Parent Newsletter
From the Desk of Marcella Simmonds
Week of 6/6/16
It is unbelievable how fast this year has flown by. I am sure that it is hard for some of you to grasp that your elementary child will now be a middle schooler. Once the middle school years start, time seems to speed up even more. It seemed like just yesterday when my own son was in middle school. This past weekend I had the distinct pleasure of watching him graduate from college. I too remember the nights of fighting to get homework completed. However, he matured and took ownership and I was able to see the fruits of my labor and I could not be more proud. For some of you this might be the encouragement that you need- to know that it might be a struggle now but there is potential and hope. I do believe in potential.
As I think about the 30 different minds that co-existed in our homeroom this past school year, there were times I felt like it was a balancing act, but one I enjoyed and from which I learned.
I would like to take a moment to say that I have enjoyed working with your child this past school year. It is always an interesting mix when such diverse personalities are in a room together. As I think back about each and everyone of the students, figuratively some were walking right along with me; some I had to look over my shoulder and give a gentle encouragement and that is all it took to catch up; some I had to turn, stop and "shout" hurry up; some I had to turn, stop and walk back to them and "drag" them along and often times they were "kicking and screaming" but all in all this is what makes it interesting. One of the things that warms my heart the most is when students come back in later years and say, " I am doing great Ms. Simmonds." I love stopping in the hall and asking former students how they are doing as I will be doing with my homeroom class of 2015- 2016 for the next three years.
For parents who chaperoned on field trips, volunteered in our classroom, thank you very much for your support. It meant a lot to our class community as well as your child. Please see invitation below.
Please join your PTO in celebrating the good work done by so many people for students at Capitol Hill.
ALL adult volunteers, teachers & staff are welcome!
5pm, Monday, June 6 @ Mai Village Restaurant, 394 University Ave W. Open house reception with appetizers & refreshments (cash bar). A brief program of thanks will begin at 6pm.
For parents who were not able to volunteer/chaperone field trips but were able to show support in other ways such as attending parent/teacher conferences or checking in to see how your child was doing, thank you for that support. This communication is key as we work together.As we wrap up the school year there are a few reminders...
Students will be taking a walk down to the Rondo Library as a kick off to the summer reading program 9:55-11:30.
Mock Trial- Tuesday ( Ramsey County Courts- downtown St. Paul) Your child would love to have you come watch them in action. If you are able to come, arrive around 10:00 as we will be taking tours up until that time. The trial is set to start around 10:00. Please have your child dress comfortably but nicely. We want them to dress the part.
Variety Show- See invite below.
Variety Show!
You are invited to a Variety Show
presented by Ms. Simmonds’s class!
Wednesday, June 8th
2:13 to 3:00
At Capitol Hill Magnet School
Room 2232 – Mr. Jones’s room
Yoga Retreat on Wednesday June 8th.
Carty Park on June 10th for our last get together as a grade level
Last day of school is June 10th.
Yearbooks will be handed out on Monday and Tuesday for those who pre-ordered. For those who did not pre-order, a short supply of extra books will be for sale before school on Tuesday and Wednesday. Cost is $21.
As your child moves on please remember, don't sweat the small stuff. I do have to keep reminding myself of that.
Doing what kids do best- goofing around
Goofing Around
More Goofing Around
Look at what we can do
...and keep doing
We are like the Energizer Bunny
Week of 5/30/16
There are still some kids who have not brought back in their permission slips for the Ordway, Mock trial, wellness retreat field trips.
Reminders
Last day of math for 5th graders is Thursday, June 2nd.
Field trip to the Ordway on Friday, June 3rd
Thanks for those who offered to volunteer. We have met our quota. I will be touching bases with you who have volunteered.
Nurse Betsy Garcia's retirement Assembly
Retirement Celebration for our beloved
school nurse: Dr. Betsy Garcia.
Please join us in honoring Dr. Betsy Garcia
in an all school assembly on Friday, June
3rd at 1:45. Followed by an after-school
reception at 3:15 in the blue atrium.
Mock Trial on June 7th
For parents who will be attending this, even though we leave at 8:45, we are suggesting you meet us down at the Ramsey Court House closer to 10:00. The first part of the field trip will be a tour of the building.
Wellness Retreat on June 8th
Carty Park on June 10th for our last get together as a grade level.
Last day of school is June 10th.
