Friday, December 12th

On Wednesday I asked students to take home the Turn of the Century rubrics for parent check-in.  Students were supposed to share their progress and get a parent or guardian’s signature.  The signed rubrics were due on Thursday and I gave students who forgot one more day to complete the task. 

Over the weekend, please check in with your child about the progress on his or her project.  Our learning celebration is on Thursday and I want to make sure that students are being accountable and completing the required work.  They still have three in-class working days next week; however, I also have other lessons and assessments planned for those days.

If you need another copy of the rubric you can get a copy from the list on the right.  Lastly, if you have any questions about the project and your child is not able to answer them, please contact me.

Thank you and have a great weekend!

Mid-week update

Students continued working on their Turn of the Century projects and tonight they'll be giving parents an update on their progress.  After your child gives you an update, please sign his or her rubric.  The signed rubric is due on Thursday along with this week's homework.

Today we began MAP testing and that will continue through the rest of the week.

Ms. McFaddin and I are still collecting Tybee forms and payments.  If you need more information about Tybee or you need another copy of the form, please visit the Tybee page on the 5th grade curriculum site.

Monday, December 8th

Today students took an RI7 snapshot on Edmodo.  Standard RI7 is focuses on being able to research and find answers quickly in informational texts.  I'll use the results to make my reading groups for the Spanish-American war activity tomorrow.  We then went over this week's vocabulary list and reading response homework.

In order to understand the role innovations and migrations have played in our world, I felt that it was necessary for students to have a basic knowledge of imperialism.  Students analyzed several political cartoons and created a thought map about the reasons/justifications for imperialist actions at the turn of the last century.  This is not an easy topic to discuss; however, I believe that students benefit when they understand underlying motivations.

Then we read Messenger.  Today we focused on identifying the differences in setting.  Students thought about the theme, Control vs. Choice, and related it back to people's relationship with food in each of the three books.

We concluded our day by working on our projects.  Our celebration of learning will take place on Thursday, December 18th, 10:30am-11:30am.  We will have light refreshments and parents will be able to see all of the hard work that students have been doing.

Thursday, December 4th

Today students worked on identifying and writing main ideas and details.  First, they worked with their table groups to find main ideas and supporting evidence in several short passages.  Then they worked in larger groups based on height to make an effective persuasive paragraph.  After each group shared, we evaluated the arguments.  Students determined that arguments based on factual evidence were much stronger than arguments based on opinion.  Furthermore, arguments that were "important" were more effective.  For example, arguments based on safety or essential human needs were more effective than arguments based on toys or recreational activities.

Students then worked with a partner to complete a peer review of the homework reading response.  Students completed at least two revisions and then moved on to work on their projects.  

For your reference, this term's writing assessment will be completed over two days during the last week of the term.  We will be completing class activities, like the ones we did today, to work on crafting effective main ideas, eliminating weak arguments, and revising work.  Students who complete their work and make a sincere effort should have no difficulty on the assessment.  

Wednesday, December 3rd

Students worked on their projects today.  I gave them advice about what notes format to use and provided video sources via edmodo.  Then students worked on their notes for the western cattle trails.  They examined two different texts on the topic and wrote a short reflection.  

Tuesday, December 2nd

Today students learned about direct objects and how to identify them in a sentence.  Then we worked on determining theme.  Students worked in groups to select two themes and they found evidence to support those themes within Gathering Blue.  

Students were then given this term's project guidelines. They will have class time between now and the due date to complete it; however, it's okay if students want to work on it at home as well.

Parents, please turn in your Tybee field trip forms if you have not done so yet.  Thank you.

Monday, December 1st

We had a limited amount of class time today due to the cultural assembly.  We were able to complete our daily grammar work and students completed a snapshot on standard RL2 (theme, mood & tone).  I'll use the snapshot data to make small groups for our literary activity tomorrow.  We concluded our day with discussing the causal relationship between the Civil War and the development of the Western Cattle Trails.

Homework:  Read for 30 minutes each night & complete the ELA and math worksheets.