News From 5-4
September 30, 2013

Hello 5-4 parents and students! Mrs. Sessler is sending home invitations to 5-4 to join her for lunch this week and next. The class is split into three groups that will be eating lunch with her this Friday, and next Tuesday and Friday.

Dates to remember:

10/3 Picture Day
10/4  Lunch Bunch
        Just Jump Fundraiser

10/8  Lunch Bunch
10/9  Walk to School Day

10/11 Field Trip AM

Here's what will be happening in 5-4 the next couple weeks:

Literacy:
This week the class will be introduced to another signpost, "Words of the Wiser." We will practice taking note of this signpost both during our class read-aloud and during guided reading time. When the students notice a "Words of the Wiser" moment in the text, they should ask themselves, "How might this affect the character?" The students are digging back into the text to answer these anchor questions and cite evidence from the text to support the answers.

We are reviewing plot this week as well. Next week, the students will work on inferencing and examining photos and captions in informational text. 

Math:
We're beginning Unit 3 in math this week. We'll be working on data collection and interpreting data. We'll also practice measuring and naming angles and line segments. We will classify triangles and measure the angles in triangles and other polygons. We will also classify quadrilaterals. Math fast fact tests are each Friday. Your child knows what set of multiplication or division facts he/she should be studying each night.

Science:
The students are enjoying our first science unit, energy. We went on an energy hunt throughout the Dryden grounds. The students took pictures of items to represent the eight different forms of energy and turned those photos into Explain Everything video presentations. We will be working on mapping energy transfers in a solar powered fan experiment and in different toys. Next week, we'll be building energy boats!

Writing:
This week is a review week for both spelling and grammar. We are taking time to revisit each of the spelling rules and grammar ideas that we've worked on up to this point.
In WEX, we are continuing to focus on "showing" rather than telling. Next week we will begin writing a personal narrative that the students will take through the writing process to end up with a polished piece of writing.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Kelly O'Kelly

Student Reflection- 9/27/13

This week in science we took an energy walk around the school. We  made videos of the 8 different types of energy. This is one of the videos, but you can see all of the videos on mrsokellysclass.weebly.com.  





The past month in art we have been making clay bears. 
In this picture we are touching up our bears so they look nicer. 
Now they are ready to go in  the kiln. 
We are really eager to see how they turned out. 

Bloggers: Jamie & Ava
Photographers: Alex C. & Kaitlyn

The author of Ch

  

eesie Mack, Steve Cotler, came to Dryden school to talk to us about his book. In the picture  Steve Cotler is reading a few pages of the book, Cheesie Mack Is Not a Genuis or Anything. We were being "reading detectives." After he read we had to come up with character traits for Cheesie and Georgie. We had a really fun time listening to him talk to us. 

 


 On Friday, we went to the Naper Settlement. We learned what life was like for the early settlers in our area. One of our favorite parts were learning what school was like back then. Boy, that teacher was STRICT! We also really liked seeing how the blacksmith works. He made us a cool hook while we watched. Did you know that if you wanted to be an apprentice to a blacksmith, you had to start at age 9?
   

Monday, September 16, 2013

News From 5-4
September 16, 2013

Hello 5-4 parents and students! Our field trip to Naper Settlement is coming up this Friday, September 20.  Please remind your fifth grader to dress appropriately and to bring a sack lunch in a disposable bag.  Thank you to Mrs. Slifierz and Mrs. Giannopoulos for joining us as chaperones and thank you to everyone who volunteered to come along. There will be a few more opportunities for the rest of you to chaperone throughout the school year.

Dates to remember:

9/18 Chapter 11 History Test

9/19 Cheesy Mack author visit

9/20 Fifth Grade Field Trip To Naper Settlement

       Spirit Wear Orders Due
       Student Council Forms Due

Here's what will be happening in 5-4 the next couple weeks:

Literacy:
We are excited to begin a new vocabulary program that focuses on prefixes, suffixes, and greek and latin root words. Not only will this program help the fifth graders to understand word meanings, it will also help them with spelling. These vocabulary words will be used as "challenge" words on the weekly spelling tests as well. Vocabulary word lists will come home on Mondays along with the spelling lists. The students will also have the words here at school and will be doing sorts and games with them each day during "word work" time. Vocabulary quizzes will be on Fridays and will be multiple choice. This will take the place of the vocabulary section on the Treasures tests that are currently given on Fridays, and will not be an additional test for students. The first two weeks will look at the prefixes pre- and post-.
In the next two weeks we will be focusing on the skills cause and effect and making inferences as a whole class. These skills will be introduced through whole class texts, but will be reviewed throughout the week during guided reading groups. The students will be assessed on these skills each week through a quick comprehension check, which will take the place of the comprehension portion of the Treasures tests.
Guided reading groups are going along smoothly. The students are doing an excellent job of recognizing contrasts and contradictions and aha moments throughout their novels.

**After this week, Friday Folders will not contain a weekly Treasures Test. In its place, I will be using a weekly vocabulary quiz and a comprehension skill question sheet to assess reading each week. Most weeks will also contain a high-interest non-fiction article and questions.

