5-2 Updates ~ 12/11/16

Hello 5-2 Families ~

Well, it's been another snowy weekend here in the Midwest!  They said it would be a snowier winter than we've had in the past few years - they were right!  Hopefully, you were prepared, and enjoyed some fun with your family in the snow doing something other than shoveling ;) and you were able to spend some time inside doing all those winter activities I enjoy - snuggling under a blanket on the couch, playing board games, and watching football :)  It looks like we have some colder temperatures coming this week - the predicted lows and windchills are right around the temperatures the district has defined as too cold for school (natural temps lower than -15, windchills lower than -30).  Keep your eyes open for school closings!

Important Dates

Revolutionary War In-house Field Trip - Tuesday, 12/13  (9:15-11:30) ~ your children will have the opportunity to learn about life as a soldier in the Revolutionary War with authentic artifacts, uniforms, and even weapons; and then they re-enact the Battle of Cowpens.  

5-2 students should wear red that day as we will represent the British army in the battle.

Science Behind Drugs In-house Field Trip - Wednesday, 12/14 (9:15-11:30)~ Robert Crown will present Science Behind Drugs.  Please read their description of the program below:

Using interactive, proven methods and visual tools, this program teaches skills for living substance-free in the face of an ever changing range of mental, physical and social pressures. Educators demonstrate the neurological cause and effects of addiction and use role play to practice their resistance skills.

Program Goals:
Students will…

1. Increase knowledge about drugs and their effects on total wellness (physical, mental social, emotional) with intense focus on neuroscience.
2. Feel empowered to take personal responsibility for increasing their total wellness and increase disapproval of alcohol and other drug use.
3. Develop strategies/tools to make healthy decisions and explore alternatives to alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use/abuse.

** Both of these in-house field trips will take place in the morning, so we will not have math instruction on either day.

Winter Read Aloud with the Principals - As has become tradition at Olive, our merry principals will be reading aloud a story with your students on Friday and having them participate in a fun winter activity.  In keeping with the new food policies from district, they will not be serving a snack this year, but I know they have some fun stuff planned for the kiddos in place of a snack.

What's Going on in the Classroom?

Math
We will begin our review for the Unit 5 Assessment on Monday this week.  Then we will be taking a break from math on Tuesday and Wednesday for our in-house field trips.  Our final day of review will be on Thursday.  Our Unit 5 Assessment is scheduled for Friday, December 16th.  You can help your child prepare for the assessment by having them work on the following fraction and decimal lessons on Khan Academy:
- Understanding Fractions as Division 
- Comparing & Ordering decimals
- Adding & Subtracting fractions - both like and unlike denominators

Social Studies
Students read about the Revolutionary War in chapter 13 and completed the organizer this week in social studies.  In this chapter, students were exposed to the different war strategies used by the Continental Army and the British Army, and learned how those strategies impacted the war.  Due to the math and reading test both scheduled for Friday, I moved the Unit 13 Assessment to Wednesday, December 14th.  Your children should have spent the weekend reviewing for the assessment.  I posted the completed organizer on Edmodo on Friday as a resource to begin studying.  They should also re-read the chapter and create vocabulary flash cards to help prepare them for the test.

We will be looking at specific battles in partners this week in social studies, and determine how the Continental Army and British Army's war strategies were used in specific battles.  Students will be given an option for how to present their specific battles to the class - they can choose to create a news or radio broadcast, create a drama to re-enact the battle, or create a poster with important information about the battle.

Reading
We continued to look at different nonfiction text structures this week, and continued our work on finding context clues for content-specific words.  We will wrap up our Nonfiction unit this week by discussing strategies for dealing with difficulties we encounter when comprehending nonfiction text, then we will learn how to synthesize information from two different, but related, nonfiction texts.  We will spend 2 days reviewing for the assessment, then we will take our Nonfiction Unit Assessment on Friday, December 16th.  I realize this is the same day as our Math Assessment, but students do not need to do anything to prepare for the Nonfiction Unit Assessment.  This is an assessment of their comprehension of nonfiction text.  They have practiced using a variety of strategies for the last 7 weeks, and should be ready to take the test on Friday. 

Writing
Students chose their topics for the editorial on Friday, and will be ready to write their opinion piece this week in writing.  They will take the perspective of a colonist or British citizen, and write the editorial as if it would appear in a newspaper at the time of the war.  They were so thoughtful as they chose their topics to share their opinions - I was so impressed with the maturity they demonstrated as they reflected on the events and people of the war and decided on their topics - they did not choose surface level topics, but deeper ideas that demonstrate their insights into decisions made during the war.  I'm looking forward to reading some of their writing!

** Because we are wrapping up so many units this week, and the students will be working hard to prepare for multiple assessments and write an essay, I have decided to eliminate their spelling, grammar, and vocabulary work for the week. **

Every child deserves a champion: 
an adult who will never give up on them,who understands the power of connection 
and insists they become the best they can possibly be.  
— Rita Pierson, educator

Cheers ~
Theresa Fowler

5-2 Updates ~ 12/05/16

Hello 5-2 Families ~

Welcome winter!  Wow!  I'm not sure if that snow caught the rest of you as off guard as it did my family, but we were quite surprised by the fact that we needed to clear off cars and shovel today!  Great day for a pot of soup on the stove, football on the TV, and blankets on the couch :)  

Important Dates

Revolutionary War In-house Field Trip - Tuesday, 12/13  (9:15-11:30) ~ your children will have the opportunity to learn about life as a soldier in the Revolutionary War with authentic artifacts, uniforms, and even weapons; and then they re-enact the Battle of Cowpens.  
5-2 students should wear red that day as we will represent the British army in the battle.

Science Behind Drugs In-house Field Trip - Wednesday, 12/14 (9:15-11:30)~ Robert Crown will present Science Behind Drugs.  Please read their description of the program below:

Using interactive, proven methods and visual tools, this program teaches skills for living substance-free in the face of an ever changing range of mental, physical and social pressures. Educators demonstrate the neurological cause and effects of addiction and use role play to practice their resistance skills.

Program Goals:
Students will…

1. Increase knowledge about drugs and their effects on total wellness (physical, mental social, emotional) with intense focus on neuroscience.
2. Feel empowered to take personal responsibility for increasing their total wellness and increase disapproval of alcohol and other drug use.
3. Develop strategies/tools to make healthy decisions and explore alternatives to alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use/abuse.

** Both of these in-house field trips will take place in the morning, so we will not have math instruction on either day.
What's Going on in the Classroom?

Math
We have been working on fractions and decimals in unit 5 since we returned from Thanksgiving Break.  This unit is a little longer than other units, so we will be working on it until we leave for Winter Break.  Our Unit 5 Assessment is scheduled for Friday, December 16th.  You can help your child prepare for the assessment by having them work on the following fraction and decimal lessons on Khan Academy:
- Understanding Fractions as Division 
- Comparing & Ordering decimals
- Adding & Subtracting decimals - both like and unlike denominators

Social Studies
We began our unit on the Revolutionary War with a tug-of-war game in the classroom this week.  What fun the kids had re-enacting the battle with an actual game of tug-of-war!! The red team represented the British, and the blue team represented the Continental Army - ask your child how unfair the game seemed at first with the largest students on the British side.  There were several rule changes to the game that represented the actual events, and the Continental Army was actually able to win the game - ask them how the blue team won!

We also spent time this week looking at several paintings from the war to see if we could determine what the war strategies were for each army.  Your students sharpened their observations skills, and used some excellent logic as they discussed what they noticed about each army in the paintings.  This week we will read the chapter and complete an organizers, with the final assessment scheduled for Friday, December 16th

Reading
We continue to focus on non-fiction text in the second Schoolwide Unit, this week focusing on determining the main idea and supporting details, then using those to write a summary.  This skill is a little more challenging to master, so we spent some additional time practicing before we moved on.  To help your child practice at home, have your child read a non-fiction article, then ask them to tell you the main idea and supporting details.

We will be finishing our Nonfiction Unit before Winter Break, but I have not yet scheduled the final assessment.  I would like to see how the students continue to progress through this unit and perform on the review before I schedule the assessment.  

Writing
We have been collecting facts about the Revolutionary War through research both in the classroom and in the LMC to prepare for an editorial we will be writing next week.  We will begin discussing the elements of persuasive writing this week, and begin writing our editorials next week.

Children close their ears to advice, but open their eyes to example

  — unknown

Cheers ~
Theresa Fowler

5-2 Updates ~ 11/13/16

Hello 5-2 Families ~

What a beatiful fall weekend! I hope you found it to be peaceful with all the chaos of the past few weeks :)

Important Dates

Progress Reports ~ Progress Reports will go home Friday, 11/18.  Please remind your child they can ask me for a midterm grade at any time.  The grades they receive on their progress reports should never be a surprise!  If your child plans on re-taking or re-doing any assignment, please help them remember it needs to be completed by Friday, 11/11 - that is the day my grade book will close.

Fall Conferences ~ Monday, 11/21 & Tuesday, 11/22 ~ If you have not signed up yet, please do so ASAP.  If you need to schedule a different time, please shoot me an email and we'll find a time that works for both of us.  I look forward to having the opportunity to chat with each of you about your child's progress!


