Use the calendar below to check on Google Classroom assignments as well as projects, tests, and other important information for the class/grade. Below the calendar is a summary of what we are doing each week.

Week of March 2nd: Last book report is due this week (no reading logs)!

Math: We are starting a new chapter, chapter 9: Adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimals. Math tests will come home Tuesday. Corrections due Wednesday as well as parent signatures.

Social Studies: We finished out science space unit last week Tests will come home Monday and should be signed and returned. We are beginning chapters 8 and 9 on the events leading up to and the Revolutionary War. Students will be back to taking notes, packet work, and current events will now be world focused rather than space focused.

Reading: We finished our first round of individual debate topics. Students did a great job critiquing one another after the speeches. Students were put in to small groups to research and write about a new debatable topic. Students will be writing their position on the side they have taken with a partner. Groups will then read their positions back to back so we, as the audience, can decide which side we agree with. Topics include No Homework, School Uniforms, Cell phones in School, Video Games, Year Round School and Kids Having Social Media. Students will use the rubrics to make sure they have all the parts they need for their position. I'm excited to hear what they come up with!

Language Arts: We are working on nonfiction opinion writing/persuasive writing. To incorporate social studies into our writing, rather than beginning unrelated topics, students will be selecting a key figure in the Revolutionary War time period. They will create "Big Head" drawings to go with a persuasive letter that is written to convince us why they were so important in the war.

SEL: Uncle Pete's was a HUGE success. We made 218 lunches of the 1381 that our school made. I cannot thank you enough for helping us achieve our goal. Coming up I'm sure we will be collecting books for Bernie's Books. 5th grade went through our book collections last year and have a TON to donate already. If you have books to get rid of, hang on to them for Bernie's, another excellent organization!

Other: No School next Monday for Record's Planning Day since we did not use any snow/weather days.

Week of February 24th: Uncle Pete's lunch making Tuesday morning 7:30 am

Math: We are getting through chapter 8 on fractions: Simplifying, drawing, comparing and knowing the decimal values...the test will be Friday!

Science: We've finished all of our lessons and are working on the study guides. we went over all of the items on the study guide and they had time to work on them to be able to use for Friday's test. Final Science Current Event for numbers 14-26 due Friday!

Reading: Students will be having mini debates over their topics they've been researching. They will tell us briefly about their topic by starting with a Hook/Grabber, making their Claim, and then providing 4-5 pieces of Evidence to back their claims up. They then need to tie up their paragraphs/mini speeches with a BIG finish to leave us thinking. 3 Reading Logs due FRIDAY!

Language Arts: We are grammaring it up--we read a few CBAD books including Most Marshmallows and Rude Cakes. We talked about subject vs object Pronouns as well as Possessive pronouns.

Other: Final Book Report for the trimester is due Thursday, March 5th!!

Week of February 17th: No School Monday--Presidents' Day

Math: We are getting through chapter 8 on fractions: Simplifying, drawing, comparing and knowing the decimal values...

Science: After we finish lesson 6 on the moon phases we will be wrapping up with the unit test next Friday. Study guides will go home tomorrow and kids should use their worksheets and online text to study.

Reading: We are officially done with Unit 2 and started our Argument and Advocacy unit. We will be talking about making claims, providing evidence, and looking at both sides on an issue.

Language Arts: We are grammaring it up--today was pronouns and boy did we need practice!!

Other: Final Book Report for the trimester is due Thursday, March 5th!!

Week of February 10th

Math: We are going to take an open book/note quiz on Chapter 7 over numerical expressions and PEMDAS. The kids have been asked to work through the iXL topics on sections U and V.

Science: We've talked about gravity, why some stars are brighter and why there is day and night. We will move onto the next lesson about shadows and will then look at the moon phases. There have been some great topics in news related to space including Christina Koch, a woman who spent the longest time in space who just came home, as well as the Spitzer Space Telescope that was just retired:

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/02/07/christina_koch_earth/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/01/29/spitzer-space-telescope-retired-thursday-nasa/4610196002/

Reading: READING ICPC DUE THURSDAY. We worked hard on the Passion Projects last week. This week we plan to share the projects as well as begin compiling great 5th grade worthy argumentative topics. Our next units in both reading and writing will be on debating, being able to support your argument, and even preparing to take the opposite side. Should make for some great conversations/discussions in the future weeks.

