November 17th, 2017
Good Evening parents/guardians!
I hope you all enjoyed a beautiful week! We had a busy week at “The Creek” with new concepts, End of Unit Assessments, and our 1st Quarter Award Ceremony. Thank you to all of the parents who attended! We truly appreciate ALL of our parents and how hard you work “behind the scenes” at home to help your scholars succeed! It is noticed and we are grateful to have you!
Just a few reminders; please make sure you are checking your scholars agenda every night and initial/sign it. It will let you know if your scholar received any warnings for the day or if they had to leave the classroom for reflection. Also, please make sure to sign the green sheet in the back of your scholars Friday folder and return it with them the following Monday.
Please remember that you can always check your scholar’s grades, progress, and any missing assignments through PowerSchool. You can use your scholar’s login information or get a parent login from the school office.
Important Dates:
November 22nd – 24th: Thanksgiving Break
Here is a recap of what we engaged in this past week of school, as well as what we will be starting to learn next week!
Math:
This week we continued to work with the Order of Operations. We used the acronym “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” to help us remember the correct order. We have been practicing Order of Operations in stations and class activities such as the “Order of Operations” pizza. We also reviewed a few fraction concepts from 4th grade including equivalent fractions and converting improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa.
Next week, since the scholars have done so well with the fraction review, we will move on to adding and subtracting fractions. We will spend the two days before Thanksgiving break looking at estimating the sums of unlike fractions and finding their common denominator. We will continue adding unlike fraction and mixed numbers when we return from break.
Science:
This week we wrapped up our Forces and Motion unit by reviewing all week. We filled out study guides, played the “Sticky Foot” review game, and participated in Kahoot! Games to prepare. Your scholars did an amazing job on the assessment and be on the lookout for the test score slip stapled into their agendas!
Next week we will spend our time making a roller coaster out of various materials and then using them to experiment with forces and motion. When we return from Thanksgiving Break we will begin our Weather unit, which is another large unit that will last approximately 4 weeks.
Reading:
We began this week by identifying point of view. Scholars then identified the author’s point of view in the passage and found the evidence within the passage to support the author’s point. Scholars also practiced proving their own thinking when answering comprehension questions.
Over the next two weeks, we will be working with RL 5.2, identifying theme and discussing how characters respond to challenges in the story. The two days next week we will focus on poetry and identify the poem’s theme and how the speaker reflects on the topic. After Thanksgiving, we will be looking at the themes and characters in the chapter books we’ve read during our Interactive Read Aloud as well as practicing the skills using fiction reading selections.
We will be taking a short break from our book studies to work on our Historical Figures Wax Museum project from Mr. Felker. Scholars were given the information on Friday and seemed very eager to begin the project. We are inviting scholars who wish to participate to stay after school on December 7 for our Wax Museum. This part of the project is optional be we would love to have everyone participate.
Reading homework: Please have your child read 30 minutes (or more) each night and log the title of the book read and number of pages read into his/her agenda daily. This provides us with a record of your scholar’s reading so we can ensure he/she is reading “just right” books at an appropriate speed. Looking for ways to help your child with his/her reading homework? Please click here to view questions you can be asking your child about his/her book to check for understanding.
Social Studies:
This week scholars continued to add to their knowledge of Native Americans by presenting the information they have learned to their classmates. As their classmates were presenting the information, scholars were expected to take notes on each region. Scholars in my first block took an assessment on Friday. Scholars in my second block will take their Social Studies assessment on Monday.
We’ve spent a great deal of time learning about the Native Americans. We are now going to switch our focus to the European Explorers who sailed to America. Scholars will learn the reasons explorers came to America and the effects they had on the Native Americans.
Writing:
This week scholars used their researched information to write a nonfiction book using the rubric they were provided. Scholars continued to work on writing their nonfiction books by adding sections, they also began to add nonfiction text features.
Over the next two weeks, scholars will continue to work on writing their nonfiction research books using the rubric. They will be working to add the sections, complete with headings, as well as adding other nonfiction text features appropriate for their chosen topic.
Scholars will also be working on the Historical Figure Wax Museum report. They will be researching their historical figure and answering the nine questions provided by Mr. Felker. This information will then be condensed into a short speech to be used at the Wax Museum.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I will resume weekly letters the week following Thanksgiving break (12/1/17)!
I hope you all enjoyed a beautiful week! We had a busy week at “The Creek” with new concepts, End of Unit Assessments, and our 1st Quarter Award Ceremony. Thank you to all of the parents who attended! We truly appreciate ALL of our parents and how hard you work “behind the scenes” at home to help your scholars succeed! It is noticed and we are grateful to have you!
Just a few reminders; please make sure you are checking your scholars agenda every night and initial/sign it. It will let you know if your scholar received any warnings for the day or if they had to leave the classroom for reflection. Also, please make sure to sign the green sheet in the back of your scholars Friday folder and return it with them the following Monday.
Please remember that you can always check your scholar’s grades, progress, and any missing assignments through PowerSchool. You can use your scholar’s login information or get a parent login from the school office.
Important Dates:
November 22nd – 24th: Thanksgiving Break
Here is a recap of what we engaged in this past week of school, as well as what we will be starting to learn next week!
Math:
This week we continued to work with the Order of Operations. We used the acronym “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” to help us remember the correct order. We have been practicing Order of Operations in stations and class activities such as the “Order of Operations” pizza. We also reviewed a few fraction concepts from 4th grade including equivalent fractions and converting improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa.
Next week, since the scholars have done so well with the fraction review, we will move on to adding and subtracting fractions. We will spend the two days before Thanksgiving break looking at estimating the sums of unlike fractions and finding their common denominator. We will continue adding unlike fraction and mixed numbers when we return from break.
Science:
This week we wrapped up our Forces and Motion unit by reviewing all week. We filled out study guides, played the “Sticky Foot” review game, and participated in Kahoot! Games to prepare. Your scholars did an amazing job on the assessment and be on the lookout for the test score slip stapled into their agendas!
Next week we will spend our time making a roller coaster out of various materials and then using them to experiment with forces and motion. When we return from Thanksgiving Break we will begin our Weather unit, which is another large unit that will last approximately 4 weeks.
Reading:
We began this week by identifying point of view. Scholars then identified the author’s point of view in the passage and found the evidence within the passage to support the author’s point. Scholars also practiced proving their own thinking when answering comprehension questions.
Over the next two weeks, we will be working with RL 5.2, identifying theme and discussing how characters respond to challenges in the story. The two days next week we will focus on poetry and identify the poem’s theme and how the speaker reflects on the topic. After Thanksgiving, we will be looking at the themes and characters in the chapter books we’ve read during our Interactive Read Aloud as well as practicing the skills using fiction reading selections.
We will be taking a short break from our book studies to work on our Historical Figures Wax Museum project from Mr. Felker. Scholars were given the information on Friday and seemed very eager to begin the project. We are inviting scholars who wish to participate to stay after school on December 7 for our Wax Museum. This part of the project is optional be we would love to have everyone participate.
Reading homework: Please have your child read 30 minutes (or more) each night and log the title of the book read and number of pages read into his/her agenda daily. This provides us with a record of your scholar’s reading so we can ensure he/she is reading “just right” books at an appropriate speed. Looking for ways to help your child with his/her reading homework? Please click here to view questions you can be asking your child about his/her book to check for understanding.
Social Studies:
This week scholars continued to add to their knowledge of Native Americans by presenting the information they have learned to their classmates. As their classmates were presenting the information, scholars were expected to take notes on each region. Scholars in my first block took an assessment on Friday. Scholars in my second block will take their Social Studies assessment on Monday.
We’ve spent a great deal of time learning about the Native Americans. We are now going to switch our focus to the European Explorers who sailed to America. Scholars will learn the reasons explorers came to America and the effects they had on the Native Americans.
Writing:
This week scholars used their researched information to write a nonfiction book using the rubric they were provided. Scholars continued to work on writing their nonfiction books by adding sections, they also began to add nonfiction text features.
Over the next two weeks, scholars will continue to work on writing their nonfiction research books using the rubric. They will be working to add the sections, complete with headings, as well as adding other nonfiction text features appropriate for their chosen topic.
Scholars will also be working on the Historical Figure Wax Museum report. They will be researching their historical figure and answering the nine questions provided by Mr. Felker. This information will then be condensed into a short speech to be used at the Wax Museum.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I will resume weekly letters the week following Thanksgiving break (12/1/17)!