Week of May 19th

Week of May 19

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone enjoyed another weekend of beautiful weather :)

Reading: Our weekly reading story this week is The Hindenburg. As we read this story we will focus on identifying facts and opinions throughout the text. We will continue our study of text structures, and will practice identifying these in various picture books I think the students will enjoy. In stations this week students will continue to work on fluency, as well as ordering and justifying "just right" words. Students will also practice identifying nonfiction text features and identifying facts and opinions independently. In guided reading, students will read Birds and Planes: An Unhappy Rendezvous in the Sky and answer comprehension questions using text based evidence.

Math: We have officially finished all of our Everyday Math Units! I can't believe it. As a fifth grade team, we have decided to focus on long division this week. This is a concept that the majority of students struggle with, and one that they will need to know in middle school. Some students are stressed because we are teaching them through the long division method. Although many students use a different method that works for them, we are emphasizing this specific method because this is something they will be expected to know in middle school.

Writing: This week we will wrap up our compare and contrast writing unit. Students' compare and contrast writings will be due tomorrow. Students were given class time today to work on these. I have told students that Character Essays will be due this Wednesday. They do not have to be typed, but I am encouraging students who finish early to do so. This week we will begin our State Research Projects. I will introduce these to students on Wednesday. This project will require students to create three different types of writing pieces. I think students will really enjoy these!

Other Notes:

**Reading Counts: Just a reminder, all students must have 30 reading counts points by May 30.

**The fifth grade ISTEP celebration was cancelled last week. It has been rescheduled for this Wednesday from 1:55-2:55.

 

**As a fifth grade, we will be holding another round of "Battle of the Books". Students were able to meet with their groups today and decide on books. This will be a fun way to end the year and encourage students to keep reading!

 

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Thanks!

Miss Hetzner

Week of May 12th

Week of May 12

Happy Monday!

I hope that everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather this past weekend. Hopefully we have seen the end of the cold :)

Reading: Our weekly reading story this week is King Midas and the Golden Touch. Throughout the week we will be focusing on the various text structures we find in the texts we read. The class finished Shiloh last week and will be making a "theme" collage over the book during this week. We began working on these today in class, and students will have time throughout the week to complete these. In stations this week students will continue to work on fluency, word choice, identifying features in nonfiction texts, and comparing and contrasting various ideas in the texts we read. In guided reading, students will read Train Your Dog and answer comprehension questions using text based evidence.

Math: Students will have their Unit 7 Math Test this Friday. Students will receive their study guides Wednesday and will be expected to have these complete on Thursday so that we can review them as a class. I am finding that the trickiest concept for students seems to be adding and subtracting with negative numbers. I am more than happy to send home extra work if you feel this could benefit your child. Also, I am finding that during this time of year students begin to RUSH through their work :) I have noticed, especially when working with order of operations, that students seem to do this. These steps are very "straight forward", but I am emphasizing to students that when they do not show all of their work they are more inclined to skip steps and make silly mistakes.

 

Writing: This week we will continue our compare/contrast writing unit. Students have begun to brainstorm topics for their own compare and contrast writing piece. Throughout this week I will model for students how to turn our four square model into effective and detailed paragraphs. It is my goal for students to complete their compare and contrast writing by this Friday. I will also be introducing the Character Essay this week for all students. These will be due by May 28th, as Mrs. Larkey will be picking a winner on May 29th.

 

Science: *** Students will have a Science test this Friday, May 16th.

Other Notes:

**I sent home slips for the fifth grade party with students this afternoon. The party will be held on Wednesday, June 4th. Please feel free to fill these slips out and return them if you are planning on helping out or providing anything for the party. Any donations are greatly appreciated!

 

** Please feel free to send your child with any extra change this week to donate to penny wars. We will be counting Mr. Koning and Mr. Kelley's jars at the end of the week. The teacher with the most money will be shaving his head! If we raise a total of over $2,000 BOTH teachers will have to shave their heads! I know the kids would really enjoy this, so please feel free to donate.

 

**We will be having our fifth grade ISTEP celebrate this week from 1:55-2:55. It will be a great way to celebrate the students' hard work throughout the year!
Thanks!

Miss Hetzner

Week of May 5

Happy Monday!

I hope that everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather this past weekend. Hopefully we have seen the end of the cold :)

Reading: There is no reading street story this week due to ISTEP Monday and Tuesday. We will finish our class novel, Shiloh, this week. The kids really seem to be enjoying this book! Our main focus with the novel this week will be on analyzing the characters and identifying the theme. Students have done a wonderful job with this book, and they really seem to be enjoying it.  We will continue stations this week. In guided reading, we will focus on making inferences with informational texts. In stations, students will practice identifying the author's purpose, summarizing and identifying nonfiction text features, word choice (ordering and justifying words within their context), and practice with fluency. In guided reading, students will read "cliff hangers" and predict the end of the story using text based evidence.

Math: We will continue Unit 7 this week in Math. As ISTEP concludes tomorrow, students will be receiving math homework throughout the rest of the week. It is important that students are able to practice the order of operations as much as possible. We have practiced using parentheses and exponents during the last few lesson. We will also begin incorporating negative numbers by the end of this week.


Writing: This week we will continue our compare/contrast writing unit. Today, the students were introduced to a new format we will begin to use when planning our writing. I really think students will enjoy this new strategy. It should help students plan their writing more efficiently and effectively. We worked on the four square strategy as a class today. Students will have practice developing their own compare and contrast "four square" throughout the week over a topic of their choice.

Other Notes:

**ISTEP will be ending Tuesday, May 6th (tomorrow). I am VERY proud of the students for their efforts they have shown over the past week!

**This Friday students will be attending Career Day from 1:00-3:00. This should be an amazing event, and a great way for students to learn about all kinds of jobs they may want to pursue! Students will receive their agenda on Friday so that they know what their classroom rotations are.

Thanks!

Miss Hetzner

Week of April 28th

Happy Monday!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful and relaxing weekend.

This week (starting tomorrow) will mark the beginning of ISTEP testing. Testing will continue until next Tuesday. With that said, please make sure your child is getting plenty of rest and eating a big breakfast to fuel their brains! :) The students have been working so incredibly hard throughout this semester. I am completely confident that they are going to ROCK this test! As I know many of them get stressed, I will be reminding them tomorrow to RELAX and be CONFIDENT in their abilities. They have been preparing for this for a long time, and I have complete faith in their capabilities.

Schedules will be a bit different this week due to ISTEP. On Tuesday and Wednesday, our class with will take the math portion of the exam from 9:40-10:13. On Thursday, students will take the first session of Language Arts from 11:15-11:56. On Friday, students will take the second session of Language Arts from 11:24-12:07.

Reading: There is no reading street story this week due to ISTEP. Instead we will begin our class novel, Shiloh. I am very excited for this book, and I think the kids will really enjoy it! I thought this would be a nice way for the kids to relax and enjoy a good back after testing :) We will continue stations this week. In guided reading, we will focus on making inferences with informational texts. In stations, students will practice identifying figurative langauge in texts, differing between facts and opinons, and summarizing nonfiction texts. These are all things that will be great review for students as they begin Language Arts testing on Thursday.

Math: We will begin Unit 7 this week in math. This unit will cover exponents, negative numbers, and order of operations. Students will not be receiving math homework (or any homework at all this week). All math work will be done in class.

Writing: This week we are going to be doing a lot of review over combining sentences (using conjunctions), identifying and placing modifiers, and appositives. Students reviewed these skills last week, as we did class rotations with the rest of the fifth grade. This week we will work on making sure we have mastered all of these skills!

*** Please contact me with any questions or concerns regarding this week.

Thanks!

Miss Hetzner

Week of April 14th

Week of April 14th

Reading: Our weekly reading story this week is The Truth About Austin’s Amazing Bats. We will practice the reading strategy of drawing conclusions throughout the week. In stations, students will continue analyzing nonfiction texts and identifying the main idea in various texts.  Students will also be doing a lot of work with word choice and identifying the just right word using context clues. We will continue to meet for book clubs on Wednesday and Thursday. Students will be assigned a certain number of pages to be read each week for book clubs. Students will also be assigned a response piece that they will need to bring completed to book club every week. This is something they will response to in their reader’s notebook.

Math: The math test over Unit 12 will be this coming Friday. We will go over the study guide in class on Thursday to review for the test. The main concepts on the test will be probability, ratios, least common multiple, and greatest common factor.

Writing: This week in writing students will be rotating on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday amongst the fifth grade teachers. Each teacher will be reviewing a different concept. The concepts that will be covered are sentence flipping, combining sentences, appositives, and the types of sentences.

Spelling: Students will have a spelling test on Thursday over the words for The Truth About Austin’s Amazing Bats.

Social Studies: Please contact your child’s Social Studies teacher for an update in this subject.

Science: Please contact Mrs. Hennette for an update in this subject!

Week of April 7th

Reading: Our weekly reading story this week is Ghost Towns of the American West. This week we are focusing on making generalizations about the texts we read. Students will have a lot of practice with this reading strategy throughout the week. In stations, students will work on identifying fiction and nonfiction texts, as well as identifying the main idea and theme of various texts. We will be starting up book clubs in guided reading this week. We will also begin doing a daily review over word choice, main idea, sentence structure, figurative language, and context clues. This will be a quick ten minute review I am incorporating in class every day. This will be a great way to get students ready for ISTEP!

 

 

Math: This week we will begin Unit 12 in math. This chapter will cover probably, ratios, rates, least common multiple, and greatest common factor. These are very important concepts and ones that students will certainly have to work hard at understanding. I will be handing back Unit 11 math tests tomorrow with Tuesday folders. If students scored a C or below and would like to correct these they will have until Monday to return them to me.

 

 

Writing: This week in writing students will be working on word choice. We will work on using more descriptive verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs to make our writing more exciting. Students will work with partners throughout the week to practice using WOW words in their writing.

 

 

 

Spelling: Students will have a spelling test on Thursday over the words for Ghost Towns of the American West.

 

 

Social Studies: Please contact your child’s Social Studies teacher for an update in this subject.

 

 

Science: Please contact Mrs. Hennette for an update in this subject!

Week of March 17th

Week of March 17th

 

Reading: Our weekly reading story this week is Journey to the Center of the Earth. We will practice identifying the cause and effects in the story to help us better understand what we are reading. This week in reading we will be spending a lot of time on the various elements of fiction and nonfiction texts. Today we made an anchor chart, which we will use throughout the week as we identify texts as fiction and nonfiction. In stations, students will focus on identifying the main idea and supporting details, analyzing characters, and identifying the text features of their nonfiction National Geographic,   

 

Math: Students will take the Unit 11 this Friday. This week we will be covering surface area and will also get in a lot of practice with volume of the 3D shapes we have been working with. Study guides will be due on Thursday, as we will use these to review for the test.  

 

 

Writing: Today we began our compare and contrast writing unit. The students and I filled out a T chart after reading about 2 different types of snakes. Students began a rough draft paragraph using this graphic organizer. Students will create their own T chart comparing and contrasting an animal of their choice this week. Students will use this chart as a foundation for the compare and contrast paragraphs they will develop later on this week.

 

 

Spelling: Students will have a spelling test on Thursday over the words for Journey to the Center of the Earth.

 

Social Studies: Please contact your child’s Social Studies teacher for an update in this subject.

 

 

Science: Please contact Mrs. Smith for an update in this subject!

Other Notes:

·         Students will be watching the Social Health video this Friday afternoon. Please contact Jan Kennedy, the school nurse with any questions.

·         I am SO proud of everyone for their hard work on ISTEP last week! I am confident that our hard work over the last couple months is really paying off J

Week of March 3rd

Reading: Our weekly reading story this week is The Unsinkable Wreck of the R.M.S Titanic. I think the students will really enjoy this story! We will practice using the graphic sources in the text to help us better understand what we are reading. In stations, students will work on finding the main idea and supporting details, using details from texts to make inferences, analyzing characters in the texts we read, and responding to nonfiction texts with constructed responses.

 

Math: Students will take the Unit 10 test on Monday. This week we will begin Unit 11, which covers finding the volume of various 3D shapes. Throughout the unit we will practice identifying the various properties (surfaces, edges, vertices) of the different shapes (cylinders, prisms, pyramids, cones, cubes). Students will learn to calculate surface area, volume, and capacity.

 

Writing: This week in writing students will look at past writing pieces to evaluate the six writing traits. I will also finish conferencing with students regarding their writing prompt from a few weeks ago. We will also spend a day working on developing “catchy” titles. On Thursday, we will be dressing up as the “ISTEP Lady”. This will be a fun day to celebrate all of our hard work in writing over the last month! We will discuss what our ISTEP lady wants us to remember and each student will add a post-it with the most important thing they want to remember in regards to their writing.

 

Spelling: Students will have a spelling test on Thursday over the words for The Unsinkable Wreck of the R.M.S Titanic.

 

Social Studies: Please contact your child’s Social Studies teacher for an update in this subject.

 

Science: Please contact Mrs. Smith for an update in this subject!

 

Other Notes:

 

*We will be holding Battle of the Books next Monday, March 10^th. Therefore, students will be expected to turn in all summaries for their Battle Books and take all quizzes by this Friday. I will allow students time in the morning to take these quizzes, and also during recess.

 

*Reading Counts is due next Monday, March 10^th as well. I will allow students to work on these quizzes in the morning and during recess.

*We will have the ISTEP pep rally this Friday in the K-Lab from 2:40-3:15. It will be a lot of fun! If any parents would like to donate snacks for ISTEP please have students bring them in this week. I will be providing students with snacks every morning, but if you would like to contribute that would be wonderful! Also, I have received quite a few letters from parents to give to students during ISTEP week. If you would like your child to have one please feel free to turn them in to me this week! I will be writing a letter to each student, but I’m sure they would love some words of encouragement from home J

 

 

 

Please contact me with any questions or concerns,

 

Miss Hetzner

 

Week of February 24th

Week of February 24th

 

Reading: Our weekly reading story this week is The Skunk Ladder. This week we will spend a lot of time reviewing character and plot. I have picked out some picture books we will use to review plot. I think the students will really enjoy these! In stations students will work on determining the meaning of figurative language in texts, reading and responding to nonfiction texts, and asking questions in order to gain a deeper understanding of texts.

 

Math: Last week students worked very hard with prealgebraic equations. I will be incorporating this concept in stations throughout the week so that students will have continued practice with this, as I know it was one of the trickier concepts we have worked with. This week students will work on reading and analyzing graphs and also finding the circumferences of circles. Students will have their Unit 10 test next Monday, March 3^rd. Therefore students’ study guides will be due Friday so that we can review for the test that day.

 

Writing: This week in writing we will work on using transitions. I really want students to work on incorporating smooth transitions that help readers move from paragraph to paragraph. This week students will also be given the required district-wide writing prompt.

 

Spelling: Students will have a spelling test on Thursday over the words for The Skunk Ladder.

 

Social Studies: Please contact your child’s Social Studies teacher for an update in this subject.

 

Science: Please contact Mrs. Smith for an update in this subject!

Other Notes:

 

Please contact me with any questions or concerns,

Miss Hetzner

Week of February 17th

Week of February 17th

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful and LONG weekend! :)

Reading: Our weekly reading story this week is The Gymnast. We will work on drawing conclusions from the text and will also practice using pictures in the story to help us visualize. These are both tools that will help students as we practice reading with accuracy and comprehending the texts we read.

Students have been working extremely hard over the past couple weeks on writing constructed responses over the texts we read. We have focused on using evidence from the texts to support our answers. This week students will show off what they have learned in a constructed response contest!

Students did an amazing job analyzing poetry in stations last week. We will continue analyzing a few different poems as a class to make sure this is a skill we have mastered!

Math: We will begin Unit 10 this week, which will introduce students to prealgebra concepts and skills. Students will use Hands-On equations, which means making sure that the value of one side must equal the value on the other side (in order to find the value of x). We will be using Hands-On equations instead of the pan-balance model that is used in Lessons 10.1 and 10.2 of Everyday Math. Students will still have Math Boxes as homework, but will have separate homework instead of completing the Study Links for these two lessons. Unit 10 will also cover representing relationships as algebraic expressions, generating input-output tables, and linking data in tables to corresponding points on coordinate graphs.

Writing: Last week students responded to writing prompt “My New Business” using the writing process we have worked on over the last couple weeks. This week in writing we will use this prompt to practice rereading and editing our writing. I will be conferencing with students individually to discuss what students did well and also to pick two things students would like to improve.

Bullying: This week we will finish making our “My Roar Is..” posters. I have been extremely impressed with these! Students have taken this seriously and have really used this opportunity to reflect on how they can take a stand against bullying. I am so proud of them. Once these statements are complete we will be able to work on some choreography for our “Roar” dance.

Spelling: Students will have a spelling test on Thursday over the words for The Gymnast.

Social Studies: Please contact your child’s Social Studies teacher for an update in this subject.

Science: Please contact Mrs. Smith for an update in this subject!

Other Notes:

I will be handing back Spelling Tests and Unit 9 Math Tests on Tuesday. Students who have scored a C or below on the tests can make corrections on a separate sheet of paper and return these to me no later than Friday.

I am still using Mrs. Pfahler’s email currently. However, I am hoping to get mine set up no later than Wednesday. I will be sure to send an email to all parents when this happens. I know some parents have emailed my school email address and have not heard back. This is because I have not been able to access mine yet. I apologize for any confusion! Please contact me on Mrs. Pfahler’s email if you have any questions or concerns.

This Friday our wonderful “Juggling Masters” will perform from 2:00 to 3:00pm in the K-Lab!

 

Please contact me with any questions or concerns,

Miss Hetzner

Week of February 10th

Reading: Our weekly reading story this week is The Stormi Giovanni Club. Students will work on making generalizations as we read this text. This week we will also focus on analyzing poetry. We will practice finding the theme and meaning of words or phrases in various poems.

Math: This week in math we will be finish Unit 9. The Unit 9 test will be on Friday. Students received their study guides today and are expected to have them completed by class on Thursday. This will make it possible for us to go over the study guide Thursday in class. In class today we reviewed finding the base and height of triangles and plugging these in to the area formula. This is a concept students need some extra practice in.

Writing: This week in writing students are working on developing a strong beginning. Students shared some of their writing in class today and I was very impressed! This week we will work on connecting these STRONG beginnings to an strong ending. Students will also work on adding details, details, and more details to their writing! We worked on using vivid word choice today and this is something I am encouraging all students to think about and implement as they write.

 

Spelling: Students will have a spelling test on Thursday over the words for The Stormi Giovanni Club.

 

Social Studies: Students will be taking Social Studies acuity this Thursday at 1:20pm.  

 

Science: Please contact Mrs. Smith for an update in this subject!

Other Notes:

We will have our Valentine’s Day Party this Friday at the end of the day. I have encouraged students to bring Valentine’s to hand out to their classmates if they would like. I will have bags for students to put the Valentines in. If students would like to decorate their own and bring them in they are welcome to do that J

This week all classes are participating in “Reuse-A-Shoe. Students will have until Friday to bring in old shoes. These shoes will be shipped to Third World Countries where they will be reused by men, women, and children to work and play in. Students should have received a pink slip with this information.

As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.

 

Miss Hetzner

Week of February 3rd

Reading: Our weekly reading story this week is Exploding Ants. This week in reading we will be focusing on word choice, making inferences, and the use of figurative language in texts. We have worked on all of these over the past couple weeks, but these are all things we need

extra practice with!  I am confident that after a week of hard work all students will be pros J

 

 

Math: This week in math we will be continue our work with area. Last week we studied finding the area of rectangles. This week will work on finding the area of triangles, parallelograms, etc. This can be a very tricky concept! I have encouraged students to bring home their student reference books in case these may be of help when working on Study Links.

 

 

Writing: This week in writing students will practice brainstorming and planning. We did some practice with this today and the students did great! Towards the end of the week we will focus on the organization of our writing. Students will work on tying beginnings to endings and doing so in a way that will HOOK our readers.  

 

 

Spelling: Students will have a spelling test on Thursday over the words for Exploding Ants.

 

 

Social Studies: Please contact your child’s Social Studies teacher for an update in this subject.

 

 

Science: Please contact Mrs. Smith for an update in this subject!

 

Other Notes:

 

Many students still need to turn in their permission slips and $4 in order to roller skate in gym. I have only received these from a few students. These are due Friday! J

 

If any parents would like to donate to our Valentine’s Day party, or volunteer to help out please feel free to email me! I have two parents that have volunteered to organize the party, but any extra help is always appreciated. Thank you!

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

 

Miss Hetzner