8.21.14 - Day SIX

It's THURSDAY, party people!  Whew, it has been a crazy, busy, hectic, and chaotic week on my end - hopefully, yours has NOT been much of the same!  It's just tough getting back into the swing of things and getting acclimated to a new schedule.  It feels as if we are constantly going, going, going with no breaks in sight!  We're exhausted, the kids are exhausted, and I'm certain you're exhausted too!  But don't worry, we'll get there and soon enough, we'll be into the rhythm of our very, VERY action packed 5th grade schedule!

On that note, Thursdays are our most rushed schedules, but for a very excellent reason (the best in the world, in fact)...MASS.

MASS:
This morning in Mass, Father Chandler discussed the importance of inclusion to all.  I feel this is an all too important topic and concept for our students to understand and put into play in their own lives in and outside of school.  Having good character and being accepting of all is such a worldly, faith-centered expression of Christianity.

READING:
With our shortened schedule, we again practiced the procedures of Literature Circles and learned about the roles of Word Wizard as well as Illustrator and Summarizer.  By Thursday of next week, students should be ready to roll with their roles in these awesome reading groups.
HOMEWORK: none - come to "Back-to-School" night tonight!

MATH:
Learning Target: I can identify place-value up to billions.  Have you seen this place-value song?  Super cheesy, but super catchy :)
We practiced with place-value riddles and following rules assigned to place-value digits (Ex: write the largest 6 digit even number you can create with the numbers given and a 3 in the ten-thousands place and a 6 in the hundreds place).  We then went over number patterns in multiplying with tens as we worked up to billions. Students are expected to know place-values up to billions (10-digit numbers).  They are also expected to come to 5th grade understanding that each place-value has a ones, tens, and hundreds value.
HOMEWORK: complete PAGE 1 of WORKBOOKS.  Also, IF you have time, please play a few of these place-value games online for some skills practice (see links below...)

Place-value football, game index

Gamequarium Place-Value index

Place-Value Hockey

Sheppard Software Place-Value Games index (TONS and mixed skills!)

IXL 5th grade place-value practice

LANGUAGE ARTS:
Students completed their daily grammar lesson and then we finished a RAFT Activity assignment from Monday (Schleg's kids) as well as worked again on the components of a friendly letter.
HOMEWORK: none - come to "Back-to-School" night tonight!

Grammar Gorillas

Fun English Grammar Games

Sheppard Software Grammar games/ practice

JC Schools Basic Grammar links and practice index

SCIENCE:
Students went out to the garden with Mrs. Schleg and discussed the importance of nurturing and sustaining life.
HOMEWORK: none - come to "Back-to-School" night at 6:30PM

SOCIAL STUDIES:
HOMEWORK: finish definitions from Chapter 1, if not completed

RELIGION
HOMEWORK: none

We ended our day with a class meeting.  This is a weekly event where students submit praises and concerns (no names are allowed on concerns) and we problem solve (or praise) topics together.  It is a community-building activity that enables us to work through situations that affect us all, together.

I hope to see everyone tonight at "Back-to-School" night!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

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

8.18.14 - Day THREE

It's a manic Monday, friends!  Hopefully you had a marvelous start to your week!  We got started on our regular schedule today and it is going to take lots of modeling, practice, repetition, and routine to get us on the right and steady track... because WHEW, it's a fast one and well, it's a DOOZY!  We don't have much time with all the subjects to squeeze in all of our content so I have been working with the students on coming into class and being prepared and ready to learn.  We will get there!

READING:

Today we discussed how reading is related to other subjects.  I gave each student 3 post-it notes and asked them to peruse their Science books and mark stories/ topics of interest to them.  We then used those post-its to create a bar graph and suddenly, we had our most hot topics of Science studies for the year!  It is really cool to see what interests the students most and how those interests fit into their personalities.  From there, we learned how reading is the center focus of everything we do in and outside of school.  It is a life-skill and everything builds upon it.

HOMEWORK: none :)

Here's our graph made of post-its.  The topics are labeled beneath them 

MATH:

Learning Target: I can represent how numbers are all around me.

We first brainstormed places we thought we used math in our daily lives.  Students were quite unsure at first, but we got started with measurements in baking/ cooking, telling time/ alarm clocks, measurements of weight and height at the doctor, etc.  I then explained to the students how their whole life is basically a series of numbers assigned to them (our birthdays, the date on the calendar, the time for any and every single thing we do [school, work, sports, etc.], when we were born, where we were born, social security numbers, etc.).  We then looked at the website: YOU'RE GETTING OLD (<--click on that!) and looked at how basically every single thing in our lives can be tied back to numbers and math in some capacity which is both fascinating and mind-boggling all in one!  The students then created a chart to display their lives "by the numbers".  It really is such a neat thing to think about how math centered our lives are and to put everything to a number. 

