Learning, a Half Marathon, and a Birthday!

A Week in Review

January 21 - 25

 

What a fantastic week of diligence and focus in Room 210! It may have only been a 4-day week, but with all of the amazing learning and critical thinking discussions, it definitely felt like a full 5-day week, wow!

 

 

Virtues Awards:

Ben Y. has earned a Virtues Award for showing COMPASSION and KINDNESS by helping another student who needed it. Thank you Ben!

 

Katie C. has earned a Virtues Award for consistently showing DILIGENCE and EXCELLENCE. Katie is an exemplary model of what it means to be a successful student!

 

Reading:

We finished our Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. biography! We were captivated by his dedication and determination in peacefully seeking equal rights for African Americans. We dug deep into our own lives and made connections as to how WE could show some of the same virtues that Dr. King did in our school and in our world.

 

 

Writing:

The "I Have a Dream" speech is still one of the most amazing speeches ever given and it continues to live on and as we pass Dr. King's message on to the next generation. We combined with Mrs. Bethel's class and viewed his speech, listened to his message, and thought about how it impacted them. Students wrote response paragraphs describing and explaining what they could do to carry on Dr. King's message.

 

 

 

Math:

Unit 6 Measurement was a short, but challenging unit. Students worked on compound units of measurement (i.e. 1 gal and 5 quarts = ____quarts?). Students also investigated elapsed time and used the 24-hour clock to solve problems. Today we took a practice test and students were taught a new study method: "CSI". No, not the CBS TV Show, but "Color, Symbol, Image". This routine is a way for students to remember vocabulary or key concepts by using color or drawing a symbol or image to depict the concept. Students were sent home with a worksheet for this routine to help them STUDY for the test on MONDAY!

 

Social Studies:

Critical thinking is our school wide focus at Medina. Socratic Seminars are a method for extending our learning and using our critical thinking skills. Students were put into two groups (inner circle and outer circle). The inner circle holds a discussion while the outer circle listens and makes observations that they share after Socratic Seminar. The question, "Why do we study history?" was posed to the students. I was so impressed with their thoughtful responses and the quality of conversation. Students were very respectful and discussed the importance of studying history so that history doesn't repeat itself, especially with something like slavery. They also said that it's important so that we know where we came from, how our country was founded and so that we can learn from our mistakes. It was a very thoughtful discussion and I was so impressed with their focus.

 

Science:

We finished Investigation 1 of our Science unit, Mixtures and Solutions. We learned that in order to separate a solution (which is a special kind of mixture where one material dissolves into another) you have to use evaporation. When evaporation is used on a saltwater solution, the result is that salt crystals are formed. We then put a 3-part mixture together: gravel, powder, and salt and came up with our own way to separate the 3 materials. The results will be finalized on Monday, when they can observe their investigation.

 

A note from Mrs. Hatlestad 

I am truly grateful to have all of these wonderful students in my classroom and that teaching them is my "job". A job I much love. Thank you for the birthday wishes and treats. Your thoughtfulness and kindness are truly appreciated. A special thanks to our wonderful room moms, Karyn and Deena for the morning birthday celebration we had today (complete with Krispy Kremes for all of us, as well as a coffee just for me). Thank you for the class gift, I'm excited about my new running shirt and socks!! Now that my half marathon is over, I can enjoy jogging again without the extra pressure! :) Many of you have asked about the Tinkerbell half-marathon I ran last Sunday, so here are the details real quick: the race took place in the Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland. My sister ran the race with me. We did get to run through the park before it opened! The race had a 5am start time, so that runners could do this! Throughout the Park, there were characters and employees cheering us on. You could even stop to have your picture taken if you wanted to, but for me the lines were too long and I wanted to keep on going.:) I met my two personal goals, 1) to run the entire 13.1 miles and 2) to finish in under 3 hours. Thanks for the good luck wishes and positive thoughts, they got me through miles 9 and 10! :)

 

Enjoy your weekend and again THANK YOU for letting me teach your children each and every day.

 

~Mrs. Hatlestad

 

Upcoming Events:

28-Jan - Smart with Art Winter Session begins   

9-Feb - Auction

18-Feb - Mid-Winter Break! (through Feb 24)

I Have A Dream...

