8/30

There’s a lot happening this week, and I know this message will be long, but I appreciate you taking the time to read it.

First, most students have finished their MAP testing. I have a couple of students who were absent. We’ll do our best to make those up during the next couple of weeks.

Goals

As your students have likely told you, we have a pretty big class this year. Our class size will likely stay the same until at least October 1, and even then, we will not know if we will get another 5th grade teacher. That being said, paying attention and responding to our classroom queues are really important. We’ve had a hard time making good choices as a class as a whole during specials. Our goal this week is to get a 3 (of 5) or above each day in specials. Students know that if they achieve this daily, they get some cool Classcraft rewards, and if they get that 5, they get extra recess. Please talk to your student about their choices and ask your student what they did personally to reach that goal. We’re also working on transitioning from one task to another without talking.

Send Me Your Schedules

Does your student participate in sports, dance, gaming, or something else outside of school? If they do, please send me their schedule. One of my goals each year is to see each student in something they do outside the classroom at least once.

What Are We learning?

In reading this week, we are closing up our understanding of point of view. The student’s sunbursts will be their formative grade for point of view. They are due Friday. If they do not complete them in class, they should complete them as homework.

In math, we’re finishing a unit as well, on place value. Students will have their first summative test on Friday. Students have been instructed that they need to complete 45 learning minutes of Khan Academy math a week. I’ve showed them how to check their minutes. If they are unable to finish it in class, this will be homework.

In writing, we’ll be writing our first piece of narrative writing about what we each “have a hand” in. This will be student’s first formative grade in writing. We’ve worked through picture prompts and students have learned the difference between revising and editing. This week, students will learn how their work is graded and what their rubrics mean before writing their first narrative.

In language, we’ve been completing minilessons on the 8 parts of speech as a group. This week, students will start completing that activity on their own.

In science, we started a unit on living things and created our own biosphere! The kids had a great time. This week, we’ll learn more about the food chain!

Thanks for raising such awesome kids. Please remind them of their goal to only chat when it we are at a conversation level 1 or above. This will help us get through more content and have more time for fun things daily. 🙂