HOMEWORK: COMPLETE your "Life by the Numbers" activity

My life by the numbers example

WRITING/ LANGUAGE ARTS:

We are doing some "friendly" writing projects as we ease into more complex concepts.  We are reviewing the characteristics of writing a friendly letter and who our intended audiences are when writing specific pieces.  I wrote a friendly letter to the students and at the end, asked them to write one back to me.  We "dissected" the letter and looked at what made it friendly.  I hope the students will be writing more friendly letters in the future because I am having a blast reading them!  I mean, who doesn't love getting letters?!!!?

HOMEWORK: Until we start VOCABULARY next week, NONE!

some of our friendly letter "dissecting" from class

SCIENCE: 

HOMEWORK: Tape papers to Science notebook for Mrs. Schleg

SOCIAL STUDIES:

HOMEWORK: Study for Quiz

RELIGION:

HOMEWORK: Bring religious pictures for notebook.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• TOMORROW (Tuesday, August 19, 2014) is OUR Resource Day!!
• SMA Liturgy - Thursday, August 21, 2014 at 8:15a.m.
• Back to School Night for 5th grade is Thursday, August 21, 2014 at 6:30PM.  Please make plans to attend so we can go over important information from our class's syllabus and other miscellaneous notes.

Hope you have an EXCELLENT evening!  PS, have YOU signed onto Sycamore?!?  Please get on there and register yourself/ your student asap NOW!

xoxo,

Mrs. Thomas

8.15.14 - Day TWO

Hello Gents and Judies!  I hope I am finding you well and wonderful on this absolutely fantastic Friday!  We had more of the same community building and getting to know you activities today here up in the 5T classroom of 236.  I just need to reiterate again how much I love my sweet babes in this class!  We have such a fun, animated, spunky, intelligent group and I just feel so blessed to be able to lead them through the year.

St. Bernadette Liturgy:
We attended the St. Bernadette Liturgy this morning with the church parishioners and I must say, I could NOT be more impressed with our cuties!  They were so polite, so mannerly, so attentive, and so well behaved!  It made my heart smile and beam with pride and joy!  Yaaaay!  Gooooo us! I am really looking forward to more masses together in the future.

Ranking Survival Supplies
This was a very need activity where I had students imagine they were off on a jet plane, going on the trip of a lifetime when it suddenly crashed into the ocean (no worries, all on board survived!) and had to rank a list of survival supplies I gave them based on usefulness.  I had them work in small groups of 3 to rank them together and then independently.  We ran out of time before lunch to go over these supplies to rank them once more, so we will have to do that Monday morning.  I love this activity because it IS community building and forces us to work together in a creative setting, but with realistic concepts and materials.  Students really had to use their imaginations and practicality all in one and they had a great time in doing so! See the pics below :)

Math Pre-Assessment:
I had the students complete a pre-assessment for the year in mathematics.  This was not for a grade, but more for me to see what skills they've already mastered.  I'd sure hate to teach them something they already know how to do; that'd be a waste of time, right?!?

HOMEWORK:
Typically, I do NOT give homework over the weekends and this is not homework, per say- I gave the students to option to complete this activity or not, but if they chose "no", they will have to complete it first thing Monday morning.  It is a puzzle activity for a bulletin board in our classroom under the theme, "Individually unique, Together complete".  Each student completes a puzzle piece and then we put it back together to show how each piece is different and  unique to a student, but altogether, we are whole and make one AWESOME class, if I do say so myself!

What needs to be on the puzzle piece:

*Name

*3 hobbies

*3 favorite foods

*a short description about yourself

Most importantly, be creative, be colorful, be Y-O-U!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo,

Mrs. Thomas

8.14.14 - Day ONE

Hello all!  Day ONE is IN the books!  I want you to know how very, very much I am enjoying this group of students!  I most definitely have a whole class of great ones and I am thrilled beyond belief to be your esteemed leader!  I think it is going to be one sensationally magnificent year!!!

Today we did a lot of community building and introductory activities as we become acquainted with each other and our year as 5th grade students.  We reviewed expectations and will continue to do so tomorrow as well to set the precedent for a wonderful year.  One important activity from our day today was discussing what the students hope to see in a good teacher and then we brainstormed and compiled a list of what makes a good student.  We then compared the lists and it was fascinating to see how many things matched up!  We most definitely have high expectations for each other and I do believe that that is the key to a successful year as we adhere to them.

