Sachar. We used a new strategy called "Team Talk" to answer higher level thinking questions and really dig deep into analyzing the text and the author's craft. We discussed foreshadowing and the elements that made this book fall in the category of humorous fiction.

 

Writing:

Using our timeline of important events in our lives, we began writing our memoirs. Students listened to my memoir, the last summer I spent with my grandpa, and then worked diligently to begin their own writing. We discussed voice and the techniques I attempted to use in my writing to add voice. I look forward to reading each student's memoir!

 

Math:

Our brains were challenged this week as we looked at converting measurements within the Metric system, calculated perimeter and area of triangles and parallelograms. The important learning was not just the formulas that help us solve these perimeter and area problems, but WHY the formulas work. Ask your student, "Why do you find the area of a triangle with (l x w)÷2?"

 

Social Studies:

Mrs. Brown, our ITCL (Instructional Technology Curriculum Leader) borrowed our class to try out a new teaching technique she had learned. Students were given a statement, "Archaeologist Investigate Sunken Ships" and challenged with the task of coming up with questions that this statement sparked. They worked in teams to categorize their questions into "closed and open-ended questions". Then they chose the questions from their groups brainstorm that they felt were the most important. We will use these questions in our Chapter 4 lesson, "Why Europeans Left for the New World" as we begin to study European exploration of the Americas and artifacts that the explorers encountered and used.

 

Science:

Students used their playground models to create maps of the playground. They took a transparency with a grid and 'traced' over the model from a birds-eye-view. Then they used the transparency to create a map (on paper) with a key. The maps are not quite complete, but we're almost done!

 

Field Trip:

Camp Terry was a HUGE success! A special THANK YOU to Ms. Andrea Keenan for being the coordinator for this field trip and to the Curriculum Enhancement Committee for picking up the tab. The field trip focus was on leadership and what it means to be a leader. Ask your student about their favorite part, but also ask them what leadership means to them. Challenge them to think about how they will use what they learned about leadership here at school.

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

~Mrs. Hatlestad

 

Important Dates:

9-Oct - third money/pledge collection for the Walkathon

10-Oct - Walkathon/Spirit Day + Crazy Hair Day - 12:00-3:00 PM

11-Oct - All-School Pajama Day

 



A Week in Review

September 24 - 28

 

 

Dear Families in Room 210,

 

What a week! Between football talk (replacement refs, Seahawks 2-1, Husky Nation) and Walkathon excitement, we managed to fit in a lot of learning! Let's start with celebrating our Virtue Award winners!

 

Virtues Awards:

Matthew C. for consistently showing the virtues of RESPONSIBILITY and SELF-DISCIPLINE. Matthew always has a positive attitude and is ready to learn!

Tim P. for showing the virtues of FLEXIBILITY and COURTESY when he willingly switched lunch helper days with a classmate even though it mean that he'll have to wait until November to be a lunch helper. Thank you for setting such a wonderful example of these virtues!

Reading:
How do readers ensure that they understand the author's message? That was a question we discussed and analyzed this week as we talked about what "fix-it" strategies we use when meaning breaks down and we get confused. We also thought about punctuation and how that can help us understand as well as how we figure out unknown words. We actively looked for places we used these strategies during our independent reading time. We were focused and thinking critically about what good readers do to make sure that they are understanding what they are reading. This important work lays a foundation for when we are reading required readings (now and in middle school) and the text poses challenges for us.

Writing:
Our Writing Workshop time this week has continued to focus on memoirs. We looked at different memoirs and analyzed the "voice" that each of the author's wrote with. We found evidence in the memoirs that showed us the "writer behind the words". We also created timelines of important and memorable events in our lives and from that timeline we selected one to write about. This event will become our memoir and our first writing assessment. Students will take their piece through the entire writing process (brainstorm, draft, revise, edit, publish) independently.

Math:
Unit 1 is DONE! This first unit allowed me to see how each student works in math, their confidence level, and their ability to problem solve. Students took the end-of-unit assessment on Tuesday.We went over the results as a class and discussed the problems that were tricky. We also took a pre-assessment for our next unit, "Perimeter and Area". We connected literacy and math together in a fabulous lesson led by Mr. Kealhofer, our student teacher, on exponents. He used the book One Grain of Rice by Demi. Students were asked the question, "Did the main character make the right decision to ask for only 1 grain of rice to be doubled everyday?" We watched a "Brain Pop!" clip on exponents to solidify our learning.

Social Studies:
We wrapped up our geography unit and took our end-of-unit assessment. Students worked hard to study and show what they know on the test. The assessment measured their knowledge on geographic terms and physical features of the United States. Knowing these physical features will help us in our Science unit!

Science:
What can you create with craft sticks. earth material, cubes, rulers, and trays? Why a model of our school playground! As we started our Landforms Science unit, students worked in pairs to create a model of our school playground. We discussed three Science vocabulary words that were key to the lesson: model, boundaries, and structure. We also organized our Science Journals so that we have a specific place to keep our notes and vocabulary words/definitions.

It was another fantastic week of learning in our classroom. We voted on our Walkathon country and agreed on Ireland. We also voted on a name, "Lucky Charms". (A special thank you to Karyn and Deena, our room moms for helping out with the Walkathon banner!) The students were enthusiastic and motivated to learn. I appreciate their friendly and social nature, keeps me on my toes and makes learning fun!

Happy Friday,

Mrs. Hatlestad

Important Dates:

1-Oct - DI and Sponge language programs begin

2-Oct - second money/pledge collection for the Walkathon
5-Oct - Leadership Camp Field Trip

9-Oct - third money/pledge collection for the Walkathon

10-Oct - Walkathon/Spirit Day + Crazy Hair Day - 12:00-3:00 PM

11-Oct - All-School Pajama Day

 



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 24^th – Try DI for the day & Smart with Art begins

·         Tuesday, September 25^th - 1^st $ turn in day for Walk-A-Thon pledges

·         Tuesday, October 2^nd – 2^nd $ turn in day for Walk-A-Thon pledges

·         Thursday, October 4^th – Enrichment Curriculum Night

·         Friday, October 5^th – Camp Terry (all day field trip)

·         Tuesday, October 9^th – 3^rd $ turn in day for Walk-A-Thon pledges

·         Wednesday, October 10^th – Walk-A-Thon

·         Thursday, October 11^th – Pajama Day!

 





A Week in Review

September 10 - 14, 2012

 

Another GREAT WEEK is in the books for the 2012-2013 school year! We'll start off by giving a shout-out to Katie C. for earning the first Virtues Award from our classroom! Katie received a Virtues Award for showing the virtues of ENTHUSIASM and HELPFULNESS! She is a role model in our classroom and for our school!

Here's what we were up to this week:

Reading:
"Buzzzzzing" was our focus during Reading Workshop this week. Students were given a focus during their independent reading time, following their reading, they met in groups of three to talk ("buzz") about their independent reading book in relation to the focus that was given. The students had thoughtful discussion and were hard at work to deepen their comprehension and reading skills. Students are also in the midst of DRA (Developmental Reading Assessments); we’re hoping to conclude this oral reading fluency, comprehension and inquiry assessment by the end of the month.  I plan to use this data to best address reading strengths and goal areas. 

Writing:
Ideas, ideas, ideas - that's what a writer needs in order to begin. We brainstormed ways that writers get ideas, we tried a few new techniques, too. Ask your child how an index card with a hole punched in it or a "Things I Hate" and "Things I Love" list can help generate ideas. We also read about famous authors (like Roald Dahl) and learned where they keep their ideas - in their Writer's Notebooks of course!

Math:
Our learning in Math this week continued to focus on multiplication and division word problems. We also worked on function tables and writing equations that included a variable in order to identify the "rule" of the table. We unscrambled multiplication tables and used mathematical thinking to identify and write our own word problems.

Social Studies:
Students worked in teams to answer geography questions and identify specific locations on a world map. We studied latitude and longitude, ask your child what movements did we use to help us remember which lines are which on a map/globe.

Science:
"What is the Scientific Procedure?" was a question we explored in a joint lesson with Mrs. Bethel's class. Mrs. Bethel and I co-taught a Scientific Procedure lesson that focused on reviewing the parts of a science experiment and then we conducted one as a class in order to write our own procedure and conclusion. A special thanks to Mrs. Kaminoff and Ms. Keenan for sharing the lesson with us!Ask your child to tell you if "Water or Vinegar dissolves a gummy bear faster?"

Steps to Respect:
We started our anti-bullying curriculum this week, too. Our lesson focused on "intentions" and how to find out what someone's intentions are instead of assuming the worst. We discussed how sometimes misunderstanding someone's actions, by assuming the worst of intentions, can lead to unnecessary problems in friendships.

Thank you for another great week! We are an enthusiastic and focused group, I couldn't be more pleased with how much learning is already happening in our classroom!


Important Upcoming Dates:

§  Monday, September 17^th:  Family Chess Night

§  Thursday, September 20^th:  Curriculum Night

§  Friday, September 21^st Walk-A-Thon “Kick Off” Assembly

§  Wednesday, October 10^th:  All School Walk-A-Thon

I look forward to seeing you on Thursday for Curriculum Night!

~Mrs. Hatlestad