PEMDAS, UW, and the Boston Tea Party

A Week in Review

April 22 - 26

 

 

What an amazing way to end the week! We had a fantastic time at the University of Washington's Engineering Days! The students were engaged, respectful, and enthusiastic about the exhibits. I must thank our chaperones: Jason (Katie), Karyn (Kate), Gunilla (Linnea), Karen (Rose), and Kristen (Zach) for taking time out of their day to accompany us! Read below to see what else we've been learning this week!

 

Virtues Awards:

Jack M. has earned a Virtues Award for showing the virtue of COURAGE. Jack took a risk by sharing his mathematical strategy and thinking with his classmates. His explanation helped other students understand the math concept!

 

Sarah Z. has earned a Virtues Award for showing the virtues of COMPASSION and FLEXIBILITY. Sarah willingly volunteered to make a switch for our field trip in order to help another classmate. Thank you Sarah!

 

Reading:

Our purpose in reading this week integrated with our Social Studies unit of study. We read different accounts of the Boston Tea Party in order to gain a deeper understanding of this historical event. We analyzed the purpose of the "tea party" and the cause/effect relationship that led up to it.

 

Writing:

We finished our persuasive essay pre-test. Students worked independently to publish their writing. We also used our Social Studies unit as an avenue for writing. We wrote friendly letters describing the Boston Tea Party and our character's feelings about the event. Students needed to use evidence and real event details in their letters to demonstrate their understanding of the historical significance.

 

 

Math:

Students wrote situation and solution equations for word problems. This is a particularly challenging concept, but an important one because it lays the foundation needed for understanding complex word problems and how to solve them using algebraic reasoning. We also worked with the Order of Operations (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction or "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally"). Through PEMDAS, students are learning to copy down the expressions accurately and write down their steps to ensure they are using the correct order of operations to solve the problem. We ended the week learning about how to read and plot points on a coordinate plane! Whew - and we only had four days of Math this week because of the field trip!!

 

Science:

Our seeds have started to germinate! Students wrote detailed observations about their terrariums, measured their plants, and made sure the environmental factors are conducive for the plants. Some students made modifications to their terrariums by planting more seeds or removing the top to allow room for growth.

 

 

 

Social Studies:

"Rally Mohawks, grab your axes! Tell King George we'll pay NO TAXES!" We learned how the Sons of Liberty orchestrated this historical event in American History. Sam Adams, with the single phrase, "This meeting can do no more to save the country" sent about fifty disguised colonists to the wharf to throw tea overboard. Students were shocked to learn that not a single tea leaf was stolen, no damage was made to the three British ships carrying the tea, and the decks were swept clean once the tea was dumped into the harbor. The Boston Tea Party was not a robbery, it was a protest. Patriots sent a clear message to King George.

 

What a wonderful week of sunshine and learning in Room 210! Thank you for your continued support of our work here at school. There are only 37 days left, but we still have so much to do and learn!

 

Enjoy your weekend,

 

~Mrs. Hatlestad

 

Upcoming Events:

 

29-April - PAGE presentation, Setting Your Kids Up For Success:  Beyond IQ, Sammamish High School Auditorium, 7:00pm (doors open at 6:30)

02-May - Talent Show Dress Rehearsal, 2:45pm

03-May - All unclaimed Lost & Found items to be donated

03-May - Talent Show, 6:00pm 

13-May - MSP - MATH

14-May  -Crash Field trip at SCT

15-May - MSP - READING

20-May - MSP - SCIENCE

22-May - Garbology Pacific Science Center session (in our classroom)

27-May - No School in observance of Memorial Day

07 - June-Medina Elementary Family Night at Safeco Field

19 - June-Last Day of School

Right Back At It!

A Week in Review

April 15 - 19

 

Welcome back from Spring Break! We got right back into our groove, even with a week off! We've been busy this week, here's what we've been up to:

 

Virtues Awards:

Alexandria B. has earned a Virtues Award for showing the virtues of compassion and helpfulness. She took time to help a classmate find their instrument for band. Thank you Alexandria!

 

Tim P. has earned a Virtues Award for showing the virtue of diligence. Tim works hard to complete his assignments with quality work and turn them in on time! Way to go Tim!

