Monday, July 23, 2012

Weekly Update July 23-27, 2012

Hello families!

Happy 2nd week of school.  I'm excited to report that we are currently on a day 6 streak with earning a "3" in all our specials classes.  This means your student has been hard at work staying focused, using speaker courtesy and following directions.  I am so proud of them.  We also have enjoyed learning about our friends and fellow teachers!

This week we dive into curriculum as we continue to build relationships with each other and learn procedures and expectations.  Below you will find the curriculum for the week as well as other important dates and information.  As always, if you have a question, feel free to email me or call the classroom.  Thanks again for all your help and support these beginning weeks.

Homework for the week:
- Packets go home every Monday and are to be completed and turned in Friday mornings.
- Reading logs are indicated in the agenda by students writing the book title and pages they read.
- Parents check over homework for completion and sign the agenda on Thursday nights.

Spelling book pages this week:
- Students are to complete pages 10, 11, and 12.
- The spelling words this week are:
1. master
2. ahead
3. build
4. front
5. meant
6. bread
7. ready
8. busy
9. quit
10. mother
11. above
12. does
13. advantage
14. business
15. sweater
16. plastic
17. balance
18. limit
19. among
20. dozen

Important dates to remember this week:
- Homework packet and spelling book due Friday, 7/27
- Home visit sign up sheets due Friday, 7/27
- All registration paperwork from the first week of school due ASAP.

This week's curriculum:
Math: Locate integers on a number line and graph points on a coordinate plane
Reading: Make predictions from text, illustrations, titles, topic sentences
Writing: Identify various graphic organizers
Science: Identify the 3 purposes of the skeletal system
Soc. Stud: Locate states on a map

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Gearing Up for the 2012-2013 School Year

Supply List for Incoming Students 2012-2013

Below is a list of items your student will be using this school year.  Those under the heading “personal use” are supplies that belong specifically to your child.  They will remain in your child’s plastic box and kept in their desk.  Items under the heading “class use” are optional supplies that you may wish to contribute to our class.  These items are shared by all students during group projects and special tasks.  All personal use supplies need to be brought in by the first day if possible.  All class use supplies may be purchased and brought in at any time.

Personal Use Items:
*Colored Pencils (8-12 count is fine)
*Washable markers (thin are preferred, 8-12 count is fine)
*Scissors (1 pair)
Plastic pencil storage container (all starred items go in the pencil box for first day)
*4 Highlighters (put one in the box, leave 3 at home to replace when needed)
*4 dry erase markers (put one in the box, leave 3 at home to replace when needed)
*Eraser (white or pink is fine)
*1 glue stick
1 set of 5 dividers to use in 3-ring binder (Cottonwood provides the binder)
1 composition book

Class Use Items:
Kleenex
Baby wipes
Disinfecting wipes
Snacks (goldfish, pretzels, dried fruit, fruit snacks, cheerios)
Crayons
Bottles of glue
Any craft supplies (glitter, foam pieces, stickers, yarn, buttons, etc...)
Magazines (to cut apart, please send in appropriate material)


Note: Due to Cottonwood no longer offering 6th grade, I currently do not need lined paper or white computer paper as well as pens and pencils.  I am also not asking for a lot of composition books at this time.  I do understand that these are on sale at the beginning of the year.  If you wish to purchase these items now, feel free to do so but keep them at home until I notify you that we are running low.  Thank you for understanding!

Monday, April 30, 2012

Welcoming the last month!

Dear families,

Can you believe May is here?  It sure has been a fast flying year here in 5th grade.  Your students have grown well over several inches and have gained so much new knowledge.  It is hard to believe they are off to middle school in a few short weeks.  I hope this week finds everyone happy and healthy.  Below is the information and reminders for the upcoming week.  Enjoy.  As always, thank you for being a partner in your child's education!

Reminders:
* HIV/AIDS and Human Sexuality Lessons Permission slips are coming home Monday and due back by Friday.
* AR for the month ends this Friday.  Let's help put CWE in second place overall.
* No ELP this week.

Homework:
* Spelling book pgs. 73, 74, 75 due Friday.
* Packets due Friday.
* State research due Friday.

Spelling words this week:
1. discuss
2. deduct
3. dismissed
4. develop
5. disease
6. discount
7. disturb
8. details
9. demand
10. determined
11. depressed
12. defense
13. disappointing
14. discouraged
15. disadvantage
16. demonstrated
17. defeat
18. descent
19. disappear
20. disconnect

Monday, April 23, 2012

No More AIMS!

Hello parents!

Happy Monday.  I hope your week is getting off to a good start.  My apologies for the lack of blogging updates lately.  Blogger has changed its layouts and they have left my quite confused.  With AIMS prep and then the actual proctoring last week, coupled with my husband's unexpected liver biopsy, my mind has been a bit preoccupied.  However, we are back and ready to tackle the remaining weeks of school.