A Week in Review

January 14 - 18

 

 

 

Reading:

We finished our class read aloud, I Have a Dream, a biography about Dr. Martin Luther King, JR. Today, students used a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast our read aloud with My Brother Martin. Read alouds allow Mrs. Bethel and I intentional opportunities for teachable moments. We often model our thinking for students, demonstrate reading strategies, and pose higher level thinking questions to students. It is one of my most favorite times during the day.
 

Writing:

Students were introduced to an new graphic organizer this week as they began brainstorming and writing a rough draft to an expository prompt. This series of expository writing lessons are intended to review the concept with students and solidify the foundation they need for writing strong persuasive essays.

Social Studies:

Chapter 8 has proved to be emotional, challenging and difficult to feel settled with; as students are learning about Slavery from the perspective of West Africans.  Students met in small groups to discuss three major dilemmas that enslaved Africans dealt with.  Together, as a large group we debriefed and discussed all the possible scenarios of what choices we might make, how we would react, respond and deal with these atrocities. 

 

Math:
We are currently underway with our “mini” unit of Capacity, Volume and Weight.  In this unit, students develop some important relationship in measurement. They begin by using what they know about length and area to develop a formula for volume. Then students change the length or the area of a figure and predict how the volume will change. Students compared volume and capacity, and mass and weight. We looked at the Metric system as well as our Customary Units of Measurement (gallons, quarts, pints, and cups).

Science

What is the difference between a mixture and a solution?  What types of mixtures can you separate with a screen?  How about a coffee filter?  How would you separate salt and water as a mixture?  These are all driving questions for our students this week in Science.  5^th Graders worked together this week to determine that Evaporation was one way to separate a mixture!  This unit is tying in quite nicely to integrate with Math!  Keep thinking in terms of measurement kids! 

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and all that he accomplished and sacrificed for us…enjoy this 3 day weekend (I’ll see you bright and early Tuesday morning). 

 ~Mrs. Hatlestad

Upcoming Events:
Monday, January 21^st:  No School in honor of MLK Day
Thursday, January 24^th:  Heritage Project Part 3 (Essay about Grandparent)
Thursday, January 24^th:  Poetry in Motion Assembly 8:30-9:30AM
Saturday, February 9:   Medina Auction
Thursday, February 14^th:  Valentine’s Day
Monday, February 18^th – Friday, February 22^nd Mid-Winter Break



Happy New Year!

A Week in Review

January 7 - 11

 

Virtues Awards:

Jack Don. has earned a Virtues Award for showing the virtues of DILIGENCE and JOYFULNESS. Jack is always hard at work and he does it all with a smile! Keep up the good work Jack, you're an excellent 5th grade leader!

Ben Y. has earned a Virtues Award for showing the virtue of DILIGENCE! Ben demonstrated critical thinking with his thoughtful responses and focus on excellence during Social Studies!

 

Reading:

We spent our first week back reviewing routines and using reading strategies during independent reading. We discussed critical thinking and what that looks like when we read. We know that critical thinkers ask questions, so we took time this week to jot down the questions we were asking ourselves during independent reading. We shared them in small groups. Asking questions about the text deepens our comprehension.

 

Writing:

Students became comic strip authors this week! Students were given a writing prompt that guided them to create a comic strip depicting an event from their winter vacation. The students were very engaged in this writing lesson and I'm very proud of how focused they were

 

Math:

Our fraction unit has come to an end. We spent Monday and Tuesday reviewing the major concepts from Unit 5: Adding and Subtracting Fractions. On Wednesday we took the end-of-unit assessment. One of the biggest challenges for students was demonstrating the decimal equivalent to a given fraction and we focused heavily on that during our review.

 

Science:

We started our Mixtures and Solutions unit by administering the pre-test on Monday. Kari, from the University of Washington, was here to oversee the assessment and collect the data. She'll use the test to compare results with the post test we'll give at the end of the unit.

 

Social Studies:

We used the "Question Formulating Technique" or "QFT" to start Chapter 8 Slavery, in our History Alive! curriculum. Students viewed a focus picture and read a statement based on the picture and used their critical thinking skills to generate questions. Then, students worked in groups to sort their questions into open-ended and closed questions. As a class, we chose the top three questions from each group, the ones that we thought were the most discussion worthy. We'll use those questions to guide our focus in this chapter as we read about three specific dilemmas that the West Africans faced.

