February 27, 2012

Dear Parents,

EARLY DISMISSAL - Tuesday!

SCOOPer Reading is due Monday!! Since I am not here on Thursday 2/23 or Friday 2/24, I will accept more than one Scooper Reading activity on Monday!

PATRIOT/LOYALIST project typed and illustrated due Monday.
We are doing the cover at school!

This is our last week of T.G.F.D.!! It would be nice if your child would like to write a thank you note or card!

SAVE THE DATE:
Tuesday, April 10th is our Too Good For Drugs Graduation at 8:15 in our gym.
Parents are encouraged to attend!!

Field trip slips for NaperSettlement will be given to your child on Monday.
The permission slip and $ is due by the end of the week.

HERE'S WHAT WE ARE UP TO THIS WEEK:

SPELLING: Lesson 23

ENGLISH: Unit 4 Adjectives

READING: The students will be reading a historical fiction novel independently and completing book club discussion sheets. They will also be participating in book club discussion groups.
The novel they are assigned is according to their readability (Lexile level) and comprehension.
I also tried to select books that would interest each reader.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Chapter 8 Test = Tuesday, March 6th

SCIENCE: Chapter 15 continued....This week we learn about different forms of energy!

MATH: Monday = Lesson 11.3 Factors and Greatest Common Factor
Tuesday = No Math due to Early Dismissal
Wednesday = Trimester Target Test and ISAT practice
Thursday = Lesson 11.4 Prime and Composite Numbers
Friday = Homework sheet and Quiz over lessons 1-4

The Week of February 20, 2012

Dear Parents,

Monday, February 20, 2012

No School/President's Day

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Spring Pictures
Look Before You Buy - Send no money now-see your portraits first.

Your finished portrait package will be sent home for your review.

Simply return any un-used portrait sheets with your payment.

SAVE THE DATE:
Tuesday, April 10th is our Too Good For Drugs Graduation at 8:15 in our gym.
Parents are encouraged to attend!!

THIS WEEK IN OUR CLASSROOM:

SPELLING: Lesson 22

ENGLISH: Unit 4 Adjectives

SCOOPer READING: Due Feb. 27th

READING: finishing Toliver's Secret.....
The last book club discussion sheet is due Wednesday, and the last book club meeting for Toliver's Secret is Wednesday.
They will be given one more activity on Tuesday to complete for Wednesday's meeting.
An end of the book project, will be their final assessment.

SOCIAL STUDIES:
The students have read and worked on an activity for lesson 3 independently.
We will be writing our last entries for our Patriot/Loyalist project on Tuesday.
The cover will be done in class next week. The rest of the project will need to be typed and illustrated by hand or with computer graphics by Monday, Feb. 27th.

SCIENCE: Chapter 15 Energy

Too Good For Drugs: Did your child share what they learned about Alcohol last week?
They are gaining important information about the decisions they will need to make and peer pressure. Deputy Seward is an excellent facilitator!

MATH:
Homework sheet and Chapter 4 review = Tuesday
Chapter 4 Test = Wednesday
Chapter 11 Lesson1 Multiples and Least Common Multiples = Thursday
Chapter 11 Lesson 2 Divisibility rules = Friday

The Week of February 13, 2012

Dear Parents,

If you'd like to donate our classroom could use some healthy individually wrapped snacks:
Goldfish crackers, cheese and cracker snacks, Teddy Grahams, etc. THANKS!!

Some reminders:
Monday = Miss Trefonas will be absent. Please know that I will not be able to answer emails on Monday or give your student a message from an email you send.

Tuesday = VALENTINE's DAY !!! We will try our HEARTest to have a great day!!!
I encourage each student to have a Valentine to pass out to everyone in the class.
Thanks to the parents who are helping make our Valentine Party enjoyable for the students and me!

Wednesday = The students earned a BEHAVIOR REWARD PARTY. I am providing popcorn and a beverage. The students are choosing which movie we will be watching.
A movie permission slip will be sent home once we have voted on the movie!

Thursday = ARGONNE Field Trip! Chaperones = Mr. Hoffman and Mrs. Paskvan
We are leaving Prairieview at 9:00 and returning about 1:30.
Your child needs to bring their lunch and a beverage.
Students must wear pants, long sleeve shirts and shoes that are closed which means no sandals.
This will be an exciting educational experience!!!

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE CLASSROOM:

SPELLING: Has your child earned a bonus point for "word of the week" on their spelling test?

ENGLISH: Tuesday = Unit 6 Pronoun Test
We are not starting a new unit this week.

SCOOPer READING: Due date = February 27th!

READING: We are reading Toliver's Secret a historical fiction novel that takes place during the American Revolution. While reading this novel, we are applying several reading strategies.
The students will be completing book club discussion sheets and participating in book club meetings using this novel.
The students will then be assigned another historical fiction novel according to their reading and comprehension level and completing book club discussion sheets and be meeting in a book club.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Chapter 8 Lessons 1 &2 Patriot and Loyalist typed paragraphs and illustrations need to be completed for Monday. These are pages 1-5 in our Patriot/Loyalist project. The students were given time in class on Thursday and Friday to work on this and have been saving their work on their flashdrives so it can be completed at home.

We are having another simulated activity which will revolve around the BOSTON TEA PARTY.
Their will be some delicious flavored Ice Tea that the students can enjoy....however they will have to pay TAXES (Tickets) on the tea!!

SCIENCE: Chapter 14 Test is Monday!
The students have been given a review sheet to use to study for the test.
They should use their text book, notes, and activity sheets that we organized and paper clipped together to study!

Too Good For Drugs: The students learned about the harmful effects of tobacco this week.

MATH: There is no math on Wednesday and Thursday due to the Argonne Field Trips this week.
We are continuing Chapter 4.
There will be a quiz over Lessons 1 - 4 on Tuesday.

The Week of February 6, 2012

Dear Parents,

Valentine's List were given to the students today! I encourage the children to pass out Valentines. Please remember that your child should give a Valentine to each student in the class.
We are not giving Valentines to other students in 5th grade, just our homeroom.
Candy Valentines ARE allowed, however the students will keep the candy to be enjoyed at home.

VALENTINE'S PARTY is Tuesday, February 14th!
I appreciate all the parent helpers that are preparing for our classroom party!

FAILURE NOTICES:
At the end of this week, if your child is doing unsatisfactory work and going to receive a grade lower than a C, a failure notice will be sent home.

PROJECT CHALLENGE meets Tuesday after school.

THIS WEEK IN OUR CLASSROOM:

SPELLING: Lesson 2o "Frequently misspelled words" and, of course, word of the week!

ENGLISH: We are finishing Unit 6 Pronouns. The Test will be Tuesday, Feb. 14th.
This week we will learn about the proper usage of we & us, review contractions, and learn not to use double subjects in a sentence.

READING: We continue to practice identifying cause and effect using a variety of materials.
The students have learned that the effect can come before the cause!! They did a superior job on a more challenging activity on Friday that had cause/effect and effect/cause intermixed on the sheet.
We will begin a historical fiction novel this week. The students will apply a variety of reading strategies during this novel. Following this novel, the students will read another historical novel but in "book club" groups....stay tuned!!!

SCOOPer READING is due at the end of the month! Many reminders have been given to students.....

TOO GOOD FOR DRUGS: Deputy Seward will be here for our 6th session. Your child has learned very valuable information that they should be sharing with the "home" activities.

SOCIAL STUDIES: We are learning about these historical events: The Boston Massacre, The Boston Tea Party, and The Intolerable Acts.
The students have started a project "I am the American Patriot..."I am the British Loyalist".
We will continue to work on this project.

SCIENCE: We are learning about Chemical Changes.
The students will be given a review sheet this week to fill out independently and to use for studying.
Chapter 14 Test = Monday, Feb. 13th!

MATH:
Monday = We are reviewing some Algebra skills.
Tuesday = Lesson 4.3 Properties
Wednesday = Chapter 4 Lessons 1-3 review and Homework Sheet
Thursday=Lesson 4.5 Write algebraic equations
Friday = Lesson 4.6 Solve Equations
QUIZ ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13th!