December News

NEWS FROM FIFTH GRADE

December 1-5

Merry Christmas!  May the advent of the celebration of Christmas be full of hope, joy, peace, and light in our lives!

READING

Students are reading a novel of their own choosing for silent reading.

Homework:  READING 20 minutes per night.  Students should still have a goal of reading 20 minutes or more even if they are tracking books read or pages.  New reading logs should be in their binders on Tuesday.  I didn’t have enough copies of the preferred log!

We are reading an excellent biography of Benjamin Franklin and learning how to read a bio whilst taking notes.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Spelling: Lesson and test 13 this week.  

Grammar- Students got acquainted with contractions and learned a little about what makes a proper contraction versus slang. (Hint: if the syllable or sound is completely gone, you’ve got a winner.)  We also looked at how words change over time.  The word “one” in English has a very interesting story.  

SCIENCE

We talked about the parts of a cell today and looked at the differences between plants and animal cells.

US HISTORY and SOCIAL STUDIES

Week 7- Dividing up the New World- Land, loot, and labor along with the great exchange that occurred between the Old and New World.

THIS WEEK’S STATES AND CAPITALS TO LEARN: Spell them correctly and locate them on a map.

1. Olympia, Washington
2. Salem, Oregon
3. Sacramento, California
4. Juneau, Alaska
5. Honolulu, Hawaii
6. Boise, Idaho
7. Helena, Montana

Deuteronomy 32:4

He is the Rock, his works are perfect,

   and all his ways are just.

A faithful God who does no wrong,

   upright and just is he.

GENERAL INFORMATION

MUSIC- Fifth graders have a great part to play in this year’s Christmas program.  Bring scripts to school and work on them at home per Miss Mazzuca’s request.

PE is Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday-- please help your fifth grade student remember athletic shoes and good clothes for running and jumping. Showering nightly is a great idea at this age and deodorant is a critical school supply.  Water bottles are also helpful.

Technology is Friday just after PE.  Art will begin this quarter, our first class will be November 21.

Our next class service project will be a warm sock drive.  Both of my older kids volunteer with homeless ministries in the Olympia area, and clean warm socks are a frequent need that they see going unmet. This is a small gift that will make a big impact.  I’d like to take the socks to Union Gospel Mission on December 18 as a class. Please consider donating or driving that morning.

Clarifying about Christmas party fifth grade style: Each child brings 12 of the same item and an empty gift bag.    Here’s how the small gift extravaganza works--He or she has twelve classmates.  Each child puts their empty gift bag on a table along with everyone else’s empty bag.  Then the children takes their small gifts and places one into each of their classmates bags, skipping themselves.  They receive twelve different gifts from their classmates.  

PIZZA FRIDAYS! $2 per slice. ORDER by Wednesdays.

Christmas Program is December 12, 2014 at 6:30 pm.

Auction is coming!  Get your game on~ because that’s our theme!  I have a couple of fantastic ideas but need some help getting them into play.   Care to help?  

There's a meeting tomorrow in Mt. Hood for procurement training 101! 2:30 pm.