Thanks for another great week of enthusiasm and excellence. I hope you have a relaxing weekend. Go Seahawks!!

~Mrs. Hatlestad

Upcoming Events:
1/16 - STAR Reading and Math test
1/21 - No School in observance of MLK Jr. Day
2/4 - 5th Grade "Human Growth and Development" class begins
2/9 - Medina PTSA Auction
2/18-2/22 - Mid-Winter Break

A Week in Review

December 17 - 21

 

Dear Families in Room 210,

 

We had a fabulous week of learning! I am so proud of the students and the focus they showed this week. We were busy and active and ending the week in our pajamas only seemed fitting (and cozy)!


Virtue Awards:
There are no new Virtue Award winners this week, but I am proud to say that EVERY student in our classroom has received a Virtues Award already this year!!!
 

 

Reading:

We finished our delightful read aloud with Mrs. Bethel's class, The Last Holiday Concert. The students enjoyed it (as did the teachers!). We learned about leadership and responsibility through the eyes of the main character, Hart Evans. And to quote Albus Dumbledore, we were reminded that “doing what is right, is not always easy.”  When we return from break, we will have the opportunity to switch gears and read a non-fiction biographical text about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.!!  We’ll have 2 weeks prior to the holiday celebrating his birthday to take an in-depth look at his amazing life and journey.  Near the end of January, we’ll transition to a historical fiction text that supports our learning and focus of the revolutionary war. 

 

Writing:

Students finished the final drafts of the narrative stories this week. They worked hard to independently revise and edit their work. Most students chose to publish their final drafts on the computer. I was impressed with their hard work!

 

Social Studies:

The 90 second "commercials" that students designed to persuade the audience to move to their colony were performed! Our class is full of creative actors that worked diligently to advertise their colony with catch slogans and visuals that listed reasons for someone to settle in that place. The Tuesday after break, students will take their Chapter 7 test.

 

Math:

The fraction action is coming to an end. We finished the unit, focusing on probability and relating fractions to decimals in the last two lessons. We will spend the first week back from break, reviewing and practicing the main concepts from the lesson before we take our end-of-unit assessment.



Class Store:
I was so impressed with the students creativity on Thursday! We had our first class store and students sold and bought goods from their classmates. We even had time to shop in Mrs. Bethel's class store, too! We walked away with more knowledge on supply and demand, effective pricing, competitive business, and new ideas for our next store!

A Note from Mrs. Hatlestad
Thank you so much for all that you do every day to support your child and me. I cannot express the gratitude that I feel working here at Medina, with these exceptional students and amazing parents. This is a special place to work and live and I feel blessed to have a job that I am passionate about with kids who I hold dear to my heart. From my family to yours, Happy Holidays.

~Mrs. Hatlestad


Upcoming Events:

• December 22 - January 6 - Winter Break
• Thursday, January 10^th
• Wednesday, January 16^th:  Middle of Year STAR Testing – computer lab
• Thursday, January 17^th:  Heritage Project Part 3 (Essay about Parent)
• Monday, January 21^st:  No School in honor of MLK Day
• Thursday, January 24^th:  Heritage Project Part 3 (Essay about Grandparent)
• Thursday, January 24^th:  Poetry in Motion Assembly 8:30-9:30AM
• Saturday, February 9:   Medina Auction

 



A Field Trip to Chinook!

A Week in Review

December 10 - 14

 

 

Only ONE more week left until Winter Break! It's hard to believe that 2012 is coming to an end, the past 15 weeks have zoomed by! We had another full week of learning in Room 210. Here's what we've been up to:

 

Field Trip:

Our field trip to Chinook at Ringdall was a success! The 5th Graders were wonderful ambassadors for Medina Elementary and I was so proud of them! Equally impressive was the Chinook band, orchestra, and choir!! We're grateful to Chinook for inviting us to their concert.



Virtue Awards:
Angela C. for showing the virtues of CREATIVITY and COOPERATION! Angela is working diligently to complete a Social Studies project with her group. Her team really appreciates all of her hard work!

Audun K. for showing the virtues of FRIENDLINESS and PEACEFULNESS! Audun is always kind to everyone and gets along well with others. His gentle nature makes Room 210 a better place.

