Second Week of December

Reading: Our weekly reading story is The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins. Students will be working on using evidence in the text to make valid predictions. In stations, students are working on asking clarifying questions while reading, fluency, comprehending nonfiction texts, and identifying the main idea of a text.  It is also a benchmark week for DIBELS testing. Results will be communicated once middle of the year scores have been identified.

Reading Counts: As a reminder, all students need to earn at least 30 Reading Counts points this 9 weeks. The deadline for this goal is MONDAY, December 9. They can take quizzes at the beginning or end of the school day, during reading stations, and at recess when I do not have recess duty.

Math: We have skipped unit 7 and are moving on to unit 8 in math. This unit is more fractions. Students will continue to work on comparing, ordering, adding, and subtracting fractions. The pre-tests demonstrate that we have a lot of work to do, but I am confident that we will get there! If you have not had a chance to log onto the Everyday math website, there are some great games for students to play to practice the skills we are learning in class. I HIGHLY suggest students playing Fraction Of and Build It online!

Writing: On Monday, we completed a district-wide prompt. This week, we will work on improving our prompt writing by practicing the skills taught during Organization Week  (impactful beginnings and endings, transitions, sequence, etc.). Students will not look at their writing and improve it. I will average the grades together for a new grade. Students will also learn more about identifying prepositions and incorporating them into their writing to make it more descriptive.

 Spelling: Students will have a spelling test on Thursday over the words for The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins.

Bully: The students recently brainstormed a list of bully topics that we need to address in our classroom. This week, we will be reading The Invisible Boy and completing an activity to address exclusion at recess.

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

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

Other Notes:

·         Graded papers: I found a stack of graded papers that were never filed when Miss Scott was here, so you may see some older papers this week in Tuesday folders.

·         This week concludes our Acuity B testing.

·         Students completed a vision screening. The results of this screening will come home this week in Tuesday folders.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Mrs. Pfahler

Thanksgiving Week

This week, I am THANKFUL for an awesome group of students!!!

Our Fall Party: Thank you so much to our room volunteers who gave our class an excellent party! Thank you to everyone that donated money or supplies. A special thank you goes to Mr. Angeles, Mrs. Ingersoll, Mrs. Mangano, Mrs. Nichols, and Mrs. Larkey for coming in for the party!

Reading: I am so excited that we were able to finish reading Three Cups of Tea last week. I have been so impressed by how each student has been engaged in such a difficult text and has completed all of the work that has accompanied the book. This week, we will be working on some difficult culminating activities, but I am confident that the students will enjoy the challenge and the chance to work in groups. We will be making posters for the themes of the stories, studying articles to compare schools in Pakistan versus schools in the United States, role playing interviews with characters from the book, and reviewing the plot of the book. Students will also take the test over the book and have the opportunity to earn 10 Reading Counts points!

Math: This unit focuses on data collection and fractions. Students will wrap up the data collection part this week and will begin to work on adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators next week!

Writing: You will soon see grades for our Organization Week prompts. Students had a chance to practice the skills learned that week with the various teachers (impactful beginnings and endings, transitions, sequence, etc.) in a prompt. Students will not look at their writing and improve it. I will average the grades together for a new grade.

Spelling: We will not have a spelling test this week since we do not have a basal reading story. After break, we will resume spelling with the list for Leonardo’s Horse.

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

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

Reading Counts: As a reminder, all students need to earn at least 30 Reading Counts points this 9 weeks. Several students have reached this goal and most students have earned more than half of the points. They can take quizzes at the beginning or end of the school day, during reading stations, and at recess when I do not have recess duty. Thanksgiving break would be an excellent time for students to do some extra reading!

Changes to Schedule this week

·         MATH Acuity B testing: Monday morning. They did an amazing job!!!

·         Thursday, November 28- Thanksgiving. No school. Enjoy the time with your family!

·         Friday, November 29- No School

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Mrs. Pfahler

November 19-22

Reading: We are in between our reading selections this week. That means that we will not have a vocabulary or spelling page for this week. We will also not have a spelling test.  We will be focusing on a book called Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. This book focuses on one man’s mission to help build schools in remote parts of Pakistan. The students and teachers will be exploring the book and learning about life in Pakistan and how Greg Mortenson has helped make an impact. This novel will be read by every fifth grader this year in the whole BCSC. There will not be too much reading of the book outside of class. However, the students still need to read 20 minutes a night. 

Writing: We are finishing up our Personal Narratives this week. The students will have their first piece of published work on Friday. We will begin the peer editing process on Tuesday.   

Math: We have started Unit 6. This unit focuses on different types of graphs, finding personal measurements and finding landmarks such as mean, median, mode, maximum and minimum.  

Physical Science: We have switched science classes. Please contact Mrs. Pfister for an update on this subject.

Social Studies: Please contact your child's Social Studies teacher for an update on this subject.

Bully Lesson: There will not be a bully lesson this week. Instead, we are using that time to focus on our novel Three Cups of Tea.  

Special Announcements:

Slips were sent home on Monday for the number of points that your child has in Reading Counts. Each student must have 30 points by December 16. The students are assigned 20 minutes of reading each day. Please encourage them in making sure that they get this done.  

 

As always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us!
We hope you have a great week.
Mrs. Pfahler and Miss Scott

November 4-8

Reading: This week we will be reading about Paul Revere and how he aided the Patriots in the fight for freedom.  As usual, Students will have both spelling and reading worksheets.  Our spelling test will be on Thursday and our reading test will be on Friday. Students will continue with stations and book clubs. This will be the last week for the book clubs that the students are currently in. We will be switching into new book clubs next week.  Our skill and strategy this week are author’s purpose and background knowledge.

Writing: The whole 5^th grade will be participating in a writing themed week. The 5^th grade teachers will rotate to the different classes and teach a lesson to the students. We are having a big kickoff event on Monday to get the students excited for the week. We will be focusing on different writing traits.

Math: We have been working on fractions throughout Unit 5. We will be continuing fractions this week. The students will be working on taking fractions and converting them into decimals, renaming fractions as decimals, rounding decimals, and prime factorization. Remember that the Everyday Math website also has helpful information and more practice.

Physical Science: We have switched science classes. Please contact Mrs. Pfister for an update on this subject.

Social Studies: Please contact your child's Social Studies teacher for an update on this subject.

Bully Lesson: This week we will be doing a teambuilding activity. The students really enjoy getting to work together and build skills that will help them in years to come. After the activity, the class will have a debrief session where we will discuss the importance of teamwork.

Special Announcements: We have several events happening over the next few weeks. Please look below for a list of the events.

Our 5^th grade Music Program will be this THURSDAY. The students must report to our classroom at 6:45 pm. The show will start at 7 pm. There will be a reception in the Cafeteria after the show. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday!

Craftapolooza-Forms for Craftapolozza were passed out last week. Do not forget that if your child signed up, they will be participating on November 13. This will be set up similar to the “Time with a Teacher” activities where parents will pay a small amount for students to do crafts with a parent.

Our class will be participating in the Book Fair this year. On Monday, November 11, we will have a chance to preview what books will be sold. On Tuesday, November 12, we will have a chance to go and purchase books.

As always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us!
We hope you have a great week.
Mrs. Pfahler and Miss Scott

 

October 28- November 1

Reading: This week we will be reading about the Navajo tribe out in the Western part of the United States. As usual, Students will have a spelling worksheet, reading worksheet, reading test. We will continue to have our spelling test on Thursdays. Students will continue with stations and book clubs. Our skill and strategy this week are author’s purpose and monitor and clarify.   

Writing: The students will be focusing on how to write expository pieces with good word choice and with strong punctuation. The goal of the week is for students to make a habit of writing stronger pieces in their first couple rounds of drafting.  

Math: The week before fall break, the students took a pre-test for Unit 5. We will start Unit 5 on Monday. This unit focuses on fractions. The students will be bringing home a family letter that contains some helpful hints. Remember that the Everyday Math website also has helpful information and more practice.

Physical Science: We have switched science classes. Please contact Mrs. Pfister for an update on this subject.

Social Studies: Please contact your child's Social Studies teacher for an update on this subject.

Bully Lesson: This week we will be doing a bully lesson that correlates with a book.  It is important not only to build a strong community in a classroom, but to also continue to learn how to detect bullying and how to stand up to it.

Special Announcements: We have several events happening over the next few weeks. Please look below for a list of the events.

1.       Spirit Week:

Monday- “Stay in School” Wear your Brownsburg spirit clothing

Tuesday- “Your future is bright “Wear a bright shirt to school

Wednesday- “Teamwork pays off” Wear your White Lick (Step-a-thon) shirt to school

Thursday- “Dress for Success” Wear what you want to be when you grow up

Friday- “Going to college” Wear your favorite college attire 

2.       Book Fair- The Book Fair this year will be November 11-14

3.       5^th grade Music Program- November 7^th is just around the corner!

4.       Craftapolooza-Parents are going to be providing opportunities for students to participate in making a variety of holiday crafts on Nov. 12 (gr. K – 2) and Nov. 13 (gr. 3-5).  This will be set up similar to the “Time with a Teacher” activities where parents will pay a small amount for students to do crafts with a parent.  This will replace the Winter Extravaganza.  Forms will be sent home the first week we return.  Space is limited. 

As always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us!
We hope you have a great week.
Mrs. Pfahler and Miss Scott

 

College Go! Week (After Fall Break)

 After fall break (October 28-November 1), we will be celebrating "College Go! Week" along with the other BCSC elementary schools. During this time, the students will learn about the importance of doing well in school and of lifelong learning. They will also gain a basic knowledge of types of education beyond high school Each day we will have a THEME along with brief classroom activities to help us achieve these goals. Please check out the THEME days above! (A special "thank you" to Mrs. Steffen for creating the graphic you see above!)

 

Monday, October 7 2013

October 7-11

Reading: This week we will be traveling across the world in our text, The Ch’i-lin Purse. Students will have a spelling worksheet, comprehension page, and reading test as usual. Please notes that we have changed our spelling test to Thursdays.  Students will continue with stations and book clubs. Our skill and strategy this week are compare and contrast and story structure.

Writing: The students will be focusing on personal narratives this week. They will explore different personal narratives and will create their own. 

Math: Students will take a pre-test for Unit 5 on Monday. We will be finishing up Unit 4 this week. We will review on Thursday and test on Friday.

Physical Science: We have switched science classes. Please contact your child’s Physical Science teacher for an update on this subject. 

Social Studies: Please contact your child's Social Studies teacher for an update on this subject.

Bully Lesson: This week we will be doing another teambuilding activity. We believe that we need to work together as a team to truly do well this year. The students always love these activities and will enjoy this week.

Special Announcements: Parent/teacher conferences are this week on Wednesday and Thursday, the 9^th and 10^th. The grading period ended on Friday, October 4. Report cards should be up on next Friday, the 11^th.

As always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us!
We hope you have a great week.
Mrs. Pfahler and Miss Scott