Reading:

We've continued our read aloud, Johnny Tremain, with Mrs. Bethel's (Ms. Holmes) class. This historical fiction novel is aligning with our study of Colonial Boston and the time period leading up to the Revolutionary War. We use read aloud as an avenue for modeling comprehension strategies, as well as, asking higher level thinking questions to get students thinking critically about the text.



Writing:
Our last writing assessment of the year is approaching. Students will need to write a persuasive essay! In order to guide my instruction, students are working on a "pre-test" by writing a persuasive essay. The assignment was quite open-ended. Students self-selected their topic and audience, I will use their writing to help me plan lessons based on their strengths with persuasive writing and areas of need. The topics they've chosen range from asking their parents for something (a horse, a trip to Disneyland) to writing to Mrs. Hamilton, asking for longer recesses!

MATH

This week in Math we began Unit 8: Algebra, Functions, and Graphs! We started by learning how to: use exponents and the Order of Operations to simplify expressions and solve equations. We also completed prime factorization of composite numbers and learned how to use the prime factorization to find ALL of the factors for a given number. It was quite a bit of new information that took a lot of focus and practice but students are off to a wonderful start in this unit!

 

SCIENCE          

Barley, clover, radishes, peas, and corn, OH MY! We got to start our first investigation this week in our Environments Unit! Students are determining what type of environmental factors best support a healthy living condition for their plants. Each group has been in charge of planting and growing seeds in a terrarium, and many of them are beginning to sprout!

 

SOCIAL STUDIES    

In our StoryPath Social Studies unit, we learned about the Boston Massacre. Students reacted to the events through discussion in a town meeting and by reading different accounts of this historical event. We had rich discussions about the event and how deciding who was to blame (colonists or British soldiers) was not an easy question to answer. We ended the week by drafting up friendly letters telling family back home in Britain about the Boston Massacre. These letters will help me assess what students have learned.

 

MSP

As we get ready to take the MSP, students will begin receiving MSP practice packets for Reading, Science, and Math. Students are to complete them at home and return to school so we can discuss answers together.

As you can see, we had a full week! I am looking forward to next week when hopefully this rain will go away and we can enjoy some sunshine!

Have a wonderful weekend J

~Mrs. Hatlestad

 

Upcoming Events:

23- April- Spring session of Lego Club begins

23- April- Talent Show Tryouts

26- April-UW Engineering Day Field trip

03-May- Talent Show

13-May-MSP - MATH

14-May-Crash Field trip

15-May-MSP - READING

20-May-MSP - SCIENCE

22-May - Garbology Pacific Science Center session (in our classroom)

27-May-No School in observance of Memorial Day

07-June-Medina Elementary Family Night at Safeco Field

19-June-Last Day of School



A Night to Remember

A Week in Review

April 1 - 5

 

 

Dear Families in Room 210,

 

Thank you for an AMAZING Heritage Night! Wow! It was an enjoyable evening, filled with delicious food, excellent presentations, and a fun family evening. I was so impressed with how poised and confident the students were as they presented their Heritage Project and shared what they learned. I know that a lot of work went into this project and I am so grateful for all that you have done to ensure your student's success. Each and every student  not only grew as a writer and public speaker, they now have a family keepsake, one that they will cherish for years to come. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

 

 

Virtue Awards:

 

Safa A. has earned a Virtues Award for demonstrating the virtues of self-discipline and excellence. Safa continually looks for ways to go above and beyond the expectations. She is focused and hardworking!

 

Ethan T. has earned a Virtues Award for demonstrating the virtue of reliability. Ethan consistently completes his work on time, shows respect to his peers and teachers, and understands the importance of hard work. Ethan, you are an excellent role model!

 

 

Literacy:

We began having individual goal setting conferences. Students worked with me to analyze their reading and writing assessment scores in order to set developmentally appropriate goals. I look forward to finishing these conferences when we return from Spring Break! We also worked on using context clues around unknown words to figure out its meaning, particularly focusing on multiple-meaning words that can sometimes cause road blocks in our comprehension.

 

 

Math:

Unit 7 Multiplication and Division with Whole Numbers and Decimals has come to an END! Student worked this week to practice the strategies they learned as

well as learning mean, median, mode, and range. We also discussed outlier and gaps when referring to statistics and graphing. Students will take the end-of-unit assessment when we return from Spring Break.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Science:

We read from our Environments Science Stories book this week. Students learned about terrestrial environments around the world and how they are divided into subgroups. We will begin our final science unit of the year, Environments, when we return from break! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social Studies:

Taxes?!? Soldiers?!? Yes, we have immersed ourselves fully into Colonial Boston! The British Parliament has taxed our sugar, paper, and now we are being forced to follow the Quartering Act (where we have to provide food and lodging to the British soldiers). We are outraged! We had a protest march (in the office) we carried signs and chanted, "No taxation without representation".

 

In order for students to truly understand the impact the taxes had on the colonists, in our classroom they are being taxed with class dollars to: use the bathroom, the stapler, and for any paper they use.

 

 

Again, THANK YOU for attending Heritage Night and celebrating your student's hard work! Thank you for the delicious food and all of the help cleaning up, it went so quickly and smoothly, I truly appreciated it! I have to give a special thank you to our fabulous room mom's Deena (Isabelle) and Karyn (Kate) for the extra help they provided to make Heritage Night a huge success. Also, to the entire O'Hara family (Kate) for being the first to arrive to help set-up and the last to leave after cleaning up, THANK YOU.

Enjoy Spring Break, the students truly deserve it – they have worked hard!!

 

~Mrs. Hatlestad

 

Upcoming Events:

15-April - Spring session of Smart with Art begins

16-April - Spring session of Math4Love begins

17-April - Talent Show Tryout Sign-Ups posted

17-April - Second Annual Medina Elementary Spelling Bee, 6:00pm

19-April - Medina Elementary Family Movie Night, doors open 6:00pm

23-April - Spring session of Lego Club begins

23-April - Talent Show Tryouts, 2:45pm

02-May - Talent Show Dress Rehearsal, 2:45pm

03-May - Talent Show, 6:00pm

13-May - Math 5th Grade MSP

14-May - 5th Grade Field Trip: Seattle Children's Theater, Crash

15-May - Reading 5th Grade MSP

20-May- Science 5th Grade MSP

07-June - Medina Elementary Family Night at Safeco Field

 

 



Report Card Week

A Week in Review

March 25 - 29

 

Dear Families in Room 210,

 

The "books" have been closed on the 2nd Trimester of 5th grade! REPORT CARDS were sent home with your student today!Spring Break is right around the corner, only a week away and we have lots of learning and fun planned for next week!  Here's what this week had in store for us:

 

Virtue Awards:

Audun K. has earned a Virtues Award for showing the virtues of FRIENDLINESS and KINDNESS. Audun treats everyone with kindness and respect. Thank you for making our classroom a great place to learn!

 

Isabelle E. has earned a Virtues Award for showing the virtue of ENTHUSIASM! Isabelle is friendly and an enthusiastic learner! Thank you for making our classroom a happier place!

 

 

 

 

Reading:

The DRAs (Developmental Reading Assessment) are FINISHED! The students worked with such focus and diligence to complete this challenging reading test. I will sit down with each student, go over their scores with them, and set goals for our final trimester of 5th grade.

 

 

 

Writing:

We focused our writing on grammar and "free writing" this week. We reviewed past, present, and future tense verbs, as well as helping verbs. Students also found time to return to the JOY of writing and write about topics that interest them.

 

 

 

Math:

As Unit 7: Multiplication and Division with Whole Numbers and Decimals begins to wind down, we worked hard this week on division! Students learned how to divide a decimal number and how to divide when a decimal is the divisor. We will continue to practice these strategies, so that we become more fluent with them.

 

 

 

 

Social Studies:

We finished up our colonial job presentations. The PowerPoint's that the students developed were spot-on and really provided the background knowledge that students will need in order to truly understand the link the colonies had to Britain and how the tensions built before the Revolutionary War.

 

 

 

Science:

The UW was back to help us begin our final Science Unit of 5th grade! Students took the pre-test this week for our Environments unit. We also worked through a QFT where students asked opened-ended questions about a focus picture and statement (that are related to our unit). This allows student to begin to use their critical thinking skills to generate ideas they want to explore in our unit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Missoula Children's Theater:

We were so fortunate to have the Missoula Children's Theater host an improv workshop for our class! We combined with Mrs. Bethel's class, as two actors taught both classes the essentials needed for improv. We've taken what we've learned and used that in our class presentations, tips such as: keep your toes pointed to your audience, eye contact, and speak in a loud clear voice. A special thank you to Karyn (Kate) for organizing this workshop for us (and for the entire school!).

 

Another week of 5th grade has come to an end and already I can feel the end-of-the-year creeping up on us! Maybe it's the sun reminding me that summer is right around the corner, but I just truly enjoy teaching your students and look forward to finishing out the year with just as much diligence and focus as we started with!

 

~Mrs. Hatlestad

 

Upcoming Events:

29-Mar - Missoula Children's Theatre FREE performance of Snow White, 7:00pm

30-Mar - Missoula Children's Theatre FREE performance of Snow White, 5:00pm

02-April - PTA General Assembly Meeting, 8:30am

3-April - Heritage Night, 5:45-8:30

03-April - Lego Club Applications due in the office by 12:15pm 

08-12 April - Spring Break

15-April - Spring session of Smart with Art begins

23-April - Spring session of Lego Club begins

07-June - Medina Elementary Family Night at Safeco Field

Science Week

A Week in Review

March 18 - 22

 

Dear Families in Room 210,

 

Science Week was a HUGE success!! We started the week with a Pacific Science Center assembly. Then there was a lot of buzzzzz on Thursday morning from the students about all of the neat displays and hands-on activities during Wednesday's Science Fair evening. The week ended with a splash - the all school Egg Drop! Here's what else we've been up to:

 

 

Virtues Awards:

Vincent B. has earned a Virtues Award for showing the virtue of DILIGENCE! Vincent worked hard on his in-class Reading Assessment, he was focused and put forth his best effort!

Linnea L. has earned a Virtues Award for showing the virtues of COOPERATION and CONSIDERATION! Linnea worked well in her Social Studies group to create and excellent PowerPoint Presentation on Colonial Times.


 

Reading:

Students continued taking their DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) and while this is a challenging test, I'm continually impressed with their commitment to excellence!

 

Writing:

Final Drafts for students' "Healthy Choices" essays were turned in today! We spent the week, revising and editing, both independently and with peers. The students were diligent in creating "hooks", adding transition words, and writing in clear paragraphs and elaborating with detail.

 

 

 

Math:

We ventured over into division this week! Students divided multi-digit dividends by a single digit, then moved on to dividing decimals, and finally relating fractions to decimals. We've also changed the structure of our math block. In order to meet the needs of all learners, students receive small group instruction or work independently at their own pace on the assignment, and finish with a challenge packet. The pre-test given at the beginning of the unit, allows me to create flexible groups and better meet individual needs. A special thank you to Angie S. (Declan) who volunteered this week during Math to assist with the students working independently while I taught a small group.

 

 

Social Studies:

Our Colonial Job research wrapped up this week! Students shared their research (about their StoryPath families' trade) with their groups and worked together to create a PowerPoint presentation to teach the class about their "family business". The students have been hard at work!

 

Computer Lab:

Computer Lab with the wonderful and amazing Ms. Benay was busy on Wednesday! Students finished their Colonial background and many students were able to have their photograph taken in front of the green screen. Ms. Benay will insert their backgrounds and students will record a summary of who their StoryPath character is.



Another busy week has come to an end. Look for report cards to be sent home with your student next Friday, March 29th! Next week, we look forward to the Missoula Children's Theater, they will be leading our class in a workshop Wednesday morning!!

Enjoy your weekend,

~Mrs. Hatlestad

Upcoming Events:

23 March - Queen's Quest Chess Tournament

25-30-March - Missoula Children's Theatre

29 March - Report Cards sent home with students!

3 April - Family Heritage Night

8-12 April - Spring Break

 



St. Patrick's Day and a Long Weekend

A Week in Review

March 11 - March 15

Dear Families in Room 210,

We had a short week but it was packed with lots of learning none-the-less! Read below to see what we’ve been up to:

Virtue Awards

Sarah Z. has earned a Virtues Award for showing the virtues of DILIGENCE and RESPECT. Sarah is a hard working student, she takes her learning seriously and she is always respectful to her classmates and teachers!

Graduation Project

This week, students finished their backgrounds for their graduation project. On MONDAY, March 18 and TUESDAY, March 19, students will be filming their project with Ms. Benay. They should bring their props and anything else they need for filming. They cannot wear green or white as it will make them invisible on film! Please make sure they dress accordingly on Monday and Tuesday.

 

 

MATH

In math, we continued working on multiplying decimals with whole numbers and other decimal numbers. They learned the importance of place value and location of the decimal point. They have practiced and practiced their decimal multiplication by using the short-cut method, mental math, and estimation. They can solve story problems and catch their errors by writing neatly. Next week, we will begin dividing with decimals!

 

SCIENCE

“It’s erupting!” This week in Science, we wrapped up our Mixtures and Solutions unit continuing our learning about Chemical Reactions. We learned that a formation of a precipitate occurs in some chemical reactions and that some products of a reaction are soluble and can be observed only after evaporating the solution. We also took our unit assessment with our University of Washington partners!

 

 

SOCIAL STUDIES

This week we began Episode 3 of our Colonial Story Path. Students met in families to brainstorm and begin researching their family job or “trade”. After researching over several days AND using a variety of sources; the 5^th graders will write a historical fiction account of “A Day in the Life” of a… Shipwright, Silversmith, Pub Owner, etc.  Students will also include a bibliography of the many resources used for research. Some may include Brain Pop!, Colonial Williamsburg, www.history.org!

WRITING

This week we continued our Expository Essay Writing Assessment about making healthy choices. Students worked to write their rough drafts, next week they will work in partners to revise, edit, and publish their writing.

 

READING

We continued our class read aloud of Johnny Tremain with Mrs. Bethel’s class. The details in the story tie in with our social studies unit as it helps students understand what it was like living in Colonial Boston Times.  Students also continue to work on their DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment).

 

 

 

Virtues:
Our Virtues moms were back on Wednesday, teaching students about our Virtue of the Month, ASSERTIVENESS. Karyn (Kate) and Deena (Isabelle) used the analogy of not being a 'mouse' and allowing yourself to be taken advantage of or being a 'monster' and reacting overly aggressive. Students role played using the "just right" middle between mouse and monster to practice assertiveness. Students also created a class poster, displaying our strengths. It was a great lesson, one that was very timely with middle school right around the corner.

HERITAGE PROJECT

WOW! The books and display boards that have been turned in are fabulous! It is so exciting seeing their hard work come together. The students enjoyed sharing with each other what they learned about their family and looking at each other's books. A special thank you to Deena (Isabelle) for volunteering her time on Monday to help students put their books together in class.

 

HERE ARE SOME IMPORTANT ITEMS IN REGARDS TO THE HERITAGE PROJECT:

• Heritage Night, Wednesday, April 3rd from 6-8
• Students will prepare a 1 minute speech to give on Heritage Family Night. We will discuss
• this in class and we will practice

 

 

As you can tell, even though it was a short week, we were busy! There are only 3 weeks left until our Spring Break and they are FILLED with learning, activities, and fun!

 

Have a wonderful three-day weekend! J

~Mrs. Hatlestad

Upcoming Events:

18-19-March-Filming Graduation Projects with Ms. Benay (in class)

18-22-March-Science Week
20-March-Science Fair 5:30-7:30pm
22-March-Egg Drop (Optional) 8:30-12pm
22-March-Spirit Day!
23-March-Queen’s Quest Chess Tournament
29-March-Report Cards sent home
25-30 March-Missoula Children’s Theater
03-April-Heritage Project Family Night 6-8:30, gym

Daylight Savings Weekend!

A Week in Review

March 4 - 8

 

 

It's hard to believe that we are more than half-way through the school year, but it is true!! We enjoyed another productive week of learning and fun in Room 210. Here's what we have been up to:

 

Virtues Awards:

Khushaal K. for showing the virtues of DILIGENCE and EXCELLENCE. Khushaal completed his Heritage Project Book BEFORE the deadline with quality work and thoughtful writing.

