Thursday - December 17

Today students finished the math BAs during math time.  

In readers' workshop, we read a book called Uncle Jed's Barber Shop.  Students learned about multiple layers of meaning.  Although Uncle Jed really wanted to save up to build a barbershop, he ultimately just wanted to help other people. We learned many times authors are teaching us ideas about how to live our lives.

In writers' workshop, we are finishing up our narrative writing unit with a mini-unit on Mysteries.  Students learned about different ways to add clues to their writing so the reader can figure how who committed the crime.

In science, student reviewed using a jeopardy review game.

Homework:
- 30 minutes of reading
- study for science

Reminder:
- School is in session December 21st and 22nd
- We are going to watch a movie December 22nd in the afternoon

Wednesday!

Students worked so hard on their math BA this afternoon.  I was impressed, most students felt very prepared.  We have a couple of students that need to finish tomorrow; most students finished today.

In writers workshop, students learned about the genre of Mystery. We read a few mysteries and created a chart that explains all of the essential parts to a mystery: suspects, detectives, problems, clues, motive, and solutions.  Students were excited to get started after the lesson.  

Homework: 
-30 minutes of reading
-study for science BA

Reminder:
-Science BA Friday

8th graders visit WLE

Today the 8th graders from Sarah Banks band and orchestra came to visit.  They brought the instruments and played a short concert for us.  They played a lot of awesome songs and demonstrated each type of instrument that they brought.  The 5th graders have to make a decision whether to try for band or orchestra or neither.  The students really enjoyed the concert.

Tomorrow, we will not switch classes because of the math BA in the afternoon.  Students will have plenty of time to complete the test.  They might even have time to study for their science BA which will be on Friday.

Homework:

-Review for math and science BA

-30 minutes of reading

Reminders:

- Reedbuck exchange and parent signature check on planners

Monday - December 14th

Today students in readers' workshop, wrote about their book club books.  They wrote a claim about a character in their book. (i.e. In the book, Holes by Louis Sachar, Stanley is brave.)  Then using reasoning and evidence from the text, they proved their claim to be true.  One added strategy students have learned is using a direct quote from the text.

In word study, students learned about a Tier II word; SEIZED.  Students had to draw a picture, write a sentence, and define the word.  Eventually I will be quizzing them on these new words!

In science and math, we are reviewing for BA.  Math BA is on Wednesday of this week and the Science BA is on Friday of this week.

Homework:
-30 min of reading
-Math review questions
-Science studying

Reminders:
-Last day before winter break: December 22nd

Another great week!

Today, student participated in the hour of code. Mrs. Miller's 3rd grade room and Room 15 combined to work through an awesome coding project. The fifth graders enjoyed working with the 3rd graders and were overall surprised at how much fun coding could be.  Talk to your child today about their coding experience.

If you would like to learn more visit code.org or hourofcode.com

Homework:
- Math Review
-30 minutes of reading

Reminder:
-Math BA: Dec 16th
-Science BA: Dec 18th

Reactants

In science, students proved that when bubbling and fizzing occurs during a chemical reaction it creates a gas.  They put baking soda, water, and citric acid into a ziplock bag and when they mixed, the bag inflated proving that gas was being created.

In math, we continued to learn about Fractions of a Number.  Students had more difficult problems that included fractions of smaller numbers. For example, 1/3 of 2.   Then students applied that to a recipe assignment in Mrs. Rohde's room

Homework:

- 30 min of reading

- Home Link

- Social Studies - planning a story

Chemical Reactions

In science, students are learning about chemical reactions. Students combined citric acid and baking soda with water to create a chemical change.  Next, they wrote in their science notebook their observations. Some students wrote that they saw fizzing and bubbling, other students noticed that the liquid became cooler.  Any time a chemical reaction occurs something new is created, and students are trying to figure out what new substance was formed.  We will find out for sure, tomorrow.

During writers' workshop, students published their Robot Stories.  They are bringing home a copy of it tomorrow.  Their abilities in writing narrative stories have improved greatly.

In math, students continue to work on fractions. Today they learned how to find a fraction of a whole number (1/2 of 22 or 1/6 of 30)

Homework:

- 30 minutes of reading

- Home Link 3.13

Peer Revision and Book Clubs

Today students worked together in writers workshop to revise and edit their robot narratives.  By using a checklist, students first looked to improve structure of the story which includes their lead/opening, transitions, ending, and how well it was organized. Next, students worked at revising how they elaborated. For example, students focused on their characters, setting, and plot and worked together to thoroughly develop these elements.  

Book Clubs began yesterday.  Each student is in one of 4 different book clubs. Last week, we previewed each book and students had some input on which book club book they'd be most interested in. We decided on reading My Life as a Book, Masterminds, Olive's Ocean, and 39 Clues: Maze of Bones.  Students will be reading about 10 pages a day and meeting with me twice a week to discuss their book.  When they are not reading their book club book, they are still in charge of reading a Just Right book.  Ask your child about the beginning of their book club book.