Language Arts: We wrote "love letters" with vintage candy hearts. I've been waiting all weekend to hear them. It's amazing how sweet you can be with some kind candy words and glue!

Other: Bring Valentines on or before Friday.

Week of February 3rd: Conferences Thursday, February 6th, 4-7pm

Math: We finished Chapter 4/6. Test corrections and signed tests are due Tuesday. We also began Chapter 7 on numerical expressions, PEMDAS, and some algebra!

Science: We are discussing why there is day and night. I told the kids for current events they can look up anything space related, but Daylight Savings Time would be a great current event topic.

Reading: We are finishing up our Passion Projects this week. We will take a day to rotate and share them as well. The last in class work day is Friday, February 7th. We will then move onto argumentative reading/writing. ICPC #2 is due NEXT THURSDAY, Feb. 13th.

Language Arts: The kids wanted to share their hard work of their Bio Bottle slides this week and we were able to learn a lot about a bunch of people we didn't know much about before!

Other: In Intervention math we are working on Measurement and in Intervention reading we are finishing the novel Shine.

SEL: Last week we participated in the Sockn' It to Cancer sock collection. See the wonderful Facebook post from Mr. Argionis.

Week of January 27th: Open House Wednesday 6:00-7:30

Math: We will be taking the division test on Tuesday. Math help will be offered Tuesday morning after 8:00.

Science: We have talked about gravity and how it effects everything around it. This week we will be talking about why the sun is brighter than other stars. Current events should be space related until further notice. We also talked about the Challenger Space Shuttle. The anniversary of its explosion is Tuesday. We voted on the name for the 2020 Mars rover and have listened to a number of our Book a Day books via the astronauts on the International Space Station.

Reading: Bio Bottles are due on Tuesday as well as the Google slides to go along with them. A good amount of the class is done with these. We tackled our nonfiction test this week. Most kids are ready to type their responses while a few still need to finish. We will be plugging away at our Passion Projects this week. If you haven't yet, a trip to the Park Ridge Library may give some good resources.

Language Arts: We are finishing up our snowflake essays, the bio bottle slides, and plan to move onto some grammar--yay!

SEL: *After watching Remember the Titans to piggy back on Martin Luther King Jr's day, we had some good conversations about how people were and sometimes still are treated.

*Sockn' It to Cancer: we'd love to provide a lot of cozy socks for patients undergoing chemotherapy. We will be writing notes to accompany these socks to hopefully brighten someon's day.

Week of January 20th

Math: We are charging into devision and decimals. There will be a test over chapters 4 and the second half of chapter 6 next Tuesday.

Science: We finished our colony projects and are moving into our next science unit on Space. We will be focusing on gravity, the sun, moon phases, and more. Students will also be asked to change gears and choose their current event topics based on something space related. For example, I just found an article/site about astronauts on the International Space Station reading books--we will show some of those for our #CBAD choices in the next weeks. Students will be completing worksheets to go along with each unit that we talk about in class. There will be a final test at the end of the unit.

Reading: We have been working on nonfiction and we will be taking the test for the unit this week. We've practiced and discussed the sample test o prepare for the questions to be done on their own. It'll take a few days for the test and then another day or so to type the answers online. We are also getting ready to start our Genius Hour Projects. Students wrote (or are in the process of writing) their proposals and could probably use a quick trip to the public library for extra resources. Students will be creating a website about their topic of interest.

Language Arts: We've been working on our bio bottle slide shows. Bio bottle scan be brought in any time between now and next Tuesday. Please feel free to use found items at home to use for most of the bottle--no need to spend a ton of money. We also write an expository draft of a snowflake essay and we will be plugging through some grammar in our grammar workbooks.

SEL: We are talking about civil rights related to Martin Luther King Jr. and having Monday off. We are watching and discussing Disney's "Remember the Titans" to show how things were, how they can change, and we will write about where we still need to go.

Other: We have embraced the cold weather and the gymnastics unit by eating lunch in the classroom and have loved hearing bonus episodes of the "6 Minutes" podcast. We are also continuing with #CBAD (Children's Book a Day). Our "garden" also continues to grow even with this weather. I can't wait for you all to see our socks and garden at Open House on Wednesday, January 29th.

Week of January 13th

Math: We are working hard at double digit division. The chapter is short. A test will be in a few weeks along with the back half of chapter 6 (decimals and division).

Social Studies: We worked on colony projects this week and plan on plugging away at them through the next week. We finish with our current Social Studies unit and move to a new Science unit next week. Projects will be due before Open House, January 28th.

Reading/Language Arts: We are working on nonfiction like crazy, whether it be current events, biographies, or social studies. We've been focusing on summarizing with main ideas and supporting details, inferencing, and comparing and contrasting. We plan on tackling author's craft this week. The nonfiction test will be soon. We will also be beginning to propose our Genius Hour projects and plan out the Google websites we will be making.

SEL: Our #CBAD books have focused on including others..."The Invisible Boy" was a great book!

Other: Paws for Australia and Hearts for Australia t-shirts will be ordered soon!

Week of January 6th--Happy New Year!

Math: We will begin Chapter 4/6B with Double Digit Division--it'll be a little tricky but I think we can manage! Tests will go home Monday (they were graded before break but we didn't have class for me to pass them out!)

Social Studies: We will be plugging away at our Colony projects for the final two weeks of this social studies unit. Students will also have one more "packet" to go along with chapter 7 which will round out their colony chapters. Current events will be back to regular focus now: one die every other week.

Reading/Language Arts: We are getting ready to talk about Genius Hour/Passion Projects. Students will be making a website about the topic that they choose. This goes along with nonfiction reading and researching. This also supports our nonfiction writing. To also go along with the nonfiction units, our next book report will be a biography. This report is the one most kids look forward to since the kids will be making a bio bottle about their person. Books will be chosen in class and read this week. I will include instructions and examples in Google Classroom for everyone. Along with the bottle, students will be writing a "letter" from their person to the class telling us about their important information.

SEL: New Year, new us! We will be focusing on our goals for the the rest of 5th grade. Who do we want to be? What do we want to work on? We will be creating a cool "One Word" board for Open House.

Week of December 16

Math: We are taking the Chapter 3 test on Thursday. Our Cookie Exchange is Wednesday and the project is due between Wednesday and Friday.

Social Studies: We have finished two packets and are studying for our Colony test for Wednesday. We will be getting back into research after.

Reading & Language Arts: We are working on the ins and outs of nonfiction: how it gets complex, and how we can write in a similar manner. We have been using various resources like StoryWorks and Super Science as well as Newsela to practice all things nonfiction. We will be talking about text structure as we also narrow down our Genius Hour project ideas for when we get back from break.

Their first book report is due Friday which will help them long term planning wise for the trimester.

SEL: We've continued to watch WestJet videos and have used the past few weeks to look up Kindness articles for current events.

Other: Happy Holidays and wonderful New Year wishes to you and your family!

Week of December 9th: MAP Testing Monday & Tuesday

Math: We are working on Chapter 3 and will take the Chapter test mid week next week. Cookie projects should start to be worked on. Students should be sure to look at the rubric to make sure they include everything they need to include.

Social Studies: We made notecards for the December 18th test and are diving into the 13 Colonies. Students will be working on packets in class, we've been taking research notes, and we brainstormed project ideas.

Reading: We began the week talking about making meaningful connections to our reading. We then began talking about nonfiction and the ways it gets more complex. One way to easily compare texts is taking a look at Newsela and looking over the article at the various reading levels. We also have been using our other school resources as examples including our social studies lessons. We will be applying these reading strategies to our writing and social studies work.

We talked about book reports and how to get them done efficiently. The first report is due before winter break to make it easy to check them off for the trimester. Also, three reading logs were due last week and three will be due this Friday. It sounds like a lot but the kids have time to work on them in school if they need to.

We will be Skyping with author Chris Grabenstein on Thursday. Before Thanksgiving we read half of Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library. Students can choose to finish the other half, as many have already done, and do a book report on it. We watched the Nickolodeon's Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library movie on Friday. It was quite different from the book which bothered many people, but we decided we were entertained overall!

Language Arts: Nonfiction is the name of the game across the board right now. We will be learning strategies about writing to inform. These skills will continue to be used as we write about current events, research for social studies, and eventually with our Genius Hour research for reading.

