Wednesday Guest Blogger

Thanks to Harper for her great introduction to the book The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney.  I can't wait to hear about what happens at the end of this book!  

The Red Pencil 

by Andrea Davis Pinkney

The red pencil is about a girl who is turning twelve, and she wants to learn how to read and write, but her mother says no. Her community gets swept away by the janjaweed, fierce criminals. They have to travel somewhere far far away on foot. They finally get there and she starts running away. Right now I'm very curious about what will happen. Will someone come get her?  Will she escape?  Will she be attacked by the janjaweed again?

Tuesday Guest Blogger

Thanks to our Guest Blogger, Flannery, for her review of The Greenglass House by Kate Milford.

The Greenglass House

By Kate Milford

The Greenglass house is about an inn in Nagspeake where smugglers stay at while their shipping illegal goods. The owners of the Greenglass house, Nora and Ben Pine,have an adopted son named Milo. It is Christmas time and Milo is just finishing up his homework,when very unusual guests start piling in. The Pine's friend, Mrs Carroway, comes to help and brings her 2 daughters, Lizzie and Meddy. When Milo meets Meddy, it is an adventure waiting to begin. As Milo and his new, found friend go sneaking around the inn, they don't know that they might just be saving the shattered history of the Greenglass house.

The main characters are Meddy and Milo. Meddy is a fearless, quick, and bossy young lady. Milo, on the other hand, is a quiet, independent young lad. The setting is in an old house called the Greenglass house in Nagspeake. The Greenglass house used to belong to the old famous smuggler, Doc Holystone. The plot of the story is that unusual things are going missing, a notebook, a ditty bag, a watch, and a bag with papers about a famous glass maker. The problem is, that when Milo and Meddy go sneaking around looking for the lost items, they realize that they all seem to be connected to the shattered history of the Greenglass house.

I would totally recommend this novel to anyone who loves a good mystery. In fact, I would recommend this book to anybody! The reason why I would recommend this book is that it is so detailed, that you can feel the coldness and warmth of the inn, and you can smell the cake and hot chocolate, I mean, it feels like you're actually there! If you love a mystery or not, you will get so hooked to this book,that once you finish, you will totally want more. So those are the reasons why you should read the best book ever called The Greenglass House by Kate Milford.

Monday Guest Blogger

Welcome to another week! Here is our first student blogger review of The Giver. Each day this week we will have another great student review! Thanks to Evan for this 5 star review!

The Giver

By Lois Lowry

Book 1 in Giver quartet

By Evan

The Giver is an excellent dystopian future novel while still staying realistic. The politics, being my favorite part, is very likely for the future of many countries. Personally, I think it takes how we think the world should be and it shows results that could come out of it.

I think as well as the politics it is a great coming-of-age story. The main character, Jonas, I like how he becomes more complex and you can really relate to him as a person. Jonas changes from lawful with no sense of good or evil, to lawful with a sense of good, to being more chaotic with a concept of good. The plot is a twin peak with two climates instead of one. This complexity will hook readers on page 1. This coming of age and warning book is a top-the-line book.

-Evan's reviews ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One (Thursday)

The students had a great day today collaborating and inquiring into character evolution.  Students began constructing an emotional timeline for the main character of The Giver.

I was also extremely impressed at the big changes that occurred at recess today.  Most of the class worked together to develop and organize a game of capture the flag.

Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head

We had a great day today inquiring into characterization in fiction.  We spent time analyzing the main characters from The Giver.  Students were asked to do a drawing of the physical characteristics of each character and make a list of emotional characteristics of each character.  

We also began working on our personal narratives.  Students are excited to be writing about these events.  

Be on the lookout for a guest blogger on Monday.  Students have been working on a guest blog this week about The Giver.  

We also reviewed the study guides for social studies and science.  Remember that we will take the science assessment tomorrow and the social studies on Friday!  Some students will begin taking the math mid-module tomorrow and others will begin testing on Friday and Monday.  

See you in the morning.  

Stronger

Today some students began working on rounding in math.  Everyone was faced with a challenge because we are using a method to round that many students have not seen before.  Some students did an excellent job working through their challenges, asking for help from peers and teachers, and ultimately having some huge light bulb moments.  Other students became frustrated and decided to give up.  One important part of developing math abilities and knowledge is to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

We will be focusing on the Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMP) all year.  Today was a great opportunity for students to practice number 1.  Please ask your student how they responded to the challenge today.  

Assessment Reminders

Students will have several assessments this week.  All students received study guides for science, social studies, and math today.  It is expected that some of the math questions will be unfamiliar to students at this point.  We will review the study guide the day before the assessment.

Here is the schedule:
Thursday (8/25) - Science Test - Classification; Math Mid-Module for students who finished Lesson 6 today
Friday (8/26) - Social Studies Test - Bill of Rights; Math Mid-Module for students who finished Lesson 5 today.
Monday (8/29) - Math Mid-Module for students who finished Lesson 4 today

Don't forget we have curriculum night on Thursday!  Have a wonderful evening.

