Newsletter 10/15

NEWS FROM FIFTH GRADE                      WEEK OF OCT. 13-17  

I apologize for the lateness of this newsletter.  My son fell and incurred a mild concussion Monday evening; we spent the evening and some of Tuesday in the ER getting his head injury assessed.  He’s doing much better after some good rest, but my catch-up work is still coming along.  

LAST LETTER EARNED!  We watch Shiloh tomorrow and have donuts!  

READING

Students are reading a novel of their own choosing. We finished all the Shiloh work and students have collected their work into a portfolio, which I will be assessing over this weekend.  We start our new novel, Poppy, tomorrow; it is chock-full of great vocabulary and funny, endearing characters.  It features a classic hero’s journey.  We’ll be doing a word collage book report in the next couple of weeks as well.  Look for it next week. The beginning work will be done in class and come home for personal touches.

Homework:  Read a minimum of twenty minutes nightly (bump it up!) at home starting in October. Please assist your student in making sure this is done.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Spelling: Lesson 6 came home last Friday. Students should complete the packet and write the words for practice on a separate sheet of paper, stapled to the packet.  TEST is Thursday morning and lesson is due upon arrival in class. The test is moving to cursive although students still may use print alongside on the test.  It may help to practice the packet in cursive as well.  

Language arts is busy with prepositions, practicing descriptive phrases (and illustrating, very fun!) We learned about infinitives and imperatives this week along with helping verbs, verb phrases and compound verbs.  We began writing our VFW essays in earnest today.   This is completely student driven, I just provide some thinking and talking points along with some guidelines on word count and grammar/spelling rules. We’ll write, proofread, and rewrite. Essays will be picked up by the VFW representative on October 31.

SCIENCE

This week is rock types and the rock cycle.  We have beautiful rock samples that the school invested in several years ago.  This type of hands on learning teaching earth science much more interesting for both sides!

US HISTORY and SOCIAL STUDIES

We are moving into Native American  studies for the week next week.  This is a brief overview of which major language/culture groups lived in what regions of the US.

Bible looks a little different in Spirit week; we take time to celebrate and enjoy the goodness of friends, joy, and laughter.  We do a modified devotion, prayer time, and still work on our verse.  The verse test was this morning and it looked like most students did well.

GENERAL INFORMATION

PE is Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday-- please help your fifth grade student remember athletic shoes and good clothes for running and jumping.

MUSIC is Monday and Wednesday.  Technology is Friday just after PE.

CHAPEL is every Wednesday.  Please encourage your fifth grade student to wear chapel clothes and bring their worship voices!

GLOW RUN  October 18, RAC in Lacey.  THIS WEEKEND!  Come get your glow on!

NO SCHOOL October 17  Teacher Inservice

PHOTOS- October 22- just after Chapel. I have extra order forms, but check your child’s folder.

PIZZA FRIDAYS return on 10/24!  Order forms came home this week. $2 per slice.