Mrs. Holzhauer's 5th Grade Blog 9/23/16

Good Afternoon Families!

Happy Fall!

The fall equinox is scheduled to occur Sept. 22 at 10:21 a.m. EDT, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac. The equinox, which refers to the time of year where night and day are about equally long, will usher in autumn. Summer will be officially over, but don't fret — fall means Halloween, Thanksgiving, pumpkin spice lattes, chunky sweaters, cooler temperatures and colorful leaves.

**You may have been hearing your child talk about using the app Dreambox at school. The district is encouraging students to spend time on this program and they are enjoying it as they do. Below I have listed the research behind this program. I think you will agree that it seems powerful .

“A study was conducted by the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University to explore the effectiveness of Dreambox usage by measuring growth in NWEA MAP data.  3-5 graders who spent 14 hours on Dreambox saw a growth in their MAP results by about 4 points.  Harvard analyses suggest the observed average improvement of students using Dreambox is a linear relationship.  Therefore, it is projected that 3-5 graders who spend 40 hours on Dreambox will show a 10 point increase in their NWEA MAP data.”

Although your student will be spending the majority of their time on Dreambox during school hours, they will also receive it as homework from time to time. I will be assigning them to do problems that augment the specific math targets we are working on in the classroom! This is true of the Tenmarks site as well.

**Did you hear about our first raffle! Many valuable prizes were raffled off! Be sure to ask your child how he/she can earn raffle tickets within the classroom! We will be having a raffle every month!!!

Here are the targets we are currently / planning on working to master over the next couple of weeks:

Literacy

* Our students are currently working on finding the theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic. We just finished our second shared reading book of the year, a story entitled Washed up! It featured three families on a Survival show and the challenges they faced along the way. Today we started a nonfiction book called Rainforest Food Chains. It goes along perfectly with our study of ecosystems in science!

Spelling- 

Next week, we will start our new Words Their Way spelling program. Most weeks, your child will bring home a new set of words to sort and use for homework tasks.  Each boggle choice sheet is due on Friday with three completed activities.

Below is a link with more information regarding our Words Their Way spelling program:

http://www.kcsd96.org/curriculum/Elementary-Literacy.cfm

What is Words Their Way?

Words Their Way supports the CCSS’s Reading Foundational Skills and Language Standards in Grades K–5. The depth and breadth of word knowledge developed through the Words Their Way approach to word study also supports the Common Core’s emphasis on students’ reading more complex literary and informational texts.

Writing

* We just completed our first information/explanatory research project about an ecosystem. Ask them to show you their work in their,  Google Docs. After conducting research and recording these facts on a graphic organizer, your child composed a five paragraph essay about an ecosystem of his/her choosing. Our next writing project will involve researching an endangered animal and composing a brochure to highlight different aspects of the animal's life and endangered status.

Math
Today we took our CFA on the last target in our unit, 5.NBT.4, which consists of rounding decimals! The students did quite well on this! Please look for this CFA to come home on MONDAY. Kindly sign the attached sheet after looking it over and send it back to school with your child on Tuesday. Next week we will spend the beginning part of the week reviewing for our upcoming math unit test on Thursday. Today we reviewed by playing a really fun, interactive game called KAHOOT! Be sure to ask your child about it!

The following targets will be assessed on Thursday's unit test:

5.nbt.1-Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents ten times as much as it represents in the place to its right and one-tenth of what it represents in the place to its left using whole numbers AND decimals.

5.nbt.2-Use patterns in the number of zeros of the product when multiplying a number by Powers of Ten, to determine the placement of the decimal point when a decimal is multiplied or divided by a Power of Ten. Use positive integer exponents to denote Powers of Ten.

5.nbt.3-Write and compare decimals to thousandths using base-ten numerals, number names and expanded form.

5.nbt.4-Use place value understanding to round decimals to any place.

Unit 2 will be starting as October begins. Here is a link to the parent letter for Unit 2.

parent letter Unit 2

Social Studies

* We plan on starting geography in the coming days.  We will start with locating states and countries based on relative location.

Science

 Our current focus is on understanding the makings of various ecosystems around the world. We are working on our unit about Consumers in an ecosystem. Next week we will be dissecting owl pellets in order to bring a hands-on learning aspect to this study. The pellets are like small treasures with many discoveries inside! The kids are so excited about doing this!

Upcoming Events
9/25 District 96 Dash
9/27 Early Release @2:00

9/26- Book fair starts

9/28-6:30-8:00 - Ice Cream Social, Book Fair open during ice cream social

10/3 – NO SCHOOL – District Holiday

10/10 – NO SCHOOL – Columbus Day

10/11 – NO SCHOOL – District Holiday

Girls interested in math and Science look at the information below:

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day – October 13, 2016

Please see the below invitation for the Siemens Healthineers “Introduce a Girl to Engineering” Day in Hoffman Estates. There are currently 50 spots available; registration information can be found below. If you are interested in volunteering at this event, watch for a message next week with information on how to get involved. We hope to see you there!

Rsvp Here

	Girls in Grades 5-12 are Invited!
	On behalf of Siemens Healthineers, we invite you to our Introduce aGirl to Engineering event at our facility on Thursday, October 13, 2016.   Did you know that engineers are changing our world every day? Participate in Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day to learn how creative and collaborative engineering is and how engineers are improving our world and quality of life. We will open our factory to girls in grades 5-12. You'll enjoy a factory tour and learn more about the reasons to love engineering!    There is no cost to attend.

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Mrs. Holzhauer's 5th Grade Blog 9/9/16

Hello Parents!

We are excited to share information about what we are currently working on in the classroom!

Literacy- For our shared reading, we have just finished reading Night of the Spadefoot Toads. The kids really enjoyed it! Throughout the novel we worked on a variety of literacy skills, but focused on finding the overall theme, as well as comparing and contrasting different elements of the story. This novel connected nicely with our current science unit on ecosystems.

Writing- We are finishing up our second narrative story. There has been an emphasis on encouraging students to infuse natural dialogue between characters, as well as utilizing precise language and word usage. 

Math- This week we finished our second place value target which involved using powers of ten. We practiced determining whether numbers had been multiplied or divided by powers of ten. Today we started working on a new target which involves comparing decimals to the thousandths place using base-ten numerals, number names and expanded form. We will take a CFA on this target next week.

Science-  This week we continued our learning about ecosystems. We’ve been learning about how living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem interact. 

Online Homework- Often this year your student will have homework on his/her I-Pad. In reading, we have already participated in discussion boards on Schoology related to assigned readings, such as the ones we completed with some of the chapters in Night of the Spadefoot Toads. Yesterday I introduced the class to a website called NEWSELA. It is a current events site for kids that posts high interest articles paired with comprehension questions. We practiced utilizing the site with an article about endangered cheetahs in the Middle East. Another site we will be utilizing for homework, TENMARKS, will be primarily used for math practice. I am able to assign problems directly related to the math targets we are working on. Students were given their login information, usernames, and passwords. I had them tape this information on the inside cover of their assignment notebooks to easily reference at home!

Reading Logs-  All students should be tracking their home reading on the reading logs that were sent home last week. The weekly reading assignments are due back each Monday for a “check-in” and completed logs are due on the last day of the month.

Girl’s Group- All 5th grade girls will begin participating in Girl’s Group next week! Each session will be a half hour in duration and will focus on a particular skill. If you are interested in viewing the topics and activities, this will be possible through your child’s schoology account. After the first session, your student will be able to show you how to do this. The Boy’s Group will take place after winter break.

**Congratulations to our two new Student Council representatives, Tyler and Siryl! I know they will do a fantastic job!

**Have you heard about our new raffle ticket system? Be sure to ask your child about it! The kids are very excited! We’ll have our first raffle next Friday, Sept.16.

Due Back Monday:

Signed Friday Updates w/math CFA’s

Signed and completed Reading log

Reminders/Upcoming Events:

Tuesday, Sept. 13—Special Lunch (Culvers)

Sun., Sept.25—PTO/District 96 Dash

Have a great weekend!