Fantastic Fifth Graders in Room 53

Dear Families-
Well, I survived this week. My oldest daughter Madison came down with strep on Monday and Tuesday, was out on Thursday with pink eye, and we discovered that my youngest daughter has a food allergy to cows milk!! I am so ready for vacation!

With that being said, I am thrilled to be able to be at work today and enjoy the last day of school with the children before winter vacation!! This morning at 8:30, is the all school waffle breakfast! YUM! Then, after our morning meeting, we will be heading the the gymnasium for our All School Sing Along! Finally, this afternoon we will celebrate with our winter party. Remember to have your child bring along their own beverage of choice (no energy drinks please!). We will be watching SnowBuddies with their other fifth grade friends.

I will post over vacation some events happening our first week back from winter vacation…stay tuned!!

Enjoy your time with your children!! Have a relaxing winter vacation and for those of you traveling…safe travels!!

Sarah

WOW is a new program that fifth grade teachers are implementing. It stands for Weekly On-Time Workhabits!! Students that bring back their completed work on time and bring to class their necessary materials will be invited to WOW. The activities they may choose from are technology, games, quiet reading, and arts/crafts! Students not invited to WOW will go to a quiet work room to complete their unfinished work or come up with a plan to have it completed on time the next week. We are hoping to motivate all students to get their work completed on time and bring to class the materials they need to succeed!!

Happy Friday Families!
If you have not had a chance to look over your child’s report card, please do that! If you could sign and return the white envelope, it would be greatly appreciated! A and B Honor Roll certificates went home yesterday as well as Type to Learn certificates, Perfect Attendance certificates, and Fast Math certificates! Your children continue to work so hard each and everyday! Be so very proud of them and thank them for all of their hard work!! Out of 30 students in our class, we had 22 students make either the A or the B Honor Roll!! Truly AMAZING!!!

Here are some happenings for next week:

Monday:  Unit 5 math groups will begin.  Please ask your child who they have for their math teacher.  Also, please be sure to review, sign, and return the math test packet for Unit 4.

Friday:  Waffle Breakfast at 8:30AM, Sing Along at 10:00AM, Classroom Parties at 3PM

Please check the Woodland Website for information on the PTA Reflections program.  Students can submit a project based on photography, a writing piece, dance, etc.  I would love to have our class be represented in this program!!  Forms can be found on the Woodland Homepage.  Entries are due on January 8th!

Please help me welcome back Ms. Julie Rohling from Morris.  She will be returning after winter vacation!  She was supposed to student teach in primary, but was so impressed with our class and the relationships that she already built in the fall that she chose to return with us!  I am thrilled to have her and she will be a wonderful addition to our classroom.  She will be with us until Spring Break!!

I will post again soon…please check back!!

Sarah

Dear families-
As many of us discussed at conferences, our new spelling process is now underway! Here is what you need to know:
On Friday, we will still pretest. Any words that your child spells incorrectly on their pretest must then transfer to their final spelling list. Then, they will fill in the rest to make a list of 20 words total. They can fill in with vocabulary words from reading, math words that we are working on, science or social studies words, word master words, etc. If they cannot come up with any additional words, then I help them find words from our “most commonly misspelled” words list.

For example, if I took the pretest on Friday and got 7 words wrong. Those 7 words need to be on my list. Then the next 13 (to make 20 words total) can come from other words that I need practice with.

Homework for the weekend will include copying their spelling list twice. One list will need to be returned to school (so that I can test your child since we will all have different words) and the other list stays at home (so they can do their homework and study them at home!).

Tests will still be given on Thursday mornings. If your child is absent on a pretest day (Friday) then they will take the regular 5th grade spelling test for that week.

As always, please contact me with questions!!

Stay Warm,
Sarah

ABBY BEAVER!!

Well, we certainly have been spoiled so far this season. However, the cold weather is here to stay! Please make sure your child brings appropriate winter clothing (hats, mittens, boots and snow pants) to school each day!! It gets really cold out at recess.

Families-

Here is a quick update on our academic progress this week:

Math – Unit 4 Post testing on Thursday.  Please watch for the test packet to come home on Friday.  Unit 5 math groups will begin on Monday, the 14th based on their pretest

Science-Unit test will be on Wednesday. Students WILL be allowed to use their notes.  We will begin Social Studies on Thursday.

Leveled Reading – We will continue our reading of Dear Mr. Henshaw.  The students have been so engaged and are taking some wonderful “thinking notes” which leads us to great discussion of the text. We will have our first “book talk” on the first section this afternoon.

Spelling- The new spelling process is in action.  I have most of the student generated lists, however, a few lists are still missing.  Please check with your child to see if the have turned in their spelling list to me for the test.  One list stays at home to practice from and the other list should be returned to me.  Stay tuned on this new process…

Important Dates:

Report cards will come home on Wednesday!!  I am so proud of the academic progress our class is making!  AMAZING!  A and B Honor Roll certificates will be handed out on Thursday with a mini celebration!  Keep up the great work!!

Activity pictures for the yearbook will be this Thursday, the 10th.  If your child is in Student Council, WDTV, Choir, etc. then their group picture will be taken!

Secret Santa shopping this Friday night from 5 until 8!!

Next Friday, December 18th, is our Annual Waffle Breakfast!  It begins at 8:30!  YUMMY!!  Also that day will be our All School Sing Along beginning promptly at 10AM.  Our classroom parties will be at 3PM that day as well!!

I will post more later this week!  Enjoy the SNOW!!

Sarah