Another GREAT week!

Today students worked so hard on their narrative writing. I've challenged students to use facts from an informational article about robots and incorporate the real facts into their narrative writing. Your child is working so hard to include all of the elements of narrative writing along with this added task. Ask your child about their robot story.

In math students continue to use fraction circle manipulatives to add and subtract fractions.  Today, the focus was on finding equivalent fractions so your child could add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators.  Tonight's home link reflects this practice.

Homework:
-Home Link 3.9
-30 minutes of reading

Reminder:
-Return Friday Folder on Monday
-Holiday Shop: December 8th @ 11:30

Thursday, December 3

Students have been challenged by their 5th grade teachers to master their multiplication facts in a timely way.  The students are practicing using a website called Math Magician.  We challenged students to complete the MIXED problems; they have to master this 3 times.  If students were able to complete the 3 timed quizzes, they do not have to do extra multiplication work.  If they didn't finish the quizzes, they will be working closely with me to learn their facts.  Our goal is to have all 5th graders be proficient with their basic math facts.  Try math magician yourself at the link below:
click here.


In math, students are continuing to work with renaming fractions and adding/subtracting fractions. Any time your child needs extra help they can go to the ConnectED website.  In the front of their planners, they have a username and password on a printed label. They can access the current or previous lessons, math games, and the math student reference book.
Click here for a tutorial on how ConnectED works.

Homework:
-Home Link 3.9
-30 minutes of reading

Reminders:
Holiday Shop: December 8th at 11:30 AM

Monday!

Today in readers' workshop, students read a book called Voices in the Park.  This sophisticated picture book has multiple layers of meaning and symbols. Students applied a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, and evaluate the text.  

In math, students used their knowledge of fractions to check if their answers to fractional addition was reasonable. By estimating fractions to 0, 1/2, or 1, students were able to check their work.  

Homework:
- Math game
- 30 minutes of reading

Reminder:
Holiday Shop - December 8 at 11:30 AM

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Today, students in science learned about concentrated and diluted solutions.  I created 2 solutions of Kool-aid; one had a lot of solute and the other had a little.  Students compared the 2 Kool-aid solutions (taste, smell, and color) and created a definition for each term.  They loved taste-testing the experiment.  

I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy time with your amazing kids.

Mr. Reed

Tuesday Science

Today, students learned about the word solubility in science. For the past few days, we've been experimenting with citric acid and salt.  Students have created saturated solutions with these substances.  By adding spoonful after spoonful of these substances into water, students eventually noticed that no more salt or citric acid would dissolve.  Almost all of the students agreed that they would dissolve differently, but they were surprised to see how much one dissolved more than the other in 50 ml of water.  Ask your child today, which substance was more soluble in water: citric acid or salt. And of course, ask why?

Homework:
-Home Link 3.4
-30 min of reading

Reminder:
-Please sign your child's planner

Diversity Project with our K Buddies

Today, students worked with a Kindergarten buddy.  They teamed up to color a kaleidoscope picture together. When the kids are finished, we are going to cut out the work and glue them together.  I was so proud of how the 5th graders maturely worked with their Kindergartner.  

We worked a long time today going over the math BA.  I'm sending it home so you can see how they scored.  The very last page has a spot for your signature.  Please take a look, sign the BA, and return the entire test by Tuesday, November 24th. 

Homework:

-Home Link 3.2

-30 minutes of reading

Have a great weekend!

Social Studies BA day

Today in writers' workshop, students worked on using more sophisticated transition words to write clearer fiction stories.  Using the transition word list and the beach photo, students had 5 minutes to quickwrite a story practicing transition words, figurative language, openings, etc.  Using the lesson, students continued writing their fiction story.

In readers' workshop, students read a short story called A Bad Road for Cats finding evidence of how the main character changed over time. They wrote an essay on how the main character, Magda, very harsh and strict in the beginning of the story, transformed to a forgiving person. Your child used evidence from the text to back up their claim in the essay.

Today in math, all students finished the math BA (scores will be given tomorrow).  We moved on to unit 3 and we're learning about fractions as it relates to division.

Homework:
-Home Link 3.1
-Math Journal pg. 71, problem 4
-30 minutes of independent reading

Michael won Ga-Ga Ball today (you're welcome, Michael)

Geography Information System

Today students had an exciting lesson from Mr. Malone about Geography Information Systems.  Mr. Malone explained to students how incredible amounts of (BIG) data are transformed for people to 'read' the information more clearly most often in the form of a map. Students were taught different forms of maps that show information for example, a tsunami risk area map and Ann Arbor's fire department travel time map. Thank you, Mr. Malone.