For the next two weeks, students will be tying up some loose ends in terms of unfinished assignments. Homework, therefore, will be unfinished assignments.
Math Masters Winners from our Homeroom
WordMasters high scorers from our Homeroom
Week of 5/23/16
Reminders:
Please turn in the blue transportation forms if you have not done so already. This is important for your child's transportation for next year.
Please return field trip slip if you have not done so already. The field trips are on June 3rd and 7th.
There is no school on Monday, May 30th due to Memorial Day.
The last day of school is Friday, June 10th.
Things to note:
iPads will be re-collected and stored on May 26th. If your child starts to exhibit technology withdrawal symptoms you know why.
Library checkout has ended for this school year. Please make sure your child returns overdue books.
The official due date for library books is May 27th, this Friday, but books can be returned through the end of the year. Updated lists of overdue books just went out to teachers, and email notices were sent to students.
We are gearing up for our mock trial. The students were given their roles today. Most of them are pretty excited. We are looking forward to seeing them run a court room.
Homework for week of 5/23/16
Name ______________
An Egg-cellent Challenge ( Part 1)
Here is a challenge for you to work on this week. Have fun with it.
Here is your challenge: You need to create a tool that can span a seven foot distance to capture an egg and bring it back to you. The rules and important information:
1. The egg will be sitting on top of a two-foot platform.
2. You need to capture the egg with your tool and get it back to you, without the egg breaking.
3. You can use any school-safe materials, but remember, you need to be able to get them to school so it’s best if you can easily take your tool apart and put it together again.
4. We will test your tools on Friday, May 27th.
5. The included questions must be answered in complete sentences for your tool to be eligible for testing.
All About Tools (Part 2)
Please write your answers on a separate sheet of paper if you can’t write in neat, complete sentences here.
What is the definition of tool?
Name and describe two tools that anthropologists have found from early man.
Why did early man use tools?
Some animals have been found to use tools. Name three animals that use tools and describe their purpose.
Define two of these words: utensil, implement, machine, device, or apparatus.
Find two tools that you find particularly useful or cool. What are they? What do they do?
Could humans exist without tools? Why or why not?
--------------------------
French and Indian War Assignment
Continue working on your French and Indian War book/comic strip.
Friends Hanging Out Together
Students Hard at Work
Friends Hanging Out
Students getting into their writing
Thinking hard about what they are going to write next
Students on a roll as they come up with writing ideas
Week of 5/16/16
Short newsletter with just a few reminders.
- Band Concert on May 17th at 6:30 p.m. in the Capitol Hill gymnasium.
- Many students have not returned blue transportation form. They were due in the office today. Everyone should be filling one out.
- Two field trips coming up in the near future. The form will be a back-to back sheet.
- EDL has ended.
Homework for week of 5/16/16
3 Branches of government sheets- due Friday
Reading 30 minutes nightly- ongoing
Some students still need to finish up their iMovie- Was due
Researched- Based Argument Essay( Some are close to being done)- Due Friday
Watching court cases with parental guidance to get students ready for The Mock Trial- ongoing
Unfinished class work will become homework.
Week of 5/9/16
Dear Parents, we are now down to our last five weeks of school. Time is flying by.
Reminders
Science MCA’s 5/10 and 5/12
Middle school registration happened today. If your child did not have a form today, they were unable to register. Please have them bring that in ASAP.
- Band Concert on May 17th at 6:30 p.m. in the Capitol Hill gymnasium.
- Last week for EDL
- Extra band practice on Friday for Advanced Band on- please remind them to bring instrument.
Homework for week of 5/9/16
iMovie- due by Thursday ( Students are to be following the template provided to them)
Road that Led to the Revolutionary War packet- due Mon 5/16 ( Detail sheet was handed out to students.)
Researched- Based Argument Essay
Week of 5/1/16
The students had a good time on our Belwin fieldtrip. See a few pictures below.
Reminders
To the parents of EDL students... There are 4 more sessions of EDL for this school year! The remaining dates are: May 3, 5, 10 and 12.
All elementary band concert is on May 17th at 6:30 p.m. in the Capitol Hill gymnasium. Students have to arrive in the band room by 6:00 p.m. Concert dress is required.
Middle school registration is back on now that budget decisions have been made. How does this affect your child? They will now have one English class and more elective options. New forms will be coming out but the turn around will be short. The form will look basically the same with more elective options. You should be receiving this form on Thursday but will have to return it by Monday 5/9 as we will begin registration on 5/9 and 5/10. If you could send it back by Friday, 5/6 that would be great!