SEL: Kindness Kindness Kindness...how can we show our kindness? We watched a number of Westjet commercials to show random acts, and our current events due Tuesday needed to focus on a random act.

Other: Join the Spelling Bee! There are only 7 people signed up as of last Friday!

Week of December 2nd: A New Beginning--Trimester 2

Math: We will be continuing our work with Chapter 3 and Division. We will also be putting our ath skills to another project in a "Cookie Exchange" with more details to follow.

Social Studies: We are going to begin the chapters on the 13 Colonies. Students will make notecards in class and can study a colony a day to be ready for the final test before winter break. Students will also be choosing a colony to research and complete a project on in place of the 3 colony chapters in our textbook.

Reading: We are diving into nonfiction reading. This can easily tie into all things social studies and current events. We will look at how informational text can be difficult, the structure of info text, as well as author's craft.

*There will be FOUR book reports this trimester. Students will complete a Biography report with Bio Bottles in January (the books will be read in class), they will have an ICPC, and then two others of their choice by early March. We read half of Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library together before break and I offered them the chance to finish it on their own and do a book report on it.

Language Arts: Nonfiction writing it is! We will be relating writing ot the 13 Colonies and will work on our writing skills when we choose a Genius Hour/Passion Project for Reading/Writing.

SEL: Our focus is Acts of Kindness. For the month of December we will be taking extra time to make a difference as we look for great examples out in the world for current events.

Other: Winter MAP Testing in the next few weeks.

Week of November 17th: Friday is the end of the trimester!

Math: We are beginning Chapter 3 on Division. We will also be starting our next math project using division in the form of a holiday cookie exchange! Details to come after Thanksgiving Break.

Science: We have been moving through the Ecosystem unit. As we talk/discuss the lessons, the students have been completing worksheets about the concepts in the chapter. Not everyone is using the text like they should which is resulting in low scores. We will revisit our lessons this week as we wrap up all things ecosystem. We will have to do owl pellets after break.

Reading: We finished our first unit and the Common Assessments went home. The final book report of the trimester is due on Friday. We will NOT have reading logs this week. We are reading Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library in preparation for our Skype on December 12th with the author of the book, Chris Grabenstein! Our next reading unit will be a non fiction unit. Students will eventually do a Genius Hour project on a topic of their choice.

Language Arts: Camp Duncan essays are due Tuesday although most of the kids finished on Friday. We will be writing Diary of a ________ books (which mimic the Diary of a Worm, Diary of a Spider, and Diary of a Fly books) to go along with science and a start to our nonfiction research and writing.

SEL: Listening to our morning announcements, we are trying to read body language better. We have also started to focus on acts of kindness. We read the book Kindness Snippet Jar and made our own. We are also going to be focusing on our own acts of kindness during this time of year. Some of the kids have volunteered to make our showcase bulletin board themed for the next few months. I can't wait to see all the goodness we can spread this season.

Other: There will be some kids spending their free time to make up late work. They are welcome to come in early (8:05) to work on anything outstanding.

Week of November 11th: Happy Veteran's Day Monday

Math: We are finishing up chapters 2/6A and will be taking a test this week mid week.

Science: We are finishing up Consumers and moving on to Decomposers this week. The students have gotten a few worksheet reviews for the various sections. They need to make sure to use the online text because these questions will be useful for studying come test time.

Thank you for all the seeds. We are going to plant them this week during the polar vortex coming. We will see what we can observe growing. Our socks from the sock nature walk sure don't mind the fall temps. They are sprouting all over!

Reading: We have officially finished Interpretation Book Clubs. The kids took the final written test last week. We will be typing their answers into the online platform Monday/Tuesday. We are going to be reading Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library since we need to prepare for our Skype with author Chris Grabenstein in mid December. We will be moving onto the first non-fiction book unit.

The kids should continue to work on reading at home, completing reading logs and finishing up their last book report for next Friday.

Language Arts: We have finished pop-out noun stories, finished our noun test and our working our way through our Camp Duncan essays. Students are earning XP and Gold in Classcraft for completing the various parts of the writing process. Ask your child how much they've earned so far.

