Sunday, December 12, 2010

Week 16: Shapes, Inferring, and Personal Narratives

Welcome to Week 16!  Only 5 school days until Winter Break!

This week is also report card week.  Report cards will be handed to students on Monday at the end of school.  Please sign and return the envelope so that we know you have seen your students report card.  In addition, please fill out and return your classes conference week sign-up for January.  Conference times will be handled on a first come first served basis, so the sooner your student returns it, the better the chance of getting your top choice.

On to the week:

In math we are doing a quick chapter on shapes.  Last week we learned how to identify parallel and perpendicular lines as well as measure angles using a protractor.  This week we will continue with investigations into polygons, triangles, and quadrilaterals.  Students will be able to identify each of the figures and use their knowledge of these figures to determine angles and types of shapes.

In reading we will continue to work on the difficult comprehension strategy of inferring.  We have been practicing and studying how we use text clues as well as back ground knowledge to make decisions on what is occurring within the books that we read.  Although most of us do it naturally as we read, inferring can be a difficult strategy to practice and become comfortable with.  We will continue this strategy as we get into our individual historical fiction books after the winter break.

In writing we are continuing to complete our personal narratives.  Students were asked to complete a rough draft of their narrative by Monday.  This week we will spend a great deal of time editing and revising our stories.  This class has struggled mightily with writing conventions (spelling, punctuation, and grammar) throughout this year.  We will be working very hard on this aspect of our writing this week.  We hope to get a final draft by Friday.

That's it for now.  Thank you for all your support this year!

Sincerely,

Allyn and Alaina
 

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Week 15: 2-digit Division Test, Intro to Historical Fiction, and Personal Narratives

Welcome to Week 15! 

In math this week we will be completing our Chapter 5 assessment.  Students will be doing some peer instruction and practice work to prepare for our test on Wednesday. Late in the week we will start our last section of math before Winter Break which is a quick section on shapes.  It should be a fun way to end a very full first trimester of math.

In reading students will be starting our second genre study with a look at Historical Fiction.  Once again, students will be setup in reading ability groups surrounding a historical fiction text on World War 2.  Prior to receiving their books, students will be given some insights into the second world war and the people that were involved.  In addition, the class will be studying the important comprehension strategy of inferring. 

In writing students will continue to work on personal narratives.  Now that our students have received ample time to play with a few different ideas for their narratives, they will be asked to choose one idea to write their narrative with.  This week and next students will work through the writing process from brainstorming to writing a final draft.

Just a FYI....Ms. Therriault will be out this week.  We miss her, but the classroom has continued to run smoothly thanks to our fabulous students and great guest teacher (Mr. K). 

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

-Allyn and Alaina

Monday, November 29, 2010

Week 14: Two Digit Division, Finishing Realistic Fiction, and Writing

Welcome to Week 14!  We hope everyone had a restful week away from school.  Back to the grind....

In math this week we will continue to look at division by two-digit divisors.  In particular, students will be dividing with 1-digit quotients (answers), dividing with 2-digit quotients (answers), estimating and dividing greater numbers, and finding missing information within a problem.  The kids have done a great job with math these past few weeks.  We have really pushed through some tough topics and the kids have taken it all in stride.  They are showing great persistence!

In reading we will be completing our study in realistic fiction.  Students will be finishing their realistic fiction novels (if they haven't already) and completing their comprehension packets early this week.  In addition, we will practice some of the concepts that we have been working on throughout this section.  These include summarizing, thick and thin questioning, and understanding why a story is a realistic fiction or not. 

In writing, students will be beginning another section of our writing curriculum.  This time around students will be creating a personal narrative. 

One last note, due to a family situation, Ms. Therriault will not be at school this week.  She will be leaving detailed plans for our fantastic subs and Mr. Woods will be doing his very best to keep everything running as smoothly as it does with Ms. Therriault in the classroom.  Thank you for understanding.

Sincerely,

Allyn and Alaina

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Week 13: 2-digit division, realistic fiction, and turkey day

Welcome to Week 13!  It's Thanksgiving week and one of my favorite holidays.  Please remember that Wednesday is a half day. 

In math this week students will be working through two sections.  The first will look at dividing by multiples of 10.  The second sections will be dividing with two digit divisors and getting one digit quotients.  Each of these sections will require a good amount of practice and use of math facts.  Please take a look at your students math this week to see how they are doing.

Speaking of math facts....the kids (and parents practicing with their kids) have done an extraordinary job getting their math facts down.  At the beginning of the year we were very nervous about how low our students were testing in math facts.  So nervous, in fact, that we created a number of incentives to motivate the kids to continue working on their facts.  As a result of their great efforts, the classes averages have risen to great levels.  They went from 22 to 26 in addition, 16 to 23 in subtraction, 13 to 21 in multiplication, and 10 to 18 division problems correct in one minute.  As you probably remember, 25 correct in a minute is the end of the year 5th grade standard.  Amazing!  As a result, we have scheduled some rewards for the kids.  These are: a free recess either this Tuesday or next Tuesday.  A movie this Wednesday.  And a Spirit Day (PJ day) and our half day of reading is on Dec. 1st.  Nice work kids and parents!

In reading this week, most groups will finish their novels if they haven't already.  When the groups are finished, they will be completing a project to go along with their book. These projects will be due the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.  The only group who will not be doing a project is Walk Two Moons. That group will be finishing their book and their packet over the Thanksgiving weekend. Their packet will be due Dec. 1st. 

In social studies we have completed our brief study of explorers. We are going to be moving into our investigation of the settlement of America. Our essential questions are: Why do people move? Why did people move to America?

In the coming weeks in writing, we will be starting to write personal narratives. Look for more information to be coming home regarding writing after the Thanksgiving Break. 

That's it for now.  We hope everyone is able to have a fantastic Thanksgiving Holiday!

-Allyn and Alaina 

 

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Week 12: One-Digit Division Test, Realistic Fiction Continued, and Erosion Test

Welcome to week 12!  One week away from one of our favorite holidays- Thanksgiving!!

This week we will be completing two of the units that we have been enjoying over the last couple of weeks.  The kids have worked tirelessly on their long division as well as their erosion unit in science.  We are very excited to see what each of the kids has taken away from these units.

In math, we will be reviewing our one-digit division unit on Monday with some peer tutoring.  Students who need a review of a section or two will get the chance to practice some problems as well as receive help from a classmate who has mastered the material.  On Tuesday we will test to see what our kids can do.  The rest of the week we will spend getting into our 5th chapter of the year.  This one is very closely related to the present chapter as it is looking at two digit division.  We are very impressed with the overall progress of our kids in all areas.  Our math facts are definitely starting to turn around.  The kids should be proud and excited about their new abilities!

In reading we are going to continue working in our realistic fiction novel study. To help your student, encourage them to add more detail to their answers. They need to use specific examples from the story to support their answer or opinion. Many students are forgetting to support their answer with evidence.  Your students have turned in their reading packets three times now. It would be a good idea to ask to see their packet and review our comments with him or her to help them understand how they can improve their work. This will also give you an idea of how they are doing.

Lastly, in science we will be reviewing many of the concepts that we have hit during our first science unit.  These include systems, weathering, erosion, deposition as well as the use of questions, hypotheses, and procedures during an investigation.  At the end of the week we will test the kids using short answer, multiple choice, and essay format to see what the kids have learned.  We are modeling the method that the science MSP uses so that students will be comfortable with the test when they get the MSP in the Spring.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Allyn and Alaina

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Week 11: Long Division, Realistic Fiction, and Weather and Erosion

Welcome to week 11!  Remember that this is a short week.  We have no school on Thursday the 11th for Veteran's Day. 

This week in math we will be continuing our work in long division.  In particular, this week we will be looking closely at understanding factors, prime and composite numbers, and drawing pictures to get a stronger understanding for an equation.  This is the final week of this first division chapter.  The kids have done exceptionally well.  We have had a high degree of success and are seeing a great deal of confidence in their work. 

In science we will be nearing the conclusion of our erosion and weathering unit.  This week we will complete a third erosion investigation, begin looking at the results or erosion and weathering on our planet, and looking at how other cultures use earth materials. 

We will be continuing the same thread in reading as we did last week.  Here is last weeks description if you would like to read it again (or for the first time)

In reading this week we are going to continue our work in our book groups.  Students are continuing to focus on predicting, questioning and summarizing. However, we are also asking students to answer comprehension strategies. After reading through, and grading, their packets this weekend, we are going to put a big emphasis on how to answer a question.  Students are asked to write in complete sentences. Please look over your student's reading comprehension packet with them to help them understand my notes to them on how they can improve their work.
One way to ensure their answer is in complete sentences is to use the question to start the answer. An example of this would be:  Why did Mrs. Therriault ask me to do this assignment? One way to start this answer would be: Mrs. Therriault asked me to do this assignment because...
Students are also being asked to provide evidence from the story to support their answer. In this case, we are looking for students to use details to explain their answer, use quotes to prove their answer or describe the events of the story in detail. These are all ways students can "use evidence". Saying, "because it said so in the book" will not count as evidence.

Please let us know if you have any questions or conerns,

Allyn and Alaina

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Week 10: Division by 1-digit, Realistic Fiction, Explorers, and Erosion

Welcome to Week 10!  We had a great week last week.  The kids worked hard, showed great leadership, and are showing an improving amount of maturity.  We certainly appreciate all of our students hard work!  On to the week.

In math we will be continuing our 4th unit, this one on 1-digit division.  This week students will be estimating quotients (answers), connecting models and symbols, working with zeros in the quotient, and understanding factors.  The kids have truly begun showing a much higher level of confidence during math time.  They are working hard on learning new concepts and many students are improving on their math facts so that the concepts are easy to complete.  We have noticed that the students that are still struggling with math facts are able to complete the concepts with a high degree of success, but oftentimes their math facts trip them up.  Keep working on those multiplication factors!  THEY ARE THE KEY!

In science we are studying the affects of water over earth materials.  We have discussed weathering, erosion, and deposition.  Last week we completed our first investigation on erosion and deposition.  This week we are going to change the investigation slightly when we add more flow to our streaming water over the earth materials.  Through these investigations students are practicing writing hypotheses, forming procedures to test the hypothesis, writing a conclusion, and re-writing or making stronger our original hypothesis using our new knowledge.  We are working very hard to make each investigation be very similar to what is going to be asked of your student on this years MSP test.  So far the kids are enjoying science and really grasping the concepts well!

In reading this week we are going to continue our work in our book groups.  Students are continuing to focus on predicting, questioning and summarizing. However, we are also asking students to answer comprehension strategies. After reading through, and grading, their packets this weekend, we are going to put a big emphasis on how to answer a question.  Students are asked to write in complete sentences. Please look over your student's reading comprehension packet with them to help them understand my notes to them on how they can improve their work.
One way to ensure their answer is in complete sentences is to use the question to start the answer. An example of this would be:  Why did Mrs. Therriault ask me to do this assignment? One way to start this answer would be: Mrs. Therriault asked me to do this assignment because...
Students are also being asked to provide evidence from the story to support their answer. In this case, we are looking for students to use details to explain their answer, use quotes to prove their answer or describe the events of the story in detail. These are all ways students can "use evidence". Saying, "because it said so in the book" will not count as evidence. 
Each assignment is listed by day of the week and by the book your student has been assigned.  The homework for reading this week is as follows.
Monday: Walk Two Moons(W2M) 9 &10, Junebug(June) 5, Bridge to Terrabithia(BT) 6, Landry News(LN) 8 & 9, and Wild River(WR) 4
Tuesday: W2M 11 &12, June 6, BT 7, LN 10 &11, WR 5
Wednesday: W2M 13&14&15, June 7, BT 8, LN 12 & 13, WR 6
There is no reading homework Thursday or Friday.

In writing this week students will have one last chance to revise and edit their papers. Students will be given a rubric that will explain how their papers will be graded. On Tuesday night, students will be asked to publish their story to be turned in on Wednesday. ANY LATE PAPERS WILL NOT RECEIVE FULL CREDIT.  Students can handwrite or type their published papers.   It will take Mrs. Therriault a little bit of time to grade them since their are 56 papers.  Again, encourage your student to refer back to the rubric while they are publishing to ensure they are producing quality work. While there is not a length requirement, we are looking for quality.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns,

Allyn and Alaina 

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Week 9: Starting our new novel series, Systems and Landforms in Science, and Multiplication is over

Welcome to week 9!  Should be a good week.  We are definitely getting into the thick part of our curriculum so you might see more work coming home to be finished.  Keep checking those planners and asking your kids what they need to complete!

Last week in reading we finished reading Maniac Magee. This week, students will begin novel studies.  They will be reading another realistic fiction book and working on the same reading comprehension strategies as before.  Students will be asked to read at home for homework and come prepared to discuss and answer questions about what they read the night before. Please help your student to get the reading done each night and bring the book back to school.  If they are not prepared, they will slow down the entire group, which is not fair to those who are staying on top of their work.  In addition to implementing the reading strategies we practiced as a whole class, students will also be working on how to answer questions completely.  In order for an answer to be considered complete students must: 1. write in complete sentences using correct punctuation and capitalization. 2. provide evidence from the text to support their answer.  3. answer all parts of a question.  Students will receive direct instruction as to what this will look like and how they can tackle a question.  We will also be giving students feedback constantly throughout their novel studies regarding their answers. They will be expected to read the feedback and correct mistakes as they have been doing in math.

In writing this week, students are working on revising their drafts. We are working on how to help a partner think critically about their own writing and make improvements.  It is very hard for 5th graders to revise because their writing is so personal. By working with a partner, we are teaching students to step back from their work and think about how someone else reads their story differently than they do.  We will also be working on word choice: specifically how to replace over used words such as "said", "nice" and "bad".  Students will have one writing homework assignment this week which will be to create a "clean" copy of their draft.  This will require students to rewrite their draft, including all of the changes they have made to their work.  They need to bring both their first draft and this clean draft back to school.

In math this week we will be taking a pre-test on our multiplication unit and with the results we will do a little peer instruction to fill any holes.  On Thursday we will begin our next chapter which will be dividing by one-digit divisors.  The kids have been working hard on their multiplication facts.  Keep it up!  Those facts will be increasingly important as we move into division and soon into long division (two chapters from now). 

We will be starting our first science unit of the year this week.  This first unit will be based around landforms.  Students will be learning how landforms are created, learn what a system is and how the parts of a system are so important to the results of the system.  In addition, students will begin an investigation into erosion and its affects on land. 

That's it for now.  Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Allyn and Alaina

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Week 8: The Conclusion of Maniac Magee, Multiplying Double Digit Factos, and starting our second writing piece

Welcome to Week 8!  We would like to thanks all those parents that took the time out of their busy days to spend 15 minutes with us and their student discussing the year so far, our assessment scores, and goals we have for the remainder of the year.  We find these quick meetings to be an imperative part of your students education.  Thank you for being here and talking with us.  On to the week...

In reading we are going to complete our first classroom novel Maniac Magee.  It's been a great story that the kids have truly enjoyed, but it has also given us many opportunities to train the kids in how to use reading comprehension strategies, forumlate questions and ideas in their journals, as well as discuss books in small groups.  As we finish this book we are also putting the finishing touches on this training.  As we move into new books we feel as though this first month of work will really pay off and allow each student to succeed in their reading journals, in groups, and find great enjoyment in reading.  In addition, we are going to continue grocking and will have our first grocking quiz this week.

In math, students will be reviewing multiplication with single digit factors and move into multiplying double digit factors.  This will entail learning the steps, carefully writing out problems, and quite a bit of practice.  Please be prepared to help your student practice the steps at home or to fix problems that may have been completed incorrectly.  Also, if you are noticing that your student is struggling through this chapter...I highly recommend checking out his or her ability to use the multiplication facts.  If they don't have the basic facts down, this chapter and the two after this will be increasingly difficult and frustrating.  We highly recommend a website called Multiplication Madness (linked on our classroom website) to get practice and to test your kids. 

Finally, in writing students will be choosing a piece to begin writing a rough draft.  They have each come up with three or four ideas for stories over the course of the past 2 weeks.  Now they need to choose one of those topics to begin writing a rough draft. 

Thanks again for all your support during conference week.  Please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Allyn and Alaina

Sunday, October 10, 2010

New Policy. Please read and discuss with your student

 Dear Families,

We wanted to make you aware of a change in our policy of turning in homework and class work.  Students will be made aware of the due date of any assignment and will be given ample time to work on any given assignment. However, rather than just counting an assignment as a missing assignment that can be turned in any time for full credit, assignments turned in after the due date will not be able to receive full credit.  In addition to not being able to receive full credit on that assignment, students will not be able to attend Reward Time on Fridays.  Students may also be asked to miss recess time in order to complete the assignment.

Example: Sally’s reading assignment is to read two chapters and complete a journal entry.  She was told the assignment is due the following day in order for groups to discuss what is read.  Sally forgot her book at school and did not complete the homework. She is asked to complete the assignment at afternoon recess. She finishes the assignment and turns it in. She produces a great journal entry that would have received a 3. However, because the assignment was late she will receive a 2. Sally will also not be able to participate in this week’s Reward Time.

The reason why we are implementing our policy regarding late work is because we are seeing more missing assignments than is appropriate at this grade level.  Many students are not taking their assignments seriously. We have tried many different approaches to getting students to turn in work. These methods have not been effective so we are reaching out to you to help them understand the importance of homework and school work.  When assignments are not turned in on time, students can miss out on group work, aren’t prepared for further instruction and are not learning the crucial life-long skill of meeting deadlines.  Please talk to your student about the importance of turning in work on time and putting 100% of his or her effort into each and every assignment.

If you have any questions regarding this policy, please contact us.

alaina.therriault@shorelineschools.org
allyn.woods@shorelineschools.org

Thank you for your continued support,

Allyn and Alaina

Week 7: Multiplication, Grocking, Maniac Magee, and Explorers

Welcome to Week 7!  Please remember that this is conference week.  Please attend the conference WITH YOUR STUDENT at the time that was assigned to you.

Although this is a short week, we are doing quite a bit.  Here we go:

In reading this week we are starting our language study. We are working with words that derive from the romance languages.  Students will be learning how to break words apart into prefixes, roots and suffixes. They are also going to learn that these word chunks have meaning.  We call this "Grocking", so when you hear your student using this strange word, you will understand a little bit about what we are doing.  This is a long term unit of study that we will continue to work on over the course of the entire year.  Another aspect of reading this week is our work with Maniac Magee. We are going to use the comprehension strategies that we have been using in isolation together to answer comprehension questions both in small groups and individually.  The strategies we have been using are prediction, questioning and summarizing.  The final part of our reading block is our RtI block. Some students will be pulled into small groups to work on decoding skills (breaking words apart by syllables and sounds).  The rest of the students will be applying our comprehension lessons to books of their choosing.   (Sorry for copy and pasting this....we are planning on continuing this same plan)

In writing this week students are going to examine how writers decide what they should write about. The students have several pieces they have started, but this week they will pick one piece that they will take through the writing process. This means they will be completing a draft, revising and editing and publishing.  The topics will vary since we have brainstormed on several different prompts.

We are going to kick off our social studies work for the year this Friday. We will be learning about the many explorers who came to North America.  Students will be examining three essential questions throughout our Explorers Unit:      What is our history?  Why do people move? How can something new influence someone's perspective on their own life?  Understanding these concepts will help build the foundation for further study on the development of our country which we will explore in depth this year. 

In math we are going to start our 3rd chapter on multiplication.  Students will review the properties of multiplication, use mental math, and estimate products.  The key word to this is REVIEW.  In the 5th grade students should have their multiplication math facts down well enough to be successful during this unit.  If you student is struggling with multiplication there is a very good chance that they do not have these essential math facts down.  If that is the case...practice, practice, practice...and contact us so that we can practice with them at school as well.

Lastly, we will be following this blog with a quick note to all of our parents and students regarding classwork and homework.  Please read the following blog and talk about it with your student.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Alaina and Allyn
 

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Week 6: Adding and Subtracting Decimals, Language Study, and Gathering Ideas for Writing

Welcome to week 6!  Thank you so much for a great turn-out at our Curriculum Night on Thursday.  We had a good conversation and we hope that all of our parents came away from our meeting with a better understanding of our expectations this year.

On to the week...

In reading this week we are starting our language study. We are working with words that derive from the romance languages.  Students will be learning how to break words apart into prefixes, roots and suffixes. They are also going to learn that these word chunks have meaning.  We call this "Grocking", so when you hear your student using this strange word, you will understand a little bit about what we are doing.  This is a long term unit of study that we will continue to work on over the course of the entire year.  Another aspect of reading this week is our work with Maniac Magee. We are going to use the comprehension strategies that we have been using in isolation together to answer comprehension questions both in small groups and individually.  The strategies we have been using are prediction, questioning and summarizing.  The final part of our reading block is our RtI block. Some students will be pulled into small groups to work on decoding skills (breaking words apart by syllables and sounds).  The rest of the students will be applying our comprehension lessons to books of their choosing. 

In writing this week students will continue to learn new ways to gather ideas for their own writing by examining two different stories.  Students will have time to brainstorm writing ideas and start writing two different stories. We are not yet asking students to complete one piece, rather we are showing them that it is ok to have several started before committing to one to take through the writing process.  This reduces the stress that many students feel when they are asked to write.  We are still using our writing time to continue to build our writing community as well so they feel safer to share their writing with their peers.

In math we will be concluding our subtracting and adding numbers with decimals unit.  This week we will review a few of the concepts, do a little peer instruction to make sure everyone has mastered the unit, and take our end of topic test.  The kids are working hard at their math and are beginning to turn the corner.  We are seeing more work completed, more attention to detail, and a much greater amount of enthusiasm for math.  These are all great signs!

Just two final reminders.  We are still collecting conference forms and soon we hope to be sending home a time and date for you and your student to come in and conference with us.  Be on the lookout for those.  Lastly, remember that Friday is a teacher in-service day.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns so far,

Thanks,

Allyn Woods and Alaina Therriault

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Week 5: History of Language, Maniac Magee, Adding and Subtracting Decimals

Welcome to week 5!  Remember that we have Curriculum Night on Thursday the 30th.  4th through 6th grade classrooms will be presenting from 7:30 to 8:00 and of course the PTA will have information booths setup in the cafetorium beforehand. 

On to the week:

This week in writing we will be continuing to work through our new writing curriculum.  The kids have truly enjoyed working through the first few exercises of this curriculum.  We can already see that the kids are more interested and excited to be writing down their thoughts. 

This week in reading we will be continuing to move our way through Maniac Magee.  We will continue to work on summarizing, questioning, and learning how to discuss those topics within small peer groups.  In addition, we will be starting our investigation into the history of language.  We will be learning about how the English language has come about from pieces of the latin and romance languages.  With this investigation we will begin to grock each day, which means we will be learning the meaning of roots, prefixes, and suffixes.  It should be very eye opening!

This week in math we will adding and subtracting numbers with decimals.  In addition, we will be beginning to pull small groups of students during our afternoon periods to work on some of the holes that they have in their learning as well as teaching students math fact strategies.  We are very hopeful that this extra effort will help all of our students become more confident and successful in math this year. 

That's it for now.  Remember curriculum night on Thursday is a great time to come and meet us and ask any questions that have come up during our first month of school. 

Thanks

Allyn Woods and Alaina Therriault

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Week 4: Our New Writing Curriculum, Adding and Subtracting Whole Numbers and Decimals, and Reading Comprehension in Maniac Magee

Welcome to week 4!  We apologize for our late post.  We were not able to post over the course of the weekend.  Here we go:

Over the next four weeks, students will begin using our new writing curriculum, Being a Writer.  In the first unit, students will begin to see themselves as contributing members of a writing community. We will hear  and discuss examples of good writing and begin to learn about the writing practices of professional authors.  They will explore pre-writing techniques and write freely in their writing notebook about things that interest them.  They will also learn cooperative structures that they will use throughout the year, as well as discussion prompts to help them listen and connect their comments during class discussions.

In reading we are going to continue working with Maniac Magee. We are practicing four main reading comprehension strategies: predicting, clarifying, summarizing and questioning. Through group discussions, students are learning when to use the three strategies and why they are valuable to good readers.  They are also learning how to identify a theme within a book and how their personal experiences will impact their understanding and connection to that theme.

In math we are going to be investigating adding and subtracting of whole numbers and decimals.  This week in particular we will be focusing on mental math, rounding whole and decimal numbers, and estimating sums and differences.  These topics begin to get more complicated as we move along.  Please be prepared for students coming home with math work to completed.  If you ever have any questions about these problems please feel free to email Mr. Woods at allyn.woods@shorelineschools.org.

In addition we are going to continue our team building activities on Friday as well as reward our students' outstanding behavior and excellent work ethic with reward Fridays.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Allyn Woods and Alaina Therriault

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Week 3: Revising Rough Drafts, Comparing Values of Decimals, and Beginning Maniac Magee

Welcome to Week 3!  Already the weeks are flying by.

The past two weeks have been fantastic.  The kids have reacted to the large class size with great excitement and an amazing level of maturity.  It seems as though the instructors are the only ones fazed by the larger number of faces in the crowd.  As a result, we have been able to coast through all of the beginning of the year assessments and now we are ready to get into our curriculum.

In writing students have been putting together a rough draft of a moment in time during their summer.  They are asked to write about this moment of their summer in real time (getting away from past-tense is hard) and include details as well as dialogue.  With this writing project we are able to work through the writing process.  This week we will be finishing our rough drafts, revising, and starting to publish our work. 

In reading we will be starting our very first novel series with Maniac Magee.  This is a great realistic fiction that the kids are going to love.  It will allow us to investigation the genre of realistic fiction, begin to work in literary circles (discussion groups), and work on the components of strong reading comprehension (making connections, questioning, and visualizing).

In math we will be continuing our investigation into place value.  This week we will be looking at numbers with decimals and their value.  Students will be comparing and ordering these numbers.  In addition, students will get their first chances to work as peer instructors as we prepare for this sections test. 

That's it for now.  Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

-Allyn Woods and Alaina Therriault-

Monday, September 6, 2010

Week 2: Introduction to Realistic Fiction, Numeration, Writing, and Communication in Groups

Welcome to Week 2!  We had a fantastic week 1 with some beginning of the year assessments, a few small writing assignments, and some great team building activities as well as community meetings.  We are going to continue our strong start during Week 2. 

Thank you for checking the 5th Grade Blog!  We are extremely happy to see parents that want to know what is going on in their student's classrooms.

This Week:

In Writing: We will beginning our first real writing assignment.  Students will be writing a narrative about their summer.  Students will be using this narrative to work through the writing process from pre-writing to the final draft.  We will allow students time during the school day to complete each step, but we do expect students to take their work home if they are unable to finish in a timely manner. 

In Math: We will be starting our new math curriculum with a review of numeration.  This week students will be investigating place value, comparing and ordering whole numbers, and decimal place value.  After our beginning of the year assessment, it looks to us like this will be an easy first chapter for most of our kids (they did real well on this portion of the beginning assessment).  In addition, we are looking at starting a daily math fact warm-up to help our students with their confidence on math facts. 

In Reading: We will be starting our first novel series with a great book called Maniac Magee.  During reading this week we will be learning how to discuss novels in small groups and talking about some of the themes of Maniac Magee (family and nicknames).

Lastly, we will be continuing to build our sense of community in the 5th grade classrooms.  This week we will be working on communication.  We believe that this will be one of the most important aspects of working as a group.  Needless to say, we will be working on this aspect all year long. 

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Allyn Woods and Alaina Therriault

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Week 1: Getting Situated, Math Assessment, and Working as a Community

Welcome to the 5th grade!  We are excited to have a wonderful group of 5th graders.  We know most of the students from our years teaching PE and the third grade.  It will be fantastic to already have these positive relationships as we begin another exciting year. 

We are very happy that you have found the Ridgecrest 5th Grade blog.  This is the place to come to get weekly information about what will be happening in your students classroom.  Also check your students boomerang every Tuesday evening for other classroom insites, but this will be our major line of communication with each of our 58 families.  If there is ever a time when you want to make personal contact with your students teacher, we highly recommend emailing us.  (allyn.woods@shorelineschools.org and alaina.therriault@shorelineschools.org)  Neither of us check our voicemail often and it is very difficult to catch us in our classrooms after school, but we check our email constantly during the day and all evening.

This year the 5th grade classrooms will be trying a new setup to allow all of our students to achieve success.  We have decided to team teach every subject with our classrooms wall open.  Given that we have never done this before students, teachers, and parents will need to have some patience and flexibility.  We have numerous reasons for this teaching system.  #1.  This will allow each of us to concentrate on areas of expertise.  #2.  This will allow our 5th graders to build a stronger 5th grade community.  #3.  This will allow us to differentiate instruction to allow students at all levels to find success within our curriculum.   

During this short week we will be getting settled into our classroom, getting to know our classroom routines, and beginning our on-going work in leadership and team building.  In addition, we will start our beginning of the year reading assessments, math fact tests, and a math beginning assessment.  In addition, we will be making names tags, holding class meetings, creating art folders, and playing some get-to-know-you games.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Allyn Woods and Alaina Therriault