Vincent B. for showing the virtue of EXCELLENCE! Vincent has worked hard to ensure that he has 100% of his Literacy and Math homework completed and turned in on time! Way to go Vincent!

Reading:
We read Cougars by Patricia Corrigan in our Journeys curriculum. Our target skill was "main idea and details" and we worked to monitor and clarify as we read. In this nonfiction text, we discussed the author's purpose and focused on what the main idea was, as well as the details the author gave to support it.



Writing:
We started the week off by comparing narratives to memoirs. We brainstormed what makes narrative writing strong (i.e. vivid details, strong word choice, dialogue)  Students wrote rough drafts and begin revising and editing. Their final pieces should be done next week!

Math:
Students continued in their fraction unit this week. We learned some fraction key terms: "Least Common Multiple" and "Greatest Common Factor" and had many opportunities to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators.





Social Studies:
Our classroom has turned into the "Actor's Studio" this week as small groups of students continued working on their 'commericials' for their colony. The billboards are coming together beautifully as students are focused on their end objective which is to convince their classmates to 'move' to their colony.

Science:
The UW doctoral students were back in our classroom this week as they conducted student interviews. The student interviews were focused on the Landforms unit and students' overall feelings towards science. They also interviewed me while students were in Band/Orchestra; asking about what I saw as the strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum unit. I enjoyed talking with them and look forward to our continued partnership in our Mixtures and Solutions unit.

Reading Buddies:
We had our last Reading Buddies session of 2012! We met to finish the backgrounds of our "Snowmen All Year" poem. The 5th graders have been excellent models and teachers to their second grade buddies in regards to reading fluency and technology leadership.





Enjoy this last weekend before break! And as always GO SEAHAWKS!

~Mrs. Hatlestad

Upcoming Events:

December 22 - January 6 - Winter Break
February 9- Medina Auction

Counting It Down…

A Week in Review

 

Dear Families in Room 210,

We had another busy week, full of learning! It is hard to believe that there are only TWO weeks left before Winter Break!


Virtues Awards:

Isabelle E. for showing JOYFULNESS and FRIENDLINESS! Isabelle always has something nice to say and a smile on her face! She makes Room 210 a friendly place!

Linnea L. for showing DILIGENCE and EXCELLENCE! Linnea is prepared and ready to learn each day! Her commitment to her learning is impressive!

Sarah Z. for showing KINDNESS to her classmates every day! Thank you Sarah for remembering the “Golden Rule” and treating others as you’d like to be treated!

 

Report Cards:

Report cards were sent home with your students today!  I have met with each student to review their report card and explain their grades. If you have any questions, first ask your student, then feel free to send me an e-mail. Please read a message from the District regarding scoring (a copy of it is included in the report card envelope):

 

 

 

Reading:

We read Storm Warriors by Elisa Carbone in our Journeys curriculum. We used the target skill "drawing conclusions" to extrapolate evidence from the text that helped us understand the main character, Nathan. We used the evidence to make predictions about him. We also focused on using Greek and Latin roots in our Vocabulary Strategies lesson. Students worked to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words using the roots: tele, rupt, photo, and scrib.

 

 

Math:

There was more 'fraction action' this week! We worked to understand equivalent fractions and how to use a multiplier to "unsimplify" them (and use division to simplify them). The SMART Board was a great avenue for learning with this concept as actually taking the same size "wholes" and transposing one on top of the other to show how two-fourths and one-half are the SAME SIZE of the whole!

Science:

This week concludes our Landforms Unit of study for Science.  Students worked diligently to complete the content assessment that included questions such as:  “What word is given to the process that forms deltas?” and “Where does the soil material in a river delta come from?” My favorite question asked: “Explain the reasons for why you think stream tables with steeper slopes produce results different from stream tables without slopes?” 

Up Next:  Unit #2 – Mixtures and Solutions

 

 

Social Studies:

Unit #7 – Comparing the Colonies is full speed ahead this week!  Students have been researching, reading and learning all about distinguishing between the New England, Middle and Southern Colonies (we’re focusing on 6 of the 13 Colonies this unit; Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Georgia).  Students broke into small groups this week to begin creating a billboard advertisement to promote the favorable aspects of their colony.  Not only do they need to list key features of their chosen local, but convince the class to “buy” their advertisement billboard!  We’re continuing to take copious notes; utilizing Cornell Notes strategy (something widely used throughout high schools and colleges around the nation.  As we teachers returned from our visit from Chinook last week, we also noticed Cornell notes used by students across curricular areas; so we’ve added this as a goal area to utilize this strategy as much as possible in 5^th grade!  