Saturday Night!

We had a great day looking at the impact sensory details have on the setting of a fictional text.  Students were asked to describe colors to people who had never seen color using emotions and adjectives.  It helped us to understand the changes that are occurring in The Giver as the main character develops the ability to see color.

Genius!

We had our first official Genius Hour today!  Students were challenged during this time to create commercials that would be used to gather support for the removal an amendment from the Bill of Rights.

We will have our first trip to the Media Center tomorrow.  Remember book orders for our author visit on September 2 are due no later than tomorrow.

Have a great night.

Online

Students were very excited to get to use their iPads today.  We started the day by creating commercials to persuade someone to move into The Community from The Giver.  Students were very creative and it helped us to have a better understanding of the impact that the setting has on a story.  Students also used their iPads to complete a web quest on animal classification.

Also, be sure to mark your calendars for curriculum night next Thursday from 6:00 - 7:30.  We will have lots of important information to share.

Have a great night!

Tuesday's Gone!

We finished up MAP testing today.  I will be sharing the results with you during our first set of conferences in September.

Today we inquired into the reasons people make amendments to rules.  We looked at the teacher rules from 1872 and 1915.  Students were asked to analyze the rules and determine which rules are no longer relevant.  We also looked at student rules from 1890.  Most of the students did not like the fact that women/girls were treated unfairly.  This led to a discussion about why amendments are made.  Tomorrow we will begin looking at the process used to amend the US Constitution.

Here are some copies of some rules we evaluated.

We also inquired into how characters change over the course of a novel.  We specifically looked at the main character of The Giver to analyze the changes occurring within the story. Over the next few days, we will be working to develop an understanding of the impact setting has on the story.

It was a great day!  I had tons of fun with the Social Studies lesson, and it was fun to hear the discussions about rules for teachers!

Have a great night.

Monday Monday :)

Welcome to another great week in Room 181!  We began our day discussing the elements of fiction that authors use to tell a story.  We started looking at the plot developments in The Giver and discussed the relationship between rising action and the climax.  This is important to our overall inquiry this term about processes and procedures that create order in our world.

We also used our knowledge of The Giver and setting to compare our lives in the United States to the lives of people in the community of the story.

Students received a copy of the math pre-assessment today.  Some students received a graded copy and others received a blank copy.  This assessment was used to help us understand student prior knowledge and is not reflective of what students can now do.  All students should be able to answer question #2 using a place value chart.  Some students should be able to answer #3b.  Do not be alarmed if your student has struggles related to this material.  We are still in the very early stages of this math unit.  Here is a picture of what number 2 should look like.

Weird Science

We spent time inquiring into how scientists classify organisms using a dichotomous key.  Students acted as scientists today when they named, colored, and categorized monsters using a dichotomous key!  They did an excellent job working with partners to accomplish this inquiry.  

Process Man

We spent more time working on organization and structures today.  Students worked to inquire into the structures of sentences.  Students worked in small groups to develop definitions for sentence elements.

We also worked to solidify our understanding of animal classification and the base ten number system.

Don't forget that we have MAP Math testing tomorrow!

Life is Wonderful!

We spent today focusing on processes and procedures that create order in our world.

We worked to develop our understanding of how order is developed in the natural world.  Students spent time with an inquiry into how scientists classify organisms.  Students inquired into how a dichotomous key is used to organize organisms into groups.

We also worked to develop a list of classroom jobs.  We will spend the rest of the week developing job descriptions and duties as part of our evaluation of how communities develop and maintain order.  

Finally, we inquired into how number systems create order.  We began math by looking at patterns in the base ten system and the impact that exponents have on powers of ten.  

Don't forget those iPad Agreements!  Have a great night!  

Reflections

We had another great day in Room 181!  It has been great getting to know the students and we have begun working on your UOI - How We Organize Ourselves.  Students are doing a great job with connecting their prior understanding of organization and order to our current unit.  Students have also spent time working to develop their understanding of what it means to be an IB learner.  


One important piece of being an IB learner is the element of reflection.  Students are required at the end of the day to reflect upon their learning.  We had a discussion in class that this reflection should be about who they are as learners, actual content knowledge, and knowledge of the way they can have an impact on the world. Many students need to work on explaining the activities of the day.  Please encourage your child to write things down that describe what they did and the reasons behind the activities.  For example, some students are writing things like "I was good"; "I did a math worksheet"; or "I didn't get in trouble". It is important they explain why/what they learned from completing their work.  It would be great if you could write back to them each day.  Also, please be sure to sign the Reflection Blog.

This reflection is an important part of the IB Action Cycle.  As part of the IB action cycle, students are to reflect on the local and global consequences of their learning, to make choices based on these reflections, and act in responsible and meaningful ways.

Looking forward to some great reflecting tomorrow!  Have a great night.  

Manic Monday

We had a great Monday!

