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J Meinke
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Registration begins tomorrow and I have a tentative class list. I cannot wait to start putting faces with all of those names that I am writing on desk tags! I know many students are probably starting to get excited and maybe even a little anxious about starting fifth grade. Don't worry, fifth grade is a really great year. Luckily, the first week for students is only 2.5 days, so the kids can ease into things. We will be handing out information on Atwood, doing get to know you activities, learning rules and procedures, and reviewing some important 4th grade skills that week.
Though it is not on your supply list, I highly recommend students bring reusable water bottles to school. I allow students to drink water in the classroom. It is brutally hot on the top floor, even when it isn't that hot outside, and it is important to keep hydrated.
There will be a back to school picnic on Monday, August 24 from 4-6pm. I hope to see you there!
I could use a couple of parent volunteers who would be willing to come in for an hour or two on Monday, August 17th to help put label tags on desks and organize books and textbooks. If you are interested, please email me at jennifer.meinke@rps205.com. |
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| Geography |
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I am so lucky to have such a sweet class this year! The first day went smoothly. We went over rules, learned some morning procedures, and organized all of our supplies. It was a typical first day. Ensuring a positive and productive learning environment is a high priority for me at the beginning of the year. I would rather take the time to make rules and procedures clear now, than have problems down the road resulting from children not understanding expectations.
In addition to establishing a classroom environment, we have a few other goals to cover this week. A sample of this week's activities:
Math: Students will be completing some benchmark assessments this week. In addition to timed fact tests, your child will demonstrate their knowledge of reading and writing numbers to one million and addition and subtraction of five digit numbers. While these skills may be review for many of the students, it is important to identify who still needs assistance mastering the skills. We will also be exploring the Student Reference Book (SRB). The SRB will be an important reference for your child in math this year.
Reading: The Reading Log will be used to record independent reading. The assignment will be explained in detail to the students. Information can be found on the
class website. Our first literature unit will be on fantasy. The students will learn the literary terms associated with the genre and begin reading Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH next week.
Social Studies: The role of geography in economics will be explored in depth during the next few weeks. Geographic terms, types of resources, longitude and latitude, and the causes and impacts of economic development will be important themes through September. After learning the terms and the basics, students will be applying their skills creatively in the Lost Island project. This week we will focus on geographic terms. Students will be expected to study terms they do not know at home.
Writing: Over the next two days I will be administering the “Words to Learn” list. These are important, high frequency words that students should master by the time they exit fifth grade. Some students may have mastered all of them already. Some students may need to learn over thirty. Words that students miss on the test will go on their individual “Words to Learn” (WTL) list. Every week students will take five of the words on their list to add to their class spelling list. When they have mastered the words, they can check it off the list.
Fund Raiser: The PTO is having a huge push to raise money for the playground. I know this is a rough time of year with back to school prices and Atwood, but whatever you can do to help is appreciated. Students are bringing information home about ways that you can help. Cutting "Box Tops" doesn't cost a thing! |
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| Coming soon |
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Important Upcoming Dates:
September 8th, Parent Orientation. The schedule is
5:30 Auditorium with Mrs. Faber & Mrs. Beach
6:00 or 6:30 in your child's classroom (same presentation given twice to accommodate parents with multiple students at Washington). The three fifth-grade teachers will present our orientation together.
Week of September 14th- Atwood.
October 1st- Due date for monies for the playground collection.
Atwood: Atwood is coming around the corner!I hope everyone has their registration packets filled in. One of the students pointed out to me today that we do not have school Monday, so it will have to be due on Tuesday. The kids are so excited. It is so much fun at Atwood that many kids don’t realize we learn the bulk of the environmental portion of our life science skills there! Please carefully look over the packing checklist that was sent home. This has been such a crazy summer that it is really hard to know what to expect weather wise.
The kids have been a little unsure about how Atwood week will come together. I think I explained it to them the best I could, but in case they had trouble explaining to you...
Everyday there will be 2 of the 3 teachers at Atwood while 1 teacher stays behind with the sub. I am still recovering from my knee surgery, so we will see how the old knee does hiking as to how much I am personally out there! Every night, there will be 1 teacher spending the night at Atwood in the "call" room to be available to both dorms, while parent volunteers sleep in the dorms with the kids.
The kids who remain at school will be divided between rooms 212 and 213. The kids at school will be doing regular school work. Homework will probably simply be whatever isn't done in class. Because I won't be around to monitor what is going home for homework and maintain the site while I am at Atwood, the kids will have to be solely responsible for copying down their assignment sheets. There will not be web updates of assignments. The classes who remain behind will be taking on whichever teacher's specialist schedule works for that day. So for example on Monday room 213 might follow room 211's specialist schedule. The next day 213 might follow 212's.
We still need parent volunteers for the dorms. Please contact me if you are available!
Math: We hope to be mastering factors, prime factors, and differentiating prime and composite numbers next week, as well as solving some string problems.
