Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Looking to help?
We are completely out of facial tissues and cold season is in full swing. We are looking for any donations of facial tissue boxes. Thank you, Ms. Rivers's class
New Pencil Sharpener and TAKS Benchmarks
A special thank you to Andrea Georgsson for the fantastically quiet pencil sharpener and several pencil packets! Although I thought our pencil sharpener was fine, I didn't know how grat they could be. Like the students, I have great appreciation for a sharp tip.
A thank you also goes out to Kristina Brosig. She has been working hard at getting us to complete our Auction project. We hope you can join the Roberts community this Saturday night.
Reading and Math TAKS Benchmarks are taking place this week. Students took the Math today and will take the Reading tomorrow. We will use the student performance to determine who may need after school tutorials as well as Math class assignment possible changes.
Science
We are finishing up types of energy and starting Light and Sound energy. The Key concepts have and will include the types of energy (mechanical, radiant, chemical, thermal, electrical and Atomic). Light energy includes refraction and reflection, convex and concave lenses and how these effect light. The basics of sound energy will be covered.
Social Studies
The Revolution continues. We have begun watching Liberty Kids as an educational supplement to increase understanding of background, cause and effect and sequence of events during The American Revolution.
Math
Ns. Schillmoeler and Ms. Newton's classes are focusing on fractions. Mr. Shahriari's class is covering advanced Geometry. Measurement is the currect focus in my class (Rivers). The 5th grade teachers have been meeting weekly in regard to student data, subjects to be covered and pacing for the individual classes.
Reading
Historical fiction, character traits and conflict are the currect areas of focus and these are integrated into our American Revolution unit and planner as well as reading groups and whole class read aloud.
Wordly Wise Update
We are finished with the 5th grade Wordly Wise book and will be starting a culminating project next week as a way of reviewing the vocabulary that has been studied.
Language Arts
The Grammar books are out and we are exploring prepositions, prepositional phrases, the destiction between a preposition and an adverb and much more. The spelling focus for the remainder of the school year will be on suffixes and prefixes.
A thank you also goes out to Kristina Brosig. She has been working hard at getting us to complete our Auction project. We hope you can join the Roberts community this Saturday night.
Reading and Math TAKS Benchmarks are taking place this week. Students took the Math today and will take the Reading tomorrow. We will use the student performance to determine who may need after school tutorials as well as Math class assignment possible changes.
Science
We are finishing up types of energy and starting Light and Sound energy. The Key concepts have and will include the types of energy (mechanical, radiant, chemical, thermal, electrical and Atomic). Light energy includes refraction and reflection, convex and concave lenses and how these effect light. The basics of sound energy will be covered.
Social Studies
The Revolution continues. We have begun watching Liberty Kids as an educational supplement to increase understanding of background, cause and effect and sequence of events during The American Revolution.
Math
Ns. Schillmoeler and Ms. Newton's classes are focusing on fractions. Mr. Shahriari's class is covering advanced Geometry. Measurement is the currect focus in my class (Rivers). The 5th grade teachers have been meeting weekly in regard to student data, subjects to be covered and pacing for the individual classes.
Reading
Historical fiction, character traits and conflict are the currect areas of focus and these are integrated into our American Revolution unit and planner as well as reading groups and whole class read aloud.
Wordly Wise Update
We are finished with the 5th grade Wordly Wise book and will be starting a culminating project next week as a way of reviewing the vocabulary that has been studied.
Language Arts
The Grammar books are out and we are exploring prepositions, prepositional phrases, the destiction between a preposition and an adverb and much more. The spelling focus for the remainder of the school year will be on suffixes and prefixes.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
A Very Belated New Year
Well, Our second semester is well under way and there is a lot of information to catch you up on.
First, I want to thank all of you for an extremely generous holiday gift. It was all the way back in December, but I have thought about your generosity daily.
I would also like to thank Kristina Brosig for all of her support and assistance with the auction project and reminders regarding Magnet Feedback. Our class project for auction will be a reading theme with a decorated bean bag chair and individual art projects. I know that several of you are helping with the legistics and I thank you.
This week is No Name Calling Week. Everyone will wear blue on Friday in celebration and in honor of No Name Calling Week.
PROGRESS REPORTS- Progress reports will go home with your students on Thursday of this week. I apologize for the delay.
Change
The biggest change since returning from our Winter Break, has been the start of Math class switches. Everything seems to be going smoothly and I know that small adjustments have been made as needed. We will continue to adjust grouping after units of study. Classes are either focusing on exponents, negative numbers,or continuing with fractions.