HOMEWORK:

NONE!

REMINDERS:

TOMORROW (Friday, 8.15.14) we have parish mass at 8:15. 

TUESDAY (8.19.14) is our RESOURCE DAY.  This means that the students can wear their P.E. clothes as they will be attending all of their resource classes in ONE day.

THURSDAY (8.21.14) School Mass

THURSDAY (8.21.14) Back to School Night grades 2-5.  We will be going over our yearly syllabus and other important information for the school year with Mrs. Schleg and myself.

Have a wonderful evening!  I can't wait to see you tomorrow!

xoxo,

Mrs. Thomas

and so it begins...

Hello my new friends and families!  I just wanted you to know that I so enjoyed meeting you today!  I LOVE you already and we have one AWESOME class!!  I think we are going to have an "owl"standing year together and I absolutely CANNOT wait until Thursday!  While I'm going to miss my days of lounging by and in the pool with my sweet babe (and I'm certain you'll miss your lazy summer days of freedom too), I'm certainly going to wholeheartedly cherish, love, and adore every single minute spent with you!!!  Let's get to ROCKIN'!

P.S. Did you VOTE on the survey at the bottom of the posts?!?  It's small, so look closely so you don't miss it!  Take a tour of the blog while you're here!

P.P.S. If you missed the post below about me, please read through so you can start to familiarize yourself with me :)

Hello!!!

Hiiii to all of you, my new friends, my new classroom family!  I am so very excited to meet you and absolutely CANNOT wait to get to know you!!!  This is your go-to site for all things in our classroom.  Each day, I will post updates about our day in the classroom so you and your parents can feel as if they are a part of our day and any questions about subject matter, homework, or content can be answered through this useful tool.  I have used this since 2010, but the last few years haven't been updated as periodically as before (sadly, I only had about 4-5 students at home with computers so it wasn't being utilized to the fullest potential as it had in years previous).  Take a tour and become acquainted with how I "roll"- specifically focusing on the years 2010, 2011, and 2012 (starting in January 2011, specifically - you can find these in the archives on the right side from the toolbar).  I like to post videos of our day, links to help sites, tips, and highlight homework in case you have any questions.  At the bottom of these posts, you'll even find a poll so be sure you scroll down and vote- I can't wait to see our results!  Also, scroll alllllll the way down to the bottom to see many links worthy of your viewing and perusing (and bookmarking, perhaps) as well as a place to "feed" some fish with your computer mouse (it's mindless fun, promise!).

Now, back to this post...
I thought you'd like to at least know a little bit about me so you can feel at ease with having the new gal on the block here at St. Mary as a part of your 5th grade school year life.  Thus, I am giving you a few lists/ notes about me in bulleted form (and a few pictures too) so we can start to get acquainted!

here I am as a 5th grader on the left (the pumpkin!) and as a 6th grader in the pic on the right (I'm the French Maid, back middle)
I'll try and find my 5th grade yearbook picture...it's a BEAUT!  (totally kidding- it's 100% embarrassing)

Basic Information-

• Name: Mrs. Abby Thomas
• Age: 30 (yikes!)
• Birthday: January 6th
• Marital Status: Married --> Husband: Brad
• Children: 1 --> Jack (my heart!), age 2 (Born April 3, 2012)
• From: Winchester, KY
• College: Western Kentucky University (major: Elementary Education, minor: English)

Misc. Information-

• Favorite Food(s): spicy food (especially jalapenos and Buffalo Wing sauce); seafood (any, but ESP. scallops, calamari, and king crab legs); feta and brie cheeses; brownies and cake balls
• 
  
• LEAST Favorite Food(s): I DETEST mayonnaise!!!  (Seriously, the sight of it makes me vomit). mushrooms, eggplant, carrots, celery, and any meat from a can (to those I say, NOPE, NOPE NOPE!!!)
• 
  
• Favorite Music: broad genre 90s' music will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart (seriously, SiriusXM 90s on 9 is my JAM); ANY Classic Rock, (but ESP. The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, CSNY, CCR, Fleetwood Mac, the Beatles, Journey, REO Speedwagon, Boston);  and Indie/ Folk Rock (the Avett Brothers, the Alabama Shakes, Old Crow Medicine Show, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros)
• 
  
• What you'll find me watching: Grey's Anatomy, the Bachelor/ette, Survivor, Modern Family, Duck Dynasty, and constant reruns of Seinfeld (the greatest show of all time. Period.) and the Office
• 
  
