April 29, 2011

• Journal: List animals you would like to interview if they could talk for a day.
• Spelling Test
• Computers - Studyisland.com
• English - Subject-Verb Agreement: English pg 143
• Reading - finished the Bill Peet and Alex Rodriguez autobiographies
• Math - finished the area and perimeter worksheets, they are due Monday
• Science
• ABA

We spent some time playing battleship this afternoon, and I just about missed the buses.  I lost track of time, but we made it at the last second.  Have a great weekend. 
Core Testing begins Monday at 9:00 for our class.

April 28, 2011

• Journal: What are things you would like to win for a prize?
• English - Past Tense Verbs and Future Tense Verbs: English pg 140 (all) pg 141 (1-20)
• Computers - studyisland.com
• Spelling pre-test - Final test tomorrow
• Reading - Autobiography of Bill Peet and Alex Rodriguez: Make a prediction, then write the main idea and some details from the stories.  Students will be given more time to finish the assignment tomorrow.
• Math - Area and Perimeter - Students will be given more time to finish the assignment tomorrow. (I allowed students to use calculators on today's assignment.)

Have a great afternoon! 

April 27, 2011

• Journal: What are some things you do well?
• English - Present Tense Verbs: pg 140
• Computers: studyisland.com
• Spelling - Students quizzed each other on the spelling words.  The pre-test is tomorrow, students get bonus points if they get all 25 words spelled correctly tomorrow.
• Reading - We read part of an autobiography called: Langston Terrace.  It was about a girl growing up in a low-income housing development project in Washington. Students will be DIBELS testing tomorrow.  To do well on the DIBELS test they need to read the passage accurately at an appropriate rate for fifth graders (130+ words per minute).  Then they need to give the main idea of the passage and list several details from the story in sequential order.  We've been practicing a lot in class, but it wouldn't hurt for students to hear these things from their parents as well.
• Math - We are reviewing for the end-of-year tests.  Today students were assigned a worksheet that has some angle, coordinate grid, and area of parallelograms review.  Studyisland.com could be a great review for them.  The area questions on studyisland are difficult for most students, one-on-one help would be very beneficial.
• Science - review
• P.E.
• Social Studies: Rights and Responsibilities - from page 323 in the textbook, students were asked to list five rights, with their corresponding inherent responsibilities found on that page. I asked them to present the assignment in a two-column chart.  We did a lot of it together in class.

Have a great afternoon.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  Thanks for checking the blog!

April 26, 2011

• Journal: What do you like to put on the birthday pages?
• English - Main, Helping, and Linking Verbs: pg 138 (all); pg 139 (1-12)
• Computers - Training for end-of-year testing
• Library
• Math - We have been reviewing the information on the reference sheet, today we focused on finding the area of parallelograms: Mouse and Pizza worksheet
• Science
• Art
• Social Studies - the Bill of Rights and Citizen's Responsibilities

Have a great afternoon!

April 25, 2011

• Journal: Tell me about a goal you have for yourself this week.
• English - Direct Objects: pg 137
• Computers - studyisland.com - Elementary Language Arts - Comprehension
• Spelling - new list, see the spelling page on the right side of this blog
• Buddy Readers - It was the last time this year.
• Math - reviewing area and perimeter topics: no assignment from the textbook.
• Science
• Music
• This afternoon we made birthday pages for three students who have birthdays tomorrow

Have a great afternoon.

April 20, 2011

• Journal: If you had a choice between being invisible or being able to fly, which would you choose and why?
• English - Action Verbs: pg 136.  We corrected the cumulative test.  I am allowing students to correct the problems they missed and turn it in again for full credit.  The test went home with them on Wednesday.
• Computers - studyisland : comprehension
• Spelling Test
• Math - Test 23
• Science
• P.E.
• Social Studies - Every student has taken the Social Studies Chapter 9 Test.  I reviewed the content with the class and encouraged them to make corrections and turn the test in again. Some of them took the test home to make corrections, that is fine.  Please just make sure it comes back on Monday.

I'm sorry I am writing the blog update a day late. I have had car trouble and needed to carpool with another teacher.  I wasn't able to get to the blog yesterday before leaving school.  Have a great spring break everyone!

April 19, 2011

• Journal: What did you work on in art yesterday?
• English - Test on Units 1 and 2
• Spelling - We did not have time to practice the spelling words at school today, but students got a handout of the words, they have written the words in their planners, and they are review spelling words.  We will have the test tomorrow.  The spelling tests are a big part of the Language Arts grade.
• Library
• Math - Multiplying Mixed Numbers: no assignment.  For the battleship reward students were given a day without math homework.  We worked on study island in teams during independent work time. Test tomorrow
• Science
• Music: 50 Nifty United States
• Social Studies - Rights and Responsibilities - We have been discussing the ratification of the Constitution, and ammendments to the Constitution including the Bill of Rights.

