Happy Friday Families!
Fall is in the air and Halloween is just around the corner! Our students continue to work extremely hard to learn our target concepts and are picking up and practicing strong study skills they have learned in the classroom! Thank you for your continued support at home.
Today we had our October Raffle where the kids could “spend” the raffle tickets they’ve been earning for the last month! Be sure to ask your child how we earn them! If you ever have anything you’d like to contribute as raffle prizes, donations are much appreciated! :)
Also, please remind your child that they must bring their iPad charged each day. We’ve had a number of students forget iPads at home, or bring them without a charge. Because we use them throughout the day, this can be problematic.
Here are the targets / concepts we are tirelessly working to master:
Literacy
Our students are quite invested in our classroom read called The Road to Freedom. It is narrated from the point of view of a young girl who is traveling on the Underground Railroad with her mother in hopes of making it North to freedom. The kids are highly engaged with the text and we are continuing to have many valuable discussions related to topics raised within the story. Because of the interest being demonstrated by the students, we decided to learn a bit more about Harriet Tubman and her role in the Underground Railroad. The kids used a variety of websites to gain knowledge about her amazing accomplishments. The Road to Freedom ties in nicely with the study of indentured servitude that we have been doing in social studies.
Writing
We are using The Road to Freedom as a springboard for various writing activities. Our students are currently learning to write short-constructed responses based on prompts from the story. We are also in the planning phase of our opinion essays which are based on topics/issues related to slavery from the book. Each student chose a topic after the class brainstormed a number of possibilities together.
Math
Our students are currently working through division using a four-digit dividend and and a two-digit divisor. We emphasized the partial quotients and long-division algorithms to solve these problems. Students were given a common formative assessment (CFA) today in order to monitor their progress. Next Monday, our students will move on to our next concept, which is adding and subtracting decimals.
Social Studies
Our discussions continue to revolve around how indentured servitude affected the growth of the early American colonies. We’ve had a number of engaging activities based on this topic. On Wednesday, we read a journal excerpt from an indentured slave named John Halfhead. We then used an active engagement strategy called “Numbered Heads” which involved teams working together to answer questions about the text. The kids really enjoyed it!
Science
We are continuing to learn more about various ecosystems. We are exploring what makes an ecosystem healthy or unhealthy, how ecosystems change, and how humans change ecosystems. Today we took an assessment with the topic of how matter and energy move through an ecosystem. Yesterday we played a team Quizlet game on our iPads which helped us review the important terms.
Reminders
**Tonight is Movie Night for grades 3-5. It begins at 6 pm at Ivy in the cafeteria
**Our next reading log check-in is this Monday, Oct. 24! This students who bring in a completed reading log for each check-in day during October will receive a free Pizza Hut certificate at the end of the month!
**Early release on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 2:00
**Literacy Night takes place at Ivy on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 6:30 pm
**Please remember to send your child with a healthy snack. Nothing feeds the brain like a healthy snack!
**Please continue to have your child practice their multiplication facts up to 12.
HALLOWEEN PARADE AND CLASSROOM PARTY INFORMATION
Parade:
Our Parade Route begins at 1:20 PM on October 31 outside of our southeast doors (near our gymnasium and the buffalo) and the students will continue north on the sidewalk and then head west past the district office around the building, past the playground and end back at the Buffalo. Please keep your fingers crossed that we have great weather! In case of inclement weather, we will have an indoor parade for teachers and students only.
Classroom Parties:
*THANK YOU in advance to all of the volunteers who are sending items and/or helping at the parties! *Parties will begin at approximately 2:00pm and end at 2:45pm.
*Only PTO approved parent party volunteers may attend classroom parties. No siblings are able to attend.
*If you are a volunteer, it is recommended that you have your driver's license scanned into our security system prior to party day so that your badge can be ready for you upon arrival. *All party treats must come from the Approved Snack List and brought in to be checked by the nurse. These need to be at school by 9:00am on October 31st. They can be brought in prior to that and will be kept safely in the office.
Can students go home for lunch to get into costumes?
Students are able to be picked up to go home, it will be during their own grade level lunch period. See below for details:
*Students will meet their parent/grandparent/family member in the foyer of the school.
*Please write a note stating that students will be going home for lunch. Students will give their “going home for lunch” note to the staff members who are supervising pick-up.
*Students need to return to school by the end of their lunch/recess period. 5th Grade lunch and recess runs from 12:00pm - 12:40pm.
*Please write a note stating that students will be going home for lunch. Students will give their “going home for lunch” note to the staff members who are supervising pick-up.
*Students need to return to school by the end of their lunch/recess period. 5th Grade lunch and recess runs from 12:00pm - 12:40pm.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Have a fantastic weekend!
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