Busy Week

We've been busy in Trailer E.  Please be sure to read the papers in your child's Friday folder about upcoming activities.  Also, visit the link below to see how you can help at our Winter Party.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4aa9a628a75-5thgrade

I wanted to share some pictures of some of the things we've been up to!

Emily Arrow Concert

CPS Breakout- Pax Edition

Kindergarten Buddies

A few reminders...

- Please stop by the school and checkout our Lost and Found!  There are lots of items waiting for their owners!
- Our class has earned another celebration.  Tuesday, November 29th, we will celebrate our good behavior and hard work with a "Sick Day."  More details to come!

Today I am Thankful for my Students

We had fun today learning about the first Thanksgiving and discussing why we are thankful.  We made homemade bread (with the help of my bread machine) and the students shook heavy cream until it turned into creamy butter.  We learned that yeast is actually a live fungus that cause our bread to rise through a chemical reaction. Together we feasted on our bread and butter along with our lunch.

Check out last week's Crazy Hair Day!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Enjoy the time with family and friends!

News from Trailer E

We are nearing the end of our first trimester! I am excited to meet with every family next week at conferences. Please make sure you have your conference date and time. If you need a refresher, please email me.

This week in math, we’ve been practicing multiplying decimals. The students were hesitant at first, but we are starting to get the hang of it. It is a difficult concept to grasp, even for adults, so I have been impressed with their hard work and perseverance this week! We are working on a fun performance task where students have to calculate the cost for a vacation. They choose a destination and have to add and multiply with decimals to figure out the cost of gas, meals, lodging, and admission into a popular attraction. They are realizing how expensive it is to take trips!

In reading students are finishing up their first book club book of the year, students are reflecting on important themes and sharing with the class about their books.

Next week in writing we will working on our Diversity Writing. Students will submit their writing to the Columbia Values Diversity student writing contest. Last year we had several winners from our class! More info about this coming soon.

In Health Science, we've been learning about drugs and alcohol, and ways we can say "no". We will finish this unit next week.

Chicken BBQ Info!

Craig Adams has graciously donated a Day on the STEAM Bus for the auction at the Chicken BBQ.  The winning student’s entire class will get to spend a day on the STEAM Bus doing fun activities.  If parents in your student’s class would like to pool their money together so they have more to bid, this is completely fine.  J  Here is the website for the STEAM Bus if you would like to learn more about it.  http://www.cpsk12.org/steambus

If you would like to order a grade level picture and aren’t able to come to the BBQ or weren’t able to get your name added to the list at the Chicken BBQ, please have your child bring $5 (per print) to Mrs. Ross’s classroom by Tuesday, October 18 and you will be added to the order.  The order will be placed Tuesday afternoon, so we can’t accept any late orders.  Prints will be sent home in Friday folders once they have been printed.  This is a great memento to add to your student’s memory box.  Thank you for your support!

Also, don't forget to sell your BBQ tickets to help our class win a prize for selling the most!

STEAM Bus

Campout Day!

Trailer E Info

This week, we will be wrapping up our narrative writing. Next week we will be publishing those pieces and beginning a quick, fun Monster Narrative.

In reading, we have been working in small groups for intervention and skill practice. I have noticed a lot of students really getting excited about the reading groups. Yeah!

 In math we have been practicing long division, finding factors and solving word problems. Ask your student about the acronym to help them remember the steps of long division.

 In social studies we are finishing up our Native Americans project this week. We have been completing our research in class and recording our information in a group google presentation.  This week students will be working on creating an artifact to share as well.  Students may need to bring some supplies from home for this project. It is awesome to see the creativity and knowledge altogether in one big project.

 Don't forget the Chicken BBQ is this Saturday!! Come check out the silent auction at the Chicken BBQ! Be sure to check out the “Teacher Table” that will have prizes like a day long experience on the STEAM bus for one class, to a grade level picture that will be sold for $5.00, and a chance to win a Lazer Tag game against all the 5th grade teachers! Please consider donating or pitching in with other parents in our class to make the day-long STEAM bus possible for our class. The kids LOVE it!

Pictures coming soon!!

News from Trailer E

Reading & Social Studies:

We've been questioning as we read. We defined the difference between explicit and implicit questions and applied those questions to the book The Stranger. This week we also started reading about Native Americans. We introduced our Native Americans group research project. Students will be researching and presenting about the culture, government, geography, and history of Native Americans. The students seem really excited about this project!

Writing:

After lots of brainstorming and planning, we've finally started drafting our personal narrative. Your student had a lot of great stories to tell, so I'm really looking forward to reading their pieces. They have particularly enjoyed our writing stations and creating a "book cover" for their piece. I'm really impressed with the narrative leads I've seen from the students.  They are doing a great job of "showing" and not just "telling" what happens in their story.  I can't wait to share their writing with you in October.

Math:

In math we are working on multi digit multiplication.  Students are reviewing strategies we learned last year and are applying these strategies to larger numbers.  This week we will be learning about exponents and multiplication expressions.

ATTENTION!  HELP WANTED!

Our music teacher, Mrs. Sharp, is looking for some parent volunteers to help her put together a slide show of pictures for the Veteran's Day Performance.  Please let me know if you are interested in helping!

Check out some pictures of what we've been up to!

Science, Kindergarten Buddies, and Dot Day Fun

Which brand of paper towel is the best? In science this week, we used experimental design to develop a test to help us answer this question.  We identified independent, dependent, and controlled variables in order to ensure our test was fair.  Ask your child which paper towel brand you should buy!

We have been busy in 5th grade!  Last week we met our Kindergarten Buddies and helped them build circuits during MakerSpace.

In celebration of Dot Day, we learned how we can all make our mark on the world.  We can be creative, hard working, and helpful.  We can share our talents and our kindness with others to make our mark.  Here are some pictures of helping our Kindergarten Buddies today.

This week we set up our Ipads!!  We are learning together how and when to use them in class.  So far, they have helped us all to learn to be patient. :)  Today we used an art app called Quiver.  The students designed and colored a "dot".

Then we used the Quiver app to turn our art into a 3D design!  Check it out!

Wow!  Our first full week is already behind us!  The students are already beginning to settle into the routine.  This week, we celebrated the fact that all of us are unique and special in different ways.  While celebrating our differences, we also recognized that when use our individual talents and abilities to help each other, our possibilities are endless.  Here are a few pictures of our student profiles.  See if you can pick out your child's work! (some students' profiles aren't completed yet)

Today, students took their first States and Capitals Test.  Look for those coming home next week.  We spent 15 minutes everyday studying together to learn the states and capitals of the southwest region.  We also found a pretty catchy song (its been stuck in my head all week!) to help us remember the states and capitals.  We will be practicing the states and capitals every week by region until we know all 50 states!

Don't forget to check your child's Friday Folder this weekend!  There is important info from the office, as well as info about clubs such as Safety Patrol and Mrs. McKinzie's Book Club.

Have a GREAT weekend!

Welcome Back!!

Happy Monday!  We are off and running in 5th Grade out in Trailer E!  Tonight your child will bring home their first weekly homework packet.  We talked about and went through these together, so your child should know what is expected of them.  Everything in the weekly packets will need to be completed and turned in on Friday mornings.  For the first couple of weeks, this will be your child's only homework responsibility, but as the year continues they may have occasional homework in addition to the packet. It will seem different at first, but after a few weeks I know they will adjust to the new expectations.  If you have any questions, please send me an email.

A couple of reminders:

• We have library checkout on Wednesdays
• P.E. is on B days
• Please bring a snack and a water bottle daily

4th Grade News

April and May are very busy months in 4th grade!  Be sure to mark your calendars for our upcoming field trips and activities.  April 18-22nd will be RBE's Outdoor Classroom Week.  We will do activities throughout the week to learn how to help improve our school and how we can be involved in our outdoor classroom.  April 22nd is our next spirit day, Be Green.  Students can dress up to show their love for our planet!  Be creative!

Reading Week Fun!

Teachers Dress Up for Book Character Day!

We had such a great Reading Week at RBE!  It was fun seeing teachers and kids dress up for the themed days.  The kids loved hearing books read by our Mystery Readers all week.  Thanks to our volunteer mystery readers!

What's Happening in Room 24?!

Hello 4th Grade Families!

I am excited to share with you our class blog!  This will be a spot for you and your child to check for important RBE dates, upcoming class activities, extra online resources, and general info about what we are doing in Room 24!  I will try to update our blog weekly, but please be patient as I am still learning how to be a "blogger".