Kennedy 5/6 Combo Class
March 13, 2015
PTO Events
The boxtop contest will be held during the month of April, so be sure to send your boxtops in by April 30th. You can start sending them in right away--you don't have to wait until April.
Finally, the auction will be on May 1st and will be similar to last years with an ice cream social, silent items and live classroom baskets auctioned. Our class theme will be "Family Game Night." We are looking for donated board games, cards, dice, as well as snacks. You may start sending donations for our class basket at any time.
Sixth Grade Field Trip News
So far we only have four donations for the t-shirt ads. Last year we were able to raise over $1,000 through these donations. If you know someone with a business, please ask them if they would donate. We do request a minimum of $50 to put their name on the back of the shirt, but we will accept any donation.
We are in the midst of our candy bar sale right now. The sixth graders are truly enjoying selling candy bars, and I'm wondering if they are selling as many to themselves as to others. :)
Upcoming Events
Literacy Night - March 26
No School - Teacher Work Day - March 27
Good Friday - April 3
Spring Break - April 6-10
Fifth Grade MEAP Testing - April 19, 20, 26, 27, & 28
Reading Month
SOARing Students
Megan Litomisky did a terrific job on her oral presentation for social studies. It was clear that she had learned a great deal about her province.
Gwennen Jubert read a total of 2,840 minutes at home during the month of March. Wow!
Kolton Mortinsen returned to our class and fit right back in with our class procedures as if he never left.
Ryan Cords has been working very hard at adding detail and evidence when he answers reading questions.
Keep up the good work!
Math
Fifth Grade - We have been learning about adding and subtracting negative and positive numbers this week. Students have been using negative and positive counters to model problems. They have learned that one negative and one positive cancel each other out to equal zero. This has helped them see how adding a negative number to a positive number is like subtracting.
Sixth Grade - This week we learned about order of operations and "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally." The sixth graders also studied number sentences, equations, and inequalities, and they started solving algebra equations with variables.
Reading
We have continued practicing close and critical reading in class. We been discussing theme, or the lesson the author wants us to learn this week. Students have been reading two related articles and looking for connections between the two stories. They are also finding evidence from the stories to support their idea of what the theme is.
The group reading Number the Stars has finished reading the book. They are working on a final test over the book. The test have 20 multiple choice questions and one essay question.
Writing
This week we worked on our concrete poem. This is where students get to draw a picture and then make the poem within their picture or make their picture with words. It is really cool! We googled ideas, have your child show you theirs! Next week we will work on making a Lowku. It is the same thing as a Haiku, but with something dirty or gross, like garbage, instead of something beautiful and sweet. I’m very sorry, but I was out sick Monday and Tuesday and completely forgot about spelling, so students lucked out this week with no spelling words!
Social Studies
The sixth graders have been presenting their province or territory projects to the rest of the class this week. We discussed elements of a good presentation, such as eye contact, good volume, and knowing your stuff. Next week we will begin studying the geography of Latin America.
The fifth graders have continued reading about the causes of the American Revolution. We have learned about many of the taxes that the British imposed on the colonists. We have also read about the ways that the colonists protested by boycotting British goods, making their own items to replace things that were taxed, and even by committing violence against the tax collectors.
Science
5th grade science-We are wrapping up our unit on the Earth's systems and taking our test.
6th grade-We have started our unit on matter and ecosystems. This week we focused on abiotic and biotic factors. Ask your child to tell you examples of each.
Technology
Classroom Facebook Page
Contact Me
Email: kennedy@morrice.k12.mi.us
Location: 111 E. Mason Street, Morrice, MI
Phone: 517-625-3141