Classroom News

Updated 11/1/09

Topics we are currently working on:

Math:  Everyday we do TWO math lessons.  We do our Warm Up lesson each 
morning when we arrive at school.  Warm Up topics cover a variety of 
concepts, calculations, and problem solving opportunities.  Some problems are 
a review of previously studied material and others are challenging word 
problems.   Our second math lesson is an ongoing unit of study.  We are 
currently reading and interpreting graphs and charts.  Topics we have studied 
in math includes:  place value, multiplication, and long division with a 1 
digit divisor, rounding, factors, prime & composite, properties, rounding to 
the millions place

Reading:  Each week we have many opportunities to read silently, read aloud, 
or listen to others read.  Each day we have an independent reading period.  
Much time is spent teaching children to read, they need to time to actually 
do it! During this period students have to opportunity to read something of 
their own choosing. We also do some shared reading.  Often we read a story 
from our reader as a whole class.  We also meeting in smaller guided reading 
groups.  These groups meet approximately two times a week.  As you know, we 
also read whole class novels. Our next novel is An Owl in the Shower.  I have 
begun reading this aloud to class.  

Grammar:  We study grammar in isolation and try to use what we've learned in 
our writing.  We have studied:  what is a sentence, the 4 types of sentences, 
subjects & predicates (simple and complete), dependent and independent 
clauses.  

Writing: To make writing an easier and more enjoyable activity, we write 
EVERY day!  Sometimes the time is spent on a genre piece such as our personal 
narrative or a DBQ essay.  The rest of the time is spent on journal writing.  
Sometimes journal entries are topics chosen by the student, other times they 
are responses to prompts provided by me.  

Reading Response:  The reading and writing connection is an important one.  
Students must have the ability to explain the thinking they are doing while 
reading both orally and in writing.  To do this, our class has reading 
response notebooks.  In these notebooks, students write me a weekly 
(sometimes biweekly) letter about what they are reading during independent 
reading time.  The focus of the letters is on the thinking strategies 
students are using while they are reading.  

Social Studies:  We are spending much time preparing for the 5th Grade NYS 
Social Studies test.  Time is spent practicing our weekly vocabulary words 
EVERY day.  We are spending time studying geography.  We are also 
practicing reading maps, charts, and graphs. Reviewing old tests is helping 
us to become comfortable with the format.  We are noticing lots of our 
vocabulary words in the test questions.  Time has been spent reviewing NY 
State history, economics, and government. We wrote two teacher directed DBQ 
essays and last week wrote a third with guidance.  This week we will write 
another DBQ essay.  I love the GROWTH I saw in this last set of essays.  Many 
students scored a “4 “(excellent).   Essays were well organized into multiple 
paragraphs.  Most importantly, ideas were supported with details from the 
documents.    Originally, we thought DBQ were hard.  When we work hard, look 
at the great work we can do!

Science: We are studying the parts of an ecosystem.  We are also focusing on 
owls and their role in the food chain.  This week we will review the steps of 
the Scientific Method and will begin our Owl Pellet Dissection Lab.  This is 
very exciting, ask for details at home!!!!

Thank you's:

We'd like to send a big thank you to Mrs. Peek for coming in to help us 
dissect owl pellets.  Identifying the parts can be difficult and we really 
appreciated her help!

Thank you to all the parents who sent in paper products, juice, and treats 
for our Halloween party.  Thank you also to the parents who joined the class 
for the party.  I'm sorry I missed you.