Week of August 26-30

Here's a review of this week's events!
Special Events:
Riley Week: The BHS Chain Link is doing a district-wide fundraiser to raise money for Riley Hospital. Students in elementary school are encouraged to bring in spare change to donate to the hospital. A red chain will be created to show how much money was raised.
Step-a-Thon Fundraiser Kick-Off: On Friday, Mrs. Wise will be coming to our classroom to discuss this year's Step-a-Thon fundraiser. This fundraiser is our Parent Support Group's primary fundraiser, so we need this event to be as successful as possible! Your child should bring home information about the fundraiser on Friday.

Math: Students will complete the next five lessons in Unit 2 this week focusing on addition and subtraction number stories, finding landmarks for a set of data, estimating, and probability.
Science: Students will learn about many new science terms this week including molecules, compounds, mixtures, and solutions. At the end of the week, they will complete an exciting investigation about how to separate oxygen from hydrogen in water.
Reading: This week in reading is crammed-full with lots of lessons! The skill for the week is identifying facts and opinions. The strategy for the week is questioning. The reading story for the week is Satchel Paige.  We will also be focusing on responding to a text using the APE strategy (Answer the Question, Prove It, Extend) that they learned in fourth grade.
Writing: We will continue to review our 6 traits and will focus on some areas of writing conventions. Students will learn about choosing the correct word (degrees of meaning), compound and complex sentences, and verbs and adverbs.
Bully: Our weekly bully lesson this week will focus on teambuilding. We have been working a lot so far this year on evaluating our friendships and knowing how to make and maintain POSITIVE friendships.
Social Studies: Please ask your child's social studies teacher for an update of this subject.

As always, let us know if you have any questions!!
Mrs. Pfahler and Miss Scott

Student Council Elections are Here!

Elections held on Thursday, September 5

Each classroom will elect 3 candidates.
 
Each Candidate Needs:
 A well-rehearsed speech that includes the reasons why your class should vote for you. Make sure that your promises to your voters are realistic (For example, you cannot promise a longer recess.).

A poster/visual to hang up in the hallway

Ideas for posters are : Spirit days, why they would be a good leader, informing your class along with younger classes about spirit days, Great Volunteer at school functions: helping at movie night, Career Day, Muffins with Mom, Donuts with Dad.

August 19-23

Here's our update for the week of August 19-23!

Reading: This week’s basal story is Island of the Blue Dolphins. The strategy for this week is inferring. The skills for the week are determining theme and setting. Students have been reading chapters from their book clubs and will be participating in two book club meetings this week. Since theme and setting are two big ideas, we are focusing on theme during our basal reading block and setting during our book club meetings.

Writing: Students will continue to work in their writer’s notebook using skills focused on during mini lessons. We will continue with the weekly grammar section during the Writing block. This week we are focusing on action verbs.

Math: Students will finish Unit 1 by taking a test on Tuesday. Wednesday will start the beginning of Unit 2. The students will be learning about estimation, addition of whole numbers and decimals, and continuing to work on mental math strategies of multiplying and dividing by powers of ten.

Science: Students in Physical Science will be setting up their Science notebook. Students will be taking notes on key vocabulary and ideas from this week’s chapter. Students will also participate in hands-on activities to learn about mass and volume of different objects.

Social Studies: Please contact your child's Social Studies teacher for information about this subject.

 

As always, let us know if you have any questions!!!!

Mrs. Pfahler and Miss Scott

Week of August 12-16

Good morning! We hope everyone is having an excellent Monday morning!

New Items to Highlight
* Our nurse needs a "Personal Health History" form filled out for each student in the school. This form will be coming home today. Please return as soon as possible.
*Choice Reading: To allow this group of students as much time to read as possible, we will begin having students read as part of their daily morning work. Students are being given a log today to help them keep track of the books they are reading and the Reading Counts points they have earned. Each child needs to earn at least 20 Reading Counts points by September 30.
*Reading tests this year: Our new reading series has a different set-up for weekly tests. Students will be tested over the weekly vocabulary words, skills, and strategies. However, the comprehension aspect of the test will be over a "Cold Read" of a story. This format is more similar to ISTEP+ and allows students extra practice in reading a passage and responding to comprehension questions. These tests are taken online. Students will immediately see their scores after taking the test. You can also log-on at home to see their test scores. All scores will be recorded in PowerSchool.
*PowerSchool: It is very beneficial to sign up for weekly updates for your child in PowerSchool. With these weekly updates, you could see your child's grades and monitor them throughout the grading period. Missing assignments are also marked in PowerSchool in case you had a question about an assignment. Please let us know if you need help setting up this weekly communication OR if you have a question about a grade. Grades have been entered for last week.


Here is an overview for this week.
Math: Students will continue with Unit 1 this week. They will be learning about divisibility rules, prime and composite numbers, square numbers (and "unsquaring" a number), factor strings, and prime factorization. This unit is an important foundation for the rest of the school year, so it is important for students to be present for instruction with homework completed.
Science: Students in Physical Science will be learning about matter, mixtures, and solutions. This week will include an investigation of matter and an introduction into this chapter's key vocabulary.
Reading: This week's basal story is Thunder Rose. The strategy for the week is summarizing. The skill for the week is cause and effect. Students will also begin to learn about our procedures for Book Clubs. We hope to get books into their hands as soon as possible. We will also be working as a class to build some of our reading stations to be used throughout the year.
Writing: Students will continue to set up their writer's notebooks and begin writing a couple of short pieces. We will also begin our weekly grammar focus. This week we will focus on editing and learning about the parts of speech.
Social Studies: Please contact your child's Social Studies teacher for information about this subject.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions!
Mrs. Pfahler and Miss Scott

Dress Code

Dear Parents:

We are off to a TERRIFIC start to a school year! This group of students is an amazing group of respectful, sweet, and kind learners! The only issue we are having is with our district-wide dress code. Please review the full handbook with your child, but here are the dress code highlights again in case you missed it in the handbook or in the back to school packet that your child reviewed with you after the first day of school. All fifth grade teachers are following the same policy and, unfortunately, students have had to change their shirt or their shorts at school, which can be uncomfortable for them. It would be best if all students could come to school in the morning in clothes that fit our district policy. Thank you for your understanding! Let us know if you have any questions!

Mrs. Pfahler and Miss Scott

 

Dress Code:

*Shorts, dresses, and skirts

(including slits) should be no more

than four inches above the knee.

**Teacher Note: For most students, they will need to find the trouser-style shorts so that it will meet the length guidelines.***

 

*All shirts/tops shall have a sleeve

that covers the shoulders.

 

“Any fashion (dress, accessory, or hairstyle) that interrupts the educational process… will not be permitted.” Here are some of the most important points of the dress code to highlight.

*All shirts must be long enough to be

able to have two inches of material

tucked in.

*Hats, caps, bandanas, sunglasses,

and any other head-coverings are

not to be worn or carried during the

school day.

*Coats should be hung in the

designated area, not worn to classes.

*Shoes should be worn that are safe

for the playground and for PE class.

They should be attached at the

ankle.

The First Full Week of School!

We are very excited for the first week of school and hope the students are as well! There is a lot of information in this post, so please make sure to read it all carefully. As always, let us know if you have any questions!

Week in Review
Social Studies: All students will be participating in Social Studies this week. We will be introducing the different regions of the United States and then students will research all aspects of a chosen state. This research project will extend all week as students learn about the culture, tourism, natural resources, and other elements of their state.
Science: All students will be participating in Science this week. We will begin our introduction to the Physical Science quarter. Students will do investigations and inquiry projects to learn more about conductors and insulators.
Writing: Students will be introduced to the fifth grade writer's notebook and will begin creating lists to use throughout the year during our writing block.
Reading: We will begin our first week of our new reading series by reading Red Kayak and completing the activities that accompany the story. Students will also spend time exploring non-fiction texts. The reading strategy for the week is Monitor and Clarify. The reading skill for the week is understanding the elements of a fiction story (characters, setting, elements of plot, etc.).
Math: We will jump into the first unit of math this week. They will learn about making arrays and how to determine the factors of a number. Students will learn the new game Factor Captor this week.

Special Events:
*The Mad Scientist will visit our school on Friday for all students that completed the summer reading challenge. If your child has not yet turned in his/her paper, please have him/her do so immediately. New students are also invited to this event.
*Bully Kick-off Week: We will have several activities throughout the week to kick-off our Bully Prevention Program. There will be a theme day for each day of school.
Monday:"We are all different"- Mismatch day
Tuesday: "Making and Keeping Friends"-Twin Day
Wednesday: "Stomping Out Bullying"-Wear your favorite pair of shoes
Thursday: "Standing up to Bullying"-Wear your brightest clothes
Friday: "Stand Up, Stand Out-Black Out Bullying"-Wear Brownsburg attire to show that Brownsburg blacks out bullying

Learning Lab
Learning Lab will resume next week. You will be notified if your child is going to attend the Math and/or the Reading Learning Lab.

NUT-FREE CLASSROOM:
Please always be aware that our classroom is a nut-free classroom. Students are able to bring in snacks as long as they do not contain any nuts.

Darts and Demerits Practice Week: This week will be a PRACTICE week for our school-wide Darts and Demerits program. Students will still record tallies and darts, but the ones earned this week will not count toward nine week and semester celebration.

Sketchbooks for Art Class: If you were unable to find a sketchbook for art class, they are now available again at Wal-Mart.