SEL: We are getting ready to start our few months of being extra thankful and looking for acts of kindness in the world. We also continue to use #CBAD (Children's Book a Day) to reinforce SEL topics. This week we will read a few books by author Diane Alper called Scribble Stones and I'm NOT Just a Scribble.

Other: The trimester ends right after Thanksgiving break. I will be finishing up collecting grades for this trimester the Friday before Thanksgiving break. The kids need to keep going strong up until the end.

Week of November 4th

Math: We are nearing the end of our Chapter 2/6 unit. We will be working on all things multiplication and decimals. Practice and taking time always benefits the kids in this unit. Also, neatness works to help them line up numbers.

Science: We've dived into Ecosystems and have starting talking about Producers. We also read Diary of a Spider and Diary of a Fly. Students will be paired up and will write a short fictional "diary" about a bug. They will do some basic research and will include facts about the bug and their ecosystems in the story. We also hope to start planting to see what we can observe when trying to get plants to grow.

Reading: We have finished book clubs and are reviewing/practicing for our final test.

Language Arts: We have been working on dialogue and practicing our writing stamina. The kids wrote papers on what I should be for Halloween with supporting details. We will be writing Camp Duncan essays in parts this week. The paper will be incorporated into a "Quest" for Classcraft so the students will receive bonuses for doing all the parts of the assignment (that they have to do anyways) and checking through on Classcraft.

SEL: We are reading at least a book a week to relate to SEL. Ask your kids about Where Oliver Fits. It's a sweet story!

Week of October 21st: Camp Duncan Week!

Math: We've been plugging through Multiplication. We worked on problem solving using tables, using the Distributive Property (it's actually a pretty easy way to break up a problem), and estimating/rounding. We will be ready for the test next week Tuesday.

Science: We have begun our first Science unit on Living Systems/Ecosystems. We went on a Sock Walk to see if we picked up any interesting seeds that may grow. They are hanging up in on the windows and we will keep a close eye on them. We will also be creating mini ecosystems in bottles. There is no hardcover book for TCI Science so the students should have their online text bookmarked and read to go if they ever need it.

Reading: We are in the last stages of Book Clubs. I am so impressed with how well the groups have been discussing and creating their group presentations to go along with their books. We have talked about how to show support for all the areas required and the checklist is on Google Classroom. ICPCs should be in no later than Wednesday. Then one final book report will be due by November 15th. We will start back up with reading logs most likely next week.

Language Arts: We had to buckle down and make a few changes. We have not built up good writing stamina so we are going back to the basics. While we continue to work on narrative writing samples, we also are finishing up the Pop Out Noun stories. There will be a noun test next week mid-week.

SEL: We are using our #CBAD (Classroom Book a Day) to talk about social emotional topics. I read them a real story about Dan Santat and an encounter he had with a homeless person years ago, and then again recently, related to his book After the Fall. We've been reading lots of his books that he's both written and illustrated (We've also talked about how these books relate to Author's Purpose--take that, Lucy! )

Other: Watch the weather and pack accordingly for Camp Duncan Thursday. We will meet near the cage area on Thursday between 8:30 and 8:45. We will have a meeting with the kids this week and they will receive their cabin assignments on Wednesday.

Week of October 7th: Conferences Tuesday and Thursday...you should get a Sign Up Genius reminder about your day and time. See you soon!

Math: We have finished Chapter 5 and are learning about all things multiplication. Much of it is review. Please keep working on Xtra Math facts daily to help make math that much easier. Students should be finishing up and presenting their Birthday Party Planning project in the next couple of weeks.

Social Studies: We will be taking the test on Wednesday over Chapter 4. Students were given study guides last week and have been making notecards in class. We will also review before the test in class. We will then move to our first Science unit on Ecosystems.

**Do you have any plastic 2L bottles? Please send them to school so we can make our in class ecosystems. Also, we will be going on our sock walk this week--if you have any pairless socks (large enough to fit over a shoe) we'd love to take them off your hands. Thanks!!

Reading: We started our Book Club novels. Students are in groups of about 4. They divided up their books per day. They will meet and discuss at the beginning of each class and then will begin their reading for the next day. As they work in groups I come around and talk about parts of the book with them. They have been working on reading logs overs the past 5 weeks as well. Their ICPC book report is due before we go to Camp DUncan. If they turn it in early I will grade it and they can make corrections.