• Favorite Sports Team: college-UK (sorry Louisvillians, I am diehard too! Sorry not sorry we've had to stick it to you in some high stakes b-ball games as of late!  tee-hee); NFL- Indianapolis Colts (my in-laws are season ticket holders!)
• 
  
• Favorite Picture Books: Drummer Hoff; Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon; Click, Clack, Moo; Rainbow Fish
• 
  
• Favorite Young Adult Chapter Books: Breathe by Clif McNish; Bud, Not Buddy; The Witches
• 
  
• Favorite Subjects to Teach: Reading and Math!
• 
  
• First Job: Lifeguard (I did this for 6 summers and will ALWAYS insist that this is the best job ever for a teenager and college age individual!)
• 
  
• Reasons I became a teacher: my parents AND grandparents all were; I have always LOVED working with children (I coached middle school cheerleading all through high school, taught preschool in college, first went to college to be a Pediatrician, and absolutely loved school when I was younger)
• 
  
• Favorite school years for me: 4th grade (this teacher is who I aspire to be- she was THE BEST!); 5th grade; 7th grade; and 12th grade
• 
  
• 5th grade memories: playing Sonic the Hedgehog2 [click there for some fun!] on my Sega game system pretty much every. single. waking. hour; doing grammar work every single morning to start our day (Grammar control and identifying crimes [as Weird Al parodies] against it are pretty much my most favorite thing ever); becoming an aunt (my niece, Cathryn [whom I call, "Prissy"] is almost 20 and is starting her sophomore year at Murray State University this fall); end of the year dance and lock-in; earning a Presidential fitness award; being a Kindergarten big buddy; winning Districts and Regionals for the 2nd year in a row on our school's Academic Team; cheerleading for pee-wee football and basketball; being a part of D.A.R.E.; being an office worker and teacher mini-assistant; and feeling important as the oldest of the elementary level!  It was such a fun year!!!
• 
  
• FUN and/ or Weird Trivia: I am TERRIFIED of vomit (seriously, even after having my own child, I still get squeamish and light-headed...and, if you feel the urge, RUN!  If you puke, I puke and that equals one big smelly mess); I am incredibly into fashion; I can curl my tongue into a weird 'T' shape; I can walk on my hands for an abnormally long period of time; I have been friends with some of the people that were in my wedding since before elementary school; I could read when I was 3; I have had 4 surgeries on my knee and need a fifth; I was a competitive gymnast until I was 10; I was a cheerleader from ages 9 to 18 and was named the Most Valuable Cheerleader and captain of my varsity squad my senior year; I once dyed my hair dark, dark brown and my parents and husband begged me to dye it back blonde; I get annoyed with basic grammar mistakes (your/ you're, then/ than, its/ it's, over usage of apostrophes, etc.) in adults because I always say that my students know better and so should they!
• 
  
• Favorite fun sites to check out/ bookmark: 

You're getting old (seriously, GO to this!  It. is. so. so. cool.)
GeoGuessr
Incredibox
Ron Winter's Online Drums
Mr. Wolfe's Math; 

IXL 5th grade Math;

Interactive sites for education 

5th grade games - Funbrain

Smithsonian Museum

Satellite fly-bys (plug in your zip code!)

Solar System in 3D

Human Body Games

Cool Math
Akinator (the Web Genie)
Math

 Fact Monster

Reading Planet

Gamequarium

Math Chimp

XP Math

Ben's Guide to U.S. Government

Congress for Kids

Fact Monster World Geography

Figurative Language Baseball

Mr. Nussbaum's Sentence Surgeon

Mr. Nussbaum's Torture the Teacher

Extreme Sentence Surgeon

Fun 4 the Brain

Learning Games for Kids

ABCya!

Prongo games for fun

Knowledge Adventure

Fifth Grade Hands-on Activities
Retro SUPER NINTENDO GAMES online!!!
Chicken on a raft (pointless fun)
Nick Reboot (watch Nickelodeon on the internet just as I watched it on TV back in the day!)

I promise that these are so, soooo worth your while!  Be ready to share which sites/ games are your favorite and what you enjoyed most!  Most importantly, warm up those brains for back to school and well, HAVE SOME FUN (while practicing too)!

the Jackman and me this summer at a wedding in Chicago

Mr. Thomas and yours truly... 

Easter 2014

My sweet, sweet babe...

Like I said, I absolutely CANNOT wait to get to know you!  What strange facts do you have to tell me about you?!?

xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas