The writing process

Just like the scientific method (ask a question, make a hypothesis, etc), there is a process writers go through to create pieces they are ready to share with a wider audience. Last Friday, students from Room 204 began the process by choosing an entry from their notebooks which they wanted to polish for publishing. The first step is planning -- thinking through a piece, gathering information, and deciding on the purpose and the intended audience. Next students will draft their entry, adding in new ideas and details, and skipping lines to leave room for later additons and changes. Students will meet in response groups to get peer feedback, then begin revising. We have defined revision as making changes to the content, the organization, and the ideas of the piece. Students may try a new lead, realize they need more descriptive details, or exchange verbs for a stronger impact. When revision is complete, we move into editing -- making a piece easier to read by fixing spelling, capitalization, and punctuation mistakes. Finally, it is time to publish. Students write a clean copy of their piece, incorporating their revisions and editing changes, and are ready to share their piece with an audience. Celebration is the last step, and a very important part of the process. We celebrate by reading each other's pieces silently or aloud, and honoring the contributions of our authors. I look forward to guiding students as they move through the process, and seeing their final products! Already I have noticed growth in their writing from the begining of the year.

Museum field trip

We had a great time on our recent field trip to the Museum of Nature and Science to view the Titanic Artifacts exhibit and tour the rest of the museum. A big thank you to those parents and helpers to volunteered to chaperone small groups of students. It made the trip run so much more smoothly. Students really enjoyed the Titanic exhibit -- one security guard commented that this was the most engaged and interested group of kids she had seen so far! Students also visited the North American Indian Cultures Hall, and some chose to tour the Hall of Life, Gems and Minerals, Prehistoric Journey, Space Odyssey, and other areas of the museum. Since we've been back, several students have been writing about the Titanic in their notebooks, choosing to read books about TItanic during reading block, and even role-playing characters from the ship out on the playground! It was clearly a big hit. I would recommend visiting the exhibit while it is still at the museum. Check out the DMNS website for more info, and the listing of free days!

Parent resources

I found this great information about the power of parents in a child's education on the DPS website. It also links to other important parent resources. Check it out!

Building and Buddy Reading

We've been studying Native American cultures in social studies, and the students worked hard this week to build models of three types of Native American traditional shelters: a tipi, an Iroquois longhouse, and a pueblo. It was kind of a mess, but we had a lot of fun! We talked a lot about how each group needed different kinds of shelters, based on their environment and way of life. See what your child can tell you about these cultures!

Another exciting thing we have been doing is meeting with a kindergarten class once a week for "buddy time". Each fifth grader is paired with a kindergartener, and we plan to do all kinds of fun projects together this year. It started by helping the little kids get to know the cafeteria! Lately we've been reading together -- it's so great to see how helpful the fifth graders are with the little ones. They are excellent mentors!

For more pictures, click here, or watch the slideshow below.

Practice this at home...

We just finished our first unit in fifth grade math, and took our first math test. While most of the students demonstrated a good understanding of the main concepts of factors, as well as prime, composite, and square numbers, almost all of them need a refresher on place value. We will certainly work on this in class, but if you'd like to help your child at home, here are a few suggestions:

* Write down large numbers. Try to choose number with decimals, and zeroes. 300,507.52 is a good example. Then ask your child to read the number aloud to you, or to write it down in words.

* Read a large number to your child, and have him or her write it down for you.

* Using a number you or your child has written, ask her or him to point out the ten-thousands place, or the hundredths (pennies) place.

* Draw a place value chart with your child -- go from millions to hundredths. Use the chart to play place value puzzles. For example: I am thinking of a number with a three in the hundred thousands place, a seven in the millions place, a five in the tenths place, and the rest are zeroes.

* More place value games and information can be found online. Check out these websites: ToonUniversity, LinksLearning, Enchanted Learning, FactMonster, and FunBrain.

The more you can work with your child on these concepts, the stronger their understanding will be!

Testing

We will be doing benchmark testing in reading, writing, and math next week. These tests provide teachers with immediate feedback about students' strengths and needs, and give us a benchmark (thus the name) to which we can compare growth and progress over the year. We will take these tests three times this year. Next week's schedule will be: a math session on Monday, a reading session on Tuesday, and two writing sessions on Wednesday and Thursday. Please make sure your child is at school on time and ready for testing -- a full night's sleep and a good breakfast can work wonders! If you have questions or concerns about your child's performance, please let me know. We will be finished with scoring the assessment shortly after September 21.

Our daily schedule

Some parents at Back to School Night were wondering about our daily schedule. It looks something like this, although on any given day it may change slightly, depending on a variety of factors:

9:05 Specials (either PE, Art, or Music)
9:50 Math
11:15 Science or Social Studies
12:00 Lunch
12:45 Reader's Workshop
1:45 Writer's Workshop
2:45 Skills (spelling, grammar, etc)
3:15 Read Aloud
3:45 Dismissal

Please do try to ensure that your child is at school on time, and attends every day, as much as possible. Students who are tardy or frequently absent miss out on learning. If you know that your child will be unable to come to school, due to illness, an appointment, or other family needs, please let me know ahead of time. I can usually help students make up their missing work, or put together a packet of work they can do while they are gone.

If you have other questions, please let me know!