What's Going on in the Classroom?

Math
We will be wrapping up our unit on division the week, and taking the Unit 4 Assessment on Friday, 11/18.  Please help your child prepare by practing division with decimals on Khan Academy, and studying the Self-Assessment and the Unit 4 Review.

Science
We wrapped up our science unit on the Human Body the week with an experiment recording our heart rate after doing different activities and exercises, then they spent the latter part of the week preparing for the final test.  They will be taking the Final Human Body Assessment on Monday, November 14th - this test WILL be included on the 1st term progress reports.  It will take place after my official grade book is closed, but since it is still before they are printed, I will include the score in their progress report.  Your child should have studied the unit review to prepare for this assessment this weekend.

Reading
We continue to focus on non-fiction text in the second Schoolwide Unit, this week focusing on author's purpose when writing nonfiction.  This skill is a little more challenging to master, so we spent some additional time practicing before we moved on.  To help your child practice at home, have your child read a non-fiction article, then discuss the author's purpose for writing the article.

As I have mentioned in earlier blog entries - in the absence of reading assessments during our launch unit, your child's progress report reading grades this term come from a couple of sources.  Their grade will primarily come from an assessment of the skills learned during the first unit, including the reading behaviors, setting goals, using tools to support reading, and reading conversations.  These scores come from the Reading Notebook Rubric and the Conversation Checklist.

Bio Bottles - your child should have written a summary of the biography they read this weekend to be turned in tomorrow.  Their final Bio Bottle projects are due on Friday, November 18th.

Writing
Students turned in their personal narratives on Friday after scoring and giving peer feedback on their stories on Thursday.  Look for these rubrics to come home for a sign and return on Monday.  They will write a timed personal narrative on Tuesday as a final unit assessment.

Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.

  — Margaret Mead, cultural anthropologist 

Cheers ~
Theresa Fowler

5-2 Updates ~ 11/05/16

Hello 5-2 Families ~

What a week!! Wow!  It started with our annual Halloween festivities - A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to our room moms ~ Mrs. Attea, Mrs. D'Amico, and Mrs. Downing ~ for a DELIGHTFUL Halloween party!!  They took great care organizing fun games and adorable crafts for all your children :)  We appreciate all the time and care you took in planning and preparing all the fun activities!! Everyone had such a fantastic time, and we received multiple compliments from teachers who stopped in the room amazed by your children - they were so cooperative and well-behaved!  

Next came Game 6 and 7 of the World Series!!  As some of you are aware, I "watched" Game 7 with several of your kiddos on Edmodo - play by play, we posted every exciting victory and agonizing defeat in that nail-biting game.  When your sweet children found out I would be watching alone because my family was out of town, they insisted they would keep me company on Edmodo.  I was touched, but had no idea how much I would enjoy sharing in the history-making excitement with your children!!  I told them it was hands-down the most fun I ever had watching a game.  When we all think back on where we were when we saw the Cubs win the World Series, I will have such a special memory to share.  Thank you to all of you parents who allowed your kids to keep me company!!

We ended this exhausting week with a Read-a-thon on Friday as a reward for your students filling the Random Acts of Character board!!  When all the character slips were counted, our grand winner of the All Night Homework Pass - the student with the most character slips written about the - was Ella Huynh!  Way to go, Ella!!  The board has been emptied, and the race to fill it again is on!  I wonder who will win it next time!!  
**See pictures below - Yes, the Cubs Parade was on in the background, but they really did read during the day...I promise ;)  I just couldn't resist letting your kids see history in the making.  So many of them wanted to be there - it was fun to be able to watch it live together. 

We also met with our Book Buddies in K-4 for the first time Friday afternoon when they came to visit our Read-a-thon. Your kids were SO excited to finally meet their kindergarten buddies!!  We'll meet with our Book Buddies twice per month - it's such a treasure to be able to watch each of them grow throughout the year!  I've included pictures of Book Buddies below as well!

Technology
Unfortunately, as you are aware, Ms. Davis did suspend technology privileges for our classroom on Thursday, and spent most of Thursday and Friday looking at each computer's history and downloads. I do appreciate you following through with Ms. Davis' request to review the Appropriate Use Policy with your children at home - many of the students claimed they were unaware of these policies.  They are part of the D25 handbook, which are signed off on by parents.  Before using technology in our classroom again, we will spend some time reading and reflecting on these policies, ensuring the students all do fully understand exactly what they policy states.

