Well, the first week is under our belts. I just have to say....this week has been FANTASTIC!!!! Your girls have come in ready to learn all about each other, have had all of their supplies and forms when I have asked for them, and are already great examples of Brumby Ambassadors!! If this week is any indication of what our year will be like, we are going to have a wonderful year!
First, let's cover some housekeeping items. We are having open house next Thursday, August 23, at 6:30. You will get to come see our room and what we have done so are, as well as learn about how is year is going to flow through the curriculum. If you are not a member of our PTA yet, you really should join. It is only $6 a family. Membership gets you free entry to all PTA functions, and there will be one of the night of open house. They will be having a movie night with the film "Spy Kids 4" showing. If you are a member of PTA, it is free for your children to watch the movie while we have our meeting. They will also be selling pizza, drinks, and other refreshments. Due to class size issues we are asking that your children do not attend the class meetings, so movie night is a great way to avoid hiring a babysitter.
Now for class news! We are diving right into the curriculum next week. We are setting up our lessons around thematic units. Our first unit is on constructive and destructive forces of nature. Your daughters will be assigned 3 projects next week that will all be due on August 30th. The first is a news article they have to write about a fictional earthquake in LA. They have to first calculate how much damage the earthquake caused using figures we give them, and then tie that in to an article. The second is a powerpoint presentation that they will be working in groups to complete. They will have to create slides about different forces and describe them. The last is an opinion paper on whether they feel a volcano is a constructive or destructive force. They will have to create a graphic organizer, rough draft with edits, and a final draft. They will have ample time in class to work on all of these projects while I am pulling small groups for reading and math, but it will require some work at home as well.
In math, we will be working on place value with numbers as big as the millions place, and as small as the hundredths place. We will look at ordering decimals, and writing numbers in standard, expanded, and word forms.
Our first writing genre will be opinion. They will learn how to form an opinion and use facts to back their opinion up.
We will be studying sort 1 in the Words Their Way books for spelling. They will be responsible for writing their spelling words in their agenda every Monday. They will receive a speller choice menu Monday that will be used throughout August and September. There are activities that require writing, and ones that do not. They must complete two written activities a week, and one non written one. The non written one they choose will have to be verified by you. The girls can just write which one they choose on their spelling homework sheet, whichever night they choose, and you need to initial it. They will turn in the week's work on Fridays. We will take our spelling tests on Fridays. To do spellingcity.com work, your daughter needs to select Georgia, then the M for Marietta, select Marietta, select B, select Brumby, then select HEATHER SUBER. My name WILL NOT be on that list. Mrs. Suber and I work together on that website so it is her name they will choose.
Their first reading log of the year is going home this afternoon. The girls are to read at least 20 minutes a day. She must also complete 4 of the activities on the sheet throughout the week, and turn it in on Fridays. Please initial the sheet daily after your daughter has read.
Starting Monday, the girls will be responsible for recording their behavior in their agendas. They will also write down their homework and any other important information I need you to know. You will learn about our behavior system at Open House, but I just wanted to clarify a few things so there is no confusion between now and Thursday. Everyday the girls all start on Partly Cloudy. That means they had a good day. They have the opportunity to move up to Sunny if they are going above and beyond the expectations of our class. They can also move down to cloudy, windy, and rainy. If they move up or down, they will write in their agenda why. No matter what, their agenda needs to be signed by you every night. That way I know you are aware of how your daughter is behaving in school. Since they are in 5th grade, and almost middle schoolers, a lot of the responsibility is going to be placed in them. If you need to change your daughter's transportation, please put me a note in her agenda.
Again, we had a wonderful first week. I hope to see you all at Open House Thursday!
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