Parent news week of May 23-27

Just three more weeks! Over and over again, the fifth graders keep exclaiming how fast this year has gone by; while I know that isn't true for all of them, it always will feel that way for this teacher.
I have enjoyed this class so much.

While I was working on some end of year things earlier this weekend, I got very sad thinking about our time together drawing to a close.  The role of a teacher is not a mother, a mentor or a friend; it's someone who works alongside your child to help them reach their potential and I have prayed all year to have the Lord help me have eyes to see what they need to be all He sees they can be.  I will continue to pray for them in the years to come- what a privilege to become part of their growing up and watch them blossom. Thank you for letting Cornerstone be part of your child's education. Every kid touches our lives and hearts, God uses all of them to shape us teachers as well!

DATES TO REMEMBER:
May 30-- No School, Memorial Day
June 6- Field Trip to Sprinker Ice Arena near Lakewood- Cost $7
              (Need one driver who can carry five or two that can carry 3-- We will leave at 8:30 and    
               return by 12:30)
June 7- 6th Grade Chariot Races - Come check it out and get ideas for next year.
June 8 Last Chapel
June 9- Field Day begins at noon
June 10 LAST DAY Awards Ceremony and dismissal at noon; all supplies and student gear must
             leave campus that day; potluck at the point at 6:00

CLASS INFO FOR THIS WEEK

Spelling - Lesson 34 (one more after this one)
Reading- Hatchet-- Vocabulary and Literary Terms
Social Studies- War of 1812 (correction: last week was Lewis and Clark/Louisiana Territory)
                        If your student made less than an 85% on their states and capital test, they may retest
                        this week.  They do not have to retake it if they made 70% or above, but I will require                          them to retake if they did not make 70%.
Bible- Grace, then begin last story and unit on what it means to serve a loving and gracious God.
                 Bible Verse: Romans 5:8
Language Arts: Conjunctions on iXL and we'll play with some last few fun skills in Latin/Greek roots                          and reading technique.
Science: Weather; continuing to learn to use our text book.

Parent News 5/17

Fifth Grade News and Notices for May 17, 2016

May 17, 2016

The biggest news:  we had an incredible State Fair.  Thank you all so much for participating fully with your child.  They had a wonderful time, they all did an excellent job, and it was such a delight to see them bask in their hard work.   Everyone who visited enjoyed the food and treats and games.  We truly appreciated our parents being such a giant part of this project.

Notebooks will come home tomorrow along with a class cookbook where I compiled all the recipes together.  

DATES to remember:

TBA soon: An ice-skating party as a treat they’ve earned (cost is $7)

May 30 No school- Memorial Day

June 10 Last Day/Potluck

One last service project, still working on details.

June 4 BLBC Campus Clean Up

BIBLE:

Salvation and grace

Philippians 3:9

READING:

Hatchet  (much loved)

Great action, plot, and vocabulary

LANGUAGE ARTS: Commas and conjunctions,  plus the lovely compare and contrast paper they just finished this past week!

SCIENCE: Weather, learning to use our textbooks which we will also use next year (6th grade level book, we will begin there and move into a more strenuous text by mid year)

SOCIAL STUDIES: Round One of states and capitals test (two attempts)

Early Days in the US, War of 1812

Thank you to your students who were very well behaved the day after the state fair; I caught a nasty cold which had made it through the rest of my family first and had to get an emergency sub!

Weekly News May 2

Hello, parents!  I cannot believe that it's the first week of May!   I am really looking forward to the State Fair next Tuesday.    Kids are also excited to see how their work looks among their peers and to taste one another's recipes.

Please email or call if you have questions.  I have model boards in the classroom to demonstrate. Students may also bring their boards to school if they need to show me something.  I will be going out of town this Friday and returning late Sunday so earlier might get you a more timely answer. For State Fair Day, I sent home a schedule and it is also available on Google classroom.

ONE BIG NEED:

I really need a parent volunteer who could come in this week and make color copies of the state flag, state bird, and state flower for each student’s board in a timely way. Science fair was moved to tomorrow due to a gym improvement project and I am just a little crunched for time this week since both my big days are one week apart rather than two or three.  I can get them to you but not until Friday; a volunteer parent could make it happen faster!