It is important to note that many students felt that the inappropriate behavior may have been caused by students in other classrooms since they occasionally borrow our cart.  As parents, I do want you to be aware that the computers are in my room more than 90% of the time.  We also shared with students, and some we even showed, that we can see the day and time of the download or the off-task behavior.  Since the computer carts are all signed out to teachers using a Google calendar, we know when the cart was in use by our students and when it was used by other classes.

I truly appreciate your support in ensuring your students understand the importance of appropriately using technology while in school.  This will become increasingly important as they move forward in school.

Whew!  Like I said...what a week!  I don't know about you or your kiddos, but I was pretty thankful we "fell back" last night.  I definitely needed the extra hour of sleep!!

Important Dates

Progress Reports ~ Will go home Friday, 11/18.  Please remind your child they can ask me for a midterm grade at any time.  The grades they receive on their progress reports should never be a surprise!  If your child plans on re-taking or re-doing any assignment, please help them remember it needs to be completed by Friday, 11/11 - that is the day my grade book will close.

Fall Conferences ~ Monday, 11/21 & Tuesday, 11/22 ~ If you have not signed up yet, please do so ASAP.  If you need to schedule a different time, please shoot me an email and we'll find a time that works for both of us.


What's Going on in the Classroom?

Math
I returned the Unit 3 test to your children on Friday, so they should be asking for your signature this weekend.  The sign and return tests are due on Monday.  We also took the Unit 4 pre-test on Friday, and they received their Self-Assessments.  They should have evaluated their skills on the Self-Assessment, then they should have filed it away in their accordion folder for use near the end of the unit.  Since many of my friends seem to misplace this self-assessment, you may want to ask them where it is ;)  This unit primarily focuses on reviewing long division, with an introduction to division with decimals.  Please have your child review these concepts on Khan frequently throughout this short unit!  We will be taking the Unit 4 Assessment next Friday, November 18th.  Because this score will be taken after Progress Reports are issued, it will be included in the 2nd trimester scores.

Science
Your children learned about muscle fatigue this weekend in a painful exercise using a clothespin.  You may want to ask them about it ;) They should be able to explain to you the importance of our circulatory system carrying nutrients, oxygen, and water to our muscle cells when they are working, as well as the importance of carrying away the waste.  On Monday, we will continue our learning on the circulatory system while checking our pulse while completing different exercises, and we'll end the week learning about our digestive system.  They will be taking the Final Human Body Assessment on Monday, November 14th - this test WILL be included on the 1st term progress reports.  It will take place after my official grade book is closed, but since it is still before they are printed, I will include the score in their progress report.  Please remind your child to spend plenty of time studying for this final test!

Reading
We have been focused on non-fiction text in the second Schoolwide Unit, looking at the different types of non-fiction, non-fiction text features, and the structure of non-fiction.  Please encourage your child to focus some of their time reading non-fiction at home during this unit.  While they are still welcome to read fiction, we would like to be sure they continue to grow in their ability to read and comprehend non-fiction text.

As I have mentioned in earlier blog entries - in the absence of reading assessments during our launch unit, your child's progress report reading grades this term come from a couple of sources.  Their grade will primarily come from an assessment of the skills learned during the first unit, including the reading behaviors, setting goals, using tools to support reading, and reading conversations.  These scores come from the Reading Notebook Rubric and the Conversation Checklist.

Bio Bottles - your children have spent the last two weeks reading a biography on a person of their choice...now it's time to put all that knowledge gained into a creative project!  Your children have been begging for this project since they saw the other classes complete this project during the Launching Unit.  I prefer to have students work on the Book Review T-shirts in the Launching Unit, and save this project for our Nonfiction unit when we study biographies.  But the anticipation has created quite the excitement for some of your children!  Please review the project descriptor with them - it has a few upcoming due dates.  It was sent home on paper on Friday.  And just so it doesn't take you by suprise ~ your child will need a 2 liter bottle and a styrofoam ball to complete this project, as well as any materials they would like to use to represent their famous person.  If you or your child has any problem acquiring any of the tools or resources you need, please let me know!

Writing
We will finish up our Personal Narratives this week, with our focus on revising and editing throughout the week.  They should be polished up by the end of the week, and will be submitted for grading by Friday.  Since we spent a great deal of time working on this rubric together, this grade will be considered a quiz grade.  Next week, students will be given 2 writing periods to writing a personal narrative independently.  The essay they write independently will be scored as an assessment.

“Whatever they grow up to be, they are still our children, and the one most important of all the things we can give to them is unconditional love.  Not a love that depends on anything at all except that they are our children.” 
~ Rosaleen Dickson

Cheers ~
Theresa Fowler