Friday, December 20th

Thank you for making our day so special!  We had a wonderful time celebrating this first half of the school year with you!

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful, thoughtful, sweet, and amazing gifts.  I appreciate your support this year and can't wait for the rest of the year to begin!

Have a wonderful and restful two weeks and I will see you in January!!!

Thursday, December 19th

We had an incredibly busy day with lots of writing.  Students worked diligently to complete their writing summative task for this term.

I know students are very excited about the learning celebration tomorrow at 1:15.  We hope you can join us!!

Have a great evening!

Wednesday, December 18th

What a fun day at FAVE!  We had the pleasure of having a cultural arts assembly this morning.  We enjoyed the sounds and percussions of Ritmo Blu.  They took us on a musical journey around the world.  Students truly enjoyed this experience.  I hope you enjoy the pictures from our day.

Homework:  Read for 30minutes, Spelling (due tomorrow, and test tomorrow)

Don't forget about our Learning Celebration on Friday at 1:15.  Students are excited to present for you and we are looking forward to looking back over the first half of the school year.  We hope you can join us!  Remember to sign in at the front desk before coming to the classroom and please do not block the bus lane or houses when you are parking.

Tuesday, December 18th

We got a lot accomplished today!

We worked on decomposing fractions this morning and spent a significant amount of time working on fraction word problems.  Students received fraction practice for homework tonight.  They will be changing improper fractions to mixed numbers and the reverse.  See the steps below to assist your child with their homework.

Students began working on their UOI Summative writing piece.  We worked to develop a thesis statement and began providing reasons and supporting evidence.

We also practiced strategies for close reading using nonfiction text.  Students looked a specific criteria that is important when reading nonfiction.

See you in the morning!

Monday, December 16th

MAP testing is completed!  Students worked really hard and I am so proud of their work.

Looking ahead:  We will spend one more day working with fractions before taking our assessment on Wednesday.

We will be working on our UOI Summative starting Wednesday afternoon.

We are looking forward to our Learning Celebration on Friday at 1:15.

Homework: Read for 30 minutes, Spelling

Friday, December 13th

Happy Friday and what a week!

We have been so busy with MAP testing, summatives, and explorations.  Students worked especially hard this week.

They performed really wonderfully on their American Revolution assessment today.  I am extremely proud of how they prepared.

Ask your child about their exploration today.  It was an exciting and fun time as they dispersed throughout the school to learn about and discover new things.  Some students worked on fashion design and baking, while others worked with lego robotics and athletics.  I know students enjoyed themselves and are looking forward to participating in them again in January.

Looking Ahead:
On Monday we will have our last day of MAP testing at 7:55 am.  Please be sure that students eat a healthy breakfast and arrive to school on time.  A good night of sleep is always a good idea.

Thursday we will be attending a cultural arts performance here at the school.

Friday at 1:15 we will be having our learning celebration.  Please join us for a short performance and a look back at our year so far.  Remember that parking is limited.  Please do not block the bus lane or the houses in the neighborhood.  Also, don't forget to sign in at the front desk before coming up to the classroom.  We hope to see you all here!!!

Homework: Read for 30 minutes

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Thursday, December 13th

We had a jam packed day and will have another one tomorrow.  Students are really working hard as we work to complete big projects and writing pieces for the end of the term.

We will not have MAP testing again until Monday.  Tomorrow, students will get to go to the Explorations that they signed up for.  I know that  they are all really looking forward to this experience.

Please review the American Revolution information with you child tonight.  The assessment will be tomorrow.

Enjoy your evening!

Wednesday, December 11th

We had a good morning for MAP testing.  We will be testing again tomorrow at 7:55.  Thank you to all students for arriving on time and being prepared for testing.

We are preparing for summative assessments in Science and Social Studies.  Students took home a study guide yesterday for their sound assessment.  They will be taking that tomorrow.  They worked today to complete flash cards to study for their summative assessment on the American Revolution.  They will be taking that assessment on Friday.

We will continue our work with fractions this week.  Students are exploring mixed numbers and improper fractions.   We also continued working on our opinion essays.  Most students have almost completed their draft and are moving to the revising and editing phases.

Students received an invitation yesterday to our Learning Celebration.  We would love for you to join us at 1:15 on Friday, December 20th.  Students have a presentation for you and we will look back at the first half of the year.  Be reminded that parking spaces are limited.  Please do not block the bus lane or driveways of the surrounding houses.  Also, you must sign in at the front desk before coming to the classroom.  We look forward to seeing you!

Homework: Study for Science and Social Studies.

Monday, December 9th

Welcome back!  We worked to sign up for our College and Career Explorations this morning.  We will have our first exploration on Friday beginning at 12:30.

Students worked with adding and subtracting fractions today. Students completed a frameworks lesson using eggs.  Ask your child to tell you more.

We discussed the Treaty of Paris today.  Students will be working through a study guide this week and be ready to take their remaining portion of the summative assessment this week.

We are drafting our essays.  Students worked to create an opening and closing paragraph today.  Published pieces are due on Friday.

Homework:  Read for 30 minutes, Math, Spelling

See you in the morning!

Friday, December 6th

We have had a busy couple of days.  We finished up NF.2 in math by creating Fraction Avenue.  Students were challenged to create a neighborhood with specific fractional criteria.  They turned out great and students enjoyed themselves.  Today, we began exploring improper fractions, mixed numbers, and adding fractions with like denominators. Ask your child to tell you more!

We continued our journey through the Revolutionary War and have learned some specific details about how the war ended.  Next week we will take a look at the Treaty of Paris and begin studying for the remaining part of our summative.