This week is back to normal.  I wanted to say a big thank you to all of you who sent in letters of encouragement, snacks and other goodies during our big testing week.  I appreciate you.  Homework returns to normal as well this week.  Many students have a homework pass because of their attendance and participation during AIMS.  It is only good this week and can only be used on the POW or science reading.  If you have any questions please let me know.

How are state reports coming along?  I feel that the mail students requested from their state's offices of tourism has subsided.  I hope all students are finding their references and using their graphic organizers.  This Friday is the first turn in day for certain sections.  Please don't wait until Thursday to ask me questions if you have them.

Email and the district server are currently down at the moment.  It is the hope of the IT department to have all systems working in the morning.  I will respond to any emails sent Monday then.  Have a great week.  Talk to you soon.

Spelling words for the week:
1. nontoxic
2. income
3. unknown
4. unusual
5. involved
6. unlike
7. inspector
8. unless
9. indeed
10. nonprofit
11. invisible
12. nonsense
13. incredible
14. uncomfortable
15. inconsistent
16. unfortunately
17. nonfiction
18. nonviolent
19. uncover
20. informal

Monday, March 26, 2012

Back from Break! March 26-30, 2012

Hello families,

Welcome back! I do hope everyone had a lovely two weeks off. I was sick at the beginning and at the end of break, but luckily all major plans happened in the middle when I was well! I am excited to be back in the routine of things. Can you believe we are in the 4th quarter already? My has this year just been super quick. Pretty soon we'll be done with Easter and AIMS and your student will be off to middle school. I want to wish everyone a successful remaining quarter. As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.

Homework packets: Homework packets are due Friday. Earlier I sent an email explaining the situation this week with the copy machine, please let me know if your child lost their math paper and I can replace it.

Spelling words for the week: Pgs. 56, 57, 58 are due Friday.
1. translation
2. laziness
3. population
4. invention
5. generation
6. examination
7. situation
8. operation
9. sickness
10. kindness
11. closeness
12. forgiveness
13. pollution
14. imagination
15. education
16. transportation
17. federation
18. subtraction
19. smallness
20. lateness

State Report Update: Please turn in the bottom signed portion to me ASAP to ensure that you have read through the requirements with your student. I am excited to report that currently, 10 students have received mail back from their state's office of tourism. It's been exciting to play "mail man" in the morning and see the joy on your kiddo's face. We will write thank you letters at the end of our reports to help encourage respect and community. If you have questions on the due dates or assignments, please let me know.

Monday, March 5, 2012

March 5th-9th

Hello families,

I hope you enjoyed your weekend. Don't they always fly by? This is our last week before we take Spring break. I need help with our school carnival booth. Coming home today is a purple sign up sheet. If you are able to donate 1/2 hour of your time this Friday evening, I would be eternally grateful. Below are the homework and spelling assignments for the week. The March newsletter will be sent home this week. Thanks and have a good day!

Homework:
- Packet due Friday. Be sure to document each night's reading fully on the log.

Spelling words (pgs. 53, 54, 55):
1. absent
2. servant
3. present
4. instant
5. accident
6. assistant
7. current
8. moment
9. resident
10. ignorant
11. pleasant
12. distant
13. innocent
14. intelligent
15. restaurant
16. patient
17. government
18. statement
19. migrant
20. participant

Monday, February 20, 2012

Rodeo Week!

Hello families!

Happy Rodeo. I hope you all have a chance to experience our unique southwest culture and history this week. If not, I do hope you have a sincerely relaxing four day weekend with your child.
Below are the notes for this week. Not to much given such short instruction time. Enjoy.

Homework:
- Complete two nights of reading log, math homework (skip the number line one, it didn't show up), and read and answer questions on the Periodic Table.

Spelling:
- No spelling words this week, we will edit spelling in our persuasive writing.

School related events:
- Tuesday, Benchmark Writing test. Please be on time for school with a water bottle.
- Box tops are due! Please turn them in ASAP.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Parent Teacher Conference Week 2/6-2/10

Happy Monday everyone!

Congratulations to all you Giants fans! It was a great game to watch, what a close one. Please remember that this week is parent teacher conferences. I look forward to meeting with each of you. Your student should have a small orange slip of paper confirming your time. Please remember, if you did not sign up for a time, I assigned you a time based on availability. I will make every effort to stay on schedule so please be at your conference on time. Thank you for helping make these two days go smoothly for all.

This week's homework packet went home today. Have your child explain to you about their POW. Euler paths and circuits were never taught to me growing up and I bet that you might not remember them either. This is a great way to check your child's understanding of our math standard this week.