Science MCA's are 5/10 and 5/12 @ 8:45.
The school carnival is coming up on Friday 5/6. Tickets are on sale starting Wednesday in the lunchroom. We still need many volunteers for the event! Please consider volunteering for a shift at the carnival! These volunteer positions are fun, easy and necessary! Please go to http://vols.pt/ZqGfnK to sign up.
We will also be collecting donations this week for the carnival. We are collecting gently used kid’s items, such as toys and books, for the Cherry Tree room. We will also need store-bought cakes and cookies for the Cake Walk and store-bought or homemade treats for the dessert room. You can deliver these to the office anytime this week.
Homework for the week of 5/1/16
Nightly reading for 30 minutes
Script for your iMovie
Following the template I emailed to you, complete the book trailer script. You must have your script completely done before being able to move on to the iMovie stage. Follow the plan below to insure that you are ready to move on to your iMovie portion of the assignment.
By Wednesday, have your introduction, setting 1, plot 1 and main characters completed.
By Thursday, have your settings 2 and 3, Plots 2 and 3 completed.
By Friday, have your character change and theme completed.
Researched-Based Argument Essay- Chocolate milk in school
Be sure to have your researched data for the first point we made in class.
Class assignments not completed will become homework.
Radio Tracking with friends
Finding bones of animals
Hey look at us! We are on top of the world
Week of 4/25/16
Reminders
Registration for middle school has been rescheduled due to changes in the budget. Once the budget has been finalized a new registration date will be determined.
Our field trip to Belwin is this Friday. Please be sure to check the weather and dress your child appropriately. We will be spending the day outside and will be around trees, grass, etc. Be sure that your child's legs and arms are covered. We are always concerned about insects, ticks, etc. Be sure your child has a packed lunch unless buying a school lunch.
1) Click this link to see our Sign-up on VolunteerSpot:http://vols.pt/ZqGfnK
2) Review the options listed and choose the spot(s) you like.
3) Sign up! You will NOT need to register an account or keep a password on VolunteerSpot.
For now we are done with MCA testing. However, we have one more round to go on May 10th and 12 (science)
All elementary band concert is on May 17th at 6:30 p.m. Students have to be at school by 6:00 p.m.
Homework for Week 4/25/16
Start taking notes from your SEM-R book that you will be using for your iMovie presentation. Reminder- As you think of your plot, grab moments that are key to the story.
Read nightly for about 30 minutes.
If you did not complete filling in the template for the classroom presentation on your biography person then finish it at home and be ready to present starting tomorrow.
Read Newsela article and find the central idea( main idea). Cite two evidence from the reading to back it up.- (Due Thursday)
Some of you want to continue adding to your story. Keep working at it!!
Anything else given in class this week not completed will be considered homework.
Remember field trip on Friday. Please dress appropriately as we will be spending the day outside.
Writing Residency Celebration
Writing Residency Celebration
Writing Residency Celebration
Week of 4/18/16
FYI
Capitol HIll's parent meeting to review our budget for the coming year is Monday, 4/25, starting at 5:30pm. At this meeting, we will be looking at what the proposed 2016-2017 funding will allow in terms of staffing: what specialist offerings will we have, what staffing reductions we will need to make, and what our community has prioritized as most important for children and families.
Please consider volunteering for a one-hour shift the night of the carnival!
Here's how it works in 3 easy steps:
1) Click this link to see our Sign-up on VolunteerSpot:http://vols.pt/ZqGfnK
2) Review the options listed and choose the spot(s) you like.
3) Sign up! You will NOT need to register an account or keep a password on VolunteerSpot.
Reminders:
Please be sure that your child brings back the middle school registration form. It is important that it is brought back as this is your " intent to return." Please have the form signed and brought back by the end of the week so that we ready for registration on Monday.
Math MCA's this week Tuesday and Wednesday.
A field trip to Belwin is coming up on the 29th.
Homework for week 4/18/16
Remember you have math MCA’s this week.
Reading:
Study WordMaster words for final test on Friday. Go on the Quizlet for the definitions. Remember that some of the other words from the past two lists will appear on this final test so be sure you brush up on those words too.
