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
