How is it already the end of October? I say this every week, but it is true every week. Time is flying! With two half days and Halloween this week, excitement was all around.
I would like to congratulate the students on their hard work this week, especially in math. When they returned from the weekend, they jumped right into the Unit 2A Math Assessment. Little did they know, I had another test planned for them on Tuesday. On Tuesday they completed the End of Year Fifth Grade Test. They took this test as a pre-test. It will show me what they already know, and what we will need to place more focus on during the year. At the end of the year, they will take this same test and I will be able to see the progress they have made. Kids, you did a fabulous job during those tests. After the tests were completed, we started Unit 2B – Multiplication of whole numbers and decimals. Once again students took a pre-test and started learning about estimating multiplication problems. I was so impressed with the knowledge that they brought with them. I’m looking forward to exploring decimal multiplication!
In ELA students continued to work diligently on their memoirs. On Monday students learned how to write believable dialogue. When writing about a memory, it can be hard to remember exactly what was said. Students learned that they can include dialogue that could have been said and use specific word choice to show a character’s personality. I am so impressed with what I have read so far. Students are using fabulous word choice and using dialogue to move their memoir along.
We also worked on character traits. Students worked in groups to come up with a list to describe Melody, the main character in Out of My Mind. Each group had at least 10-15 words, together they chose 5 words and we had a total of 20 great character traits to describe Melody. We then considered what makes a good character trait – it must describe the character’s personality (not a physical trait), it can be inferred throughout the text (be seen in multiple situations), and the majority of people would have to agree (the students needed to think “Is there a reason why someone would disagree with this character trait?"). Together, we came up with 2 that best described Melody and used evidence from the text to prove it. Next week, we will continue to see if we can identify two more character traits.
Today we worked on revising and editing. Students received their revising and editing checklists and we practiced editing with editing symbols. They are going to be revising and editing what they have of their memoirs so far.
Of course, we had the long awaited Cocoa Café today! And for this Cocoa Café, students actually got to enjoy HOT cocoa! It wasn’t until a few days after our last Cocoa Café that we (the teachers) realized that all of our outlets near our sinks were broken! I just figured that the water percolator I had running was very slow at heating up the water. Come to find out, it was broken! When I asked the kids if their cocoas were ok, they all said yes. I guess they didn’t have the hearts to tell me that their hot cocoa was really cold cocoa! That just goes to show how sweet the students in A008 are. Sorry about that, kiddos!
Next week we will be diving into:
- Peer revising
- How to write an ending
- Continue reading Bigger Than A Breadbox
- and anything else that comes our way!
Kudos
Kudos to all of our students who helped make Interest Day successful! We had many sports players: baseball, football, soccer, and basketball. We also had a scientist, a fashionista, a fantasy reader, a gymnast, an enjoyer of music, several artists, and a director! What a talented group!
Kudos to Adam who volunteered to get all of the necessary materials for a friend who went home sick this week. That was so helpful!
Kudos to Michael who cleaned up the magazines from Cocoa Café for some friends. How responsible!
Kudos to Aidan who cleaned up a leak during Cocoa Cafe! He blocked the area off and made sure no one would step in the water and slip. Thanks a lot Aidan!
I would like to congratulate the students on their hard work this week, especially in math. When they returned from the weekend, they jumped right into the Unit 2A Math Assessment. Little did they know, I had another test planned for them on Tuesday. On Tuesday they completed the End of Year Fifth Grade Test. They took this test as a pre-test. It will show me what they already know, and what we will need to place more focus on during the year. At the end of the year, they will take this same test and I will be able to see the progress they have made. Kids, you did a fabulous job during those tests. After the tests were completed, we started Unit 2B – Multiplication of whole numbers and decimals. Once again students took a pre-test and started learning about estimating multiplication problems. I was so impressed with the knowledge that they brought with them. I’m looking forward to exploring decimal multiplication!
In ELA students continued to work diligently on their memoirs. On Monday students learned how to write believable dialogue. When writing about a memory, it can be hard to remember exactly what was said. Students learned that they can include dialogue that could have been said and use specific word choice to show a character’s personality. I am so impressed with what I have read so far. Students are using fabulous word choice and using dialogue to move their memoir along.
We also worked on character traits. Students worked in groups to come up with a list to describe Melody, the main character in Out of My Mind. Each group had at least 10-15 words, together they chose 5 words and we had a total of 20 great character traits to describe Melody. We then considered what makes a good character trait – it must describe the character’s personality (not a physical trait), it can be inferred throughout the text (be seen in multiple situations), and the majority of people would have to agree (the students needed to think “Is there a reason why someone would disagree with this character trait?"). Together, we came up with 2 that best described Melody and used evidence from the text to prove it. Next week, we will continue to see if we can identify two more character traits.
Today we worked on revising and editing. Students received their revising and editing checklists and we practiced editing with editing symbols. They are going to be revising and editing what they have of their memoirs so far.
Of course, we had the long awaited Cocoa Café today! And for this Cocoa Café, students actually got to enjoy HOT cocoa! It wasn’t until a few days after our last Cocoa Café that we (the teachers) realized that all of our outlets near our sinks were broken! I just figured that the water percolator I had running was very slow at heating up the water. Come to find out, it was broken! When I asked the kids if their cocoas were ok, they all said yes. I guess they didn’t have the hearts to tell me that their hot cocoa was really cold cocoa! That just goes to show how sweet the students in A008 are. Sorry about that, kiddos!
Next week we will be diving into:
- Math:
- - Multiplication
- - estimating
- - learning different strategies to solve problems involving multiplication of multi-digit numbers
- ELA
- Peer revising
- How to write an ending
- Continue reading Bigger Than A Breadbox
- and anything else that comes our way!
Kudos
Kudos to all of our students who helped make Interest Day successful! We had many sports players: baseball, football, soccer, and basketball. We also had a scientist, a fashionista, a fantasy reader, a gymnast, an enjoyer of music, several artists, and a director! What a talented group!
Kudos to Adam who volunteered to get all of the necessary materials for a friend who went home sick this week. That was so helpful!
Kudos to Michael who cleaned up the magazines from Cocoa Café for some friends. How responsible!
Kudos to Aidan who cleaned up a leak during Cocoa Cafe! He blocked the area off and made sure no one would step in the water and slip. Thanks a lot Aidan!
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