News From 5-4 11/12/13

News From 5-4
November 12, 2013

I hope you all had a relaxing Veteran's Day weekend.  I had the chance to take two of my favorite vets out to lunch to personally thank them for their service.  I'm looking forward to seeing you all soon to discuss your child's strengths, achievements, and goals at parent/teacher conferences.

Dates to remember:

11/13  Second Grade Musical 2:30 PM & 7:00 PM
11/14  Monday Schedule
11/15  Dads and Doughnuts 8:00 AM
11/21  Non-Fiction Book Reports Due
11/22  Report Cards Go Home
          Silly Hat Day
11/25  No School
          Conferences
11/26  No School
          Conferences
11/27- No School-Thanksgiving Break
11/29

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

Literacy:
We finished up our informational texts about Energy. These leveled texts gave students the chance to practice close reading skills with challenging non-fiction texts. Students used graphic organizers, as well as bubbl.us to organize ideas about energy. Each group examined the pros and cons of a particular energy source to present to the rest of the groups. Students had to use this information to decide which source of energy is best for America.
This week we are beginning new novels in guided reading. We will continue to practice signposts and discuss words worth noting. Our skills the next couple weeks are identifying problems and solutions in literature and making inferences.
In vocabulary we have been exploring Greek and Latin root words. While this is a challenge for the students, they are benefitting already. Many students have recognized the roots we have already studied in texts they are reading. This week we are studying the root "man or manu."

Math:
We took our Unit 4 tests last week. Hopefully you had a chance to see your child's test in his/her Friday Folder. In Unit 5 we will be exploring fractions, decimals, and percents. This unit includes: mixed numbers, comparing fractions, equivalent fractions, improper fractions, relationships between fractions and decimals, converting fractions to percentages, bar and circle graphs, and percent circles. We will finish Unit 5 the first week back after Thanksgiving Break.

Science:
The students created fantastic animated movies on Animationish to demonstrate their knowlege of energy types, energy transfers, and chain reactions.  These will be available for you to view at conferences. Our Energy Unit Test is Thursday, with a review Wednesday.

Social Studies:
We'll be diving into Chapter 12 in our history books these next two weeks. During this chapter on the Declaration of Independence, we will identify the major events that led to the creation of the Declaration and examine key passages from the document.

Writing:
In grammar this week we will be working on possessive nouns. The grammar packet will be completed here at school this week. Spelling homework is posted on Edmodo and is due Wednesday.  
This week we started translating our personal narratives into a picture story using Comic Life. Students recorded their narratives using Vocaroo.com and created QR codes to add to their Comic Life posters. These will be up in the hallway, so get your QR code reader apps ready so you can listen to your child reading his/her story. We'll also have links to the recordings on our class website under "STudent Gallery."
In WEX the next couple weeks we will also focus on showing sequence and showing cause and effect.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns. I'm looking forward to seeing you in a couple weeks!

Sincerely,
Kelly O'Kelly

Student Reflection 11/8

This week, we had to make human sculptures in WEX. We has to write directions on how to recreate the sculpture. We handed our directions to another group to see if they could follow them to make the exact same sculpture. We found out whether we have enough details in our writing or not.

We used Bubbl.us to create idea webs for our energy books. Each guided reading group researched a specific energy source and created a web to show the main ideas and details. Take a look at the webs and decide which energy source you think is best!

Student Reflection 10/31

This Halloween, we had an awesome party. Thank you to Mrs. Giannopoulos for planning our party and to Mrs. Colias, Mrs. Slifierz, and Mrs. Rule for helping out. Thanks to all of the families who contributed to the party. We had a blast! Which costume is your favorite?

Student Reflection-10/25/13

In science this week, we learned about insulators. We discovered that aluminum foil and polyester batting were the best insulators because they kept the heat in the bottle. Then we designed our own insulation for the bottles and tested them out in groups. Table 4's design proved to be the best because the temperature didn't drop at all in 10 minutes.

 Our mystery book reports are proudly displayed in our classroom.

Bloggers: Alexander and Nick.

News From 5-4 October 21

News From 5-4
October 21, 2013

I can't believe we are nearing the end of October already! Mother Nature seems to have gotten the message that it is Fall, so please remind your child to wear a jacket and other gear to stay warm at recess. We are still waiting for a couple yellow conference forms to come in. Be on the lookout for another form coming home to let you know what time your conference will be.
Dates to remember:

10/31 Halloween Parade after lunch
         (Students may go home for lunch to change into costumes, or stay at school and change               here.)
          Halloween Party after the parade
11/1    Camp Duncan Field Trip
          Mrs. Giannopoulos and Mrs. Reed will be our chaperones.
          Bring a sack lunch and dress to be outside!
          Pick up your fifth grader at Dryden at 5:15 pm

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

Literacy:
Last week the students were introduced to another signpost, "Again and Again." We wrapped up our historical fiction novels as well. As a culmination, students worked on end-of-book comprehension questions and ABC books as a group.
For the next few weeks we will be working on non-fiction in our guided reading groups. We'll begin by reading high-interest, leveled books about energy. These books are the ideal text to practice our close reading skills in informational text. We'll also be focusing on identifying main idea and detail.
In vocabulary the next two weeks we are looking at suffixes. This week's suffix is -able and next week's is -less. The vocabulary Quizlet is posted on Edmodo. Students are asked to complete three activities by Friday. After next week, we will be looking at some Greek and Latin root words for word study.

Math:
Our Unit 3 test will be on Wednesday. Tomorrow will be a review day and the study guide will be coming home tomorrow. The answer key will be posted on Edmodo tomorrow night. Unit 4 will begin on Thursday. We'll be woking on division facts, different division algorithms, division of decimals, and interpreting remainders in Unit 4. Continue to practice those multiplication and division fast facts. The students know which level they are on and have a quiz each Friday in hopes of moving to the next level of facts.

Science:
We are loving our Energy science unit! Our recent experiments have showed us which materials are good conductors of heat energy and which materials are good insulators. Tomorrow the students will begin working in groups to design and create an ideal insulator for a plastic bottle. We'll then perform an experiment to test out their insulators. We'll also be exploring energy efficiency through wattage of light bulbs.

Writing:
In grammar this week we will be working on singular and plural nouns. The grammar packet will be completed here at school this week. In spelling we are looking at plurals and the rules for adding s, es, and ies. Challenge words are the vocabulary words.  Spelling homework is posted on Edmodo and is due Wednesday.
In WEX, the students worked extremely hard on their personal narratives. They revised their rough drafts, went through both the self-edit and peer-edit stages, revised again, and then published a polished piece. I look forward to sharing those with you. In the next few weeks, we will focus on strong verbs,dialogue, and varying sentence structure.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Kelly O'Kelly

Student Reflection 10/18/13

Last week we went to a historical reenactment. We went to 10 different stations that taught what life was like at the time of the start of the Revolutionary War.







In science this week we did an experiment about heat conductors. We used rods made of different materials to test which materials were the best conductors. We discovered that aluminum and copper are the best conductors of heat. We also leaned about insulators.

Weekly Reflection 10/4/13

This week in science we learned about energy transfers .This energy ball is an energy transfer because the energy is flowing through our bodies.This is happening  because we are all linking fingers so its a closed circuit. If we were not, the energy ball would not work because it would be an open circuit. 

This is our second week  doing a new vocabulary program. This is two kids doing a word sort. This is one of the many ways we study for our new tests!!








Kaitlyn and Ava 
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