Don't forget to check out the FAQ, Resources, and Bulletin Board!

End of the Quarter

The end of the quarter is November 9. If your child has been absent, they will need to be working on missing work at home as well as during independent work time to be able to catch up efficiently.

Health
This Friday, we will begin the Health units that you were given the option to preview. Student materials will be available online at thegreatbodyshop.net and students will have individual log-ins. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Reading
Students need to be working on reading daily. They have time in class to read independent choice books as well as required fiction and nonfiction texts, but twenty minutes at home each day is recommended as well. We are trying to complete the "40 Book Challenge," which has a goal of completing 40 books by the end of the year.

These can be picture books as well as chapter books and informational books. Students who are avid readers may want to set a challenge of a wider variety of chapter books or of more advanced nonfiction while students who generally prefer to skip reading might want to set a goal of a wide variety of picture books and a handful of chapter books.

Students are being encouraged to "read in the wild," which is a phrase from Donalyn Miller, the Book Whisperer. Reading in the wild is when students are choosing to read somewhere other than school and for reasons other than homework. That's why the 40 Book Challenge is a challenge and not a homework assignment. Any encouragement you can give to remember to bring a book with them to doctor's appointments, on long car rides, for waiting in Costco lines, etc. would be helpful!

In addition to my class library, the public library, the Libby library app, and Epic Books are all excellent resources for inexpensive or free books. I've copied the Epic Books discount link to "Resources" if you're interested.

Math
Students who miss a day, need a quick review, or forgot materials at school can log in to digital.greatminds.org and navigate to the lesson to find copies of problem sets and homework, homework helper sheets, and review videos. Please see the FAQ for directions.

If you would like to support building number sense, feel free to encourage students to decompose numbers into units. For example, encourage them to think of the cost of cereal in a variety of unit forms. (4.86 = 4+.8+.06 or 4 ones + 8 tenths + 6 hundredths or 48 tenths + 6 hundredths or 4x1+8*0.1+6*0.01 etc.) Or ask them to figure out how much 5 boxes of cereal would cost.

By understanding how the place value chart works, students develop a greater understanding of why the standard algorithm works and how to determine whether their answer is reasonable when they use it.

Attendance
As Ms. Blood mentioned in Fox Tales, school begins at 7:45 a.m. In 5th grade, that means that we begin math and typing practice, journaling, and other independent work that needs to be completed. Students also have time to sharpen pencils, organize supplies, submit homework, select choice reading books, and ask me questions about homework or other tasks. Students who arrive before 7:45 often choose to take that time to get clarification about assignments as well.

Upcoming No School Days
November 10 - 11
November 23 - 25
December 19 - January 2

Lost & Found
Please remind your student to check the lost and found before the end of Quarter 1 on November 9th! Labeling items is also helpful for reuniting items with students. If it's an item that will only be used this year, you can even put the teacher's name on a label. When other staff or students find an item, they will know which class to deliver it to even if they don't recognize the student's name.