Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! 

We have the opportunity to spend some time relaxing and sharing family memories.  Thank you so much for touching my holiday with your kindness.  Your thoughtfulness is appreciated!

 

I am hoping students find time to read over the holidays.  Not many of us have reached our December reading goal and can use the time to complete reports. 

 

 Here are some pictures showing the students sharing some Christmas cheer around town.

 



Great concert by the elementary students! 

 

 

 

   Last week of 2012!  It will be a very busy week with many out of the ordinary activities.  It is hard to think about school work but we have a few things to wrap up before we call it a year.
   President reports have been given.  We have about half of the class that has read their reports.  Interesting details and facts are shared.  I should have grades posted by Friday evening.
   Monday is our Christmas concert.   Remember that items for the food pantry can be brought to the concert and items for the mission will be accepted. 
    Friday morning the 5th and 6th graders will go caroling .  We are hoping to be able to spend time at the nursing home but the flu will help make that decision.  The elementary is planning to watch a movie in the afternoon to finish the week. 
    

The Elementary School will continue the tradition of helping the food pantry during the holiday season.  Your child may bring food items that will be donated. These items may be brought from now until after the Christmas concert.  The food will be loaded and taken to the pantry to make everyone's holiday season a happy one.

Our students were also approached by a mission group.  We have been asked to donate items for the group to take with them to Lafiteau which is about 9 miles north of Port au Prince.  A detailed letter from our school principal is in our mail today.  Please note the items that are being accepted.

Our schedule and plans are subject to change at anytime!  We do have a Social Studies test planned for Thursday.  As we get closer to Christmas, activities come up and plans get changed to accommodate activities.  This "out of routine" makes it harder to stay focused on school work.  As the days quickly pass, we hope to maintain the productive level this group has reached.

The fifth grade elves are busy putting together things to make the season bright!

 

 

 





    We have closed the door on November and are excited to see what December has in store.  The students are practicing for the December 17th Christmas concert and are planning to go caroling on Friday the 21st before we break for Christmas. 
     If you have any regular lightbulbs that have burned out or are not using, we would like to use them for an art project.  If we don't get enough we will find another project to do:-)
     On December 6 and 7, the McIntosh county health unit will screen the K, 1, 3 and 5th grade students for vision and hearing.  Will have a flexible schedule to accommodate the nurse's needs to make sure the health screen can be done for the students.  If you have something special that you would like addressed, please let me know.
     Dr. Eric was the quest speaker for Health this week.  We began our chapter on body systems and how they are interdependent.  I am grateful that Dr. Eric was willing to share his knowledge with the class! 



     Thanks for the graham crackers!  We were sent a new supply this morning so we are very thankful for the snack!
      Students were issued school emails.  I invited the students to send the Presidents' reports to me through email.  This will allow me to print them and have a chance to read the report whenever they have finished.  I can also highlight areas that the students can choose to improve on before giving me a final copy. 
      It looks like we will be ready for a Science test on Thursday!  Small review sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday will produce large benefits on Thursday! 
      Have a great weekend!

David Salwei gives a tour of the bee plant in Wishek. 

 









     The fifth graders had an opportunity on Wednesday before Thanksgiving to learn more about the industry of honey.  David Salwei gave us an interesting tour about what is involved with taking care of the bees and the process to produce  the honey.

 

   

Our cookbooks are ready to be ordered!  We are asking for prepaid orders for the Wishek Elementary cookbooks.  We are excited to say that for $12 you get over 450 recipes.  Order for family and friends!  This is a great buy!  I have included a link for order forms. https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwTFLlEJIq7ia0cydTVtTHdCOE0
  You can also find a link on the Wishek School website in the announcements if this one does not work.

The students were given the opportunity to be part of a lyceum dealing with positive choices and dealing with peer pressure.  We were able to reflect on how our decisions help us meet our goals in a personal reflection paper.  Some students have taken these home while other placed their reflections in their binders.  It was a great message for these young people to hear.

We have had a short week.  Our spelling unit and Reading story will carry over into next week.  We will also have our Reading Unit assessment before the long break.  The Assessments that we would normally take on Fridays will be spread between Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

Our Social Studies lessons introduced us to technology and industry.  I have been able to arrange a tour of the bee industry in our community.  The class will walk to the bee plant on Wednesday morning and get insight on the industry of honey processing.  I am looking forward to this!

Was nice to have 5 consecutive days for class!  We were able to accomplish most of what was planned!  With the impending arrival of winter and cold weather, I have been concerned about the way students are dressed for recess.  The students are required to go outside for fresh air over the lunch break.  Please make sure your child has boots and warm clothes for recess.

Voting was on the minds of the 5th graders this week.  We were able to watch the process in action.  Students were given an informative explanation by the ladies running the election.  Clear explanations of the ballot counting machine and how the voters are registered were given.  I like to know that our young citizens are aware of the process that dictates what laws and leaders will form their future.

Artificial Maturity: Helping Kids Meet the Challenge of Becoming Authentic Adults by Tim Elmore
 and How Children Succeed by Paul Tough are books that I recently have been given the chance to read.  They are very interesting.  I also know that Tim Elmore has published books dealing with the iY generation.  These books discuss understanding a generation raised on ipods, iphones, ipads and internet.  Opens another way of viewing expectations of our youth and their understanding of how different their world is and will be compared to the world of yesterday.

Wow! Finally got a chance to catch my breath after an incredibly busy week.  It was good to visit with all the parents at conferences and would like your input on the assigned times.  Conferences are a set aside day but invite you to call with questions anytime.

We were able to watch the 6th grade play and were impressed with the presentation.  The Halloween dance was fun.  We had several students dress up and were a little scary.  Sorry about the picture quality. 

The presentation with Brandon Carmichael was thought provoking.  It fit right into our Red Ribbon activity.  This was a powerful message.

The class will be working on president summary paragraphs this week.  Research and writing can begin on their chosen president.  Reports can be turned in at anytime to be proofread before final published copies are turned in.  We will set our due date for the reports for December 14th.  Presentations will be the following week. Complete packets as research is done.  I will grant pace points for the project like we did with the last report.  Doing the pace points keeps students working on the project.  The intent of this process is to keep students from saving all the work for the last week.

http://informedfamilies.org/r/B/Nzg1Mg/OTg2ODc/0/0/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5mYWNlYm9vay5jb20vcmVkcmliYm9ud2VlayMhIyE

Here is the website to get involved in the red ribbon contest.  Our class has watched the video and would like to invite families to participate!

Snack time is getting to bare cupboards!  We are out of crackers.  If you are willing to send more please do so.  We will just have milk for break and our fresh fruits and veggies on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays if we don't have the crackers.

Lots of open times for conferences!  I will call on Monday if you don't call me first.  These conferences are important to help you understand why we do what we do. They also let you  know what are goals are.  Please plan to attend.

With testing, our lesson plans have not been followed very closely.  We have made things work as time has allowed.  We will pick up a true routine after Halloween:-)  Our schedule will need to be very flexible until then.

5th graders were enthusiastic about getting a kick off for Red Ribbon Week.  We will be spending this week talking about being drug free!  Drive by the school and look at our project!  See if you can be drug free all week!

Learned so much at Instructional Conference!  Hope everyone enjoyed their time with their students at home.  With the rainy weather, I am hoping students were able to spend some time reading as a book report is due  by Wednesday of next week.

I will wrap up state reports today.  I was hoping to do that yesterday but due to a sinus infection, I was unable to get to school yesterday.  We start our new quarter today.  We will also be doing the North Dakota State Assessments this week.  A short test will be given Tuesday and Thursday with the Reading being given on Wednesday morning.

Please remember to call to make an appointment for Parent Teacher's Conferences on the 30th.

Three days of school this week means the first quarter is wrapping up on Wednesday.  I can't believe how fast this school year is going.  We are holding Parent Teacher Conferences on October 30th.  The school has gone to an appointment system to help with wait times.  Please let me know what time best fits your schedule.  Remember that if the 30th does not work for you, let me know and we can set up time for another day.  This conference will also give you the chance to view our State projects. 

NWEA testing has been completed in our classroom.  We completed the Math portion this morning.  I will share the scores with you when we visit during Parent Teacher's conferences.

All state reports are due Monday.  We will bring any unfinished parts of our projects home over the weekend to be completed that aren't finished at school.  We will begin presentations on Friday!  A bonus point for those who have everything done!

Homecoming this week along with NWEA!  I did not put them in my lesson plan because we will do the testing in the high school lab if I can arrange it. I had scheduled to do testing on Tuesday but would rather not have them do it while I am gone.  I believe we will do it on Wednesday.  We will also go the parade so whatever we don't get to in my plans this week will be carried into next week.  We will try not to carry too much over.

I will be gone on Tuesday due to a dr. appointment.  The students will be given computer time at the end of the day to wrap up Social Studies reports.  Remember that our library is open on Sunday afternoons and Wednesday evenings if your child does not have a computer that works at home or does not have internet access.  I try to allow time during the school day but our days are very short.

We will begin the art project next week that involves the salt carton (cylinder shape).  The kids are excited to see what it will be!

