Good Morning!
Welcome to the final week of school for 2017! To celebrate the upcoming holidays, we will be doing a few activities throughout the week. Students will be working on a STEM activity in science. They will be given some materials that are usually found in the kitchen around the holidays, and will be asked to build a free standing tower. The goal is to have the tallest tower that can also support three peppermint candies. In ELA we will continue learning about different cultures, and also explore how different cultures celebrate the holidays. In Math, we will have some fun holiday math activities, and in our Mix-Up on Friday we will be doing an Escape Room activity. We will also spend a little time working on our math projects, which are due January 12th. On Thursday afternoon, the kids will get to do a flashlight read. They can bring a flashlight to school that day and we will read in the dark. They may bring a favorite book from home to read, or they can read one of the ones we have here! Thank you for a wonderful year so far, and I am so excited to see what 2018 holds for us!
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The students are currently working on a project based on decimals. It connects the concept to real world activities. I have gone over the criteria with the students and they were given the option to choose which project they would like to work on. The projects can be found under "Favorite Sites" and there is a button titled "Decimal Math Projects." I have printed off one copy of the chosen project for each student. If they change their mind, they will need to print off their own copy. All projects are due January 12th, and we will be presenting them the following week. There will be some time in class dedicated to completing these, but students will need to put in some time at home.
Most of these projects require research, so please let me know if there isn't access to a computer at home! Let me know if you have any questions about these projects! I am looking forward to the results! Happy Monday and welcome to December!
As some of you know, I am working on my Master's degree in math education. I am focusing on problem solving tasks in the classroom. To complete my Master's degree, I have to write a paper on my observations and present it to my graduate committee. This means that I may use some samples of student work, but names or identifiers will never be released. Also, I am focusing more on the class as a whole and not on individual students. If you have any questions about this, or any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me! I am happy to explain it in more detail as well! On Tuesday, the 5th graders will be traveling to the Yellowstone Art Museum. We will be leaving at around 9:30 and returning to school right before lunch. In math, we will continue to focus on operations with decimals. We will have an assessment on Wednesday for adding and subtracting decimals, and then we will be moving on to multiplying and dividing decimals! In ELA we have just finished Unit 2 and will be working on an assessment of all the skills we learned throughout the unit. This Thursday is the Family Event at Barnes & Noble. I will be reading Christmas stories from 4:30 - 5:00, so please come visit me! I am looking forward to another great week! Here is what we will be working on this week as we get going on the 2nd trimester.
Math - We will continue to work on operations with decimals. Students are also practicing this skill on ST Math, and we are trying out another website called FrontRow Math to see how we like it. ELA - Students will be focusing on poetry this week. We will discuss the themes of poetry and try writing our own! Science (Martin) - The students will continue working on writing code to create a program that represents an ecosystem. They have a predator and prey and will examine the effects of changing the amount of each species present. Science (Ziegler) - We will work on creating an autonomous robot that is able to safely move three blocks out of a specified area in under 2 minutes. The kids have learned that it's best to program small amounts at a time, and that it takes a lot of trial and error! We were very lucky to have Aaron Murphy come in this afternoon as a guest speaker. He spoke to all of the 5th grade classes about his job as Tester's Chief of Staff. He had a great presentation about civics and even had some interesting facts to share (ask your kids about the candy drawer). We learned a lot from him today!
Happy snowy Monday!
This week in Science, the students are working on creating a program for their robot. The students will have a goal and then create some code so their robot is autonomous (ask your kids what that word means :) ) In Math, we are moving on to decimals! We are focusing on place value of decimals and comparing decimals. In ELA the students are working on their narrative writing piece. We wrote one together the last 3 weeks and went through the the writing process. This week, they are given three prompts to choose from and will go through the whole process on their own! The grade they earn on this will show up on their report card the first trimester. Remember, they will have writing pieces each week, so we are just looking for improvement as the year progresses. Also, remember that this Friday is the Veteran's Day concert. The students in general music will perform at 8:45 for parents and at 9:45 for student. Please make sure that all of the permission slips are sent back by then! It was so much fun seeing all of the kids and parents at Family Fun Night on Saturday. What a great turn out!
Just a reminder that we will be having noon dismissal on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday due to conferences. If you don't have your conference time, please let me know and I will send it to you! In Math, we will be finishing division and moving on to decimals. In science, the students are working on writing programs for robots so they will be autonomous. Have a great week! First of all, I would like to thank all of you for the generous donations to our class basket! It is so appreciated! All of the baskets are on display at the front of the school for auction. The final night for the auction is this Saturday at the Family Fun Night! I will be doing a little bit of bingo in my classroom so come visit!
Also, this Thursday is our first lesson for Hooked on Fishing. Once a month, the students will have lessons about different aspects of water ecology and habitats! Reminder that next week we have parent/teacher conferences. I can't wait to meet with all of you! Here are a few reminders about upcoming events:
October 18th: Basket items due for our "Sweet Treats" theme October 19th- 20th: No school (MEA) October 27th: Book orders due (Online order code is under "Favorite Sites") |
About Me.This will be my 6th year as a teacher, and my second year in the Billings School District. Archives
November 2018
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