Good afternoon! The year has flown by so quickly. EOGs are already here?! Camp Don Lee is right around the corner! WOW!
PRIZES/AWARDS: In class, we are spending a portion of time reviewing for the End of Grade tests in a fun way that also involves friendly competition for prizes. If you would like to donate prizes for the students from the Dollar Store, that would be great. I have some prizes, but I am expecting MANY students to win fabulous prizes this year! :-)
SCIENCE REVIEW GAME DAYS: Students received another copy of the vocabulary from each of the units. The science EOG has an emphasis on applying the terminology, so students should be reviewing these words at home. On each of the following days (aka "Science Review Holidays"), we will have an individual game where students earn points for correct responses. The results of each game will also serve as a science grade. The more points, the better chance and earning a cool prize!
Monday, May 14: ECOSYSTEMS Holiday
Tuesday, May 15: LANDFORMS Holiday
Wednesday, May 16: WEATHER Holiday
Thursday, May 17: MOTION AND DESIGN Holiday
END OF GRADE TESTING SCHEDULE:
Thursday, May 17: Reading
Friday: May 18: Math (with calculators)
Monday, May 21: Math (without calculators)
Tuesday, May 22: Science
Wednesday, May 23: Make-ups
SUPPLY NEEDS: Classroom supply needs: Chlorox wipes. Thanks!
Congratulations to Hunter's Science Olympiad team. They earned 1st place at the Smith Elementary Tournament on Saturday, April 21. The students placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in 16 of the 18 categories. Nine of the medals earned (out of 18 events) were for 1st place! Way to go, fifth grade scientists!
Individual event results:
Bottle Rockets (Ethan B. and Wesley): 1st place
All Charged Up--Electricity (Catherine and Rohit): 1st place
Backyard Botany (Kamellia and Vaishnavi K.): 1st place
Ramp and Roll (Iustina and Ben G.): 1st place
Weather Permitting (Conor and Pragya): 2nd place
A Bug's World (Ben G. and Rohit): 3rd place
Biome Bonanza (Ethan B. and Iustina): 1st place
Digestive System and Nutrition (Iman and Pragya): 1st place
Measurement Mania (Catherine and Kamellia): 3rd place
Planet Protectors (Meghana M. and Vaishnavi K.): 2nd place
Dinosaurs (Meghana M. and Rohit): 3rd place
Landforms (Shriya and Conor): 1st place
Newton's Notions (Kamellia and Pragya): 2nd place
Pasta Tower (Ainsley and Remi): 3rd place
Science Sketchers (Ben G. and Vaishnavi K.): 1st place
Sky Quest (Catherine and Ethan B.): 1st place
Hunter is so proud of the diligent work of our Science Olympians!
HOMEWORK POLICY REMINDER: Many students are turning in their homework on time; however, several students are having difficulty completing the work in a timely manner (i.e. leaving it at home, not looking at the homework board in class or th website or their planner, and so on). Therefore, I am implementing my homework policy from last year: If a student does not have his/her homework, the student will email the parent that day to notify them. That way, the parent is aware of the missing work and time can be used at home to make sure the work is turned in for credit. The email will be brief, but it provides a way for immediate communication.
FIRST IN MATH: Hunter also has a new math site called First in Math. Your child received his/her password last week. Students glued their password cards in the front of their math notebook. Check out the site (also listed on the card) to win virtual medals. Students can work up through an eighth grade level on the site.
BLOG: The blog (left hand column) is available for student comment. I will post questions to initiate student discussion. Students need to make sure that all comments are appropriate. All inappropriate comments will be deleted and parents notified. Thanks for helping make the blog a fun place for student discussions!
GUINEA PIG: If anyone is interested in taking our class guinea pig (Taffy) home for a weekend, please send in a note. List several available weekends—assignments will be made on a first-come first-served basis. Thanks.
REMINDERS: Remember to check out the Quia site with your child. Each student has his/her own login and password that allows access to the class site. Warning: These educational games are fun and can be quite addictive for adults, too. :-)
SUPPLIES AND HOMEWORK
Students are expected to be prepared for class daily with two sharpened #2 pencils, notebook paper, and completed homework (if applicable). Homework will be assigned on a weekly basis and these assignments will also be posted on the homework chart in the room. Students will be using their planners to write down these assignments.