Here are the spelling words for this week (pgs. 47-49):
1. basketball
2. seventy-five
3. rock band
4. everybody
5. fireplace
6. anything
7. takeoff
8. skateboard
9. homework
10. two-thirds
11. high school
12. railroad
13. motorcycle
14. vice president
15. strawberry
16. freeway
17. car pool
18. comic strip
19. fine arts
20. forty-two

Monday, January 30, 2012

Final Week in January

Hello families,

My apologies for the absent blog postings these past two weeks. I'm back and ready to tackle the week! Are you?

The homework packets have been working out wonderfully! Why didn't I think of these sooner? I hope you are finding that they are helping your student out in more positive ways than the journals were.

The spelling books are improving from the first week back from break. Remember, on most weeks, the spelling book pages average around 50 points towards your child's spelling grade. It is highly recommended that before your child turns in their book, you take a moment to look through their pages for completion as well as correct spellings.

Conferences are right around the corner. I am finishing up hearing back from other teachers trying to coordinate family times. I will send the final schedule out in an email this week.

I hope you all have an amazing last week in January. Can you believe it was 80 degrees today?

For the week...
1. Homework packets due Friday.
2. Spelling books (pgs. 44,45,46) due Friday.
3. Return any conference slips not yet returned.

Spelling words for the week:
1. island
2. design
3. calm
4. column
5. sword
6. half
7. yolk
8. walked
9. talk
10. chalk
11. wrinkled
12. wrong
13. autumn
14. solemn
15. aisle
16. foreign
17. lightening
18. benign
19. glistened
20. resign

Monday, January 9, 2012

January 9th-13th

Hello families,

Welcome to another week. How are your New Year's resolutions going? So far so good on my end but it is still early on in the year. I hope you had an enjoyable weekend and were able to enjoy the fabulous weather we've been having. Below you will find the information for this week in class.

Homework:
Packets for this week went home today. The format is the same as last week: math problems, a POW, reading log, and a social studies/language arts writing assignment. Please have your child complete their homework and turn it in by Friday. Don't forget about the spelling book. Pages 33-35 are to be done by Friday as well.

Spelling words to study are:
1. American
2. frozen
3. button
4. chapter
5. tractor
6. harbor
7. father
8. color
9. ancestor
10. hidden
11. hamburger
12. theater
13. weather
14. beckon
15. cannon
16. compassion
17. golden
18. taken
19. elder
20. turban

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Happy 2012

Welcome back!

New year, new starts! Perhaps one of my favorite times of the year. I was so happy to see the students and their new hair styles, new clothes and bubbling personalities today. We had a good day and even got to enjoy the wonderful weather with a morning recess. How was your day? Is 2012 off to a good start for you and your family? I hope so!

Below are some procedural changes for the spring semester. Homework is now in a packet format along with a spelling book. The amount of homework has not changed, just the style of turning it in. Homework is due on Friday mornings along with the completed spelling book pages. The reasons for changing the homework policy range from parent and student input to organizational effectiveness. Please ask your child tonight to review how she/he will complete the packet and spelling book before Friday. Thank you always for your support and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

Tutoring begins next week. Students who approached 2 or more benchmark standards in reading or math will be assigned to tutoring. Permission slips to attend will come home this week. Mrs. Jeffries and Mrs. Sutton are the 5th grade tutors, I tutor 6th grade. If you feel your child should attend tutoring but did not meet the criteria on benchmark standards, please let me know. The goal is to keep tutoring fluid and small in numbers. Therefore, as students exit out of tutoring slots open up for others to fill.

Science fair deadlines are each week until the science fair. I have had several conversations with parents and students regarding the progress of the project. At this point in time, if you must change the science fair project all together, now is the time to do so. After this week, the amount of work that needs to be finished will be to great of an amount to be switching projects. My goal is to help make this process smooth for both the parent and student so please let me know if you have specific questions.

Our class schedule has changed a bit to allow for more time in given areas. Our current daily schedule is as follows:
7:35 Bellwork
7:45 REACH
8:15 Balanced Math
9:45 Snack and morning recess
10:00 Writing/Grammar
10:30 Whole class reading instruction
10:50 Specials
11:35 Read Aloud
11:50 Lunch
12:30 Reading Groups
1:30 Science/Social Studies
2:00 Pack Up/Dismissal

Please be aware of our daily schedule when making appointments and pulling students out of class. The best times would obviously be after school but please avoid math and reading instruction. Thank you.

Important dates/notes for this week:
- Wednesday: Science fair procedures and materials (if not already turned in) are due
-Friday: All homework and spelling book pages completed and turned in

This week's spelling words:
1. charged
2. injured
3. lying
4. created
5. spied
6. carrying
7. dying
8. tallied
9. moving
10. tasted
11. realized
12. carried
13. trying
14. receiving
15. provided
16. revising
17. practicing
18. becoming
19. fried
20. wearing
**** Pages 30-32 in spelling book ****