GREAT VOLUNTEERS!

Susan Rudolph did the participant ribbons for ALL the science fair entrants.  Thank you!

Amie Putnam will coordinate Meconi’s Subs for Fifth graders who want to order lunch on state fair day.  Stay tuned for details and cost.

Several of you have indicated that you will be able to help at different points throughout the day at State Fair.  Thank you!

Reading:

We finished The Mixed Up Files and are beginning Hatchet.  New reading logs will come home on Wednesday.

Social Studies:

state fair prep and questions, states and capitals just added the LAST TWO!  Whoohoo!  I think this group has done a fantastic job of working through these.

Bible:

Isaiah 53:5  We talked about this chapter in Bible this morning as we start a new unit on what Christ’s atonement means for students personally.

Science:

We will learn about weather till the end of school.  We are also practicing taking notes in preparation for middle school science.  I will give them a couple of simple quizzes to show them how it works.

Language Arts:

Prepositions, conjunctions, and contractions

Spelling Lesson 30 is due Friday and its test will take place then.

UPCOMING MAY DATES

May 9 Azusa Pacific College Choir and Orchestra performing in Tab at 12:30  

May 10 State Fair

May 12 Spring Program Tab at 6:30

May 13 Mom’s Day Lunch

State Fair Booth and Schedule Details

State Fair Booth Expectations

The Fifth Grade State Fair will take place on Tuesday, May 10, 2016.   This is your student’s big day to shine!  The whole school and community guests will join you to celebrate your hard work and accomplishments of your state studies over the past semester.

In order to produce a booth that you will be proud to display, we have a list of expectations to follow.

DRESS:  Choose a costume that emphasizes your state’s attributes.  For example, Washington is known for its forests, mountains, ocean shores, technology and recreational opportunities.  A good costume for Washington State might be:  a skier, a logger, a hiker, a fisherman, a computer coder, a fisherman, or a Starbucks employee.  We will also create i.d. “badges that we will wear identifying us as state tour guides for our states.

DISPLAY BOARD must include the following:

1. Creatively lettered name of state across the top
2. Color copies ( I will give them to you)  of your state bird, state flower, and state flag.  Use them on your display board, putting a contrasting background is really top-notch.
3. State Nickname, creatively displayed with fun font or neat, creative lettering.
4. Acrostic poem that we created in class that highlights interesting things about your state.
5. State trivia cards scattered neatly in front of the board on the table
6. Must see  places- at least two (one must be natural, the other can be manmade)

FOOD: prepare your state recipe to share throughout the day with each person that visits your booth.  It only needs to be a small taste, like a teaspoonful.  Provide disposable tasting cups and utensils if needed.  Bring a serving utensil to dish things up if needed or pre-serve into small cups (like dixie cups.) Wash your hands often.  Something to protect the floor would also be helpful, like a tarp or vinyl tablecloth.

ACTIVITY:  Prepare a simple game that highlights your state. Lasso a cow, make a paper lei, pan for “gold”.  Past activities have included lobster pot toss,  spear a “fish” (chopsticks and swedish fish), and other fun interactive games.  

LOGISTICS:

Parents and students arrive early the morning of May 10 to set up. Gym will be open at 7:45 am. Parents will help their child or make arrangements for a family or friend to assist.

Each child will have ½ of a conference table to set up his or her display.  Additional props can be included in your area to make your exhibit appealing.  Examples throughout the years include: cardboard palm trees, stick horses in a barrel, a bale of hay, cow hides, buffalo hides, fancy fabric, flowers, fishing gear...you get the idea!  Stick to props that represent your state.

To make this grand finale project manageable, you need to start sooner rather than later.  Set up a small area in your house and begin collecting things for your booth, assembling your display board.  Add a few things at a time, ask family and friends to help.  Borrow what you can, but don’t feel as if you must spend unnecessary money to decorate.  Kids always pull together something amazing.  Let others know what your needs are in our class, too.  Someone may have your perfect prop in their living room!

SCHEDULE:

8:00 -8:45 Parents help set up in the gym.

9:00- 10:00 Students present from their notebooks.

10:00-10:20 Recess and Snack

10:30-11:27 Math class

11:40 Recess

12:00 Lunch-- if any parents are interested in organizing a pizza run or subway sandwiches, please let me know. Otherwise we will eat our state snacks and our regular lunch.

12:25-2:30  Classes, parents, grandparents, and community members stop by to visit the state fair.  (⅞ grades will be on hand at this time as well to visit and possibly 6th.)

2:30-2:50 Parents help children clean up and disassemble exhibits.

Please mark your calendars, set aside time, and invite friends and family to come and visit the state fair.  They’ll be impressed at the achievements your child has attained in this project!  All are welcome.  We will have a check in sheet for guests at the fair.

Parents-- I need about two parent helpers for the day and one-two beforehand.

BEFORE:  Make color copies in school office for students’ state birds, flowers, and flags

        (Optional: organize lunch and collect $ for lunch, pick up lunch)

DAY OF:  Help students maintain booths, help students organize their lunch, help set up and   

take down.

…………please cut and return portion below with signature……………………………………....

I have read and understand the expectation for state fair booths and schedule of May 10, 2016.

___________________________________________

I would love to help with the state fair.

Before_________________________    During_________________--

Specific time and date:

Table of Contents

Table of Contents    Due April 28 ,2016

1. Your assignment this week is to create a list of your notebook content in a numbered list with page numbers after it.
2. You should have 13 components on your table of contents.
3. Capitalize each word appropriately.  Use plain font.
4. Double space the entries.
5. Title it: Table Of Contents.  You may capitalize all the letters or just the first one.  Using the bold choice will also make it stand out.
6. Use your assignment sheet to help you remember your table of content order.
7. You will not include your title page, economy map,  or binder cover assignment on your table of contents.
8. There are two ways to achieve a well-aligned, neat table of contents.

• Method 1: Type each component’s name, press tab key (beside the letter “Q”) 8 or 9 times, type the word Page, type its page number.  
• Method 2: Type each component’s name, hold down the period key located one key to the right of the letter “M” and watch the ruler at the top of the screen.  Some word  programs will tell you when it is perfectly aligned, others do not.  Stopping at 5 ½ inches on Google Docs worked well for me.  This looks very nice, but it can require more work.  If it is frustrating or misaligned, choose method 1.

example Method 1

State Flag page 1

State Bird page 2

 example Method 2

State Flag……………………………………………………………………….page 1

State Bird………………………………………………………………………..page 2

     9.  You may use a simple computer generated border.  Do not draw borders by hand.  Do not

use stickers or embellish with photos or clip art.  Keep it clean and simple.

    10. You’re done!  

**" Bibliography" is bonus.   You may create a simple list of what  websites or books you've consulted.  Include information such as title and author for books along with the pages you consulted. On websites, you may simply cut and paste the URL and include what month and year you consulted the website.

Weekly Update April 11-18

Greetings from Fifth Grade-- April 11, 2016

I hope your Spring Break was wonderful.  We had a welcome back time yesterday morning when everyone shared what they did on their break and it was a wonderful mixture of calm and craziness.  I was glad to see those faces again this morning!  It’s getting to be that time of the year where I really dread seeing them off to 6th grade-- they are lovely people and it’s wonderful to see God’s work in them.  They aren’t perfect, but boy, they are great kids.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Conferences are next week.  You should have gotten a sheet yesterday informing you of the time scheduled for your child’s conference.  Please arrange for a different time if you are not able to come then, let me know what times will work better and I will find a better time.   We will discuss improvement this year and strategy to keep skills sharp for middle school.

Monday is a full day with a special field trip, but the remainder of the week (Tuesday-Friday) are half-days with dismissal at noon.  Please send a hearty snack and plan to pick up your student or arrange for their pickup at noon.

OJP is one week from yesterday.  It’s a fun physical science show and I am looking forward to seeing many of the things we’re studying in detail in the next couple of years highlighted in this fast paced science demonstration show.   We will leave school at 12:00. We still need an usher. Ushers must be there from 11:30-2:15 and help us find our seats and in case of emergency.  Please send $4 for the cost of attendance by this Friday.

If you still need to get in your volunteer hours, I could use some help preparing for science fair and state fair. I also need a few volunteers the evening of the science fair to take down tables and return them to their classrooms.  This event is really wonderful; although fifth graders generally don’t participate due to the nearness of the state fair tasks on family time, it is always incredibly rewarding to see what students can do.  The event occurs on April 26.

