March 26, 2012

Upcoming Events:
Thursday, March 29th-11:45 Dismissal for conferences
March 29th, March 30th -5th Grade Musical "Broadway Bound"
Tuesday, April 3rd-Spring pictures

All report cards will be available to read on BC@Home this week.

Math
This week, we will continue a unit on geometry. Students got back their measurement tests last week.

Reading
This week, we will continue our ELA study. Last week, we practiced multiple choice and this week we will focus on listening as preparation for the New York State ELA test in April. Students should continue independently reading a book of their choice and writing reading response letters.

Writing
We just finished the historical fiction writing unit. Students created a historical fiction character from the Revolutionary War period and wrote letters as that character to pen pals in Mrs. Kourt's class. On Monday, we will get together with her class to reveal true identities and celebrate the end of the unit. It should be a lot of fun! Our next unit is ELA study. We will work on essay writing for the upcoming New York State ELA test in April.


Science/Social Studies
In science, we are finishing up the digestive system and will have a quiz sometime this week. In social studies, we finished the Revolutionary War and have started a unit on government.

Have a great week!

March 18, 2012

Upcoming events:
Tuesday, March 20th-11:45 dismissal/parent conferences

Math
This week, we will continue the geometry unit. Students took a measurement test last week and will get those back this week.

Reading
We finished a read-aloud last week and started Fablehaven, a new read-aloud. It is s fantasy and so far we are really enjoying it! We finished a study on historical fiction and have started an ELA study unit in preparation for April's New York State ELA test. This week, we focused on multiple choice. We will start working on short answer practice this week. Students should continue reading a book of their choice. I have been spending time with each student discussing their current books and helping students choose books. Please encourage your child to try new authors and genres and to stick with books for at least a few chapters.

Writing
This week, we will finish up our historical fiction unit. We have been writing historical fiction letters to pen pals in Mrs. Kourt's class. Students will write their final letters and find out their "mystery" pen pals this week. We will then be working on the ELA study unit in writing by practicing essay writing.

Science/Social Studies
In Science, we are finishing up the digestive system this week. We are making diagrams and will have a quiz on Wednesday. We really enjoyed the presentation from Dr. Ells this week !! In Social Studies, we will start a unit on government.

March 11, 2012

Thank you so much to everyone who donated to our raffle basket!! Also, a big thank you to our room parents, Mrs. Hazaz and Mrs. Ells, for putting it all together:)

Upcoming Events:
March 12-Visit from Dr. Ells to discuss the digestive system
March 20-11:45 Dismissal/Conference Day*

*Those of you who requested a conference will get a notice on Monday with a date and time.

Math
This week, we will finish measurement and will have a test on Tuesday. Our next unit is geometry,

Reading
We will be finishing up a read-aloud, George Washington's Socks, this week. Students should continue reading a book of their choice and writing reading letters.

Writing
In Writing, we have created historical fiction characters from the Revolutionary War and are writing letters in the voice of these characters. We will trade with Mrs. Kourt's class this week. The kids are having a lot of fun with this and are using their knowledge of the time period from social studies to write some very interesting letters!

Social Studies
We are continuing our study of the Revolutionary War.

Science
We are continuing our study of the Digestive System.

March 5, 2012

Welcome to March! It's hard to believe we are already into March. Spring conferences are just around the corner. Conference letters went home on Friday. I have requested to meet with some of you. Please fill out the form with three possible time choices and return by Friday.  If I have not requested a conference, but you would still like to meet with me to discuss your child's progress, please return the form with three possible times by Friday and I will set it up. I will notify you of your conference date and time by Monday, March 12th.

We are still taking donations for the raffle basket. Our theme is "Baby Items" (diapers, bibs, clothing, burp cloths, etc. ) Donations are due by this Friday, March 9th!

Math
This week, we will continue the measurement unit. We are working on customary and metric  length, capacity and mass.

Reading
This week, we are continuing independent reading. I am meeting with students to discuss their books and to do some reading assessments. We are studying the genre of historical fiction. We had a great time celebrating Read Across America Day/Dr. Seuss's birthday on Friday!

Writing
We are working on heart maps this week. We are also working on historical fiction writing. Students will create a character from the Revolutionary War period and will be writing letters as these characters. We will have pen pals in Mrs. Kourt's class!

Social Studies/Science
In Social Studies, we are continuing the study of the Revolutionary War and it's impact on New York State. In Science we will start a short unit on the digestive system.

Have a great week!