1-31-14

Homework for the weekend:
READ
Study spelling and vocabulary words, we are backed up due to snow days.  Both tests will be Monday.
Spelling practice sheets are due Monday.

1-29-14

BUSY day today!  The kids are really working hard finalizing the written portion of their biography.  They are looking great.

Homework for tonight:
READ

1-28-14

Homework:
Study for tomorrow's pretest in spelling.
Play study games for vocabulary test on Friday (see links below)
Read 20 minutes
practice book page 217

1-27-14

Wow, another snow day.  I think it is time for all of us to start thinking spring!

What's coming up this week?

Spelling: This week students will be studying words with the vowel-vowel pattern.  We'll be dividing words into syllables.  The students will get the words on Tuesday, with pretest Wednesday, and test next Monday.

Vocabulary: New lists were handed out last Friday.  Students will be testing on Friday, or Monday, depending on how this week goes.

Reading: Our story this week is Mom's Best Friend. We'll be reading it with a partner on Tuesday.  The RC quiz over the story will be on Wednesday.  Our strategy concentration this week is reading CLOSE!! We will be reading for details, not overall story plots.

Grammar: We will continue our work with fragments and run-ons.  The kids are still struggling avoiding these in their writing.  We will also be moving on to the four types of sentences.

Writing: We will continue working on the HUGE biography project.

Mom's best friend vocabulary

Students got their new vocabulary words on Friday.  Their test over these words will be on Friday of this week, or Monday of next, depending on how many days we miss.

Click here to play a matching game to study your words.

Click here to complete a crossword with your words.

Mom's best friend spelling words

Spelling Words

1. poem
2. idea
3. create
4. diary
5. area
6. giant
7. usual
8. radio
9. cruel
10. quiet
11. diet
12. liar
13. fuel
14. riot
15. actual
16. lion
17. ruin
18. trial
19. rodeo
20. science

Challenge Words

1. appreciate
2. variety
3. enthusiastic
4. realize
5. eventually

Our pretest will be on Wednesday, with our final test next week (Monday).  This is assuming we have school every day!

Click here to practice your words.

Link to practice your spelling words

Click here to practice your spelling words for Friday's test!

1-21-14

Spelling bee:
The Knights of Columbus spelling bee will take place on January 29th at 4:00. The students who were interested picked up their paperwork from me yesterday.  The paperwork needs to be filled out and turned in on the day of the event. 

Homework:
Spelling worksheet
READ

Commonly misspelled words

TEST FRIDAY

always

something

our /are

excited

probably

finally

clothes / close

favorite

people

thought

friends

different

school

everyone

might

before

1-20-14

Homework for tonight:
READ
Fragment/run-on worksheet 1-12
Biography introduction

New spelling words came out today!  They are commonly misspelled words for 5th graders.  They aren't too hard, just thinkers. The test will be Friday.

Biography project

You may have heard, from your child, about the BIG biography project that we started this week.  The kids are pretty excited about it! They were allowed to chose a famous person for their biography project.  We began the week learning how to use the internet to take notes.  We talked about how to decide what sites to use.  We practiced skimming and scanning through the MOUNDS of information to find what we needed.  Thursday and Friday of this week we used the laptops to research our people and take notes.  We learned about the importance of note taking techniques, not copying what we find, but putting it into our own words.  We worked on bibliographies.  The students also used the laptops to find pictures and a video clip to include in their presentations. 

This project will continue over the next couple of weeks.  This week we will be writing our first drafts (Monday and Tuesday), and then typing our final drafts (Wednesday and Thursday).  There are several other projects that go with these biographies.  Students will be making "Famous People Bookmarks", acrostic poems, Fakebook pages for each famous person, and more...

The following week we will be learning how to present our biographies (Yes, that means speeches). 

The students were shocked at the number of Iowa standards that we're going to assess with this project.  In the end it will be worth over 200 points! 

1-17-14

Don't forget to study for Monday's vocabulary test. Click on the Link to play a game.

There is no homework for the weekend.

Bullying link

Bully

1-15-14

Homework:
Design a  comic strip using 5 of your vocabulary words.
Spelling students: write words 6-10, 5 times
READ 20 minutes

Book orders are due Friday.

The girls brought home cheerleader notes today, they are due back by Friday.

1-14-14

I spoke with several students today about "cranking up" the at home reading.  There are a few kids that haven't passed in quiz in over a month.  Those who are lagging behind, were told that they had to have a quiz passed by the end of January or they'd be spending some recess time reading.  Remember, reading 20 minutes a night is not optional.  I don't give reading homework most nights, so they can spend time reading.  They aren't going to be better readers without that practice!!!

Spelling test on Friday: homework tonight...write first 5 words, 5 times each

Vocabulary test next Monday. Words were posted today!

Mariah keeps cool spelling and voabulary

Mariah Keeps Cool Vocabulary Definitions
1. amazingly - in a way that causes surprise or wonder.
2. celebration - a special activity that honors a person, event, or idea.
3. decorate - to make festive or beautiful.
4. detain - to delay or hold back.
5. festive - joyful or merry.
6. honor - to show respect for.
7. reluctant - unwilling to take action.
8. spectators - persons who watch an event or performance.
9. suspects - believes without being sure.
10. volunteered - to offer to do something of one’s own free will, usually without
being paid.
11. staples - basic foods or other commodities always produced and sold in large
amounts because of steady demand.
12. stifle - to hold back or suppress.