 

Rose H. for showing the virtues HELPFULNESS and ORDERLINESS. Rose is always willing to put in the extra effort needed to keep our classroom clean and organized!

Chinook Registration:
Chinook teachers descended upon Medina today! They brought with them a registration for EACH student! In our classroom, one of the Chinook guidance counselors, Ms. Gallison, went over the forms with the students. She guided them through registration and emphasized the importance of returning the forms to me by Thursday, March 14th. Please let me know if you have any questions!


 

Graduation Project:
The Medina 5th Grade Graduation Video tradition CONTINUES! This project would not be made possible without the talents and hard work of our amazing Art teacher, Ms. Bena, and the amazing Ms. Benay (our tech coordinator)! On March 18th, 5th graders will begin filming their spot for the graduation video. They've already designed their backgrounds, they only need to REMEMBER THEIR PROPS and FILM!




Reading:

This trimester is almost over! As we near the end, students are taking the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) to show their growth and reading development. This is the same test they took in the Fall, however, students use different texts to demonstrate their comprehension.

 

Writing:

We began our Expository Essays this week! Students worked to brainstorm (as a class) ways that we can make healthy choices mentally, physically, and emotionally. They were given an assessment packet with graphic organizers to help them organize their ideas. We'll begin the rough drafts next week!

 

Math:

There are so many different methods that teach students how to multiply multi-digit numbers! We explored these methods, as they teach the foundational understanding needed for students to effectively use the algorithms. Our goal is for students to become familiar with the algorithm and use this as their preferred method. We ended the week learning how to multiply decimals!

 

Social Studies:

We have met our Colonial Boston families. Family groups introduced themselves and shared interesting facts about their character. Students also worked on writing friendly letters to an "old friend" of their character. The letters serve as an avenue for me to assess students understanding of the colonial way of life.

 

Science:

Mystery SOLVED! Students worked in Science groups to determine how to identify the most concentrated solution when "taste" was not an option. Students were given three solutions: red, blue, and green. Students used the balance to weigh each solution and determined which was the most concentrated based on weight. We also investigated chemical reactions and learned that sometimes when two chemicals are mixed, changes take place and a new materials form (precipitate).

 

Nutrition:

The Beechers Flagship Foundation joined us on Tuesday for their "Pure Foods Presentation". Jonathan and Kristin guided the students to through several activities: 1) Students were given several different food products (Gushers, Froot Loops, etc) and they needed to identify who the product was being marketed towards, 2) Students were asked to be food label detectives and read ingredient labels and identify the ingredients. Students learned that the ingredient list is in order from greatest to least, and 3)Students read an ingredient list from canned chili and worked together to make homemade chili, that was much healthier and tastier. We ended the week with the state nutrition assessment, also called the CBA (Classroom Based Assessment).





As you can tell from our review, it was a jam-packed week! There are only 4 weeks left until our Spring Break and they are already FILLED with learning, activities, and fun!

Thank you for all that you do to support your child's education! I'm proud to be a Medina Tiger. Don't forget to turn your clocks forward this weekend!

Enjoy your weekend,

~Mrs. Hatlestad

Upcoming Events:
11-March - IMT2 Math Test (in class)
11-March - Heritage Book Making Party (in class)
12-March – Chinook Parent Night (optional) 6:30pm

15-March - Elementary Professional Day - No School

18-March - Graduation Project Filming (11:05)

18-22-March - Science Week

22-March - SPIRIT DAY!

23-March - Queen's Quest Chess Tournament

25-30-March - Missoula Children's Theater

02-April - Second Annual Medina Elementary Spelling Bee

03-April - Hatlestad Heritage Family Night, 6-8:30

08-12 April - SPRING BREAK

 

 

We have dates for next school year! I wanted to pass them along to you!

2013-2014 School Year Important Dates:

First Student Day:         September 3, 2013

Winter Break:                December 23, 2013 – January 3, 2014

Mid-Winter Break:          February 17 – 21, 2014

Spring Break:                April 7 – 11, 2014