EPIC House February Newsletter
It's great to be in Fifth Grade!
House News
Hello Amazing EPIC Families!
Happy February! January was a busy month as we settled back in from winter break. Students completed Winter MAP testing for both Language Arts and Math. Students will be sharing these scores with you at conferences this month. The conference schedule will be a total of 20 minutes each. The first 10 minutes of the conference will be with the teachers in Mrs. Maroszek’s room and the final 10 minutes will be with your child in Mrs. Tennie’s room reviewing their data with you along with sharing their websites that they created and projects that they have worked on this year. We realize how quickly time at conferences goes by so we will do our best to stay on time as we know many of you have multiple conferences to attend.
In addition, students enjoyed our end of the semester incentive which was a movie at Bay Port. We also took part in Lineville Spirit week. Many students participated in noon time events, donating nonperishable food items to the giving tree, dress up days, as well as pep rally events! As teachers, we were proud to see the amount of school spirit and sportsmanship our students showed. Great job, Epic House! :)
Crazy Sock Day!
Let's go EPIC!
The Price is Right!
Valentines Day Celebration!
First Hour Math
Students this month finished unit 4 on multiplying multi-digit numbers and decimals. We also started some practice problems for the Smart Balanced assessment coming this Spring. Students are now working on unit 5 which is long division with and without decimals. Students in this class continue to support and challenge each other. We are learning the importance of perseverance in our learning as more challenging problems require multiple steps and possible use of more than one strategy when solving a problem. It is exciting to see that they are always up for the challenge!
Second Hour Math
Students this month are working on finishing unit 4 which is on multiplying multi-digit numbers and decimals. It is becoming evident that even though all students have passed their multiplication and division Fact Master on Moby Max, many of them are still struggling with quick recall of basic facts. As a result, this month we added the program Otter Creek 1 minute timed tests to our daily schedule. As we look forward to unit five in math which is on long division, multiplication and division facts must be mastered to realize success in this upcoming unit. Continued support at home to practice facts would be greatly appreciated.
100% Homework Completion = Blitz day!
We are PREPARED!
We are EPIC Readers!
We are EPIC!
Literacy in a Nutshell
First and foremost, I could not be more proud of all students. In the month of January, our students read a total of 191 books! That is amazing! After seeing the totals, students explained that they were excited about new books they had tried and found new authors or genres that interested them. Way to go, kiddos! You have made me so proud. We will continue to read new authors and try different genres in our Book Clubs.
In writing, we continue to work on our paragraph writing skills, as well as implement the grammatical mechanics we have learned in class. This week, we have started our formal informative writing piece. Students have started the prewriting process and are brainstorming topics, place or important people.
Each month, Achieve 3000 reviews student’s previous month’s performance and adjusts their Lexile reading level. By the end of fifth grade, students should have a Lexile between 800-900. At conferences, students will be sharing their Lexile with their parents. Also, starting February 23, 2015, Achieve 3000 is starting another school contest. In the Fall competition, our class came in 3rd place which was excellent. Please encourage your child to work on Achieve 3000 each night to complete reading some non-fiction interesting articles and finishing the activities. We can take first place this time and earn a classroom party from Achieve 3000! We can do it!
We are great scientists!
We've discovered and explored the world of microorganisms. The use of microscopes truly enhanced our students knowledge and understand of their world. From lens, to onion cells, then finally to bacteria, we covered it all in our Micro-worlds unit. We are fortunate to have iPads, so that every student could take pictures and videos of their Volvox, Vinegar Eels, and Blepharisma microorganisms. Viewing the microorganisms was truly the highlight of this unit for many students. This week we will be taking the second part of our Micro-worlds assessment. I am proud of the studying skills students showed on our last science test, and hope for the same this time.
Next week, we move into our Human Body Systems unit. We will be learning about the digestive, respiratory, and circulatory systems and how they work. There will be many different hands-on learning experiences to provide students with an understanding of the happenings within our body.
"Who needs an eyepiece when you have an iPad?" -An Epic Student
"Check it out! Their body is transparent!" -An Epic Student
"Mrs. Tennie, it looks like a booger!" -An Epic Student
Social Studies
This month the students worked on a colonization simulation. Students were put in groups where they selected a colony name and created a colony flag. They had to pack their ships and sail across the ocean dealing with bad weather, sickness, and days with little progress due to little or no wind to move their sales. When the students arrived on shore, they needed to keep track of their colonies wealth, put their colonists to work and decide if they would trade with the natives for needed supplies or battle the natives for more land. Students experienced many of the situations that the colonists encountered. At the end, the colony with the most wealth units won the simulation. To end our unit, we had our Colony Feast day where students could bring in food that the colonists ate and then shared a presentation on their experiences as a colonists. Students really enjoyed this unit. Our next unit will be on the Revolutionary War.
Important Upcoming Dates:
- Wednesday, February 11, 2015
- Thursday, February 12, 2015
- Friday, February 13, 2015
Bring in Valentines for Guided Study Group.
- Monday, February 16, 2015
- Tuesday, February 17, 2015
- Friday, February 20, 2015
A Note from the Teachers
As always, we thank you for your continued support at home. Please feel free to contact us at any time with questions or concerns.
~Ashley Tennie, Lyzette Maroszek, and Laura Devine