Language Arts: We continued to rewrite and work on our narrative memorable people papers and should finish in the next day or so. It's hard to talk with everyone in a small chunk of time! Students also worked on their noun stories with their partners. We are still trying to get the hang of capitalizing proper nouns. The struggle is real!

Other: Camp Duncan talks will begin soon. Start getting your supplies ready. The disposable cameras are a pain (I lived it with my daughter at Roosevelt this past week). You can find them at Walgreens for $9.99. I will also try to take lots of pictures and share them using modern technology! :)

Week of September 30th:

Math: All of the classes are wrapping up Chapter 5 on adding and subtracting decimals. We are encouraging the kids to work on Xtra Math and iXL to brush on on their math skills.

Social Studies: We are trying to wrap up Chapter 4 in SS. We will be finishing our notes and getting our study guide for the chapter this week. Expect the test for the chapter early next week, most likely Tuesday.

Reading: We worked on Thinking Analytically by comparing, ranking, and relating parts of stories to the whole. We also used picture books to determine the plot events using the narrative arc. On Friday kids got to hear about their book club choices for Unit 1. There were some great books to choose from and we plan to start those this week. We will also focus on getting better at writing about our reading. Reading logs need to have support and details. ICPC Book Report due before Camp Duncan. Use the Book Report tab to read the details about this report.

Language Arts: We are wrapping up all things nouns. Students were paired up to write about a topic this week. They will be making Pop Out Noun Stories to practice using/writing nouns correctly. We also need to finish up our Memorable People short writes.

SEL: We talked about how the media influences people. We also talked about being safe online. I showed examples of people being KIND and encouraged the kids to find great stories to share for current events.

Other: **Book Orders can be placed online. We love reading in room 202! **We will be talking about Camp Duncan with the kids in the upcoming weeks.

Week of September 23rd:

Math: *note--any math updates on this page will now be for my math class which is NOT my homeroom. I will say that most of the classes will be very close in what they are teaching at any given time.

Social Studies: We talked about New France and will be moving onto New England. We continued taking notes and will be working through the coordinating packet as well. I see a test on the horizon in the next 2 weeks.

Reading: We have been working on our reading stamina with the end of class time. The kids have been doing well on their reading logs. We focused on Setting and discussed how parts of a story can be very important to the whole story. We Also began Home of the Brave and talked quite a bit about figurative language and my "junk/recycle" boards. We will focus on Character and Character Traits using examples from our independent novels.

Language Arts: We have been writing drafts of a Memorable Person, a Memorable Place, and a Memorable Thing. We talked about making our writing interesting and practiced writing grabbers/hooks for random topics. We will continue to fine tune this trio of writing. We also got into official grammar with nouns. Students will be making a Pop Out noun story with a partner in upcoming week or so.

SEL: We Have some great books to share that focus on all things SEL. We've talked as a class about how to behave during drills and we have been using Classcraft to show we can take ownership of our behaviors.

Other: #CBAD and the 6 Minutes podcast are still big hits!!

Week of September 16th: Safety Week and Picture Day THURSDAY (forms were given to the kids last week)

Math: We finished Chapter 1. Students will be bringing their tests home to make corrections/be signed. New Math classes were made and will begin MONDAY. Ask your child which class they are in. Mr. Bozeday, Mrs. DiLegge or Mrs. Corbett. Feel free to email your child's math teacher with any future questions.

Social Studies: We are working through Chapter 4. We finished New Spain and started New France. Students were given their practice packet that goes along with the chapter. There is about one page per lesson that will help them focus on the topic/concepts, and it will be taken for a grade at the end of the chapter.

Reading: BOOK REPORT #1 due Friday. We finished MAP testing--it took them quite a bit of time. We talked about figurative language (and the "junk" on my wall), and talked about the elements we need to focus on extra. I've also sent home two sets of graded reading logs if you want to take a look!

Language Arts: working our way through narrative writing, we wrote about a memorable person and a memorable place. We will be reworking these to make them more detailed and interesting. We will also write about a memorable thing to round out our mini writes.

SEL: We used SEL time to talk about September 11th and its impact on the United States over the years.

