8.20.14 - Day FIVE

Happy Hump Day, to my party people!  I must say, with that resource day, the week seems to go by MUCH faster- I cannot believe tomorrow is already Thursday!  Ay carumba!  REMINDER: Tomorrow is our school Mass at 8:15 AM, AS WELL AS Back-to-School Night at 6:30PM for all parents.  Please make plans to attend this very informative evening where we will be reviewing our syllabus and what is to be expected this year in 5th grade.  I look forward to seeing you all!

READING:
Learning Target: I can describe my book through various roles in Literature Circles
We will be beginning reading groups and literature circles next week so it is imperative that we learn how to complete each role of a book club in order to be successful with the process.  Thus, we used today to learn about the roles of Discussion Director and Word Wizard (Vocabulary Enricher) and practiced using the book, The Courage of Sarah Noble.  This is a fast and easy read perfect for learning about the skills needed for successful completion of literature circle activities.  Once each week, students will be meeting in their book club groups with 5 or 6 additional students to read and discuss and chapter book they are reading together.  Just like a book club that an adult may be a part of, this allows the students the opportunity to engage in a real-life situation while having creative fun with reading.  I am so excited to begin these groups and to have the students excited about reading!  Here is a link for every printable we will be using for any questions or lost papers the students may need access to.  And click HERE for extra copies of the role sheets (you won't need these now, but this link and these sheets may come in handy later!)
HOMEWORK: none, BUT... students MUST have a book to read in class by THURSDAY (tomorrow!)

ALSO...

Next week, we we will be reviewing Main Idea and identifying details to support it.

Here are some fun games to play/ practice this skill before the week sneaks up on us!

HAMBURGER GAME (easier.  Use this one as a fun warm-up)

Quia, Game #1 (grade level 6)

Main idea BATTLESHIP

Main idea PRACTICE QUIZ

"What's the BIG idea?!?" (game)

MATH:
Learning Target: I can identify place-value up to billions.
Students first learned how to organize their math notebooks.  I think it is important to be as organized with our note-taking, activities, and skills as much as possible so when it comes time to utilize, review, or simply access concepts in class, they are easy to find and easy to read!  Next, students presented their "Life by the Numbers" projects and I must say, they are wonderful!  It was so neat hearing all of the connections and numbers they came up with to describe their lives.  They are proudly displayed on the cork strips in my classroom that you'll be able to see WHEN you come to the "Back to School" Night tomorrow at 6:30PM (<--see what I did there?!?  Hint, hint...get it?!?).  Lastly, we are moving into the big boy numbers and working with billions.  It is tough to be able to say these numbers so we are practiced with identifying each place-value and going from there.  Numbers can be quite mind-boggling until you get down the gist of how to identify them and the fact that they go on forever, surely doesn't simplify matters!
HOMEWORK: none! (I'm sooooooo nice)

LANGUAGE ARTS:
Grammar/ writing skills is another HUGE component of the Language Arts block.  Thus, we learned about that piece of what will make up our time together.  We practiced with some basic grammar skills and concepts that will carry over into our writing pieces.  Baby steps into the process, people... Baby.  Steps.

HOMEWORK (Mrs. Schleg's areas):

SCIENCE: Complete vocabulary from Chapter 9
SOCIAL STUDIES: none
RELIGION: none

Don't forget!
Tomorrow (Thursday - 8.21.14) is our school mass at 8:15a.m.
Tomorrow (Thursday - 8.21.14) is our BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT at 6:30PM

Have a wonderful Wednesday!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas