Tuesday, April 28th

We continued our Cold War unit with discussing the Cuban Missile Crisis.  We read, "Being President Isn't Easy" from A History of US:  All The People since 1945, and we took notes about the cause of the conflict.  We also discussed current events and how the events during the Cuban Missile Crisis are connected to what's going on today.  Students who are more interested can visit http://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/ for a day-by-day summary of the events from John F. Kennedy's perspective.

During ELA we continued reading and discussing Son.  Students also completed a grammar snapshot.  I'll be using snapshots this term to determine which students need additional small group instruction to master specific standards.  I'll then reassess those students.

Lastly, students continued working with their Exhibition groups.  They worked on narrowing down their questions and they will begin researching soon.

This week's ELA/SS homework is due on Friday and students should read for 30 minutes daily.

Wednesday, April 22nd

Testing is going well.  Today students took the writing portion and I was pleased to see that students used the writing process to produce their essays.  Tomorrow students will take math, and on Friday they will take the science portion of the test.  On Monday, they will finish with social studies.

Our testing time is 10:00am-12:30pm and our lunch is at 1:00pm  Please feel free to send in a snack for your child since we are eating lunch later than usual.

We are continuing our study of the Cold War.  Yesterday we read about Joseph McCarthy and the causes and effects of his witch hunts.  Today we discussed the causes of the Vietnam War.

Source:  "Tail Gunner Joe"  History of US:  All The People since 1945

Source:  "French Indochina"  History of US:  All The People since 1945

We are continuing our work with Exhibition.  The groups are creating their research questions and organizing them into categories based on the concept lenses.  Ms. McFaddin and I are teaching mini-lessons to review proper research techniques, and next week they will begin researching and working with their mentors.  

If you are available to be a mentor, please let Ms. McFaddin or me know.  We still need one more person!

Week of April 20th

Today we continued our economics lessons and we should complete it within the next two days.  We will continue with our Cold War lessons and also review some geographic concepts.  This week's homework is a geography review and students can use the map below if they don't remember the state names and locations.

Lastly, thank you to the parents who have volunteered to be Exhibition mentors.  Also, we begin GMAS testing tomorrow.  If you would like to donate snacks or hard candy (the students like Jolly Ranchers), then we would welcome that.  Thank you!

Exhibition needs...

I want to start off by saying thanks for the recent influx of facial tissues. (We REALLY needed them!)

That being said, we currently need about 10 parents who would be willing to be Exhibition mentors.  This past week students completed the first round of brainstorming so that they could understand the themes and select a topic of interest.  Ms. McFaddin, Ms. Ehmer, and I put the students into groups based on their chosen theme on Friday, and students will begin their inquiry cycles next week.  

If you want to be a volunteer please fill out the mentor information form and email it to Ms. McFaddin or me.  The form and Exhibition informational packet are attached to the right.

Midweek update

This week we kicked off the Exhibition this week and students are working through the idea generation phase.  Ms. McFaddin, Ms. Ehmer, and I are guiding both classes during the topic creation and by next week, they'll begin their research.

In social studies we are continuing our study of the Cold War.  Today we talked about the Iron Curtain and tomorrow we will review the homework.  By Friday we will have also discussed the Marshall Plan and the Korean War.

We also continued our economics lesson.  We talked about opportunity cost, productivity, specialization, and price.  Students learned the definitions of the words, examined the relationships involved, and made connections with historical events.  

We will have our Village Gathering tomorrow at 1:00pm if you want to attend.

Monday, April 13th

This week we are beginning our Cold War unit.  We started today by reading "A (Very Short) History of Russia" from A History of US:  All The People.  We will be working with the same text tomorrow to complete a story trails organizer.  

As a reminder, when we read informational texts, students are also working on their discussion, comprehension, and note taking skills.  Students should definitely share what we have done; however, they will not be able to recite memorized information or relay lesson information verbatim.  If a child can share basics about an activity and/or share a wondering about each day's topic, then that's good for 5th grade understanding.  

Homework:  Vocab, complete the Cold War packet (many students began this before the break & they are allowed to work on it during our homeroom times)