Other: The kids are absolutely loving our daily podcast, "6 Minutes" and we are using it to spark great conversations related to reading skills such as setting changing mood, tone, and predicting. We are also reading some great #CBAD books and read a great one called The Man Who Walked Between the Towers in honor of September 11th.

Week of September 9th

**MAP testing: Monday = Reading & Tuesday = Math...please remember charged Chromebooks and headphones are helpful.

Math: We finished Chapter 1 last week. We will work on and go over the study guide and any other questions for our first test THURSDAY the 12th. This grade will be passed along to their new teachers after we switch classes.

Social Studies: We started taking notes over Chapter 4 about New Spain coming to the Americas. The kids will also be working on a packet with review information for each lesson that will be collected for a grade at the end of the chapter.

Reading: We took the Unit one pretest and have been talking about becoming great writers about reading. Students have done their first set of reading logs to practice on the skills we will be talking about all year. These logs will also keep them accountable for reading their choice books and will help them finish books for book reports. They have their forts book report due the 20th. See the book report tab for more information.

Language Arts: We began our Wreck This Journal and have written and discussed it. We talked about figurative language and the examples we see every day in advertising. We will eventually find examples in song lyrics for some added fun. We will begin grammar during intervention on Monday starting with Parts of Speech.

SEL: We talked about focusing our current events on the good things happening in the news.

Other: We are off to a great start! Camp Duncan forms are due the 29th and we would love some more chaperone applications!!

We also learned a great lesson from the Thursday Night performance...maybe preseason is meant for practice so you aren't tired rusty when you play your first game!?

Week of September 2nd

Math: We are going through Chapter 1: Place Value. We will break into different math classes after this chapter and MAP testing results.

Social Studies: We will begin with Chapter 4 this week on New France, New Spain and New England. Current events will be due Friday for students numbers 1-13. The link for Current Events is on Google Classroom.

Reading: We began talking about how we choose books and what our reading goals are. We will be taking the Unit 1 pretest this week as well as start reading choice books and completing a few reading logs.

Language Arts: Students wrote me a letter about themselves and we are finishing up a quick project on similes based on the book My Dog is as Smelly as Smelly Socks. We will incorporate vocabulary and grammar into our first unit about Narrative writing.

SEL: We talked about manners a bunch--please and thank you go a long way. The contest in the lunchroom has shocked us all--we've never had such a well behaved group when lining up after recess. Fingers crossed it lasts!

Other:

• #CBAD (Children's Book a Day) has been a hit so far as well as 6 Minutes. We've also started Classcraft to encourage the positives in our days.
• Parent Night Thursday. I will show my true dedication to my students as the Bears take on the Packers while I talk about 5th grade curriculum. Camp Duncan meeting 6:30-7 and class presentation 7:30-8.

Week of August 26th

Math: We will be starting Ch 1 (Place Value) as homerooms until we break up into other classes after MAP testing. We are waiting on backordered math books.

Social Studies: We will begin with learning how to take notes for Ch 4. We are also beginning current events.

Science: We are starting with Social Studies for the next 5-6 weeks

Reading: We are beginning with the Units of Study Basics later in the week. Find a novel to read--it's never too early!

Language Arts: First, read my letter on Google Classroom and write back to me!

I'm excited to be starting #CBAD or Children's Book a Day. To promote literacy we will be taking a few minutes each day to read a picture book EVERY DAY this school year. There are so many great things to be taught using these types of books, not to mention, who doesn't love to hear a good story?! Start thinking about your favorite children's picture books so we can use them this school year. Some articles about reading to children are below :)

https://childrenslibrarylady.com/8-benefits-to-reading-with-children-every-day/

Health: We will be switching by homerooms for Health once a week on Tuesday afternoons. It gives us all a chance to have all of the kids. Our homeroom will start with Mr. Bozeday.

SEL: We are getting our class in order--we will have weekly class meetings Wednesday mornings and SEL lessons weekly. We will tie current events as well as the Second Step curriculum into our talks.

Other: Mark your calendars!

• No School next Monday.
• Next Tuesday starts the MAP testing window.
• Next Thursday, September 5th is Curriculum Night as well as our Camp Duncan meeting--can't wait to meet you!

Math:

Social Studies:

Reading:

Language Arts:

SEL:

Other: