Hello 5-2 Parents ~
I hope you your long weekend was filled with plenty of relaxing moments with your family! Though the weather was less than perfect for outdoor activities much of the weekend, it was perfect for football and board games - some of my favorite fall activities! It was nice to get outside in the sunshine today - I'm sure we don't have too many more of these warm days left!
Important Dates
International Walk to School Day ~ Tuesday, October 9th - Tomorrow is the day! We hope you will encourage your child to walk to school 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. I will be at Belmont and Maude at about 8:40am - hope to see some of you there!
CogAT ~ Students will be taking the Cognitive Abilities tests the week of October 15th - I listed the specific dates and times below. These tests are used for placement in middle school, so we encourage the students to do their best. Typically, students enjoy taking these tests because each test is a series of three 10 minute tests. Please do your best to ensure they will be in school at the times listed below, as students are pulled from instruction for makeup tests. If you have any questions about these tests or the advanced placement process for middle school, please do not hesitate to ask.
Monday, 10/15 ~ 9:10-10:10am ~ Verbal Battery (verbal analogies)
Tuesday, 10/16 - 9:10-10:10am ~ Quantitative Battery (finding patterns)
Wednesday, 10/17 - 1:15-2:15pm ~ Nonverbal Battery (spatial reasoning)
Math
We continue to work on computation skills in Unit 2 in my math class. It's taking us a little longer to move through this unit than I originally planned, so our Unit 2 Assessment is now scheduled for Tuesday, October 16th. 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
Your child will also be bringing home an Owl Scorecard for the Chapter 11 Assessment they took last Tuesday. Please sign and return these scorecards. As always, if they did not demonstrate mastery of standards, they will be given additional opportunities to practice the skills and take another assessment.
Science
We will begin our Earth in Space unit this week during content time. This unit helps students discover the wonder of our planet and its relationship to objects in space, such as the sun and other stars.
The majority of our work, including their textbook and science journals, will all take place on our Science Companion site (sd25.sciencecompanionprime.com). Your children will be introduced to this website on Thursday, and given their username and password to access the site. Please ask them to log on and share the Family Link with you on Thursday to ensure they can access the site at home.
The majority of our work, including their textbook and science journals, will all take place on our Science Companion site (sd25.sciencecompanionprime.com). Your children will be introduced to this website on Thursday, and given their username and password to access the site. Please ask them to log on and share the Family Link with you on Thursday to ensure they can access the site at home.
Reading
We finished our Launching Unit this week, and students turned in the contents of their Reading Notebook after evaluating themselves and a peer using the Reading Notebook Rubric. They also scored their performance in reading conversations using the Conversation Checklist. I evaluated their performance and attached these rubrics to Owl Scorecards. They will bring these home to be signed and return tomorrow.
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.
We begin our Fiction Reading Unit on Tuesday. While we have focused on reading workshop behaviors in our Launching unit, we will focus on comprehension skills in this unit. Throughout the unit, as we introduce and work on specific comprehension skills, your children will be evaluated on mastery of the skill. When they are formally evaluated, they will bring home an Owl Scorecard to share their score with you.
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.
We begin our Fiction Reading Unit on Tuesday. While we have focused on reading workshop behaviors in our Launching unit, we will focus on comprehension skills in this unit. Throughout the unit, as we introduce and work on specific comprehension skills, your children will be evaluated on mastery of the skill. When they are formally evaluated, they will bring home an Owl Scorecard to share their score with you.
Writing
I also scored their Focus Revision Assignment this weekend, so they will be bringing home an Owl Scorecard sharing their progress with you. These are also a sign and return. This scorecard shares their progress in a number of standards, including focus in their writing, how well they participate in the writing process, and using conventions and spelling in their written work.
We have worked on improving their skill of showing in their writing over two weeks. After our final lesson on showing tomorrow, students will be given the opportunity to submit their strongest showing writing sample to me. I will score it for showing, and return it to them for another Revision Assignment. When this assignment is complete, you will see it come home as another Owl Scorecard. In the meantime, I do post scores and comments in Google Classroom - please just ask your child to log you in and have them share their Revision Assignment with you.
We have worked on improving their skill of showing in their writing over two weeks. After our final lesson on showing tomorrow, students will be given the opportunity to submit their strongest showing writing sample to me. I will score it for showing, and return it to them for another Revision Assignment. When this assignment is complete, you will see it come home as another Owl Scorecard. In the meantime, I do post scores and comments in Google Classroom - please just ask your child to log you in and have them share their Revision Assignment with you.
As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
“Kids don’t remember what you try to teach them.
They remember what you are.”– Jim Henson
They remember what you are.”– Jim Henson
Cheers ~
Theresa Fowler
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