Read nightly for 30 minutes
You will create a movie trailer of the last SEM-R book you read. Some of this will be done in class because you will be using iMovie to create this. The homework portion is creating a plan. The plan includes a storyboard and script. You must come up with this before being allowed to start on the iMovie portion of the assignment.
Students received an additional attachment for detailed expectations for their book trailer assignment.
For some of you, if you prefer not to do a movie trailer you can just do a scripted storyboard on paper. However, your storyboard will have to be more detailed than if you were doing a movie trailer because your storyboard would be your final product, while the other students’ final product would be the iMovie. Please come speak with me if you are thinking about doing option 2.
Writing:
Taking the story you started during the writing residency, add to it by writing at least 15 minutes per night. The final product will be creating an individual book including illustrations.
Week of 4/11/16
Thank you for those who were able to make it to the 5th grade Wax Museum. The students did an awesome job. Over the next couple weeks, I will be sending pictures of the events.
FYI
This week the students will be taking part in a writing residency. A flyer was sent home. I will also send an electronic version in case you do not receive it from your child. This will be sent home in a separate email.
Reminders
On April 18th, the Middle School counselor will be coming in to the class to speak with the students and giving them registration information. The following Monday, they will be registering.
The students will be taking the math MCA's next week on the 19th and 20th.
A field trip to Belwin is coming up on the 29th. A permission slip will be coming home by next week.
Homework: Week of 4/11/16
Social Studies
13 original colonies. Attached chart was given to students- Due by Friday
Writing
Think about your spring break. Choose one part to focus on and write a page ( 5 paragraphs) of how you spent it. This will be a writing piece that you will be doing revising and editing, so make sure you are keeping up with what I will be adding later.
For the next three mornings, when you wake up, what are the first things you see, hear, smell, touch, and taste? Keep a log of this. Due by Friday
Also for the writing residency, don’t forget to be thinking about the story you will be creating. In addition, think about what characters you will be using and the problems they will be facing. Due by Wednesday
Reading
Attached sheets were given to students ( Homophones and About Poetry) Due by Friday
Ready nightly for about 30 minutes.
Week of 3/28/16
Dear Parents, we are in our last week of March. The month was filled with students getting ready for their Wax Museum. They are excited to show you what they have accomplished.
Reminders
MCA
Most students are done, however, some will be finishing up their last segment by the end of the week.
Family Tree
You should have received a flyer from your child concerning Family Tree Clinic. Guest speakers will be coming to the class on March 30th to speak with the students about puberty, the reproductive system and the importance of keeping their bodies safe and clean. The flyer asked you to grant or not grant permission for your child to participate. If I do not receive the signed flyer/ or word back, I will assume that it is ok for your child to be a part of the presentation.
Wax Museum on April 1st. Invitations should have come home last Thursday. If you have plans and need to take your child home with you after the presentation, please just indicate that to me. Invitation below.
Spring Break April 4-8
FYI
Our homeroom would like to have a pizza party and a movie on Thursday to celebrate the wrap up of our biographies and the hard work the students have put into this project. We are asking for money donation of $3.00 or what you can afford.
Homework
Regular homework will resume after spring break.
WordMaster- The word you are responsible for should be sent to me ASAP so that we can get the Quizlet completed.
Nightly reading for 30 minutes
You should be practicing your monologue tonight. You will be presenting them to the class tomorrow.
Biography Checklist
Weebly website checklist
__ My text has proper grammar, punctuation is used correctly, and there are no spelling errors
__My pages have headings
__ If I have direct quotes in my text, they are given credit (cited correctly)
__ Graphics/Pictures have a one sentence blurb describing what’s being pictured and are given credit
(cited correctly)
__Timeline has at least 10 events (5 about my person’s life and 5 world events of the same dates)
__ Video clips embedded in my website
__Bibliography is included
Museum in a Box( MIB)
__My box has at least 10 symbolic items
__My box is nicely, neatly, and creatively put together
Monologue
__My monologue is at least 1 minute long
__I have memorized my monologue
Costume
_ My costume is completely put together
Week of 3/21/16
Thank you to the parents who were able to attend parent-teacher conferences. I appreciate your taking the time to come and meet with me. One of the topics of discussion was the demands of middle school. With the end of March rapidly approaching, this signals the reality of greater demands required in 6th grade. This is also a time to reiterate to your child the importance of independence and accountability. Parents, although it is sometimes hard to let go, this is where students will have to take on more responsibilities and understand that school is their job. Please encourage your child to check in with their teachers if he/she is unclear about assignments.
Reminders
MCA's- 3/22, 3/24 and 3/28 Reading: Please make sure that your child is getting a good night's sleep. If students would like to bring in gum to help with concentration they may do so.
Biographies- Most of the students should be at the point of setting up their weebly website, if they have not done so already. Information for this was given to the kids in class via email on March 14th. Another email titled Checklist for Biography was sent out on March 18th. We still have a lot to do and will be spending a lot of time in class working. However, they will still need to do work on this at home. Each student should be bringing home their box lids. They were handed out today. This is for them to work on their Museum in a Box.
Interested in buying a yearbook? Yearbooks will not be on sale at the end of the year so order now.
Please be on the lookout for a flyer regarding Family Tree Clinic. Guest speakers will be coming to the class to speak with the students about puberty, the reproductive system and the importance of keeping their bodies safe and clean. The flyer will be asking you to grant or not grant permission for your child to participate. This flyer will be sent home tomorrow.
Due to MCA's, additional homework will not be given. The only expectation is for students to continue working on their biographies.
Week of 3/14/16
Happy Pi day. We are now about half way through March and have a busy rest of March ahead of us.
Reminders
No EDL this week because of conferences.
Remember if you are thinking about getting a yearbook, you must purchase one in advance and online.
The students will be taking their reading MCA's on March 22, 24, and 28. Each student was given a website and Learning Locator numbers to help them practice for their tests.
A flyer was given at conferences or sent home with students in regards to information about middle school registration. Be sure to ask your child about it if it was given to him/her.
Homework week of 3/14/16
Reading/Math
As a way of getting ready for the MCA’s, every night go the website below and spend at least 30 minutes on it.
https://mn.pearsonperspective.com/perspective
Type in your learning locator number and practice the reading and math problems.
Writing
Please be sure to check your google docs for any changes made to your biography.
Continue working on your biography. If Mr. Luna and I conferenced with you today make sure you make those changes.
Reminder: If you have quotes in your writing be sure to have quotation marks and cite the source from which you got them. If you have forgotten how to do that, I can show you.
The next step is to start looking for short video clips that could be appropriate to be embedded into your website once you have the OK to start building the website. REMEMBER YOUR FIRST PRIORITY IS TO COMPLETE THE TEXT PORTION OF THE BIOGRAPHY. YOUR WEB BUILDING CANNOT BEGIN UNTIL I HAVE SEEN YOUR COMPLETE ROUGH DRAFT.
Start thinking about your artifacts for your Museum in a box.
DATE REMINDERS
March 16th - Final draft.
March 24th - All material due - this includes website, costumes and “Museum in a Box”.
April 1st - Grand Wax Museum, all final materials must be at school and ready to be presented.
Week of 3/7/16
March has begun and with it hopefully warmer, spring weather. The students are showing signs of impatience for warmer weather too. Having said this please be checking in with your child on due dates. Every Monday students get their homework sheet so they know the homework expectations. Please, please be checking in and making sure they are meeting their deadlines.
Reminders
If your child attends EDL, there is no EDL on Thursday March10th due to conferences.
Don't forget to sign up for conferences if you have not done so already. Link is below.
ttps://www.ptcfast.com/schools/Capitol_Hill_Magnet
Interested in buying a yearbook? Forms will be coming home later in the week. Yearbooks will not be on sale at the end of the year. You now have to order them in advance.
Look At Our Week
Reading/Writing
The students are researching and reading up on their notable person. They will be working on completing their rough draft by filling in their skeleton outline. I am conferencing with students on a one-on- one basis. This takes a bit of time so any feedback you can also give your child would be great.
Social Studies
The students will be working in groups to create a billboard persuading others to settle in their colony and also working in groups using their spatial and architectural skills to create a miniature model of a colony. The students will be working on the second portion of this assignment with Mrs. Goetzke's class. They will begin with doing research and creating a blue print of their colony.
For the students
Homework for week of 3/7/16
This week homework will be lighter due to you working on your biographies.
Reading:
Read three Newsela articles this week and take the quizzes.
Some of you did not turn in your pocket books. Please finish it and turn it in right away.
Writing:
Due to another deadline coming up, you will work on your biography at home in addition to having class time. You should be starting to type up your paragraphs under your headings.
If you shared your outline with me, I made comments and gave suggestions. There are some of you whose outline I still have not seen.
Start thinking about your Museum in a box. Your Museum in a box should include small, personal artifacts relating to your person. You must have at least 10 artifacts to put in there. I will be showing you an example of this and talking to you tomorrow in class about it.
March is right around the corner. The months seem to be speeding up and there is still much to do. Please make sure you are checking in with your child on whether he/she is keeping up with due dates.
Reminders
Conferences are coming up. Please check the previous newsletter for the dates.
Spring pictures are this Friday. Your child should have brought home flyers. If you want your child to have his/her picture taken, you must fill out envelope and enclose payment.
The Allina Phillips Eye Institute is coming to our school to screen some of our students. 5th grade is one of the grades that get screened. We will be doing this on Wed Mar 2nd. If your child wears glasses please be sure he/she brings them on the day of screening.
Look at Our Week
Writing/Reading
We are continuing to look at different biographies while the students are researching and note-taking.
I will also be meeting with students and doing some individual conferring with them on their biography.
We will be looking at paraphrasing and plagiarizing.
We will also be reviewing/learning about different literary devices such as simile and metaphor.
Social Studies
We will begin group work looking at specific colonial settlements such as Jamestown, Plymouth and the mysterious lost Roanoke.
Science
The students will be wrapping up the science rotation with Mrs. Richardson this week.
Homework for week of 2/29/16
Social Studies- This will be due on Tuesday
You will take a look at billboards and make note of some things you are noticing about them. What colors are used? What makes it eye appealing? How are words placed? You will record this in your notebook and be ready to share during class discussion.
Reading-( Due on Friday) You will read nightly and complete responses based on your reading. These responses will be based on making connections and visualization. You will follow the format that I provided in class. By the end of the week, you will complete four responses. Format was given to the students.
Writing
Similes/Metaphors( Due on Wed) Worksheets. These were given to the students.
Songs( Due on Friday)
Songs are poetry put to music. Choose two of your favorite songs or just two songs.Try to find examples of similes and metaphors in them. Try to find at least 5 from each of them.
Any work not completed in class, will become homework.
Week of 2/22/16
The weather has been great and the kids enjoyed being outside today. With all of the snow melting there is a lot of mud. Some of your kids will be coming home muddy. If students have rainboots it would be great if they can bring them to school for going out to recess.
Reminders
Conferences are coming up fast. Below you will find the link for signing up. If for some reason the link does not work, you can also access it from the Capitol Hill Headliner. If you do not receive the Headliner you can go to the Capitol Hill website also to access the link.
https://www.ptcfast.com/schools/Capitol_Hill_Magnet
A Look at Our Week
Writing
In writing the students will be listening to and analyzing a variety of short biographies. We will look at how they are generally structured. Because the ultimate goal is for the students to produce episodic biographies rather than chronological ones, we are going to look at how we can extract information from the text to produce this. We will be looking at and answering the questions: What makes the particular person notable? What makes this person worthy to write a biography about? What makes this person stand out? As we read the biographies we will also be looking for evidence of turning points that influenced that particular person on their path.
Episodic biographies pick a particular part or parts of a person life to highlight.
Reading
This week the students will be focusing on their individual SEM-R reading.
Social Studies
The students will be finishing up the Colonial Life segment. If time allows, we will begin some group work looking at specific colonial settlements such as Jamestown, Plymouth and the mysterious Roanoke.
Science
The students began their science rotation with Mrs. Richardson today. The science rotation will be for the next two weeks.
Homework
A separate email was sent out earlier with the homework for this week.
Some students still have not handed in their persuasive paragraphs for the biography. As a result, they still do not have a person to research. It is really important that they complete this ASAP. The alternative would be for me to make a choice for them. This is an opportunity for your child to have a voice and choice in this writing project.
Week of 2/15/16
We are looking at nicer weather this week. Yeah!! It s always great when we can get the kids outside.
This will be a short newsletter this week.
Update
Due to some changes , we did not get to the shared mummy research. We will be doing this after our biography unit. Hopefully you saw the packet that was brought home. Please be sure to go over it with your child. This signed packet is due ASAP with the students' having a first deadline of Friday. Please be sure to ask your child about this. One of the things to note is that we are requiring students to choose obscure people to research. We are stressing the notable and positive contribution aspect.
Things To Note
Conferences are coming up soon. Please be on the lookout for conference sign ups next week.
Students will be starting their third science rotation with Mrs. Richardson on Monday.
Reminders
WordMaster test on Friday
A Look At Our Week
Reading- The students are working on reciprocal reading. This is a strategy used to aid comprehension. They are using this skill to deepen their understanding of non-fiction articles via Newsela.
Writing- We continue to work on the skill of paraphrasing. This is a very difficult skill to master and one that the students struggle with.
Biographies- The students will be looking at features of biographies.
Social Studies- The students continue to look at and understand some of the perils facing early colonists in America via Colonial Life Video Segments.
Homework
Three persuasive paragraphs on chosing person for biography- Friday
Pocket Books ( SEM- R Project) - Friday
Unfinished classwork - ongoing
Week of 2/8/16
We are looking at nicer weather this week. Yeah!! It s always great when we can get the kids outside.
This will be a short newsletter this week.
Update
Due to some changes , we did not get to the shared mummy research. We will be doing this after our biography unit. Hopefully you saw the packet that was brought home. Please be sure to go over it with your child. This signed packet is due ASAP with the students' having a first deadline of Friday. Please be sure to ask your child about this. One of the things to note is that we are requiring students to choose obscure people to research. We are stressing the notable and positive contribution aspect.
Things To Note
Conferences are coming up soon. Please be on the lookout for conference sign ups next week.
Students will be starting their third science rotation with Mrs. Richardson on Monday.
Reminders
WordMaster test on Friday
A Look At Our Week
Reading- The students are working on reciprocal reading. This is a strategy used to aid comprehension. They are using this skill to deepen their understanding of non-fiction articles via Newsela.
Writing- We continue to work on the skill of paraphrasing. This is a very difficult skill to master and one that the students struggle with.
Biographies- The students will be looking at features of biographies.
Social Studies- The students continue to look at and understand some of the perils facing early colonists in America via Colonial Life Video Segments.
Homework
Three persuasive paragraphs on chosing person for biography- Friday
Pocket Books ( SEM- R Project) - Friday
Unfinished classwork - ongoing
Week Of 2/1/16
I will be sending a separate email to you about a mock trial experience that 5th graders have done the past two years. Please look for it in a regular email. More details will be included in that email.
Reminder
Parents thank you for your contribution to our APEX Fundraiser. However, we are still in need of the monies that were pledged by some of the families. I will be sending home a separate letter with your child if this applies to you. Again, thank you for your support.
FYI
African- American Parent Involvement Day is coming up on Monday Feb 8th. Your child should have brought home a flyer with details.
The students will be going on a field trip to Orcherstra Hall on Feb 11th. Your child will be bringing home a permission slip tomorrow.
Homework
Homework for week 2/1/16- Due on Friday except Interpretive essay illustration
1. Nightly reading
2. Wordmasters- We are now on our second set of Wordmasters. To get ready for the upcoming analogy test, begin studying the second set of words. Study 5 words per night. Remember you were given a quizlet link to help you study the definitions.
First words set of words
1. embargo
2. pivot
3. swarthy
4. calamity
5. swoop
6. pallid
7. commerce
8. skirt
9. irate
10. lance
11. dodge
12. placid
13. tedium
14. perforate
15. agape
16.periphery
17. quench
18. ajar
19. endurance
20. wield
21. nautical
22. flotilla
23. sashay
24. botanical
25. setback
Second set of words
1. zephyr
2. trudge
3. frugal
4. nettle
5. fluctuate
6. haggard
7. flourish
8. persist
9. bedraggled
10. caravan
11. thrive
12. riotous
13. fracas
14. vary
15. miserly
16. helm
17. maneuver
18. dapper
19. fatigue
20. roil
21. fastidious
22. deluge
23. flag
24. incensed
25. navigate
3. Using all 50 words, organize words into synonym groups. See how many groups you can create. You can ask your parents to help you with this. You can also collaborate with others in the class.
4. Paraphrasing is rewriting text in your own words without changing the meaning of that text. This is important when doing research. As we get ready to begin our shared research we are going to practice the art of paraphrasing. You will complete a paraphrasing sheet.
Sheet is attached. ( The Students received the attached sheet)
5. Finish your illustration for your Interpretative essay. This illustration is due tomorrow, Tuesday.
6. Anything not finished in class this week will also become homework.
7. Find at least two poems written by African American poets. Google African American poets.