Social Studies: Resource use is on the agenda. Natural resources (renewable, non-renewable and flow), human resources, and capital resources will be explored. You may want to have a conversation with your child about how these things play a role in your life. We are also reviewing longitude and latitude.
Science: We are easing into our weather unit. The unit will discuss factors that shape weather and how scientists measure humidity, air pressure, etc… Things are starting out a little slow. Atwood is so early this year that we are trying to prep kids for Atwood while getting on with weather!
Reading: Students are exploring the fantasy genre while being introduced to more technical literary terms. Point of view (first person, third person omniscient, third person, limited omniscient), types of settings (integral and backdrop), and types of fantasy were discussed last week. Depth of comprehension is important at the fifth-grade level. Students will work to stretch their thinking about the stories through written answers and oral discussions. Students who rush through the readings, and/or the answers will struggle to earn satisfactory grades. Please encourage your child to put true effort into the readings. It is going to take more than being “done” to meet learning goals!
Language Arts: Students will have their first spelling test on Friday, the 11th. Once students are given their pretest, the words will be sent home and posted on the internet. The site also has spelling tips.
Spelling Information
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| Lost Island Kick Off!!! |
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Value Card sales: A letter is going home on Monday, September 21st explaining the Value Card sale. Please be looking for it. No child is required to participate, the sale is designed to help students take a bite out of their Atwood bill.
Math: Fifth grade participates in the Mathematics Olympiad every year. It is a national competition where students compete by solving complex problems that rely on reasoning and applications of math concepts. Each competition day consists of 5 problems, to be solved in 24 minutes, which will be completed in class. The problems are very challenging and after the scores are tabulated, we use the completed tests to discuss and teach various problem solving strategies, as well as extend students basic math skills. The contest begins in November, but we hold practices in the weeks leading up to it in order to expose the students to various strategies they can use, as well as get them used to the format of the test.
On the practice held on the morning of the 16th, S.D. and A.W. tied for first place, earning 4 points each (out of a possible 5). Congratulations! Several students tied for second, with 3 points. Those students are A.A., J.A., A.B., K.B., F.D., X.E., G.M., I.R., K.S., M.T., C.W., J.W. Great job! The winner of last year’s Olympiad averaged 4 correct over the 5 competitions.
Reading: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H. will resume this week. We will begin weaving learning and the brain in to our reading unit for additional enrichment. Please, DO NOT encourage your student to read ahead. Students can’t keep the next part to themselves and always wind up spoiling some of the class discussions and taking a lot of the fun out of the book!
Language Arts: We are reviewing grammar and parts of speech, as well as working on developing more complex, detailed sentences.
Social Studies: Lost Island is beginning in full force this week. We will be meeting every day after lunch in our groups. The groups will consist of members from each of the homerooms and your child may be staying in room 213 or may wind up in 211 or 212 for group work time. This is a big project and your child’s daily participation is crucial to his or her group’s success. A handout will be going home this week to explain this assignment further.
Science: Atwood Journals are due Monday, September 21st. I hope the students all had a chance to share their week at Atwood with their parents through their journals. With Atwood behind us, we can really focus on the weather unit. This week we will be discussing the layers of the atmosphere and water vapor in the air.
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| The Brain |
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Atwood: I will be sending home Atwood “Bills” tomorrow to let families know what they owe after the fundraiser was factored in. Please pay ASAP!
Reading: We are slowing down the pace of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH this week in order to enrich the section on life at the lab. We are discussing the brain and learning, the nervous system, and animal research through non-fiction articles. The students are also infusing science by building their own mazes to run experiments.
Math: Students are diving deep into algorithms for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimals over the next couple of weeks, as well as developing estimation strategies. Some of the algorithms we explore over the course of this year may seem very foreign to some parents. Some of the methods will look downright “useless” to those of us who learned one way and one way only, especially since the “old” way was quite efficient. The purpose of teaching some of the alternative algorithms is to help develop number sense, teach distributive properties and expanded notation, and to offer alternatives for students who just see problems differently that the rest of us! All students are expected to try and experiment with the algorithms in order to expand their mathematics knowledge, but in the end, they will all settle down in to the method they like the best- which will most likely be the “old” way!
Language Arts: As part of our grammar and conventions instruction, we will be exploring sentence patterns over the course of the year (for example: Pattern 4 is Adverb sentence. Quickly, the students listed all the factors of 100.) A couple of new patterns will be introduced every month, and any relating conventions will be taught along with it. The goal of the sentence patterns is ultimately that the students apply them to their writing. Essays with very repetitive patterns (every sentence starting with “The”) will not achieve high marks on ISATS!
Social Studies: Lost Island may take a little longer than expected. Presentations are planned for Wednesday- Friday, but kids aren’t starting their salt maps until tomorrow. We will adjust the schedule as necessary.