DONATIONS--Updated
Thank you so much to all of the wonderful families who donated supplies for the classroom. Your generosity is GREATLY appreciated!
Notes section updated (see above): Sunday, May 13, 2012
Curriculum Update section (updated bi-weekly): Sunday, May 5, 2012
Homework Corner section updated: Sunday, May 13, 2012
Curriculum Update
MATHEMATICS
In math, students received a copy of the math concepts that will be covered on the End of Grade test in May. Because we complete both the fifth and sixth grade curriculum, it is important that students and parents are aware of the concepts that will be covered. These concepts should be the focus of review at home. We will also be completing fun review games and completing assignments where students earn points for correct responses. These points will be tabulated for prizes at the end of the review. My review game program was extremely popular last year--and the students enjoyed the corny problems they had to solve to earn points. Furthermore, we will be using the games from the UNC-W games template site (see "Resources" section) to enhance math learning in the classroom! Following the End of Grade tests, we will be working on integer operations and ensuring that all students are prepared for their middle school math class. We will also be integrating math with piloting a new science kit for next year.
SCIENCE
In science, we are continuing our study of weather. Students enjoyed the convection chamber and developing claims (with evidence) about warm air and cold air masses. We are continuing our weather investigations with data analysis of temperature with three locations in the United States. We will also explore various types of wind and integrate drama where each cooperative team will act out each wind type for the class to guess. The following website is a wonderful weather reference: www.weatherwizkids.com. It has information on a variety of weather topics that are written in kid-friendly language. Students have been enjoying the weather unit. One class was excited when we had a thunderstorm during class--they wanted to check to see if the barometic pressure had fallen! Way to go, scientists!
Weather is goal 3 from the NC Standard Course of Study
Homework Corner
Homework is assigned on a weekly basis. It is very important that students are
completing QUALITY homework. If the work is not quality, the student
will be required to redo the assignment. There is a poster in the back of my room that has the following message printed on it: "If you don't have time to do it right, you must have time to do it over." This message is strongly enforced in fifth grade. Also, please make note of any incomplete and/or missing homework assignments on the bi-weekly report.
Reminders: How to log in to Study Island:
Your username is your lunch number followed by "huntergt." So, if your lunch number is 1234, then your log in would be 1234@huntergt. Your password is your lunch number.
Reminder for the process to complete a Problem of the
Week:
Step 1: Highlight key information in the problem,
rephrase the problem in your own words
Step 2: Solve the problem.
Show ALL work.
Step 3: Explain HOW you solved the problem. Explain
your thought processes when solving the problem. "I guess and checked" or "I
multiplied" does not count.
Step 4: On a scale of 1-10 (1=very easy,
5=medium, 10=extremely difficult) rate the problem and explain your rating.
MATH:
- Review concepts from the EOG handout that lists all objectives covered on the test
SCIENCE:
- STUDY FOR SCIENCE HOLIDAYS Students received a review list of all terminology on the test. We will be having reviews daily for prizes. See the schedule in the notes section.
- CORRECTIONS FOR SCIENCE EOG REVIEW HOMEWORK (due Wednesday, May 16) Students need to make corrections to ALL problems missed on their homework last week. Students should be using their strategies (which are life long skills) to help them. These strategies include reading the problem twice, highlighting key information in the problem, reading ALL of the answer choices, justifying the answer from an in-class investigation and/or content lesson, double checking the answer when completed.
Since we are studying our weather unit, begin watching the weather each night to determine if you hear concepts we discussed in class. :-)
What Can I Do When I Complete My Homework?
1. Celebrate and enjoy the natural world/outdoors (aka "exercise") :-) AND/OR
2. If a student completed the homework, he/she can work on completing seventh and eighth grade work (select math or science) in Study Island or continue to work on First in Math. If your
student would like an additional Problem of the Week for practice, see below. An additional problem is not required, but several students have inquired about this possibility. :-) Or, explore the sites under the "resources" tab!
Additional Problem of the Week (not required):
What is the least positive integer meeting each of the following conditions?
Dividing by 7 gives a remainder of 4.
Dividing by 8 gives a remainder of 5.
Dividing by 9 gives a remainder of 6.
Students can see me for additional Problem of the Weeks--I have math problems that extend through high school! :-)
