Mrs. Stone's Class

Happy Valentine’s Week! February has FLOWN by!! Our Native American project research presentations were fantastic! It was so much fun sharing our work with the entire grade level, something we haven’t been able to do since pre-covid!! The kids worked so hard collaborating with their team to research, create a slideshow with bulleted information and paragraphs that elaborate during their presentation. You will be able to see these slideshows on their google classroom and at our Celebration of Learning at the end of the year. Their graded rubrics went home in Friday Folders

Reading: We are discussing themes that are emerging in our book Home of the Brave and diving deeper into the meaning this book has and how it relates to our own experiences. We are also working hard at elaborating on our written explanations to literature by following the “Make a claim, support with various details from across the text, and develop with thinking” I have been sharing examples of excellent work from the students in the class as they grown and develop in this area.

Writing: Second trimester is “personal and story narrative writing” so I begin with descriptive writing. The kids are using a thesaurus to choose specific verbs and adjectives to describe a creature they created and are putting up for adoption. (this is based off the true story they read about where a cat adoption agency was successful at finding a “mean” kitty a home by using descriptive/vivid language in their notice) In their adoption notice, they need to use at least 3 types of figurative language and “Show vs. Telling” sentences which we have worked on all last week, and will proofread for run-on sentences

Math: We switched up some of our kids in our flex-math groups after the topic 6 test. We used AIMSWEB data along with classroom observations and test grades to determine new or existing placement. We have been adding and subtracting and reducing fractions, and this week we are working on adding and subtracting mixed numbers.

Science: We are learning about Astronomy!!!

Happy Valentine’s day and as always, reach out with any questions or comments you have!
LIsa

Hello and happy week before vacation! I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season~ such a fun but busy time of year. Based on the energy level today, it’s going to be one active week here!

I hope you all were able to access and understand the report cards that went out on Friday. Please reach out if you have any questions, concerns or celebrations. It has been a trimester of growth in so many ways; academically, socially and behaviorally. We have new second trimester class goals which include:
1. Using our time wisely (We do this by not having side conversations, transitioning quickly, and having organized desks)
2. Active listening (We do this by having only what we need in front of us, organizing our desk and reducing distractiosn)
3. Quiet in the Hallways

Reading: Second trimester switches from NON-Fiction reading strategies to FICTION reading strategies. We have been reading the book “Home of the Brave” together as we practice Meta-cognition (being aware of our thinking while reading.) This book will take almost all trimester to read as we break down the meaning, work on expanding our written responses in writing, understanding theme, synthesizing across multiple texts, and practicing higher level comprehension strategies. The kids will be reading Jerry Spinelli fiction books together ins small groups to practice the strategies we are learning together. We also focus heavily on different kinds of figurative language-very prominent in this whole class book!

Writing: The kids are finalizing a third and final “Convince the Class” in which they are using all of the skills we learned first trimester to convince us to visit their “51st state.”

Social Studies: The kids have worked very hard to create an end of 1st trimester performance project in which they combine many of the skills we have learned and practiced. This collaborative(Social Studies) project has them create a new state with it’s own culture, economy, tourist attractions, physical features, landforms, etc and includes a (Science) unique food web integrated with the climate and land. The final (writing) piece has them “Convince the Class” to visit this new 51st state. We have also been reading about Native American tribes across the US. We will continue to learn broad information about these tribes throughout history before diving into a research project they will work on together after vacation.

Math: We are testing long division this week. Long division with decimals will happen after vacation

Things to remember:
Holiday party Wed Dec 21st from 1-2 if you can make it!
Yankee Swap: Due tomorrow (so it is here for the party on Wed.)
Talent Show: Forms due tomorrow

Happy Tuesday that feels like a Monday! We are staying busy here and ramping up into some new and fun/exciting projects and topics. The kids are working on three goals this week to work towards our class reward party: 1. Transition quietly and quickly so we make use of every minute and maintain our focus. 2. Stay organized and 3. Practice self-control With a focus on these three areas, I’m sure we can earn our last 7 awards by Thanksgiving…maybe the end of the month!!