 

                                                 Virtues:

Our Virtue Parents, Karyn and Gina led our class in a lesson on the Virtue of the Month, COMPASSION. Students viewed the news story of the NYPD officer who bought shoes for a homeless man in need. We talked about how the police officer showed compassion and reflected on how we've shown compassion in our own lives. Then, students watched a video on the Ronald McDonald House and learned how this organization provides housing for families who have children receiving treatment at Children's Hospital. The video made me reflect on just how fortunate I am to have two healthy toddlers at home. Students created holiday cards for the children and their families to bring them cheer. We are also accepting donations for pantry items for the House, please send non-perishable items to school with your student and help us support the Ronald McDonald House!

 

Here are the links to the videos:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7SHw7-t520

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4J20wVlLN0

 

No Weekly Reports this week because Report Cards were sent home today. 

Happy Weekend and GO SEAHAWKS! 

 

~ Mrs. Hatlestad 

 

 

Upcoming Events:

 

12/14 Field Trip to Chinook (at Ringdall) for the Band/Orchestra/Choir concert

12/22 - 1/6 Winter Break

5th Grade Teachers Visit Chinook Middle School at Ringdall

A Week in Review

11/26 - 11/30

 

 

It was another productive and busy week in Room 210! One of the highlights for me, was a visit to Chinook Middle School at Ringdall. All of the 5th grade teachers took Thursday morning to observe and talk with students and teachers at Chinook. We were able to view Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science classrooms in action!

We walked a way with much validation for the preparation that Medina Elementary teachers already do with students to ensure they're successful. We also took many notes on new ideas and strategies that we can implement into our classrooms to help our 5th graders be even more prepared for the rigors of middle school!

 

Virtues Awards:

Safa A. for demonstrating RESPONSIBILITY and DILIGENCE! Safa consistently completes her assignments with quality work and in a timely manner!

 

Ethan T. for demonstrating RESPECT and EXCELLENCE! Ethan works diligently and is always so focused during instruction!

 

Reading:

We journeyed to the Everglades through a shared reading of Everglades Forever; Restoring America's Great Wetland by Trish Marx. Our target skill was persuasion and as we read, we looked for evidence of how the author was trying to persuade us to believe in the importance of the Everglades Restoration Project.

 

Writing:

Teacher/Student writing conferences, editing and publishing kept us engaged and busy-busy in Writing this week! We worked to finalize our memoirs and print them. The students are really working on taking their revisions seriously by zooming in on their writing to "explode the moment" for their reader!
 

 

Math:

Fractions were our focus this week! We compared unit fractions and fractions with like denominators and added/subtracted fractions with like denominators. We ended the week studying mixed numbers and improper fractions.

On our middle school visit, I observed students independently taking notes in ALL subjects! I noticed that the middle school teachers did not always tell students what specifically to write down or what to copy. In today's Math lesson, as we worked on improper fractions and mixed numbers, I required students to take notes in their math journals, modeling for them how to specifically write the notes in their journals, with the intention being that students will USE their notes to study for tests or use them to complete an assignment. In our classroom, we will use the Cornell Notetaking strategy to help us prepare for middle school.

 

Science:

This week in Science, we used actual topographic maps to study the landforms around Mt. Shasta. Students used the topographic map symbols to find places on the map. We also used the foam mountain model from a previous lesson to help us visualize how Mt. Shasta was depicted on the he map.

Our end-of-unit assessment for Science will be on TUESDAY!

 

Social Studies:

We concluded Chapter 6 - Early English Settlements. Students learned about early English settlements in North America. They analyzed images of the settlements and worked to understand the reasons for settlement, hardships the settlers endured, and the reasons for success or failure of each settlement. We have a Social Studies Test for Chapter 6 on MONDAY!

 

Thanks for another great week! Your students worked so hard! I am continually impressed by their focus on learning and how driven they are for excellence.

I’m looking

  

Enjoy your weekend and GO SEAHAWKS!

~Mrs. Hatlestad