Gray but OK

Another rainy day … but a fairly pleasant one. The fifth graders, or at least most of them, spent a good deal of time getting ready for tomorrow’s performance of MacBeth. The rest of us started off the day in Tech Center where Mr. Seagren went over some of the things that can be done in Google Sites. We watched an animated version of “the Scottish play” so that we can understand what is happening when we watch our classmates tomorrow. We corrected and discussed our homework. I gave the students time to work on their book reports. They are doing, in case you have not yet seen them, book jackets for the books they read. We watched a movie during lunch time - some lame yet oddly entertaining Tim Allen film from the 80’s - while working on homework. With luck, they should not have much to do tonight.

Homework:  (1) Write words in cursive and do sentences for words 6-10. (2) Do the jumble. (3) Finish the book jacket. (4) Do “Adding Fractions 2.” (5) Fourth grade history:  finish the diseño. Fifth grade science:  finish creating the vocabulary crossword. 

Three Day

Our day began in Tech Center. Students did some relatively interesting programming exercises as this is “national coding week” or something of that sort.

Later in the morning, Mr. Alberson worked with them to create three dimensional paper pieces. 

We finished the day with reading buddies. 

Homework:  (1) Spelling practice and words 6-10. (2) Jumble. (3) Equivalent Fractions and Simplest Form worksheet. 

Toy Drive

As you can see, our contributions to the Third Street Toy Drive are off to a good start.

Making students aware of their responsibilities to the less-fortunate members of our city is as important I think as helping them to learn long division or write coherent arguments. And our students have already shown themselves to be deeply compassionate people - well, most of the time - as they work with each other and younger students.

It was a pretty ordinary Monday. The students started with Journal and writing. We went over how to locate fractions on a number line, a particular obsession of modern test makers. We read another chapter, and quite a good one, of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In our grade level blocks, fourth graders explored more about the mission era and how it ended, while fifth graders looked more about both European colonization and chemical reactions.

Homework:  (1) Write the spelling words in cursive and do sentences for words 1-5. (2) Do the Lion, Witch packet for chapter 14. (3) Do the Equivalent Fractions and Simplest Form worksheets. (4) Do the Fractions on a Number Line assignment. This is taken from supplemental Common Core materials rather than from either one of the grade-level books. 

Sunshine Again

It stopped raining! Yes! The students got to go to recess and lunch recess! Yes, Yes, Yes!

We had a great day today. We started off with writing, and then we read and discuss another chapter of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Most fifth graders went to the AstroCamp assembly. Fifth graders also worked on the role of charter companies in the colonization process. Fourth graders studied both the Mexican War of Independence and completed their food webs. They look particularly great this year!

Today we started split recesses. This will give me more time to work with each grade level independently. And it’s really nice to have long stretches of time with only 12 or 18 students. That advantage makes the extra work of two grade levels worthwhile. 

Homework:  (1) Do the cursive practice as usual and write sentences for words 16-20. (2) Do the spelling crossword. (3) Do chapter 13 of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (4) Do the Dividing Money practice sheet. (5) Work on the Equivalent Fractions paper. Both groups are using the fifth grade text today in math. 

Rain, Rain

I know we’re in the middle of a historic drought and all, but I frankly wish it could have rained last week instead of today. Nevertheless, we made it through rainy day schedule with only moderate teacher grumpiness and student craziness.

Most of the fifth graders were working with Mr. Pratt today on MacBeth. Parents, please make sure you can attend this performance. It promises to be amazing.

Homework: (1) Write spelling words twice in cursive. Write sentences for words 6-10. (2) Do the spelling jumble. (3) Do the division of money worksheet. Pay particular attention to remainders:  should you round the penny up or down?

Welcome Back

I hope all of you had a nice Thanksgiving Break. I wish mine had been two weeks - I had more than a week of stuff to do around the house. But it was great to see all the students again. We had a nice day. We worked on narrative writing. We read and discussed another chapter inThe Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Fifth graders did studied chemical reactions and the creation of precipitate using vinegar and chalk. Fourth graders started work on a mission project. More on that later.

Homework:  (1) Write all spelling words twice in cursive. Write good sentences for words 1-5. This should also be in cursive. (2) Divide all spelling words into syllables. This should be done in printing to make it clearer. (3) Complete the Lion, Witch, Wardrobe activities for chapter 11. (4) Do Dividing Money practice sheet. Show all work. (5) Fourth grade math:  Do pages 182-184 and 185-186. There will be a test tomorrow over chapter 7. Fifth grade math:  Do the Common Core Practice papers.