New Year, New Supplies

Just a reminder to students and families
that when we go back to school next week, many students will need their school supplies replenished. The most important items are pencils, a good sharpener, and white board markers! In addition, some students also need a ruler and scissors at their desks. 

Happy Holidays!

Holiday Party

We will celebrate the holidays, including Ella's birthday on the 23rd, which is a half day... Mrs. Lawson, Ella's mom, is making hot chocolate and we can have a few treats. It is also our Holiday Sweater Day and BYOGFH day (bring your own game from home). Dismissal is at 11:15, and we have a lot of fun to pack in! Then VACATION!!!

P.S. Thank you Mrs. Lawson!

LED Creations

 

 

 
 

Put These Items On Your Christmas List

Heads up! You may be needing some of the items below for a science in January... 

These were all purchased at Radio Shack for around fifteen dollars! 

If you like, you can use these items on your holiday sweater too! Plan your design first, then go shopping! Sweaters can be found at Goodwill, Savers, or Walmart cheap! 

'Tis The Season for Holiday Sweaters!

A Book Is...

Spice Up Your Blog

Fiction Ideas

• Write a playlist of songs that a character from your book would likely have on their iPod
• Write an Acrostic poem about your book, a character, the problem, or setting
• Draw a scene from the book, upload it and tell about it
• Write and Vlog (a video log is similar, but you will be talking on camera) Tell about the book without a long boring summary! React to what you liked and or disliked. Write a script or a plan before you start filming.
• Practice reading a selection from your book out loud, with expression and Vlog that dramatic reading. Make sure to tell us why you chose to read that part!
• Put together a cast for the film version of your book. Include celebrities or people you know for all the roles. Make sure I get a good role!

Too Funny

While I've been doing running records, individualized timed reading assessments, students have gotten resourceful and are seeking expertise elsewhere! 

My question is this: Is anybody charging??? Here are a few original signs I noticed in the classroom today...

Great disclaimer!

State Lego Challenge

You could probably guess that this was coming! Try to build your report state out of Lego. You can do the basic shape or add mountains, lakes, and rivers. Be creative and add thoughtful details that show you are learning about your state. 

Due by: December 10th 

as Social Studies Extra Credit

Should you not have any Legos at home, you could build or make your own version of your state out of a different building material of your choice!

P.S. Some of you will be getting a world geography challenge this week!

Geography Unit Update

We will be going through each region of the United States and learning the capitals and state abbreviations. Later this week students will be assigned a state report. Students can check out a library book on their state and also look online for information.

 State and Capitals Games

More Games

State Report Research Link

Fifty States of Lego (Just for Fun!)

         

Fifty States Stop-Motion

Check back for more updates, research links, games, and maybe even some contests!

Halloween Pics

 Halloween was a blast between the parade, painting a glow in the dark skeletal system, and games and treats galore!

Halloween at Green Acres

This year 5th grade, in fact, all grades can dress up! Yay! Please see the notice for specifics... no masks, weapons, or gory makeup will be permitted. I am planning lots of fun Halloween activities, contests, and games! One activity involves glow in the dark duct tape and the skeletal system. Here is a game to practice the 206 bones before Friday!

http://www.abcya.com/skeletal_system.htm

I can't wait to see your costumes... 

PS. Treats are welcomed!

Tomorrow...

Reminder to wear RED tomorrow for red ribbon week! 
Also, we are going to be doing a science experiment tomorrow with Lego. We need wheels! Please if you have any Lego wheels, bring them tomorrow. You will be able to bring them home at the end of the day!

Book Blog & Million Word Challenge Update

I make students blog about their independent reading every week. So I guess occasionally I should do a book blog too! We've been reading a book called Schooled in class. It's by Gordon Kormon, he is a coauthor and creator of the 39 Clues series. That was a surprise to me... I have seen those books everywhere for the last few years. I realized that he wrote the series with Rick Riordin, and several other terrific authors!  

Anyway, back to Schooled! The books has a very relevant theme: bullying. I think it's so important to make sure kids understand that doing the right thing is not always easy. The characters in the book are dynamic and it is rich with vocabulary and humor as well.  Here is a link to the author's website if anyone is interested in reading any of his other books.

http://gordonkorman.com

Students can add Schooled to their reading logs in class.  At this point in the year students who are on track to read a million words, have read right around 6-7 chapter books or 1,400 pages. We say a book is right around 200 pages.  Students should have a blog entry on KidBlog for each independent reading book that they read at home/school.

Walk-a-thon Week Reminder

Thank you to everyone who has contributed and pledged 5th graders for our Walk-a-thon. It is this Friday from 1:15-2:15.  Many students asked for extra pledge sheets today... All of the money we raised will be used for 5th grade graduation activities!

Pictures From MY CELL (phone), From Our Cell Study!

We looked at plant and animal cells under a regular and digital microscope. Then students built Lego cells to show all the parts of a cell. They had a great time working with partners and got creative with presentation! 

Play some fraction and decimal games on this rainy day to keep your skills sharp!

Place Value with Decimals

Fractions to Decimals Game

Comparing Decimals

Ordering Decimals

Here are some pictures from Squam Lake!

Squam Lake

Tomorrow we are headed to Squam Lake for a field trip. The cost of the trip was misestimated and we had to charge eight dollars to cover the costs of the buses. Please turn in the money no later than tomorrow. Sorry for the short notice...

Many students have been asking to bring cell phones to take pictures. It is against school policy to bring them so we cannot. However, cameras are fine!

Cells- MORE TO COME

We are learning about cells in science this week. Here is a game and tutorial to do at home to help you learn and study. 

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/health/anatomy/cell/index.htm

http://www.edheads.org/activities/stem3/index.shtml

A Fun and Productive Week

This week we began Literature Circles and our reading groups. Students did a fabulous job reading their books independently and responding in their notebooks. I checked in with everybody, listened to them read, and then discuss their books with classmates. I was so impressed by the conversations that were going on! I should really have video up here to show, rather than pictures! 

Here are some pictures from our literature circles, paper airplane science lab, and math menu project.

Science Lab Friday

We have been talking about flight and and tomorrow we are going to test student made paper airplanes.  We will do three trials and gather data to find the mean, median, mode, range, maximum, and minimum flight distances. 

Here are a few sites to get you folding and flying!

http://www.amazingpaperairplanes.com/Simple.html

http://www.foldnfly.com/#/1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2

FYI -Lego Lovers!

LEGO MAKE & TAKE EVENT
Josh's Toys & Games
Join us on September 27th from 10:00 am until 12:00 noon for a Lego building event. Choose from a choice of 2 Lego sets, build it in the store and take it home with you. This is a free event!!

Fall Family Picnic

I am so madsad (yes, I know it's not a word), that I didn't get to go to the fall family picnic. I'm a picnic-pooper...I was totally ill, and so was one of my kiddos.

I heard I missed out on a GREAT time! A petting zoo, crocodiles, face painting, delicious food, I keep getting madsadd-er! I hope you all had fun! If you have any pictures please send them to me! I'll post them and them.

This should be a fun week I have a really exciting STEM design challenge for our class. It involves LEGO(s) You'll know more Monday!

Scholastic Ordering Online

If you would like to order Scholastic books online, the code for our class is L6GPK.

Here is a direct link to Scholastic so that you can order under our class. That insures that we get the bonus points that help to build our class library!

https://orders.scholastic.com/L6GPK

Here is a great book list for 10-12 year olds. If you need ideas for new authors...

http://imaginationsoup.net/best-books-10-year-olds/#_a5y_p=2275114

Oceans and Continents Quiz Friday

 Friday students have a quiz on the seven continents and oceans. 

Here are a couple of links to games students can play to help you practice.

Are you a beginner, intermediate or expert? There's also a tutorial to watch.

Oceans & Continents

Matching Oceans & Continents

Jeopardy

Remind 101

Parents sign up for free text reminders about important dates, cancelations, and information about our 5th grade class!

Word Clouds

...

We wanted to finish the word clouds before open house. We are 99% done... Hope you can come tomorrow night to see them and our classroom! Intermediate grade parents are welcome at 6:30-7:30. Thank you parents for filling out the lengthy survey/interview about your student. It helps me so much to get to know your child quickly.

What a Week!

Green Acres really is the place to be! What a beautiful week! I am so impressed by the students in our class... they are so courteous and smart. 

Here are a few pictures from our "Save Fred" experiment. The students had to use the scientific method to problem solve. Fred is a gummy worm whose boat capsized. Students had to use teamwork to help Fred get his life preserver on. The only problem is that they could not touch Fred! Students had to create a hypothesis and experiment to save Fred. 

...

Supplies

Not having taught 5th grade before, I wasn't sure what to put on a supply list. As I've been planning there are a couple of things that have occurred to me that I know we will be using. These items are not on Green Acres website supply list. However, if you can pick some of these up for your son or daughter to keep in his/her desk, that would be fantastic! I will have extras available too...

• Sticky Notes! -  All colors, shapes, and sizes! We will use them for a variety of things this year
• 
  
• Whiteout- liquid or any other variety
• 
  
• Pens- colored, black, and or blue
• 
  
• Duct tape- thin and or thick,  patterned or colored is great
• 
  
• Filler Paper Wide ruled
• 
  
• One inch binder, with clear paper insert on cover
• 
  
• White board markers and eraser

All About Me Word Clouds

I have lots of fun activities planned for the first few days of school. I am really looking forward to making All About Me Word Clouds with students on ABCYA. We will break in our Writer's Notebooks and create these neat clouds as a get to know each other activity. The writing process can be fun and simple with a gorgeous finished product like this. Here is my sample! Can't wait to meet my students and see which words they chose!

Feeling the Arts

I just had to post a link to my favorite YouTube channel this summer... Art for Kids Hub. May I just say subscribe? I wanted to draw all afternoon! The host is a man name Rob. He features his three kids and they draw together step by step, teaching the audience how to draw too! My son and I drew Olaf from Frozen, some Nintendo characters, and random animals. There are really great tutorials! 

Scope and Sequence for Social Studies

Here is a general outline of what we will be covering this year in Social Studies. Students have to read real  text books in middle school. That is why we will practice this with this bad boy.

Weighs 4.5 lbs. No kidding!

Let's hope we don't have to bring this one home too often! We will generally be going by the book. We'll use it to get through the main ideas of history and geography. Then hopefully we will do some fun projects to bring history to life and make it relevant to kids! 

September:

Geography Review

Geography Terms- Landforms

Reading Maps

October-November:

Our nation's geography

Native Americans

December:

Explorers

First colonies, 13 colonies

January

Colonies Unite

Revolutionary War

February

The Constitution

March:

Exploring West

April:

Civil War & Slavery

May:

Immigration

June:

World War 1

World War 2

We will have quizzes, assignments, and projects!

Painting the Classroom NEW

Well! I hope I'm not alone loving this color called Amethyst Ice. The classroom has a long way to go, but I'm starting to see how great it's going to be by September! Thank you to Mr. Watson and my mostly well-behaved children for helping me out today!