Park Specialists' Newsletter
Fifth Grade Edition - First Trimester
First Trimester Recap
From Park's Art Instructor - Mrs. Ovadje
For the first trimester, students from Mrs. Kaminsky, Mrs. Madson, Mr. Langins, and Mr. Tillmann's respective classes attended art.
Half of the fifth grade classrooms visit the art classroom every other day. In January, my art students will go to STEM and I will get to meet the rest of the fifth grade students!
In art, we explore many materials and create numerous projects each year. Students work with a variety of materials, including markers, crayons, watercolor paint, tempera paint, collage, pastels, oil pastels, paint sticks and clay. While making art, students explore line, shape, color, texture and space.
Projects completed this trimester:
Modern Mona Lisa, a spoof of the famous painting by Da Vinci
Action Paintings inspired by Jackson Pollock
One-Point Perspective City Drawings
Clay Leaves
Sunflower Still-Lifes using only tints and shades of yellow (see below to watch a short video of students in action!)
Students are keeping their artwork in a portfolio. At the end of January, students will bring their portfolios home. Some of the fabulous art pieces will be kept for the art show in the spring and then returned to their creator.
From Park's Librarian - Ms. Shadis
In the Library:
Fifth grade practiced research skills utilizing print resources as well as Minnesota’s electronic library. To benefit from these costly databases, FREE to you visit www.elm4you.org.
Minnesota Student Book Choice Award
Students who have read at least three of the Minnesota Student Book Choice titles will be able to vote for their favorite book at the end of March. The votes from Park Elementary will be tallied and sent into the state headquarters for compilation with all of the other student votes around the state. The student choice book award recipient will be announced on April 25. Encourage your child to participate. The nominated books are pictured below the article.
Considering giving your child a special book for the holidays?
Here are some resources that can help:
http://bccb.ischool.illinois.edu/files/2017/11/GBGB2017.pdf
http://www.readingrockets.org/books/buyingguide/
http://www.scholastic.com/parents/
Check out Park Elementary's FREE e-books!
Below are two resources for students to access that work on any internet-connected device:
- http://www.tbcjr.com/ This website contains longer books for advanced readers. Login information is: Username: park423. Password: login
- http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/ (grades K-3) Students can listen to books while following along with the text at a variety of levels. Check it out! Login information is the same as mentioned above: Username: park423. Password: login
Need Anything Further?
You are also very welcome to contact our Teacher-Librarian, Ms. Shadis, 320-234-2616 for personalized recommendations. Thank you for encouraging the children you know and love to read -- it's an important lifelong skill!
Electronic Library of Minnesota.
Tumble Book Library
Come to Park Elementary's Book Fair! When: Thursday, Jan. 17, from 3:30-8:00 PM; Friday, Jan. 18, from 8 AM-3:00 PM. Location: Park Elementary Foyer
From Park's Technology Integration Instructor - Mr. Durheim
The first trimester of TechTime was filled with fun, challenges, and learning for fifth graders. We focused on three main topics.
Computational Thinking - How do we think when we try to solve a problem? That’s computational thinking! We worked on challenges which helped us learn more about our thinking strengthened problem solving skills.
Online Safety - Each year we build student knowledge about being safe online. This fall we focused on cyberbullying through an activity with Professor Garfield. Students also explored Google’s new online safety game called Interland. We will continue to review online safety throughout the year.
G-Suite for Education (formerly Google Apps for Education) - Students learned to use many editing tools in Google Docs including font tools, alignment, bullet points, and graphics. Each student also learned more about Google Slides by creating a slideshow promoting kind actions helping others.
UP NEXT: During the month of December students will participate in the Hour of Code and learn about being a responsible consumer by analyzing advertising gimmicks in our Media Literacy unit.
Please visit the TechTime website to learn more about specific activities, websites, and learning goals.
During the first trimester all fifth grade students also had the opportunity to record Park’s multimedia Daily Announcements. All of the videos are available on Park’s website.
Keyboarding Skills
We are in our second year of keyboarding as a part of the specialist rotation schedule. The program is self-paced and students progress at their own speed. Classes meet for 30 minutes every four school days.
This year, students are learning keyboarding skills using a new program called Typing Quest. This program teaches students to type on a computer keyboard and builds their skills so they can more efficiently use a computer. Students began with “TypeTastic!” games which help students to learn where keys are located on the keyboard and also develop fine-motor mousing skills. Next, students moved to “Keyboarding Kickstart” games that introduced using proper keyboarding position (home row keys). After completing all of these games, students move into the “Typing Quest” lessons which teach proper finger movements and help students to memorize key location through practice and fun games.
Some Typing Quest lessons and games are available free to home users at typingquest.com/personal. Many other typing games are available online for extra practice outside of school. A favorite of many students is DanceMatTyping.
From Park's Phy Ed Educators - Mrs. Hahn & Ms. Mueller
A typical day in the Physical Education class begins with a fitness warm-up activity. These activities vary from cardiovascular, muscular strength/endurance, and/or flexibility. The purpose of these activities is to increase the students’ awareness and level of fitness. After the warm-up, students have a lesson that focuses on the skills that will help them to be successful in the games in a unit. The, students participate in an age-appropriate game using the skill(s) practiced in that lesson.
Units covered during the first trimester:
- soccer skills
- football skills
- fitness tests
- volleyball
- bowling
Sportsmanship:
Students discussed and demonstrated good sportsmanship during Physical Education and evaluated their own sportsmanship. To continue this throughout the year, a traveling sportsmanship trophy will be awarded each month to a class that demonstrates good sportsmanship.
Reminder:
With the coming of snow and the need for boots, please help your child to remember to bring his/her tennis shoes on days that they have Phy Ed.
Sculpture Stroll Recap:
A big thank you for all your help in making the "Sculpture Stroll" a success! It was great to see students and families get out and explore our community through a healthy does of exercise. "Slices of Heaven" was selected as the students' favorite sculpture. The bulletin board is looking awesome! It is pictured below.
Walking for a Good Cause:
We will once again be doing the "Walk for Hunger" Food Shelf Drive on December 13-14.
This event combines wellness and community service for our students. All items must be brought to school by the event date so that we can get items to the McLeod County Food Shelf in time for the holidays. Last year, our students collected 2,068 pounds of food. We will be needing volunteers once again this year. Please contact us if you are able to help at 320-587-2837 or email us at bonnie.hahn@isd423.org or maggie.mueller@isd423.org
Healthy Tips:
1. Never use food as a reward. This could create weight problems later in life. Instead, reward your child(ren) with something physical and fun - - perhaps, a trip to the park or a quick game of catch.
2. Sit down to family dinners at night. If this is not a tradition in your home, make it one. Research shows that children who eat dinners, at the table, and with their parents, have better nutrition. Additionally, they are less likely to get in trouble as teenagers. Don't know how to begin? Start with one night a week, and then work up to at least three or four nights so that you can gradually build the habit.
3. Prepare plates in the kitchen. You can put the right portion of each item on everyone's dinner plate, instead of offering up a food buffet or serve-yourself style. This way, your children will learn to recognize healthy portion sizes. If adjusting to healthier portion sizes means smaller portions for your family, help make the switch seem less shocking by using smaller plates.
From Park's Music Teachers - Ms. Hauth & Mrs. Hoeft
In fifth grade music we have continued our work on recorder, reviewing what students learned in fourth grade, as well as learning new songs. They can play B, A, G, and C and they have also learned a new note, low E. Songs using our new note (Low E) include Skin and Bones and Rain Rain Go Away. Learning recorder helps students to become more skilled at reading music and improves their hand-eye coordination. We play songs from the recorder book in class with a CD accompaniment, as well as additional songs. Students also enjoy making up their own melodies using notes that they know to fit the rhythm of the words in a poem or chant, like “Quiet in the Halls.” Fifth graders do a challenge activity called Recorder Karate, in which they can earn “belts” by playing progressively more difficult songs (white belt, yellow, orange, etc.). To earn their first belt (white), they have to play Hot Cross Buns.
