November updates

Wow! It is the start of the second quarter. Where has the time gone? Many report card envelopes did come back today, so you know that report cards have been sent. If the envelop was not returned, please send that back to school with your child.

A new quarter marks a new beginning. Some continual assignments are Reader Responses, Journals and Adventures in Reading. Your child needs to be reading at least 4 different books each quarter and turning in an Adventures in Reading sheet, which are found at school. Reader Responses and Journals continue to be turned in every other week. Next week is a Journal week!

Next week there will be no spelling test. Dr. Lance Fox will be at school to talk to the 5th graders about his experiences in climbing Mt. Everest. This relates to our theme in reading "Give it All You've Got".

Please contact me with any questions or concerns that you may have.

The end of the quarter is coming quick!

Wow! October 18th already!!! Our first quarter of school will be ending on Friday, November 5th. For those students in my language arts class, I will be accepting Adventures in Reading sheets until November 5th. There are several students who have already reached this quarter's goal. Awesome job! Their assignment is to read at least 4 different books prior to the end of the quarter. Whenever they finish a book it should be turned in.

Also, next week is our first all 5th grade incentive. If your child wishes to go to the pool, money and permission slips are due on Wednesday. If we don't have them by Wednesday, they will not be able to attend the pool option.

Have a great week!

Parent Visitation

Thank you to all parents that were able to attend the Parent Visitation Day. It was fantastic to see so many faces here for our day. I hope you were able to get a good glimpse of what a typical day is like here at the Intermediate School. If you were unable to attend and have questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I am here to help!

Math Expressions

This year we have started a new math series, Math Expressions. It has been a challenge for the students are we begin to look at math in a new way -- understanding the "whys" of math. Concepts that we as adults may not have been seen into later in our math careers are being introduced to the students as 5th graders. The exciting part about this math series is that we will continually be revisiting new concepts.

Last night the students were working with comparison chains and algebraic chains. That was a WOW! moment for me. After continuing to practice I saw the students begin to understand what we were doing. We were writing equations with variables that looked very fancy but started to make sense. Please do not hesitate to email me or write a note in the agenda if you are unsure of what they are doing. It is my hope that the students will be able to show you examples along the way. Math books can go home every night so you can see some of the problems we have worked through as a class. I am available right away when they come to the classroom to provide extra help as well as time during our lunch hour.

So exciting to think we will have so many fantastic math thinkers and problem solvers!

Another Great Week!!!

Our first full week at the intermediate school is complete. The students have now had a taste of what a normal schedule is going to look like. Next week your student will have to turn in his/her Reader Response. This is found in a red or pink folder. In the folder there is an example of what is expected as well as a scoring rubric. Reader Responses are due on the same day of the week as the journal. If you look at the calendar on my webpage you will see which weeks journals are due versus Reader Responses.

Also, Reading Logs are due every Monday. They will come home in the Take Home folder on Mondays. The students are required to read 20 minutes each night.

The green Weekly Work Folders came home again today. In the folder you will find work from the week as well as the student's reflection. Please take some time to go through this work with your child. These graded assignments can stay home, but the folder and reflection should be returned.

Next week we will also be doing the computerized Scantron testing. We will be testing math on Wednesday and reading on Thursday. I am looking forward to seeing how they have grown over the summer!

If you have not returned the Parent Visitation Day information, that is due back by Wednesday. We hope to see you!

Have a great weekend!

The Blog as a Resource

The first full week of school is rolling! Last week I had given the students the task of checking out my blog and asked them to make a comment. Many said that they could not get the comment to post. If you were able to read the blog but not post, please jot a note in your child's agenda. My goal is to post information at least once per week about upcoming things to be aware of and make this a useful tool for parents and students. You should be able to select a profile if you have a Google email account or you can create one to comment. Also you can subscribe to my blog so as updates are made you will be made aware. Please let me know if you find this a helpful tool or would prefer a paper newsletter to come home. Thank you for helping me with this experiment!

As a reminder, journals are due this week. Your child has been assigned a day to turn this in. It can be written about anything! Next week I will be collecting Reader Responses, which your child has an example and rubric in his/her folder. Again the students are assigned a day (the same day as journals).

Spelling this week!

Yesterday our class began writing spelling sentences for the very first time. Your child should have completed them last night and I will be checking them today. Next week we will begin the process on Monday. Your child needs to study the entire sentence for the test. They will be scored on both the correctness of the sentence as well as the spelling word and given an individual score for spelling and grammar. Spelling tests will take place on Fridays. Each child will be partnered with another student who will dictate the spelling sentences.