Hello 5-2 Parents ~
Good morning! I apologize for the delay in sending out this week's update - the weekend got away from me! It was a great weekend for snuggling up indoors - I hope you enjoyed some relaxing family time :)
Important Dates
SIP Day (No School) ~ Friday, October 5th
Columbus Day (No School) ~ Monday, October 8th
International Walk to School Day ~ Tuesday, October 9th - Encourage your child to walk to school on Tuesday in celebration of International Walk to School Day! Our staff will be at a number of pick-up points throughout the neighborhoods, looking forward to walking to school with your children :) See the Olive Blog for pick-up points, and join us for the walk!
Math
We continue to work on computation skills in Unit 2 in my math class. Our Unit 2 Assessment is currently scheduled for Friday, October 12th. As we move toward the end of the unit this week, spend some time reviewing the Chapter Wrap-Up on Student Book pages 116-117 or the Self-Assessment I gave them at the beginning of the unit. Both of these resources will help identify the areas your children still need to practice in this unit.
Please continue to encourage your child to log on to Khan Academy and Freckle to practice multiplying and dividing whole numbers. Many of your children are still struggling with the automaticity of their multiplication facts, which is causing computation errors during this unit. Please ask your child to log on to one of the math fact games site for 10 minutes every night - it's an engaging way to practice their math facts!
Please continue to encourage your child to log on to Khan Academy and Freckle to practice multiplying and dividing whole numbers. Many of your children are still struggling with the automaticity of their multiplication facts, which is causing computation errors during this unit. Please ask your child to log on to one of the math fact games site for 10 minutes every night - it's an engaging way to practice their math facts!
Social Studies
As I mentioned in my email on Thursday, your children will be taking a Unit 11 Assessment tomorrow. We spent time this morning reviewing for that assessment, but some of them could use some additional practice this evening. They should be re-reading chapter 11, as well as reviewing the Chapter 11 Organizer Key that I posted last week on Google Classroom.
We also continue to move through Chapter 12 - the Declaration of Independence. We will work on the Chapter 12 Review this week (due Wednesday), as well as writing our own break-up letter on Wednesday and Thursday. We will wrap up our Social Studies unit on Tuesday, October 9th with the Unit 12 Assessment. This will be a more traditional multiple choice assessment on the Declaration of Independence with a short answer question. There are already resources available on Google Classroom for them to use to prepare, and the Chapter 12 Review Key will be uploaded on Wednesday.
Science
Next week, we begin our Earth and Space unit!
Reading
In our short reading time this week, we practiced writing and sharing excellent Book Reviews - your children are very passionate about what they read and are excited to share reviews with their friends! I'm impressed with how many were able to "sell" their books to others.
Reminder: the Book Review T-shirts are due on Thursday, 10/11. Students should come to school with the actual book and their t-shirts worn over another shirt. They will wear their t-shirts all day to advertise their books to staff and students - any time someone sees their shirt and wants to know more about that book, they will be stopping your child for a quick Book Talk. Then, in the afternoon, all of the students will do their Book Talk in front of the class.
I have been and will continue to meet individually with each of your children to discuss and score their Reading Notebook and the Conversation Observation Checklist. We discuss what they are doing well in reading, and specific ways they can improve their notebooks and participation. Since we are in the Launching unit, where we are establishing routines and behaviors for our Reading Workshop, we are not yet focusing on comprehension standards. The Conversation Observation Checklist is their participation in reading conversations and will translate into Speaking and Listening Standards. The Reading Notebook Rubric is their written participation in Reading, and will translate into Communication Standards. In other words, these standards reflect how well your child is performing in a Reading Workshop, and not necessarily how well they are comprehending. With that said, it is important to note that these behaviors are critically important as they move to comprehend the complex 5th grade texts this year.
Reminder: the Book Review T-shirts are due on Thursday, 10/11. Students should come to school with the actual book and their t-shirts worn over another shirt. They will wear their t-shirts all day to advertise their books to staff and students - any time someone sees their shirt and wants to know more about that book, they will be stopping your child for a quick Book Talk. Then, in the afternoon, all of the students will do their Book Talk in front of the class.
I have been and will continue to meet individually with each of your children to discuss and score their Reading Notebook and the Conversation Observation Checklist. We discuss what they are doing well in reading, and specific ways they can improve their notebooks and participation. Since we are in the Launching unit, where we are establishing routines and behaviors for our Reading Workshop, we are not yet focusing on comprehension standards. The Conversation Observation Checklist is their participation in reading conversations and will translate into Speaking and Listening Standards. The Reading Notebook Rubric is their written participation in Reading, and will translate into Communication Standards. In other words, these standards reflect how well your child is performing in a Reading Workshop, and not necessarily how well they are comprehending. With that said, it is important to note that these behaviors are critically important as they move to comprehend the complex 5th grade texts this year.
Currently, reading grades are formative assessment grades - they are feedback grades to let the students know how they are performing according to expectations, which is why I have not sent home an Owl Scorecard just yet. I believe it is important to help students understand how they are meeting expectations and how they can improve before we get to the end grade. They all know they will be scored again at the end of the unit - this will be their summative grade, which will replace their formative score in my grade book. These scorecards will come home at the end of the unit.
Writing
We continued our work on focusing in writing last week - focus on a moment, on a object, on a setting, and even on sounds. We spend some time sitting outside in silence, just listening to the sounds. As they listened carefully, they recorded the sounds and describing words on their lapboards, then used their notes to write a journal entry when we got back to the classroom. Your kiddos enjoyed the peaceful moments so much they didn't want to go in! They asked if we could do it every day - perhaps we'll add some regular meditation to our day :)
I had the students choose their most focused journal entry and submit it to me for a score on the focus writing standard. They were also scored on conventions and spelling. You can find these scores on Google Classroom - just ask your child to take you to their Revision Assignment.
I gave each of the students feedback on their journal entry, and have returned it to them. They will be revising the entries based on my feedback, then re-submitting for another score. I will send home an Owl Scorecard when I score the revised journal entry.
I gave each of the students feedback on their journal entry, and have returned it to them. They will be revising the entries based on my feedback, then re-submitting for another score. I will send home an Owl Scorecard when I score the revised journal entry.
As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children.
One is roots; the other, wings.
~ Hodding Carter
Cheers ~
Theresa Fowler
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