Many Thanks (News Flash Friday)

Whew!  What a week it was!  We launched and dived right into researching all about our heritage and learned so much along the way about how to research effectively, what resources are available, what is important to write down and much more.  Our research continues in the coming week and here's what else we've been up to:

Reading Workshop:
We met as book clubs on Friday and began talking about the benefits of a book club and how talking with a group of peers can raise our level of understanding about a text.  I love watching the students take ownership of the clubs.  They lead everything from how the group will read each day to how many days they will take to finish the book as a group.  They even come up with consequences for not having read on any particular day.  The book your child is reading for book clubs will replace their independent reading books IF they don't finish their assigned reading in workshop.

Additionally, we had a chance to welcome Melia Steed and her therapy dog, Carly.  We have the fortune of being able to have Carly working in our classroom every Thursday starting this week!

Writing Workshop:
This is the week we will be finishing our personal narratives!  Look for them to be published on this blog later in the week.  The students worked hard all week to revise, revise, revise.  They are also beefing up their finger muscles as all final drafts need to typed.  All personal narratives need to be done by this Wednesday, October 21st.  Some students may need to type at home.  All students have access to their Google Drive at home. Please contact me if you have any trouble or questions about that.

Next up, learning to write concise, informational paragraphs from our heritage research.

Math
We are nearing the end of Module 1 and our end of module test is set for Wednesday, October 21st.  Students will have time in class for review as well as review homework.  The focus of the module was to master place value understanding, express numbers in their unit form and be able to complete all four operations with decimals.  Students can use IXL, Homework Help 5 (24 minute video review!), old homework, old quizzes, and their notebooks to practice this week.  In addition, I will be available afterschool on Monday for extra help.

Other Notes of Interest

• I'm happy, happy, happy that we are still going to be celebrating Halloween next with costumes.  The other 5th grade teachers and I have a special day planned for the kiddos so be on the look out for a note home about what we have up our sleeves for Friday, October 30th.  

• Please check your child's heritage folder each and every day.  We are currently on pace with the Heritage Calendar that I shared with you last week.  As of today (Sunday), all students should have clear, detailed notes for Geography, Climate, Economics and Government.  If your child falls behind in researching and needs longer than our 45 minute class, they will be expected to finish the research for homework.  If that isn't complete, I will be keeping kids in from recess.  This is an important project that no one can afford to fall behind on.  Thank you for all the help you've already given.

• Also regarding the heritage project, your child started a Google Doc to gather images from the internet that they might want to use on their tri-fold boards.  When they are ready to begin designing the board, you can simply print the document.  If you don't have a printer at home, your child may use morning work, snack or recess time to print.  

All About Heritage (News Flash Friday)

If you haven't had a look in your child's homework folder yet, please do!  In it, you'll find a large, yellow packet with everything you need to know about our upcoming, highly anticipated heritage project!

We had a 5th grade class meeting today about it after lunch and the kids were excited to get started. The first step is to talk with your child about your family's country of origin.  A phone call to grandma or grandpa may even need to be in order this weekend. The goal of this project is to get kids talking about their own family history.  So, take some time to talk and then together, select a country from your past your child is interested in researching.  Please sign and send back the packet with your child and we will be sure to add it to their heritage project folders that we will be putting together on Tuesday after the long weekend.

We will begin researching your child's selected country in school on Tuesday.  This is a link to a calendar (updated link Monday, 10/12) (one will be sent home too) for you to refer to so that you know what we're working on in school and what can be done at home.  This is very big project and we need to work together to keep your child on track and not get behind and overwhelmed.  I will be offering Mondays and Thursdays for afterschool help throughout the month to help out.  Please encourage your child to attend one or both of those sessions if they need extra time or support.

There are many pieces to this project and the yellow packet as well as the calendar have all the due dates.  Thanks in advance for all your help and support!! I promise the work your child puts into this project in the next month will all be worth it on the morning of the celebration.

Other tidbits from our week:

• We're getting ready to begin our first round of book clubs. We met our group members and previewed titles to read.  The clubs should be up and reading by the end of next week.  The reading they need to do for book clubs will replace any independent books they currently reading for the time being.  
• We had a real evacuation from the building on Thursday and we spent the 40 minutes waiting outside silently playing math games and making shadow pictures.  The kids were really very well behaved and patient! 
• We wrapped up our Science and Social Studies units this week because we are suspending switching for these classes until after our heritage research is complete.  
• We are preparing signs for our BINGO night coming up next Friday, October 16th!  We are in need of baked goods and drinks to sell.  All money raised that night will go towards reducing the cost of the Bronx Zoo ticket costs!  

Have a great long weekend!!
PS:  I never know who is or isn't reading my posts so please make me feel better by leaving a comment below.  

Say What...?! (News Flash Friday)

Wednesday, I was walking with the class past the Math room in the 2-3 hallway and noticed that the board outside had the number 13 on it, meaning the 13th day of school.  I literally stopped in my tracks almost in shock as I turned to the kids and said, "13?!  That's it?"  Just barely two weeks have passed since we first said hello to each upon walking into room 203.  This realization hit me hard.  It made me aware of two things: one, your children have been working hard and well in the past two weeks and two, I needed to give more credit where credit is due...it's due to you and your children.  So, thank you for an amazing first two weeks of school.  Here's what we've been up to.

• On Friday, September 17th, we met with our kindergarten buddies from Mrs. Zimmerman's class.  We read an amazingly inspiring story called, The Dot by Peter Reynolds and then each decorated 1/2 of a dot in our own unique way.  We put the dots together to symbolize how two different people can be a part of whole friendship.  (Pictures to follow!)

• We had our first "payday" today!  After working for two weeks at our jobs, the students finally get to experience earning their first paycheck.  Their salary, along with any credits they earned during the weeks will be combined.  The students will then deposit their checks into "The Bank of Hart" and keep a running total of these deposits and any future withdrawals in their account register, which will be located in the back of their Math notebooks.  The students will hold on to their jobs for another two weeks, earn another paycheck and then have the opportunity to shop at our school store.  I'm very pleasantly surprised how well the students are doing in their jobs and I can't wait for payday!  

• Over 75% of our class has signed up for the Wonder book club!!  Hooray for 5H!! Once you've started reading Wonder, please visit our book club blog.  Here, we'll post questions, discussion points and videos for you and your child to discuss prior to our meeting on December 10th.  We encourage you to visit the blog often and leave us a comment!  

• Have you checked out the Homework calendar this week?  I've added a new online resource to help out with Math at home.  We are starting lesson 10 on Monday.  I hope it's helpful!