Reading: We are continuing to practice non-fiction reading strategies within our Social Studies text. This first unit takes a while as the kids are practicing prereading strategies (scanning text and text features, connecting to their prior knowledge) During reading strategies (we are focusing on Making connections, Asking questions, and Determining Importance). We are using post it notes to mark places in the text where the “proof” for an answer we are looking for is found. They are also using highlighters to locate information in magazines.

Writing: We focused on creating complete sentences with subjects & predicates, creating paragraphs with a topic sentence, supporting details, and concluding sentences in our first writing project. We also practiced using a thesaurus to find specific word choices to create a mood and specific picture in our reader’s mind. This week, we will begin our first non-fiction project called “convince the class.’ Students will use techniques they learned in computer class to judge the reliability of a website to research information about a “unique, interesting, etc” creature and try to convince us (using facts and descriptive language) that the creature is the most “Unique, ugly, beautiful, etc” creature in the world.

Math: We are halfway through Topic 2~ adding and subtracting decimals! Flex grouping seems to be going great!

Social Studies: We are wrapping up our “Hooray for the USA” and US Regions unit this Friday. The kids will have their 50 States and Capitals test on Friday. They will have an open book Social Studies test on Thursday. This test is open book, since our focus has been on using text features to find and locate information within the text, rather than on memorizing content.

Parent Conferences: I look forward to meeting with you all later on this month!! See you soon!

**This week the students will be participating in the AIMSWEB benchmark testing in Math and Reading. Today the kids took the Reading test and tomorrow they will take the Math test. This testing is used to benchmark current performance levels and determine specific goals and objectives for each child.

Picture Day is Friday, September 30th! Picture forms went home in Friday Folders

Parent Conferences will be during the month of October. I will be sending out a Signup genius this week along with the slideshow I presented at open house. Conferences can be conducted in person, over the phone, or via zoom. Your choice!

Math: The kids are working on a place value/decimal/rounding review. They will test on Unit 1 on Wednesday. Unit 2 will begin next Monday

Reading: Students will be taking the Reading AIMSWEB, and will be completing the DRA assessment. This assessment will be shared with you at parent conferences. Students read a passage aloud to me for a silent reading score, and then complete written comprehension questions. In addition, we are discussing non-fiction reading strategies, how to use text features and text structures to get information from texts.

Writing: We are working on writing fluency as we complete personal narrative paragraphs with topic sentence, supporting details, and concluding sentences. Our focus is on complete sentences with subject & predicate, compound sentences, and proofreading for run-on and sentence fragments.

Social Studies: This week we continue our study of the US Regions as we learn about culture & landforms of different regions. Students will have their Midwest states and capitals test on Thursday

Happy second full week of fifth grade! It was fun seeing so many of you on the soccer field over the 3 days I was out there! I am really looking forward to meeting all of you at Open House on Wednesday!

Reading: This week the kids are taking a beginning of the year Reading test, a simple assessment in Fiction and Non-fiction to determine a current performance level and to guide my teaching. When they finish, they are working on being active readers, thinking about and recording their thoughts while reading. In the middle of the week, we will begin our non-fiction reading unit. We practice non-fiction reading strategies in Reading class AND apply what we are learning in our Social Studies text.

Writing: The kids are continuing their “Fifths” writing project, their “Headline article” for their All About Me poster, and paragraph writing in their paper bag project. We are working on proofreading for complete sentences, using exciting word choices, and complete paragraphs with lead, supporting details, and a conclusion.

Math: We are working on expanded form, standard form and exponential form for numbers to the millions and to the thousandths in decimals. This week we work on writing whole numbers, whole numbers with decimals to the thousandths, comparing decimals, rounding decimals, and applying place value concepts in word problems. The test on Unit 1 will be early next week.

Social Studies: We are working on our second region in the Hooray for the USA unit! This week we are working on the Southeastern states and capitals. The kids should be bringing home their project folder every day, practicing at home, and bringing it back with them to school the next day. In addition to this, we will be learning more about the landforms, culture and geography of the US regions.

Homework
1. Math-Work on for 20 minutes
2. Study SE states and capitals : Test Wednesday
3. Study spelling words: Test Friday
4. Read 20 minutes

Happy Monday and welcome to the first full 5 days in fifth grade! I hope you all had a restful and/or fun weekend! The kids came back sleepy but ready for the day. Last week we spent quite a bit of time getting to know one another, experiencing the routines, learning various games that we will use throughout the year as brain/body breaks, and establishing the classroom community. We discussed the importance of managing our stress so that learning can occur, establishing good work and organizational habits, and how to collaborate well with a team. This week we will build on this solid foundation as we dive into many of our first work units.

Reading: This week we will continue reading from our class read-aloud book “Ungifted” which teaches us the lesson/theme that everyone is unique and we all have strengths and areas to work on. I use this first novel study to establish routines we will use throughout the year; guidelines for book discussions, how to dive deeper into the meaning in text and make deeper connections to our lives, how to be aware of and record our thinking about our reading. This week, we will begin to dive into our non-fiction genre study, which will be our focus throughout first trimester. We begin by looking at text features that give us clues about how to access important information in the text, and various text structures that authors use to craft non-fiction texts. From this, we learn that in fifth grade, authors use complex text structure combinations.

Writing: This week we are working on writing a “headline article” for a special event in our lives and completing our “All about Me” poster. We will be brainstorming a list of “Important events” in our lives that bring up a specific emotion. Students learn that good writing comes from the things we feel most passionate about. We are working on a FIFTH grade writing project and will also be working on developing paragraphs for our Paper Bag Autobiographies this week!

Social Studies: We will be testing on our NE States and Capitals on Wednesday this week! If they don’t like their grade on Wednesday, they can study until Friday when they will be allowed to re-test. Thursday they will get a new set of flashcards for the SE states. After the first quiz, I will be posting a Google Slides project for students to complete if they learn their state locations and capitals quickly. For this project, they will create a slideshow of researched facts about each of the 50 states; mottos, landforms, cultural and historic facts and anything else they learn that makes each state unique.

Math: Last week the students took a beginning of the year “quiz” to see what they remember about a few broad concepts in math. They also learned many games to practice their math facts and completed their first timed test. It is extremely important that the kids use time at home to practice their math facts, so that they will be able to apply more advanced concepts without focusing on recalling their facts. This week we are diving into Unit 1 (Place value) together as a class. During this unit, I will get to know the kids’ current performance levels in math as we review and practice whole number and decimal place value to the thousandths, exponents and rounding.

Homework: Today we talked about the fifth grade expectation for homework. In fifth grade, students are expected to do 30-45 minutes of homework a night. They will typically get math every night, Monday through Thursday and should work for about 20 minutes on it. If it is too hard for them to complete on their own, they are instructed to write a note on it where they left off, and bring it in to me so we can work on it together the next day. If the practice side of the HW takes less than 20 minutes, they should complete some (if not all) of the problem solving each night. Homework will be different for every child, depending on what their needs are. They should complete the work without frustration as a way to solidify and practice the skills we are learning in class. Parents ~you are welcome to support and help your child with homework if it works well for you both to do so. It should not require any parent help, so if they are having a tough time being independent, please let me know and I will gladly create a plan together with your child. In addition to math, students are expected to study/practice their spelling words (starting next week), work on any additional projects we are working on, and reading for at least 20 minutes every night. I will talk more about this at Open House!!

Homework this week:
1. Math (today place value work)
2. Paper bag objects due tomorrow
3. Practice NE states and capitals. Test Wed
4. Read 20 minutes. Record on book log, due Friday