Mariah Keeps Cool Spelling Words
district address complain explain control
improve farther simply hundred abstain
although laughter mischief complex conscience
partner orphan constant dolphin function
employ sandwich monster orchard extreme

1-13-14

Book orders are due on Friday!

All late assignments need to be turned in by Wednesday, as the end of the quarter is Friday!

Study your spelling....your pretest is tomorrow.  The test is Friday.

Our vocabulary test is Monday.

READING: Today we moved into our new theme.  We are done with Revolutionary War stories, and we are moving onto stories dealing with relationships between people.  We also started discussing genre today.  Tomorrow we will work on inference, genre recognition, and reading with emotion.

LANGUAGE: We have been learning about subjects and predicates lately, this week we are using that knowledge to move into fragments and run-on sentences.    We will also be learning to take notes using the internet, and writing a biography.

1-10-14

The student worked HARD in class today.  We finished up the story of James Forten and all of the quizzes and tests that went with this unit.

We are continuing to work this week and next on sentence structure.  The kids are learning to recognize fragments and run-on sentences, but are still using them in their writing.  We are doing a question of the day. Students have to answer the question with complete sentences, good grammar, correct spelling and capitalization, and they have to be able to support their answers with "proof" from experiences that they have had.

We are concentrating VERY hard in reading on literal comprehension, but we have also started working on more inferential thinking as well.  Students are having to answer questions that aren't always spelled out for them.

We will be writing biographies next week, as well as doing the research necessary to write them.

HOMEWORK:
Read
Some students have late work that NEEDS to be turned in on Monday.
Anyone who did not pass the spelling test has words that need to be rewritten.

1-9-14

Bram's class didn't get finished with their work today, so they will be having their spelling test AND their vocabulary test tomorrow.

Homework: anyone who didn't pass their James Forten RC quiz have to do questions 1-7.
READ

VOCAB test for everyone tomorrow!

1-8-14

Technology:
The kids are asking if it is OK to bring their electronic devices to school.  After consulting with Mr. Thompson, the answer is...if it is OK with your parents :) 
Just so you know the rules...
- they may be used at indoor recess to read and/or play nonviolent games
- may be used during free read if they have books loaded onto them
- may not be used to text, be on Facebook, shop, play violent games
- may not be used outdoors
- If they are out at an inappropriate time, or are being used in an inappropriate way, the device will be taken and they will lose this privilege. 

That all being said, we discussed that I would not allow my own child to bring his device to elementary school!!  Our handbook states that if something happens to it, the school and teachers are not responsible for your device.  If you have any questions, please let me know.


Homework for tonight:
Please study for your spelling test tomorrow and vocab test Friday!
Tic tac toe assignment due tomorrow
READ 20

Crossword puzzle to help study for Friday's James Forten vocabulary test

http://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/bin/crossword.cgi?cmd=solve&filefrag=2014.01/0613/06130043.229.html

1-7-14

WOW...today's shortened day sure did fly by!

Please remember to read each night for 20 minutes.  MANY students aren't passing quizzes like they were at the beginning of the year!

Homework for tomorrow:
James Forten crossword puzzle
TIC TAC TOE: due Thursday

TESTS: Just a reminder that we have a spelling test Thursday and a vocabulary test on Friday.

1-3-14

 It is going to be a cold weekend, stay warm!
Homework: READ

Haugen and Mick: Subject and Predicate worksheet

TIC TAC TOE:  All students need to chose 3 activities to do with their spelling words before next Thursday (test day) Any other activities done will be extra credit added onto their test grades.

Haugen: Wonderopolis question: How many seconds are in a year?

Revolutionary War Extra Credit

The students have 2 extra credit opportunities this week.

They can memorize and present the first two stanzas in "Paul Revere's Ride".

They can also do the Revolutionary War webquest listed below. They will be getting this sheet tomorrow, they don't have it yet!

http://www.uvm.edu/~inquiryb/webquest/sp07/cschmid/index.html

This extra credit work is due on Friday, January 10^th. Challenge yourself.

Name: _______________________

QUESTION SHEET

Now that we’ve discovered that we are taking a journey through the Revolutionary War, make sure you are following along to your Question Sheet and answer the questions by using the information on the screen. Use the “Additional Links” to help you with you questions and find out even more information!

1. Who took the throne of England in 1760?

2. When did the Boston Tea Party occur and who were the protesters?

3. What is an act?

4. Where did the First Continental Congress meet in April of 1774?

5. On what date did Paul Revere exclaim “The British are coming!”

6. Which two men lead American troops in the Battle of Trenton in 1776?

7. What was the date of the Hobkirk’s Hill battle?

8. Name Britian’s prestigious General who surrendered in Yorktown in 1781?

9. Which country became allies with America to help defeat the British?

10. When was the American Constitution created?

11. When was the peace treaty signed between Great Britain and the United States?

12. Name the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence.

1-2-14

I hope you all had a good holiday break!  I know that I missed my school family, but loved spending some time with my home family!!!

Homework: read 20 minutes

Students who don't have 5 quizzes passed will be asked to stay in for recess until they get them completed. You won't become a better reader unless you read!!

We are doing some writing activities around a new website that I learned about at the technology conference last month.  The kids asked for the link to it so they could explore on their own.

Wonderopolis

Today's "wonder" was about the great lakes.  Here is the link to the song that we listened to about The Edmund Fitzgerald.