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.