Students worked very hard on their math BA.  Many students will need additional time tomorrow.  

Homework:
-30 min of reading

Reminders:
- Send your child to school wearing orange on Thursday Nov. 19th for diversity week
-Planners will be checked tomorrow for signatures

Tomorrow's P/T Conferences

Today, students and I met to go over their report card.  We talked about how they felt the first marking period went.  Students identified areas that they were proud of and areas of the day that they needed to work on.  By the time we were finished, students agreed to set goals for the next marking period and then they created 2 goals in areas that they wanted to work on for the next few months. 

Tomorrow is parent/teacher conferences. Please see the list below for times.  Please knock on the door (room 15) when it is your conference time; I know it can be uncomfortable but it helps me stay on pace. Thank you and see you tomorrow.

9:20 - 9:40	Lizette
10:00 - 10:20	Bryan
10:20 - 10:40	Megan
10:40 - 11:00	Adam
11:00 - 11:20	Nayuta
11:20 - 11:40	Jude
11:40 - 12:00	Autumn
12:40 -1:00	Gabby
1:00 – 1:20	Anush
1:20 - 1:40	Eduardo
2:00 - 2:20	Gaby
3:40 - 4:00	Chris
4:40 - 5:00	Judith
5:00 - 5:20	Preston
5:20 - 5:40	Kaitlyn
5:40 - 6:00	Haider
6:00 - 6:20	Joey
6:20 - 6:40	Sophia
6:40 - 7:00	Marie
7:00 - 7:20	Suhani
7:20 - 7:40	Michael

Tuesday

Today, students in Readers' Workshop learned a strategy to track characters of books.  Students practiced this strategy on our read aloud book, Holes.  By keeping track of characters and by thinking about who the characters are as people (i.e. brave, cooperative, etc.), students can grow ideas about while reading and comprehend stories at deeper levels.  This character mapping strategy will eventually be independently done within your child's books.

In Writers' Workshop, students continued to practice embedding figurative language into their writing.  Students also learned how to add more descriptive words to their writing in a more sophisticated way. For example, The evergreen trees, green and pointy, spread across the horizon.

In math students are still learning long division. We've started talking about remainders and what to do with them.


Homework:
-Home Link: division practice
-30 minutes of IR

Reminders:
-Thursday is parent/teacher conferences

Another Great Week

Today in Readers' Workshop, students learned more about figurative language. Students are learning about figurative language to ultimately use it in their writing.  However we just started learning about them in Readers' Workshop.  Students learned about metaphors, similes, idioms, alliterations, hyperbole, personification, and onomatopoeia. 

In Writers' Workshop, students had a publishing day where they took pieces of writing that they've been working on in their notebooks and typed them in google docs. Students shared these pieces with me and other students for peer revision.  We will continue to learn about narrative fiction for the next couple of weeks.

Student received their Science BA scores and we also had time to go through the BA together.  Overall, students did well.

Homework:
-30 minutes of reading
-Study Link (long division)

Reminders:
-Thursday, November 12th is Parent/Teacher conferences

9:20 - 9:40	Lizette
10:00 - 10:20	Bryan
10:20 - 10:40	Megan
10:40 - 11:00	Adam
11:00 - 11:20	Nayuta
11:20 - 11:40	Jude
11:40 - 12:00	Autumn
12:40 -1:00	Gabby
1:00 – 1:20	Anush
1:20 - 1:40	Eduardo
2:00 - 2:20	Gaby
3:40 - 4:00	Chris
4:40 - 5:00	Judith
5:00 - 5:20	Preston
5:20 - 5:40	Kaitlyn
5:40 - 6:00	Haider
6:00 - 6:20	Joey
6:20 - 6:40	Sophia
6:40 - 7:00	Marie
7:00 - 7:20	Suhani
7:20 - 7:40	Michael

Conference Schedule Next Week - Thursday 12, 2015

Take a look at Room 15's conference times, please let me know if the time you signed up for does NOT work for you.

Conferences will be held in our room on Thursday 12, 2015.

Thank you

9:20 - 9:40	Lizette
10:00 - 10:20	Bryan
10:20 - 10:40	Megan
10:40 - 11:00	Adam
11:00 - 11:20	Nayuta
11:20 - 11:40	Jude
11:40 - 12:00	Autumn
12:40 -1:00	Gabby
1:20 - 1:40	Eduardo
2:00 - 2:20	Gaby
3:40 - 4:00	Chris
4:40 - 5:00	Judith
5:00 - 5:20	Preston
5:20 - 5:40	Kaitlyn
5:40 - 6:00	Haider
6:00 - 6:20	Joey
6:20 - 6:40	Sophia
6:40 - 7:00	Marie
7:00 - 7:20	Suhani
7:20 - 7:40	Michael