If you are planning on sending a note to your child while they are at Outdoor School, it might be best to post it on Saturday, as we might not still be there on Thursday when mail comes! Westwind ODS PO box 389 Neotsu, OR 97364 Monday Buses arrive at 7:45 am and we could really use your help loading the buses with all the luggage. We will hit the road by 8:15. Students should have a back pack that holds their rain jacket and water bottle. They should be wearing their water proof boots when they show up to school. All gear (or at least pillows and sleeping bags) should be inside black trash bags with their name on tape on the outside. Thursday: We'll call the office when we leave West Wind, and they'll send out and email to parents so you can get a good feel of our arrival time. The kids will be TIRED and in need of a decent shower so please arrange pick up. Thanks. Gear Reminders: Gear http://www.nwresd.k12.or.us/instrserv/pdfs/ClothingListforStudents.pdf. Weekly Update!Math: This week we compared decimal fractions to the thousandths using like units and express comparisons with >,<,=. Students learned how to expand a number, round decimals, find the midpoint, and compare decimals. Writing: This week we had an on-demand writing assessment. We will start a new writing unit when we return from Outdoor School. Reading: We have been working on tracking/measuring our reading volume on reading logs and setting goals for ourselves as readers. Students should be reading at least thirty minutes a night, taking think notes on post-it notes. In class we have been studying a variety of strategies for determining important information as we read. In literature, we have learned about "sign posts" authors use to show us important information. The highlight of our week was...getting our READING JOURNALS! PYP: We ended our "How We Express Ourselves" unit with a reflection. The Graphic Artists and Secretary of Education are hard at work creating our classroom vision for "THE BEST YEAR EVER" and our responsibilities to each other as a "Community of Learners". They are even making little cars to show our growth toward our goals. Stay tuned for a picture when it's completed... It has been a busy week here in 5th Grade! The buzz that permeated our classrooms for most of the week was undoubtedly CLASSROOM JOBS! As part of our "How We Express Ourselves" unit, jobs are an important part of giving students ownership of the classroom and the understanding that each person has an important role to play to keep our classroom running. Thank you to all the hard work students put in to speeches and applications. Students should review their classroom job descriptions this weekend, and next week we will begin job training and implementation. We also continued our work in PYP on collaboration. Students worked in groups to complete the Marshmallow Challenge! We reflected together on how this challenge changed our ideas on collaboration, perspective, and responsibility. Students had some really wise thoughts.
Math this week started our work with the EngageNY curriculum. We'll be working through it this year in order to teach the 5th grade common core standards. The focus this week has been: 5.NBT.1: Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10 times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in the place to its left. 5.NBT.2: Explain patterns in the number of zeros of the product when multiplying a number by powers of 10, and explain patterns in the placement of the decimal point when a decimal is multiplied or divided by a power of 10. Use whole-number exponents to denote powers of 10. Students brought home check-ins in their Friday folders related to the topics. These check-ins will be weekly and are designed to give teachers, students, and families feedback on how the student is progressing on our topics of study. Students should use these check ins to study, review, and ask follow up questions. We will have larger unit assessments as we progress through the math that will cover all the topics on the weekly check-ups. Outdoor school updates! First, this link leads to the list of items needed for outdoor school: http://www.nwresd.k12.or.us/instrserv/pdfs/ClothingListforStudents.pdf. Remember, the cost for each student after our grants is $60. Please make checks out to BSCO. Checks can be taken right to the office. Thank you to all the volunteers that helped us cover writing and reading notebooks!!! What an effort. I wish we had pictures of the stacks and stacks of notebooks they covered. Students can't wait to get their hands on them! Specials: Music/P.E.; Spanish/Library; Music/P.E.; Spanish/Technology; Rhythms Reminders:
Throughout this week we've been focusing on increasing fifth graders' engagement and endurance across the subjects. In math we have been building our problem solving strategy tool box and working on persevering through challenging problems. In writing we have been forming partnerships to help strengthen our writing. In reading we are working on reading for longer periods of time and recording our thinking using direct evidence from the text. We're just getting into the swing of our "How We Express Ourselves" unit about collaboration. The students have already been posing some great questions and we have some interesting work ahead of us in the upcoming weeks.
Next week we will be focusing on our responsibilities to each other as a "community of learners" as we learn more about classroom jobs. On Monday, we'll be having a math problem solving quiz, continuing our collaboration work in writing, and diving into some useful strategies for determining importance in literature. Specials: Music/P.E.; Spanish/Library; Music/P.E.; Spanish/Technology; Rhythms Reminders:
Have a great weekend! |