April 18, 2011

• Journal: What did you do over the weekend?
• English - Review Units 1 and 2 - Cumulative Test tomorrow
• Computers - studyisland
• Mrs. Taylor - taught a lesson with some role playing.  What would you do if . . . ?
• Spelling: New list.  We only have three days of school this week.  This spelling list is a review, we're going to take the test Wednesday.
• Math - Dividing by a Decimal Number: Lesson 119
• Science
• Art
• Social Studies - Approving the Constitution

April 15, 2011

• Journal: What did you like or dislike about yesterday's field trip?
• English - Singular Possessive Nouns and Plural Possessive Nouns: pg 93 (odd) pg 94 (1-17 odd)
• Computers - studyisland.com
• Spelling - test
• Reading - "Revolution" This was a story set during the Mexican revolution.  Students were asked to make a prediction, ask questions, write the main idea, and give four details from the story.
• Math - Using Zero as a Placeholder - Dividing Decimal Numbers by 10, 100, and 1000: Lesson 118
• Science rotations
• Above and Beyond Acheivement Activity
• Social Studies - finish up the test

Have a great weekend!

April 14, 2011

• Journal: What do you think it would be like to wear braces?
• Spelling pre-test
• Math - Dividing a Decimal Number by a Whole Number: Lesson 117
• Field Trip to an Orthodontist office

This evening the school is hosting the Night of the Arts from 5:30-7:30.  The fifth grade students will be singing at 7:00.  Students, please meet in the winter pod at 6:45.

April 13, 2011

• Journal: Who are some famous people you'd like to meet?  Why?
• English - Other Plural Nouns: pg 92
• Computers - Studyisland.com
• Spelling - quizzed a partner on spelling words
• Reading - Elena: Makea prediction, write a question for each page of text.
• Math - Finding Common Denominators to Add, Subtract, and Compare Fractions: Lesson 116
• Science
• P.E.
• Social Studies - finishing up the Social Studies test

Tomorrow we have a field trip. Permission slips must be returned in order for students to attend. 
Tomorrow evening is the Night of the Arts from 5:30-7:30.  The fifth grade will be singing a song at around 7:00.

April 12, 2011

• What books have you been reading lately?
• English - Common and Proper Nouns & Singular and Plural Nouns: pg 90 (11-25) pg 91 (1-15)
• Spelling - Sparkle
• Reading - Black Cowboy, Wild Horses: Write the title of the story, make a prediction (write it down), write the main idea, and four details in chronological order from the story.
• Math - Test 22 (scores are already on powerschool)
• Science
• Art
• Music rehearsal for Thursday's Night of the Arts
• Social Studies test.  Many students didn't finish, they will have some time tomorrow to work more on the test.

April 11, 2011

• Journal: What happened at the Constitutional Convention in 1787?
• English - Run-on Sentences and Nouns: pg 62 and 89
• Computers - PAWS keyboarding program
• Spelling - new list
• Buddy Readers
• Math - Area Part 2: Lesson 115 test tomorrow
• Science
• Music - We will be singing on Thursday evening at Night of the Arts.
• Social Studies - Chapter 9 Review - test tomorrow (look back through the blog assignments to see the topics covered in Chapter 9 if you would like to study with your child.

April 8, 2011

• Journal: What kind of music do you like?
• Computers - Study Island.
• English - Subjects in Imperative Sentences & Conjuctions: pg 60-61
• Spelling Test
• Math - Problems with No Solutions or Many Solutions: Lesson 114
• Science
• ABA
• Social Studies - We watched a short video about the three branches of government.

April 7, 2011

• Journal: What is your least favorite part of the school day?  Why?
• Spelling pre-test.  Test tomorrow
• English - Simple Subjects and Simple Predicates: pg 58-59
• Computers - catch up on PAWS and Study Island tests
• Math - Writing Mixed Numbers as Improper Fractions: Lesson 113

April 6, 2011

• Journal: What is your favorite part of the school day and why?
• English - Types of Sentences/Subjects and Predicates: pg 56 and 57 even problems
• Spelling - We sorted the spelling words according to ending sounds.  Pre-test tomorrow.
• Computers - Study Island
• Reading - We finished reading the story Pioneer Girl.  Wow, pioneer children had a lot of responsibilities that children wouldn't be given now.
• Math - Finding the Least Common Multiple (LCM): Lesson 112
• Science
• P.E.
• Maturation program

April 5, 2011

• Journal: How did things go with the substitute teacher on Friday?
• English - Unit 7 test attempt 2.  Many of the students struggled with the Unit 7 test, so we went over the concepts as a class, then I allowed the students to take a second look and correct any errors they had on the test.
• Library
• Math - Multiplying Decimal Numbers by 10, 100, and 1000: Lesson 111
• Science
• Art
• Social Studies - We read an excerpt from the story 1787 and reviewed Chapter 9.  We're planning on the test Friday.

Parents, the evening session of the maturation program will be tonight beginning at 6:00 p.m. in our gym. Tomorrow during the school day we have another opportunity for students and parents to participate in the maturation program.  The parent meeting tomorrow will begin at 1:15 p.m.

April 4, 2011

• Journal: Did you hear of any good pranks on April Fool's Day?
• English - Sentences: pg 55 (1-15)
• Computer - PAWS keyboarding program
• Spelling - final sounds /n/, /un/, / chur/, zhur/: Students were expected to write the spelling words in their planners. See the new list on this blog.
• Reading - We are finishing the story "Pioneer Girl" from our textbook.
• Math - Scale Drawings - Investigation 11 - We completed the assignment as a class.
• Science
• Music - orchestra song - violin, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, and drum
• Social Studies - AGovernment of Three Branches: Students were expected to write the notes we created as a class describing the three branches of government.