Science: Weather, weather, weather… There will be an “At Home” lab coming home either late this week or early next week. It will require some parental help for safety reasons (working the stove). As a working mom, I know how hard it can be to fit stuff like that in, so I will have a three day window to get it done! Science labs are expected to demonstrate proper use of science terms and vocabulary, students should be explaining concepts using specifics!
Upcoming Events: Skate Night tomorrow night.
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Upcoming Events:
Open House/CSMP Night, October 20, 2009
Halloween Party and Parade, October 30, 2009
Monster Mash Dance: October 30, 2009
Halloween: Halloween is approaching rapidly. While you are planning costumes, please remember that toy weapons are not allowed is school, even as part of a costume. Students will be changing into their costumes in the afternoon and should not be arriving at school wearing any costume makeup or accessories.
Research: Last week, Mrs. Meehan, the school librarian, introduced the children to the online research journals and encyclopedias the district has available to the students. I highly recommend that all parents take a few minutes to take a look at these resources. These resources will help students find reliable information. Students may use them anytime they need to find out additional information about a topic they are studying or researching, and using online resources is simply the way research is done now. Some of the sites even show the students the proper way to cite the information for when they turn in their assignments.
Check out our Electonic Resources. I have also added this link to the “links” section of the classroom webpage.
Math: Though the computation with decimals unit is officially behind us, we will continue reviewing those skills throughout the year in order to help students improve their accuracy and give them continued opportunities to practice their facts. Geometry will be the focus for the next few weeks. Geometry at this stage of the year will be focused on specific use of geometry definitions and terms and the application of those terms.
Language Arts: Students are completing their persuasive essays and working on poetry the next two weeks. We will use poetry to review using strong, specific verbs and adjectives, as well as introducing rhyme patterns and meter. Students will produce a cinquain poem, as well as a haunted adaptation of a Mother Goose rhyme of their choice. If you have any nursery rhyme books at home, you may wish to consider sending them with your student to school when we begin the project.
Reading: Mrs. Frisby is nearing completion. Students will be writing a book review on either a fantasy book or a realistic fiction book that they read.
Science: We just received the FOSS science materials that we have been waiting on. FOSS is an inquiry-based science program we are piloting that was developed by the University of California, Berkley. We will be completing our weather unit over the next few weeks using lessons from these kits.
Social Studies: Lost Island presentations are complete. Projects will be set up in the classroom they were developed in during Open House, so make sure you check them out. We will be finishing up a few odds and ends and then launch into Native Americans and Early Explorers in November.
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Book Fair: Begins November 6th. Students brought home a flyer with the activities the PTO have planned along with the fair. Our class will be previewing the books on the 6th. If you can’t attend the fair with your child, they may purchase books the week of the 9th during the school day.
Veteran’s Day: November 11th (yes, that is a Wednesday off from school)
Parent Conferences: November 12th, November 17th. Your children brought home the first sign up form Thursday. A new one will be going home Monday afternoon with the remaining times for those who have not signed up yet. All slots are first come first serve. If you can't make any of the available times, please email me, call, or send a note (remember-email IS fastest for me), and we will work out an alternative for you.
H1N1 Vaccine Permission Form: Please sign and return the form as soon as you have decided yes or no on it. We need to make sure all parents received the form. If you have any questions about the vaccine, please call the number on the form.
Math: In geometry, we are reviewing important definitions of geometric terms. For example, a rectangle is NOT a “stretched out square”, it is a quadrilateral with all right angles. By definition, a square is actually a special rectangle. In addition to making sure students understand the definitions, we are also going to be looking at angle measures, rules of adjacent and vertical angles, and angle sums on polygons.
Social Studies: Last week, each student was assigned to a group to research a Native American region. Students will be researching all they can about the tribal cultures in that region. Emphasis will be on the elements that make up culture and how geography influenced the cultures of different areas. Students will prepare a presentation to teach the class about their findings.
Language Arts: Language Arts will be tied to our Native American research. Students will spend 4 days in the library working on reading and note taking skills and learning how to cite sources. In the computer lab, we will work on how to use technology to put together presentations.
Science: In our first FOSS lab we explored the property of density through a lab on layering colored salt solutions. The students measured the mass and volume of those solutions to discover why the solution layered the way it did. They then applied the density=mass/volume formula to calculate the density of each color. Next, the students will investigete convection in liquids as a mechanism for energy transfer. This will lead to a key concept in understanding weather patterns.
Reading: We completed Mrs. Frisby last week. We will be wrapping up literature notes this week, reviewing the story, and comparing and contrasting it to the movie. Near the end of the week we will be starting up literature circles with realistic fiction novels. In literature circles, the teacher helps groups of students learn how to apply reading strategies more independently. Students will pick first and second choices for a novel and be assigned to a novel with a study group. The novel choices will be Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick, Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilley Giff,Cages by Peg Kehret, and Zack’s Lie by Roland Smith.
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