I can't believe it's already December. Our students just purchased Christmas gifts from the Santa Gift Shop, and they are working on the decoration of our door. Today we went to the computer lab, and they enjoyed using xtramath, moby math, and Raz-Kids (reading). The students have been placed at approximate reading levels and are given comprehension quizzes after reading each story. They are thoroughly enjoying this program!
Please note that the test on Ch. 3 in Social Studies will be given on Monday. All students should have the notes (in the vocab notebook), their vocab (in the same books), and their textbooks to study from. They were reminded to study! We have also started double digit division. Most students did well on the single digit divisors, but these double digit divisors will be very challenging, especially to those students who do not know their multiplication facts. We continue to take quizzes on these at school; I hope that studen Our students worked hard on the reading portion of the MEAP this week. They will take the Math and Science parts on Tuesday and Wednesday. We urged all students to use their highlighters during their reading of questions and selections, and to use all of the skills we have been practicing.
What we are studying: In Math, we are working on rounding numbers, both whole and decimals. Students have to understand place value to do this well. With that in mind, we retaught place value several times. In Science, we tested on the Forces chapter, and these grades are now online. I pleased overall! I will be grading packets and posters soon; hopefully, these pieces will help bolster the low grades. In Social Studies, we tested on the first chapter on the first Americans made their way to North & South America. Now we are reading Chapter 2 on the different Native American groups in the same area. In Reading/Writing, we had a story test, several spelling tests, and multiple homework pieces. Students are collecting entries for their composition books with the goal of soon choosing one to develop into a full-fledged narrative. We announced the field trip to Lansing yesterday, and I realized that I do have enough parents that are already approved (volunteer forms). I have one, possibly two, parents that have mentioned field trips to me; I will need at least 2 more. Mrs. Lamonte has been calling for help on the Halloween party. I need to call her back on Monday (sorry, Lorreta...it was a crazy week:). If she doesn't contact you and you signed up, you will definitiely be contacted for future parties. Time is already moving quickly! Please enjoy your weekend!! Over a week ago I asked students to take notes about agriculture, the early arrival theory, and the three Native American tribes we had studied so far. I reminded them to study these notes, but then many students were surprised that I asked questions about all of these topics on the test. I told the class that now they know I'm serious about essays:) There will be essays on the upcoming Ch. 18 Science test too! The test will most likely be given on Monday, Oct. 8. Please study the vocabulary and reread the chapter. We will work on a packet and work on a poster in class to review as well.
We took the language part of the MAP test for the very first time today. Most students took this seriously and did their best. The results will not give us a grade level or a grade, but will give us information about where your student is at this point in time academically.
We will have 1 test in Social Studies on Friday (it was delayed because of the MAP test) as well as a Math quiz on place value in whole numbers. We are actually going through this topic for the second time! Please work with your child at home on this concept as In Math today, we retaught the basics of decimals. Some students will be retaking the quiz tomorrow. I have rescheduled the whole number place value quiz for later in the week. We discussed different ways to study for the Social Studies test. Many of the students DID NOT know the vocabulary for Chapter 1 yet. Please take the time to study with your child. Students also have notes about agriculture, the Early Arrival Theory, and the Native American groups (only 3).
Please fill out the volunteer form and turn in to me. I'll pass it on to our Central Office. Thank you! We have a quiz in math today on decimals and will have one on Monday on the place value of whole numbers. In Social Studies we are preparing for a test that will be given either on Wednesday or Thursday. We are also decorating our classroom with BATS!
The new pics are from NFL Friday! Unfortunately, many students were running and pictures were hard to take. There will be more to come as I can get the right moments:)
REMINDER: PICTURE DAY IS TUESDAY!!! Ah...weekend! Butler's class had a good week overall, but we have some improvement to make in the areas of listening and curbing chattiness in the classroom! We've built our classroom social contract and will be focusing on following that in the next weeks.
There will be plenty of testing during the next few weeks. We are preparing for something new called MAP assessment. This testing will give us wonderful information for instruction that we can share during conferences. The results will NOT include grade level scores but will show what each student already knows, where each student's instructional level is, and what learning each student can look forward to in the near future. MEAP tests will start on October 9 as well. Reading fluency (Dibels) assessments have already started in my class. ALSO: this week the Entertainment Book fundraiser will be held at Pine Island Elementary. Please get your orders in this week! Have a great weekend! We had a guest teacher yesterday while I was attending an assessment training. The students did a great job in the morning, but they became very chatty as the day went on. We discussed this today and had a very good day.
I have noticed that many of my students do not know their multiplication facts well enough to give answers quickly. We will need to keep working to improve this! Also, we've also noticed that more work is needed on addition and subtraction (especially in borrowing). We will be sending home short additional assignments from time-to-time to improve our abilities in these areas. Reading testing (Dibels) will most likely start in our classroom tomorrow. This will provide a baseline for improvement over the next few months. I am excited to see that improvement as it comes! With that in mind, all of my students were able to read 15 minutes straight today (remember, this is all 29 students at once) quietly in my classroom. It's wonderful to see:) There's more to come... |
Author5th Grade Teacher Archives
December 2016
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