Halls, Restroom, and Behavior
In the return from the break, students are beginning to feel older and exert some of there new felt freedoms. While this is a positive step toward maturity, it is also showing a need for some defining of boundaries for students. We have also re-focused on the IB attitudes, discussing what it looks and sounds like to be respectful in different environments around the school.
Mrs. Graves met with the 5th grade students last week and discussed the differences between Middle School environments and Elementary environments. One of the examples given was hallway behavior. In Middle School, all the students pass to classes at the same time and when there is talking in the hall, it does not disrupt. This is not the case in Elementary School. We are also taking class bathroom breaks. This is not due to one incidence, but due to an ongoing pattern of inappropriate behavior in the restrooms and halls outside of the restroom. I am working with the class on making these breaks as fast as possible. Many of the students are bringing a book with them so that they do not gave the temptation to talk while waiting. As time goes on and with increasingly appropriate behavior, we will take fewer class breaks and return to individual restroom usage. Thank you for your patience with this. All in all, the students are becoming increasingly respectful and earned lunch in the classroom today.
Science-
We have finished Matter and have started Energy. Our Wonder Wall is filling up. Your students ask provokative questions, including whether a feeling has energy.
Social Studies-
We are currently transitioning from the French and Indian War to the American Revolution. Our current IB Planner is Revolution with a focus on Conflict causing people to seek resolution. For this planner, students will be completing a written project on an American Revolutionary and a world Revolutionary. We will culminate with a living museum. More information to come.
Reading-
Reading Projects from previous books have been completed and we have started discussing Historical Fiction. The Book Clubs will begin next week and all the choices are Historical Fiction and focus on the American Revolution. Character Traits and Conflict have been concepts discussed through our Historical Fiction read aloud.
Language Arts-
Recent skills and topics have included Friendly letters, commas, context clues, guide words (as in dictionary) and review of other skills. We are working on Prepositions and prepositional phrases as well as integrating written composition and speaking into Science, Social Studies and Reading projects.
First, I want to thank all of you for an extremely generous holiday gift. It was all the way back in December, but I have thought about your generosity daily.
I would also like to thank Kristina Brosig for all of her support and assistance with the auction project and reminders regarding Magnet Feedback. Our class project for auction will be a reading theme with a decorated bean bag chair and individual art projects. I know that several of you are helping with the legistics and I thank you.
This week is No Name Calling Week. Everyone will wear blue on Friday in celebration and in honor of No Name Calling Week.
PROGRESS REPORTS- Progress reports will go home with your students on Thursday of this week. I apologize for the delay.
Change
The biggest change since returning from our Winter Break, has been the start of Math class switches. Everything seems to be going smoothly and I know that small adjustments have been made as needed. We will continue to adjust grouping after units of study. Classes are either focusing on exponents, negative numbers,or continuing with fractions.
Halls, Restroom, and Behavior
In the return from the break, students are beginning to feel older and exert some of there new felt freedoms. While this is a positive step toward maturity, it is also showing a need for some defining of boundaries for students. We have also re-focused on the IB attitudes, discussing what it looks and sounds like to be respectful in different environments around the school.
Mrs. Graves met with the 5th grade students last week and discussed the differences between Middle School environments and Elementary environments. One of the examples given was hallway behavior. In Middle School, all the students pass to classes at the same time and when there is talking in the hall, it does not disrupt. This is not the case in Elementary School. We are also taking class bathroom breaks. This is not due to one incidence, but due to an ongoing pattern of inappropriate behavior in the restrooms and halls outside of the restroom. I am working with the class on making these breaks as fast as possible. Many of the students are bringing a book with them so that they do not gave the temptation to talk while waiting. As time goes on and with increasingly appropriate behavior, we will take fewer class breaks and return to individual restroom usage. Thank you for your patience with this. All in all, the students are becoming increasingly respectful and earned lunch in the classroom today.
Science-
We have finished Matter and have started Energy. Our Wonder Wall is filling up. Your students ask provokative questions, including whether a feeling has energy.
Social Studies-
We are currently transitioning from the French and Indian War to the American Revolution. Our current IB Planner is Revolution with a focus on Conflict causing people to seek resolution. For this planner, students will be completing a written project on an American Revolutionary and a world Revolutionary. We will culminate with a living museum. More information to come.
Reading-
Reading Projects from previous books have been completed and we have started discussing Historical Fiction. The Book Clubs will begin next week and all the choices are Historical Fiction and focus on the American Revolution. Character Traits and Conflict have been concepts discussed through our Historical Fiction read aloud.
Language Arts-
Recent skills and topics have included Friendly letters, commas, context clues, guide words (as in dictionary) and review of other skills. We are working on Prepositions and prepositional phrases as well as integrating written composition and speaking into Science, Social Studies and Reading projects.
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