Mr. Sterling's 5th Grade Newsletter
Week of September 19th
What's Happening
5th graders had a fun time last Friday drenching their teachers and principal in water at the Fall Festival for the annual school fundraiser. My shoes are still drying out! Our school raised $7,600. A BIG thank you to all who participated and donated.
Parent-Teacher Conferences
PLEASE NOTE THE DATE CHANGE: Conferences will be held the week of October 3rd for my class. I apologize for the delay. My wife's expected due date has come and gone and I will for certain be out of the classroom for some or all of next week. Conference letters will be sent home this week. Please be sure to return your confirmation slip so that I am able to firm up the schedule to accommodate everyone. Thank you!
Native American Virtual Museum Project – This is the last week for students to complete their virtual museum projects. I'm excited to see the finished products. We've allocated a good amount of in-class time to work on the projects, but if you feel your child needs some extra assistance finishing up their project this week, please have him/her speak with me immediately so we can work together to meet the deadline of this Friday.
What we will cover this week
- Math: Computation with Decimals
- ELA: Author's Point of View, Greek and Latin Prefixes, Run-on Sentences and Fragments
- ELA Genre: Persuasive Article
- Social Studies: Native Americans - Councils and Governments
JA Biztown
You may have already heard from your child that we will be visiting JA BizTown again this year as part of our “Becoming an Entrepreneur” PBL. Our students will be traveling to JA BizTown on Tuesday, November 8th. We will depart from school by 8:30 A.M. and return to school by 4:00 P.M. This is a BIG DEAL in 5th grade! Our students will earn some of the cost for this trip by running the Holiday Shop at school in December. Please save the date (11/8/16) to volunteer for this trip. You will need to have an updated criminal history check on file to join us. We will need a total of 15-20 parents to make this trip possible. Parents are expected to be at the JA BizTown location 45 minutes before we arrive with the children. I will be sending out more detailed information in the weeks to come, but wanted to give you a heads up! If this trip sounds like a good fit for you, please save the date! Thanks!
Passport to Reading: Product and Presentation
Passport to Reading is an all year PBL divided by quarters. The students are reading a book from each genre. Each quarter they must read four books. They will then create one product per quarter to present to the class in a presentation. I have reviewed the expectations in class and the students have been working on researching books to read from our library as well as reviewing the rubrics and making their choices for their products this school year. They have been working on reading different genres in their pods to help guide them in making good choices in the library.
Reminder: First Quarter products are DUE THIS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23rd. Students will be giving their presentation in the classroom the following weeks.
Perfect Attendance Challenge
When: August 11th- November 28th
What: Perfect Attendance means 100% of the time the student is present. This means no appointment, no tardies, and no early dismissals.
*Students with perfect attendance will be eligible to participate in the Festival of Lights Parade in December and eligible to be a drawing for an electronic prize.
Homework
Homework Hounds
Overall, our class is doing very well with turning in homework. I would love to see us keep this up all year long! If you see that your child is starting to slip on homework, please remind him/her of Homework Hounds, a reward for meeting homework requirements.
What is Homework Hounds?
At the end of each quarter, I like to offer the opportunity for students to go “out to lunch” off campus with myself and any parents that are able to join. To earn this opportunity, students MUST not have more than three (individual) homework assignments turned in late for the entire quarter. If your child has met the requirement to join us, they will receive a Husky Homework Hound certificate.
Contact Information
Email: sterlingd@bcsc.k12.in.us
Website: http://www.bcsc.k12.in.us/Page/8483
Phone: 812-376-4447