We began the day with a scientific inquiry into classifying objects.  Students worked to classify rocks based on the physical properties.  This inquiry will lead us into a discussion about how scientists organize and classify organisms found in our world.

Additionally, we started working on how our number system is organized.  We began to inquiry into the impact multiplication and division by powers ten have on the place value of digits.

Students received their red folders today.  Each folder contained two important items that should be reviewed and returned:  information about iPad expectations and author visit order forms.

Here is some information from Ms. Smith about our author visit.

Author Visits!

Decatur Book Festival

We are excited to announce our 4th & 5th grade author visits scheduled for Friday, September 2nd!

5th grade will see Jewell Parker Rhodes, Coretta Scott King Honor winner and author of a new novel, Towers Falling. Ms. Rhodes is known for taking tough subjects and helping upper elementary kids understand them through novels. Her last book, Ninth Ward, was about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Her current book, Towers Falling, is about a 5th grade girl. Deja, who knew nothing of the events of September 11, 2001. Deja is homeless and living in a shelter, going to a new school as she learns about what home, family, and community mean to her.

Both authors will present in assembly format to each grade level. After the assembly, students who brought books by that author will come to media center to meet the author and get their book autographed. If you would like to purchase books through F.AVE, 20% does go to the media center, however, students are not required to pre-order their books through us. All F.AVE orders are due to the media center by Friday, August 19th.  Your child has one in their Monday Communication Folder. 

Friday, I'm in Love

We spent more time today working in groups and developing our classroom community!  We played some more fun games and we began evaluating what we know about processes and procedures.  We also read the first chapter of The Giver.  We are analyzing the different examples of the learner profile that we see in the main character of this novel.  

Here are some pictures from math centers and UOI word sorts.  Thanks for all the hard work this week.  Have a great weekend!

Paper Planes

Today was a super busy day in Room 181!  We started the morning with iPad 101.  We learned/reviewed all the essential agreements for iPad usage this year.  Be on the look out for iPad agreement forms in our red communication folder on Monday.

We also collaborated in small groups to answer the following questions:  What helps me learn? What hinders my learning?  Why is it important to learn about each other?  What questions do you have about this year?  Students traveled around the room doing a graffiti, gallery walk.  There were some very interesting responses, but these ideas helped us to form our classroom agreements.  We will also answer the questions students have about the year over the next few weeks.


Students were also very excited about our first inquiry project of the year.  Students were instructed to create a paper airplane.  Their goal was to create a plane that flew further than all of the others in the class.  One member of each group had to record every word that was said during the construction of the paper airplanes.  This was a great opportunity for students to develop relationships with peers, but it also showed students how easy it is to get distracted.  We were able to see that students that remained on task for the activity had a lot more success than students that did not.  We had some great laughs about the recorded dialogue!

Finally, students worked to develop a deeper understand of the IB attitudes.

Tomorrow we will begin to look at rights and responsibilities of citizens in the United States.  We will also begin our read aloud book The Giver.

Lovely Day

We had another great day in Room 181!  

We spent today working to develop classroom agreements about independent reading.  Students were able to share things that will help them maintain focus and improve as readers! 

We also discussed how we feel about math learning.  Students were asked to write their feelings about math on a sticky note and then place their sticky note on the chart below.  This chart was a great way for us to discuss how feelings about a subject often drive how we perform.  We also talked about how we want to make positive changes and continue to strive for our best.  This lesson directly connected with some of the goals that we have set for this year.  We will revisit this chart throughout the year and see how their feelings may change.  

Tomorrow we will be focusing on developing our overall classroom agreements by answering a series of questions.  This is an important part of organizing our classroom community.  Students should think about the things that help/hinder their learning, as well as any questions they have about our class or 5th grade.  

Also, our daily agenda comes back from summer vacation tomorrow, so please be on the lookout for student assignments in their planner.  

Have a great night.

What Did You Learn in School Today?

What a wonderful second day of school!  We spent more time getting to know each other, and we started to look at what it means to be an IB learner.  Students also spent time learning to work in small groups and with partners today.

This afternoon students worked on a puzzle to find out facts about their classmates.  Our classroom community is beginning to develop strong relationships and students are working well together!

We inquired into representations of the IB learner profile in literature today.  We read a book called The Empty Pot by Demi and students worked together to determine how the main character demonstrated all the traits listed in the learner profile.  We also made posters to represent each of the traits.  See some excellent examples below.

Thank you so much for your flexibility with dismissal this afternoon.  Please make sure you check my email from Ms. Newton for more information.  It is important that all students have a rainy/severe weather plan for dismissal.

I am looking forward to seeing you and your families at the F.AVE Picnic on Friday at 5!

Have a great night!  I'll see you tomorrow.

First of the Year

What a great way to kick off a new year in Room 181!

We had a great first day of learning about each other and the procedures of the classroom.  It was a great way to begin looking at how we organize ourselves!  Be sure to ask to see your student's Reflection Blog.

Tomorrow we will be spending some time designing paper airplanes!  Be sure to bring your best design ideas!  Have a great night.