Please send me an email if you know your child will be gone from school.  I can send their work home the day before.  We use homework as a discussion starter for examples we don't understand.  My mail is karen.christensen@sendit.nodak.edu.   If it does not work for you, kltbek@bektel.com is another option.

This week's plans are now posted.  We worked on our opening paragraphs for our state report.  Students may begin working on these reports at home.  The first draft of the report will be due on Friday.  I will read through them and will conference with the students on improvements. 

We will take our first NWEA test on Thurs. morning.  Please make sure your child gets a good night's rest and eats breakfast.

We are now facing October and the end of our adjustment quarter.  5th grade offers so many new activities and opportunities that it takes the first quarter of the school year to really get on our feet.  The students are settling in and I am proudest of the fact that responsibility is being taken for choices that are made.  Students need to practice skills at home if they aren't clear.  Ask questions and listen to discussion during the class time.  Our homework is practice for assessments.  If your child has not been meeting your expectations, ask to see completed assignments each day.  Your child can return completed work in the morning in time for class with confidence. 

We are also required to do Health and Spelling at school.  These subjects are given time during the day to be completed.  Some chose to do work that can be done at home instead to free their evenings. Students are learning that no homework means being pressed for getting Health and Spelling done.  Great time management lesson. I have explained to the students that they need to prioritize their time.

English and Social Studies will focus on getting state reports done this week.  We will work on them during English time and time will be taken during Social Studies for the students to write their reports.  We will save information on our flashdrives (memory sticks, thumbdrives).  Students may work on the reports at home if you are will to guide your child through the process.   Use the rubric that is the cover of the state report packet to help your child set their goal.

I do run a classroom that sets standards for behavior and expects students to be responsible for assignments, respectful to others and display good character.  This may seem to be high expectations but I have seen a great amount of maturity in this group of students.  I believe that you get what you expect.  I am looking forward to listening to the state reports and giving you the opportunity to see their displays over Parent Teacher's conferences!

Wrapped up another week with summaries and Language skills giving us our biggest challenges.  We will begin the process of paragraph writing next week.  This tends to be time consuming and challenging for students but with practice, we will accomplish the task.  We will retake our English Test on Monday because it was clear after the test that the skill has not been mastered.  Simple subjects and predicates will be reviewed along with compound sentences.

We are having a Science Test on Chapter 1 on Wednesday.   Review on Monday and Tuesday will make Wednesday go well.

State report information has been gathered!  We are ready to begin writing.  We will use the information gathered for the report to build our paragraphs.  This process will get the students started.  We will use our memory sticks (thumb drives) to download the work we have done so build our reports.  Our license plates were made today!

  Have a great weekend!

Ping Pong picture order forms are due on Thurs!  Social Studies test on Thursday!
   Our spelling assessments are only 10 words.  Encourage your student to practice them during the week to make the assessment more successful.
   Begin saving items for the state report shadow boxes.  We will work on them next week. 
 We have been working on summarizing this week in Reading.  This skill will be important as we approach the start of our reports.

Weekly assessments tomorrow!  Fridays put all the practice of the week to the test.   The last part of our State report packets are due.  We will make our license plates and travel posters next week.  Please help your child gather items that will be used for the shadow box.  I am excited to see the finished projects.

  We still need more salt cartons.  Our Halloween art project will not work without them.   We will hopefully finish our string art tomorrow but won't count on it.  It is a challenging project.

Check my lesson plans for Social Studies and Science assessments next week. 

Wow! Week 4!  We are now able to order books on line.  Use the parent code DRDQ7 when ordering books from home.  www.scholastic.com  You can order at anytime and at any reading level.  Find the  bookclub that meets your needs.

Students continue to complete worksheets without actually reading the lesson.  The students hear, "You have to read it for it to make sense." many times.  Students need to read the lesson to be able to be engaged in the discussion during class.

Please call me if you have any questions.  I would rather get a phone call than have you wondering what the expectations are.  Have a great week!

We now begin our third week of school and the pace will begin to pick up.  I am expecting students to know routines and expectations.  Time management will be our biggest challenge.  Spelling tests and Reading weekly assessments will happen each Friday.  We will also begin Math Cum tests which check skill levels on Fridays.  We can hopefull stay with no homework weekends but that is mostly decided by your child.  Keeping up with schoolwork will allow for relaxing weekends.

I will begin posting lesson plans this week.  Please check plans for homework and any additional assignments that we will be working on in class.

If you empty a salt carton, please send it to school with your child.  Box tops are needed also!!!!

Welcome to the 5th grade blog!  Please join us for the in-service on Thurs. at 6:00.  Stay on top of expections!