BIBLE:
Philippians 4:13-- We will be working through the doctrine of sin this week as part of our basics of Christian faith.  Pray for your kids that they would understand how sin affects us all and what God was willing to do out of love for us in spite of that sin. I am praying for clarity  and thankfulness at Christ’s sacrifice rather than burden without hope.

READING:

We’re nearing the end of Mrs. Frankweiler’s Mixed Up Files!  We call this book so many things due to its long title.  I can’t wait to show you their files from reading class. A bit more vocab, some map skills, and a few literary elements to go before our test on Friday.

SPELLING:

Lesson 28, test and lesson due Friday.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

We have spent quite a long time on sentences and verbs. Our next concentration area of study is making certain that we hit the same standards as our peers in other schools according to Washington State standards.  Today we worked on compound sentences and constructing elaborate sentences along with prepositions and their objects.  Tomorrow we’ll do some punctuation review.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

The Constitution and early America--week 17

Please study states and capitals #40-45 on list.

SCIENCE:  We will learn about some of the concepts we’ll see next week.  Most of our science has been very hands on with learning about electricity; we will have new units and shift focus to more science after state fair.

Somewhere in the normal busy schedule, we will do a few practice sets for ITBS testing to make sure no one has questions about how to take the test.

Blessings to you and yours-- and thank you for letting me partner with you as we walk towards young adulthood with your student!

Parent News 4/11

Greetings from Fifth Grade-- April 11, 2016

I hope your Spring Break was wonderful.  We had a welcome back time this morning when everyone shared what they did on their break and it was a wonderful mixture of calm and craziness.  I was glad to see those faces again this morning!  It’s getting to be that time of the year where I really dread seeing them off to 6th grade-- they are lovely people and it’s wonderful to see God’s work in them.  They aren’t perfect, but boy, they are great kids.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Conferences are next week.  You should have gotten a sheet today informing you of the time scheduled for your child’s conference.  Please arrange for a different time if you are not able to come then, let me know what times will work better and I will see what I can do.   We will discuss improvement this year and strategy to keep skills sharp for middle school.

Monday is a full day with a special field trip, but the remainder of the week (Tuesday-Friday) are half-days with dismissal at noon.  Please send a hearty snack and plan to pick up your student or arrange for their pickup at noon.

OJP is one week from today.  It’s a fun physical science show and I am looking forward to seeing many of the things we’re studying in detail in the next couple of years highlighted in this fast paced science demonstration show.   We will leave school at 12:00. We still need an usher. Ushers must be there from 11:30-2:15 and help us find our seats and in case of emergency.  Please send $4 for the cost of attendance by this Friday.

If you still need to get in your volunteer hours, I could use some help preparing for science fair and state fair. I also need a few volunteers the evening of the science fair to take down tables and return them to their classrooms.  This event is really wonderful; although fifth graders generally don’t participate due to the nearness of the state fair tasks on family time, it is always incredibly rewarding to see what students can do.  The event occurs on April 26.

BIBLE:
Philippians 4:13-- We will be working through the doctrine of sin this week as part of our basics of Christian faith.  Pray for your kids that they would understand how sin affects us all and what God was willing to do out of love for us in spite of that sin.

READING:

We’re nearing the end of Mrs. Frankweiler’s Mixed Up Files!  We call this book so many things due to its long title.  I can’t wait to show you their files from reading class. A bit more vocab, some map skills, and a few literary elements to go before our test on Friday.

SPELLING:

Lesson 28, test and lesson due Friday.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

We have spent quite a while on sentences and verbs. Our next concentration area of study is making certain that we hit the same standards as our peers in other schools according to Washington State standards.  Today we worked on compound sentences and constructing elaborate sentences.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

The Constitution and early America--

Please study states and capitals #40-45 on list.

SCIENCE:  We will learn about some of the concepts we’ll see next week.  Most of our science has been very hands on with learning about electricity; we will have new units and shift focus to more science after state fair.

Somewhere in the normal busy schedule, we will do a few practice sets for ITBS testing to make sure no one has questions about how to take the test.

Blessings to you and yours-- and thank you for letting me partner with you as we walk towards young adulthood with your student!