Other instruments we have played in music are the drums and the xylophones. We reviewed Land of the Silver Birch and Rockin’ Robin on the Orff instruments, favorite songs from fourth grade. (See below for a video of Mrs. Moore’s class performing Land of the Silver Birch). We also played a standard blues pattern while singing Boogie Woogie Ghost. We have a full set of Orff instruments, (including xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiel) in each room so every child can participate as we play together.
The students love to sing in music class. Songs we have sung this year include favorites from last year as well as new ones; Shimmy Shimmy, Do A Deer, Army Life, Austrian Yodeler, This Land is Your Land, Armed Forces Medley (for our All-School Veterans Day Program), and Fifty Nifty. We have been challenging students to sing and play more difficult pieces using harmonies and layered rhythms.
Much of our rhythmic work this trimester has focused on sixteenth note patterns. The students enjoy the success of being able to play well together in a group, and have also begun to experiment individually with making up their own patterns using body percussion and instruments. Pieces which focused on sixteenth notes included the chants Quiet in the Halls and Bumps in the Night.
We are so pleased that many of our fifth graders have signed up for band and choir. Playing or singing in a large group provides an advanced level of difficulty and enjoyment that is not possible in a smaller classroom setting. We invite you to attend the band and choir performances available throughout the school year.
From Park's Science Specialist - Mrs. McDowell
Throughout all of the STEM projects students are continually following the Engineering Design Process to ask questions, plan, create, make observations and improve their designs along the way. Check out what your child/student has been up to these last couple of months in STEM!
Crow Tools!
In September, fifth grade STEM students learned that crows are very clever animals. The birds are capable of taking objects from their surroundings in order to create tools that help them retrieve food from hard to reach places. Crows use their external structures (like their beak and claws) to help them achieve this task. To relate, fifth graders were asked to design and create a tool-like structure that could retrieve three Cheerio pieces from out of the bottom of a water bottle in the fastest time possible. Contrary to belief, this was no easy feat. Within their groups of three and four, students were challenged with the ultimate collaborative task and were only allowed to use one hand to create the tool; this is because a crow would only be able to use one foot to do so. Many students agreed that this part of the mission was the most difficult. Leading up to their tool making, each student worked with a partner to research a different animal. They were asked to find four external/internal structures on that particular animal and report on how each structure helps the animal in their habitat. They found some very intriguing bits of information and created beautiful posters to showcase each animal!
In conclusion, most classes found that a sturdy structure with a sticky base was the way to go.
Simple Machines!
In mid-October, fifth grade STEM students began their simple machines unit. They began the unit learning about simple machines through self-discovery. After spending a couple of sessions exploring, manipulating and discussing how simple machines work, students were given a task that focused mainly on using the “pulley” system. They were directed to build a contraption that would transport as many “people” (aka washers) safely across a gondola-style zip line. A friendly little competition ensued and students competed to see who could get the most riders on their gondola and/or the fastest time down the line. After several test runs and observations, students discovered what character traits a successful and safe gondola had, and also made the connection that the more riders one had on their gondola, the faster it went.
Water Filters!
We have most recently switched over to our third unit of the school year, which is water filters! Students began this unit discussing the terms “environmental engineer,” “natural contaminates,” and “human contaminates” and how each plays a role in the cleanliness of drinking water. They are currently being challenged to create their own water filter that filters contaminates from “dirty water.” Each item in the homemade “dirty water” represents something you would find in real natural water sources. For example, pencil shavings represent sticks and glitter represents bacteria/microbes/viruses you might find in water, etc. The students will be provided with several different materials to build their filter with, however each has a point value attached with it. They will be limited to the amount of points they will use to build their filter with, which presents itself with its own challenges. Through this process students will be discovering that some materials are more beneficial than others to use. They will learn a lot about themselves in how they problem solve through situations that are difficult. Looking forward to seeing what they come up with!
STEM Challenge
STEM Challenge
STEM Challenge
Park Elementary School
Email: dan.olberg@isd423.org
Website: isd423.org/park-elementary/
Location: 100 Glen Street Southwest, Hutchinson, MN, United States
Phone: (320) 587-2837
Twitter: @parkelem