Math:
This week in math we will continue with estimation. Next week we will work on multiplication of whole numbers and decimals and look closely at the lattice method of multiplication. Students will be allowed to use their favorite method for all operations on the test.We'll also be looking at comparing millions, billions, and trillions next week. We'll use my bank account statements to help us with that. ;) Right now it looks like our Unit 2 test for math will be next Friday, September 27.

Social Studies:
Our Chapter 11 history test is tomorrow. Please encourage your child to use his/her study guide, binder notes, and the review posted on Edmodo to study for the test. Next week, we will begin Chapter 12 and our study of the Declaration of Independence. We will study the major events that led to the creation of the Declaration of Independence including: the Second Continental Congress, the popularization of Common Sense, Thomas Jefferson's first draft, and the Patriots signing of the final document.

WEX: During the next two weeks we will focus on showing, not telling in our writing. We will work on ways to use words to show readers how we or the subject is feeling, rather that come right out and tell them. I will be modeling this skill, as well as using excellent samples of student writing to give the class a good idea of what this looks like and how to do it.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Kelly O'Kelly

Reflection 9/13/13

  This week Lexi brought her hermit crabs, Hermie and Destiny, for a vacation from the corner in her mud room. The class really enjoyed having them and checking in on them.  Hermie and Destiny were more active in room 128 then they ever were at Lexi's house. They must really love loud, whiny 5th graders. In the picture you see a hermit crab with a red shell, and that's Hermie. Hermie has enjoyed climbing the cage and seeing the view off these working students! I bet Hermie and Destiny have been loving all the attention they've been getting! Destiny even changed her shell in this very room. During "Just Read Time" and guided reading everyone pulls their chair up to read with them! We can't wait for them to come back next week!

Our class spent this week researching loyalists and patriots. We learned about their views toward independence and about their strengths and weaknesses. We learned what things they did to fight for or against the colonies becoming independent. We had a debate between loyalists and patriots starring Thomas Hutchinson, Jonathan Boucher, Lord Dunmore, Samuel Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, and Benjamin Franklin. Boy, did the debates get heated!

During the school day we have a "Just Dance" break to refresh our minds and to get loose.We get together and then we start to dance for about 5 minutes between writing and reading. After we are done we get back to our regular school day.

 This week we started guided reading groups.The books we are reading are historical fiction and are all about the Revolutionary War.  The titles are: My Brother Sam is Dead,Gorge Washington's Socks, Toliver's Secret, and Chains.  We have been practicing recognizing signposts in these novels. So far, we've practiced Aha Moments and Contrasts and Contradictions. All of the groups meet to discuss their thought about the books too.                                           

News From 5-4
September 3, 2013

Hello 5-4 parents and students! We've had an awesome start to fifth grade the first two weeks of school. For the next couple weeks, we'll continue that excellent learning. Please note that I will be updating the assignments page on our website each night for those who may not have written down all of their assignments. Parents, if you think your child may be missing something, please feel free to look under "For Students" and click on assignments.

A couple reminders:
Field Trip Forms Due- 9/16
Field Trip- 9/20
(We already have 6 parent volunteers for the trip. We can only bring 2, so I will pull names from a hat and let you know. Others can have a chance to chaperone later in the year.)

Here's what will be happening in 5-4 the next couple weeks:

Literacy:
The students are super-excited to begin guided reading. This week they will be introduced to the novel they'll be reading in guided reading groups, as well as routines for all of the key components to our literacy block including: read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, and write about reading. We will focus on the signpost we learned last week, Contrasts and Contradictions, and learn a new signpost, Aha Moments. The students will use these signposts to identify when the author is trying to tell them something important. The will use the anchor questions associated with the signposts to write about what they've read.
During whole class literacy instruction time, we are focusing on plot, setting, story structure, and compare/contrast. These ideas are introduced or reviewed whole class and then used in guided reading groups as well. We are working on subject and predicate including simple and complete subjects and predicates and compound subjects and predicates. We are also working on using commas in a list.

Math:
This week in math we are taking a test on Unit 1: Number Theory. We will finish up this unit working on factor strings and prime factorization. Please don't forget about the wonderful resource www.everydaymathonline.com. Our test will be on Friday, with a review on Thursday. Next week, we'll begin Unit 2: Estimation and Computation. We'll begin with estimation, adding and subtracting whole numbers and decimals, and addition and subtraction number stories.

Social Studies:
Our Chapter 10 history test is tomorrow. Please encourage your child to use his/her study guide and the resources posted on Edmodo in the "Fifth Grade" group to study.  Friday we will begin Chapter 11. We will look closely at several prominent Loyalists and Patriots, as well as examine their key arguments either for or against independence.

WEX: We are continuing to work on "focus" in our writing. The students have been introduced to the four point focus rubric and working to narrow their topic and write about a specific moment. These next two weeks we are working on focusing on details, perspective, setting and sounds. I use outstanding student samples as examples for the class. I also use my own samples to have the class grade using the rubric so they get a better idea of how to score well on the focus rubric.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Kelly O'Kelly