We spent the better par of this week looking at text structure.  Students explored different reading passages and looked for key words that help determine which structure was used.

We are in the drafting phase of our opinion essays.  Most students began drafting today.  The final published piece will be due next Friday.

Next Week:  We have an incredibly busy week ahead of us.  MAP testing will be on Wednesday and Thursday next week and will begin at 7:55 am.  Please be sure students eat a healthy breakfast and arrive to school on time.  On Friday, we will have our first explorations.  Students will be given more information about this on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

Homework:  Read for 30 minutes

Wednesday, December 4th

We had some fun visitors this morning.  We were fortunate to have Mary McBurney Graham, Crispus Attucks, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson come by and share great information about their lives and their roles in the American Revolution.  Students enjoyed the visitors and asked many thoughtful questions.

We worked to elaborate on our opinion essays.  Students used guidelines to assist them in writing their supporting stories.  We are getting closer every day to drafting our essays.

Don't forget that FAVE Movie Night is this Friday.

Homework: Read for 30 minutes, Math

Tuesday, December 3rd

We had a great day and accomplished a lot!

Congratulations to Sam!  He is our class elected Superstar of the Month for November.  Way to go!!!

What a break through with common denominators today!  Here is a quick code link for learnzillion.com that will refresh our lesson from today and will also assist with homework.  Enter LZ350.  Your child will shine on their homework.  I am so proud of their work today!

We took a look at a more reader friendly version of the Declaration of Independence today.  We used closer reading techniques to take a closer look at the advantages and disadvantages of becoming free from England.

Thank you so much for the food donations for our faculty meeting yesterday.  We really enjoyed the treats!

Homework: Read for 30 minutes, Math

Monday, December 2nd

Welcome back!  I hope you had a wonderful break!  We got off to a busy start working with grids to compare fractions and determine equivalence.  Students were challenged to create grids with specific dimensions.  The divided their grids into equal parts and shaded a specified portion.  They created equivalent fractions using their grids.  Ask your child to tell you more!

We were able to complete sound explorations today.  Students moved through six stations exploring different properties of sound.  Vibration, pitch, and volume were all a part of our many discussions and discoveries.

We began looking at text structure today and what that means.  Students were able to look at texts that are structured using chronological order.

Important Dates:  Please check the upcoming events section for updated information.

Homework: Read for 30 minutes, Spelling

Friday, November 22nd

What a happy day!  I hope you all have a very restful break!  Students have no required homework.  I recommend that they read every day.  If you wish for them to complete anything additional they can log in to Odyssey and complete assignments in their backpack.  The login is their lunch number and the password is go.  Students can also work on xtramath.org.  These are not a requirement.

Enjoy your break!   See you in December!

Thursday, November 22nd

Only one more day before our break and we are very busy.  Students worked to compare fractions with unlike denominators by finding a common denominator today.  Enter learnzillion quick code LZ1433, or LZ1431 to review with your child.

We took a closer look at the writing of the Declaration of Independence today.  Students explored the reasons behind the declaration, the writers, and what it presented.

We also began adding personal experience to support our evidence in our opinion essay.  Students are working hard and will soon be ready to draft.

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for our delicious Thanksgiving lunch!

Homework: Read for 30 minutes, Spelling

Wednesday, November 20th

What a fantastic and busy day!

I want to start by thanking everyone who was able to come for Literary Cafe' last night.  The turn out was wonderful and all of the students did an amazing job sharing their work.

We continued working to compare fractions.  We utilized color tiles and pattern blocks to build objects.  Students worked to use different shapes to create their whole object.  They then determined what fraction was represented by each shape in their whole.  After deciding how many fractional parts each shape represented, they were able to create fractions and compare the sizes of each fractional piece.  Students will be comparing fractions for homework this evening.

We had a lesson on close reading using and exert from Stray by Cythia Rylant.  Ask your child to tell you more about what they noticed about the characters in the story and how they changed.  You also ask why the setting is important, and what some of the important words or phrases from the story are.

Reminder:  Tomorrow is our Thanksgiving Lunch.  We will be in the cafeteria from 11:00-11:30.  We hope you can join us for this wonderful lunch.

Homework:  Read for 30 minutes, Math

Monday, November 18th

We're off to a great start!  We spent the morning using our fraction kits to compare fractions with unlike denominators.  Students manipulated the fraction pieces and wrote equations to match their findings.
We will be working to find common denominators in the coming days, so practice multiplication facts at home.

We did a brief introduction to sound today and students were challenged to create their thesis for their persuasive writing piece.  It was a challenging task, but most completed it today.

Tomorrow is our Literary Cafe' from 6:00-7:30.  Please join us in the mulipurpose room, followed by our classroom.  Students will present their writing pieces and model all they have learned from coaching.

Thursday is our Thanksgiving Lunch.  Our class will be eating from 11:00-11:30.  Please join us to celebrate.

Homework: Read for 30 minutes, spelling

Thursday, November 14th

Students worked hard to complete math stations today.  Our small group focus has been on finding equivalent fractions using multiplication or division of the numerator and denominator.

We also worked to push our thinking further during our essay writing.  Students utilized these elaboration prompts to expand their evidence in their drafted essays.

We are looking forward to our second coaching session with our Literary Cafe' coach tomorrow.  I hope to see you all on Tuesday from 6:00-7:30.  We will begin in the multi-purpose room and then move to the classroom.

Homework: Read for 30 minutes, Study for Spelling test (return spelling homework tomorrow), Math practice

Wednesday, November 13th

We had a great trip to the planetarium today!  No math homework was given because we returned so late from our field trip.

See you in the morning!