BRIDGES!
Sunday, January 8, 2017
January 6, 2017
We are off to a great start this year. Students made stunningly gorgeous hands with resolutions for the New Year written on them. Take a look at them when you are in the building. You will be amazed! Also, the bridges unit is in full swing. Many groups are beginning to construct their truss bridge. Students were writing checks for their supplies, hoping to not exceed their $1,550.000.00 budget. After supplies were purchased, the sawing and snipping began. A couple of groups have started to glue the trusses. It is amazing to see them take shape! Enjoy the hand and bridges photos below.
BRIDGES!
BRIDGES!
Friday, December 16, 2016
December 16,
2016
Dear
Families,
It has been very exciting in the
classrooms as students are building paper bridges. It is mind boggling to think that a paper
bridge made out of one piece of paper, 24 x 36, could hold 4 dictionaries. But we had several that did. The next challenge was to create a bridge
using two pieces of the 24 x 36 paper, being mindful to incorporate what was
observed during the testing of the first challenge. It seems triangles were a huge part of
successful bridges. We will be testing
our 2nd challenge paper bridges this afternoon.
Important Person in History
Information Project: This week, students were assigned
a three part project based on a person in history who made a huge impact on the
world. Students will be writing an
information piece on that person. This
will be done in class. We will be
talking about how to use information text features, write a powerful
introduction, and a satisfying conclusion, but the most important skill for
students to work on is putting information into their own words. Students will be working on reading
information text about the person, summarizing, and making sure they are not plagiarizing. The second component is to create a poster
board presentation of the person. I will
provide the poster board. This
presentation will accompany them as they dress up as their person, the third
component, and “become” the person. They
will be knowledgeable about the person’s life and be able to explain what
contribution or impact they had on the world, in addition to talking about the
person’s life. We will have an evening of
sharing on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017. This will
also be a Celebration of Learning for the entire school. More details on that later, but please save
the date. Students were given a scoring
rubric for this project. A copy of the rubric was emailed to you all today.
The sun is
out right now, the shadows are long, but the shortest day of the year is just
around the corner. After that, the days
begin to get longer.
Stay warm, Ellen
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Classroom Updates
COMING SOON! Next week students will be assigned an independent book project. It is called the 12 of 18. All students were to complete reading a book by the second week of October to use for this independent book project. More coming next week! Stay tuned!
Everyone is working very hard on the island project. Very impressive! The most important bit of advice is for students to follow the rubric. I have extra copies of the assignment and rubric, if needed. Most students have completed defining the 29 terms, which are due October 11th, and are now designing their islands. The project is due October 21st. The creative juices are flowing.
In writing, students took a look at their narrative pre-assessment score so they could see where to specifically improve their writing. This week we focused on punctuating dialogue and adding interesting language. A couple of areas that are challenging for students in the use of transition phrases to show the passage of time and elaboration. Students are learning how to stretch out a small moment.
In grade 6 math, we are working on area and perimeter of rectangles and of triangles. I am looking forward to seeing the designs for the Mr. Trottle's dog fence. We are also continuing our work on factors, multiples, multiplication and division.
If you have questions about grade 5 math, please contact your child's teacher or visit that teacher's blog.
We finished our wonderful read aloud, Harris and Me. The last chapter is always hard for me to read aloud, as I can feel the tears coming. An incredible book about a young boy, who finally learned what it means to have a place to call "home".
Everyone is working very hard on the island project. Very impressive! The most important bit of advice is for students to follow the rubric. I have extra copies of the assignment and rubric, if needed. Most students have completed defining the 29 terms, which are due October 11th, and are now designing their islands. The project is due October 21st. The creative juices are flowing.
In writing, students took a look at their narrative pre-assessment score so they could see where to specifically improve their writing. This week we focused on punctuating dialogue and adding interesting language. A couple of areas that are challenging for students in the use of transition phrases to show the passage of time and elaboration. Students are learning how to stretch out a small moment.
In grade 6 math, we are working on area and perimeter of rectangles and of triangles. I am looking forward to seeing the designs for the Mr. Trottle's dog fence. We are also continuing our work on factors, multiples, multiplication and division.
If you have questions about grade 5 math, please contact your child's teacher or visit that teacher's blog.
We finished our wonderful read aloud, Harris and Me. The last chapter is always hard for me to read aloud, as I can feel the tears coming. An incredible book about a young boy, who finally learned what it means to have a place to call "home".
Sunrise/Sunset
Each Wednesday we track the time of the sunrise and the sunset in East Montpelier. As you can see from the photos, the yellow, or daylight, is decreasing and the black, the darkness, is increasing. We began tracking the sunrise/sunset times on September 7th. Since then, we have lost 1 hour and 27 minutes of daylight. Yikes!
Wondrous Words
Students looked the books they were reading to find new and interesting words. We gave them a value. Were the words worth 25 cents, 50 cents or $1.00? We discussed how important it is to use interesting language in your writing to keep the reader reading. After all, words are free. No one owns them, so we can use them!
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Personal Narrative Writing
Students have been working diligently and looking critically at their narrative pre-assessment. We have discussed how adjectives make your writing more interesting and transition phrases move your story along. We also learned about inference. We had a great time reading a small beginning of a story, thinking about what we could "infer" from the writing and then creating our own ending to the story. Congratulations to those students who shared their work out loud. It is a brave person who reads their writing out loud. It is a risk, but we can't grow unless we take risks.
Number the Stars
What is the sign of a really good book? It is when you don't want to put it down. That was the case this week when students read chapters 11 through 14 in Number the Stars. Lois Lowry grabs the reader and keeps you reading. The book shows us a wonderful example of a young girl, an ordinary person, being brave not only to save her best friend's life, but the lives of several other people she doesn't even know. The question for all of us is, would we rise to the occasion and be brave if the situation arose?
Island Project
Wednesday September 28th
Students were assigned a Design Your Own Island Project today. The assignment has two components. First, students must define define 29 geography terms related to landforms. Students may use an online dictionary or a book dictionary. Students should also do their best to rewrite the definitions in their own words. This is due on or before Tuesday, October 11th. Once students finish the definitions, they will be able to start creating/designing their island and incorporate the landforms. I showed students island projects that were created by previous students in order for them to get an idea of how to proceed. There was much enthusiasm for the assignment! Students were given a rubric for this assignment. Ask your child about their idea for their island. We will have some time in school for this assignment but students should also be working on it at home.
Students were assigned a Design Your Own Island Project today. The assignment has two components. First, students must define define 29 geography terms related to landforms. Students may use an online dictionary or a book dictionary. Students should also do their best to rewrite the definitions in their own words. This is due on or before Tuesday, October 11th. Once students finish the definitions, they will be able to start creating/designing their island and incorporate the landforms. I showed students island projects that were created by previous students in order for them to get an idea of how to proceed. There was much enthusiasm for the assignment! Students were given a rubric for this assignment. Ask your child about their idea for their island. We will have some time in school for this assignment but students should also be working on it at home.
Friday, September 23, 2016
September 23, 2016
Dear Families,
The All School Hike has been postponed until next Friday, weather permitting. Students were given their hike assignment this week. If you signed up to chaperone but cannot make the new date, please email Mike Sherwin, msherwin@u32.org. Also, if you can now chaperone on September 30th, please email Mike to let him know. We ask that on the hike, or any field trip, that you only take photos of your own child(ren). Thanks so much.
Students have been taking the DRA2 Developmental Reading Assessment this week. Congratulations to all the kids for doing their best on this lengthy test. There was quite a bit of writing on their part! Next week students will take the computerized math assessment called STAR360. All students in grades 5 and 6 will take the test during their math class on Tuesday.
Students looked at their narrative pre-assessment writing piece to see how they could improve it. The first order of business was to be sure everything was spelled correctly and that proper punctuation was used. We are now looking at how to elaborate some parts of the story and how to use adjectives to make their writing more interesting and to keep the reader reading.
In a few weeks, students will begin work on an independent book project. We have talked in class about how everyone needs to have read a book by the first or second week in October. Many students have already read more than one book. Please ask your child what they are reading and if they have finished reading a book since the start of school.
In social studies, we looked at a map of Europe to see how many countries kids could locate. Students will have a quiz on this soon. I will have a list of countries students must locate and many blank maps. When students feel they are ready, they can take the test, and they can take it as many times as they need to. It is important that students understand where countries in Europe are located, especially once we begin our study of ancient civilizations.
The cooler weather has arrived. We are keeping track of the sunrise and the sunset on a weekly chart. Over the past 2 weeks we have lost 42 minutes of daylight. Yikes! We were all surprised.
Have a great weekend. All the best, Ellen
The All School Hike has been postponed until next Friday, weather permitting. Students were given their hike assignment this week. If you signed up to chaperone but cannot make the new date, please email Mike Sherwin, msherwin@u32.org. Also, if you can now chaperone on September 30th, please email Mike to let him know. We ask that on the hike, or any field trip, that you only take photos of your own child(ren). Thanks so much.
Students have been taking the DRA2 Developmental Reading Assessment this week. Congratulations to all the kids for doing their best on this lengthy test. There was quite a bit of writing on their part! Next week students will take the computerized math assessment called STAR360. All students in grades 5 and 6 will take the test during their math class on Tuesday.
Students looked at their narrative pre-assessment writing piece to see how they could improve it. The first order of business was to be sure everything was spelled correctly and that proper punctuation was used. We are now looking at how to elaborate some parts of the story and how to use adjectives to make their writing more interesting and to keep the reader reading.
In a few weeks, students will begin work on an independent book project. We have talked in class about how everyone needs to have read a book by the first or second week in October. Many students have already read more than one book. Please ask your child what they are reading and if they have finished reading a book since the start of school.
In social studies, we looked at a map of Europe to see how many countries kids could locate. Students will have a quiz on this soon. I will have a list of countries students must locate and many blank maps. When students feel they are ready, they can take the test, and they can take it as many times as they need to. It is important that students understand where countries in Europe are located, especially once we begin our study of ancient civilizations.
The cooler weather has arrived. We are keeping track of the sunrise and the sunset on a weekly chart. Over the past 2 weeks we have lost 42 minutes of daylight. Yikes! We were all surprised.
Have a great weekend. All the best, Ellen
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Arlyn has asked that we include the following
message in our blogs about a school in Louisiana that needs our
help.
EMES is a collection site for books to be sent
to St. Amant School in Louisiana.
We are looking for NEW or LIKE-NEW Books. This
effort is being organized by Bear
Pond Books. Families who wish to purchase books, can get a discount if they use the Bear Pond online
ordering system. For details see www.bearpondbooks.com.
The 4th grade teacher has requested the
following books in particular:
“We’re
having to bring in items from home to improvise an environmentas normal as possible. Students don’t have
any reading materials for when they
finish their work or when they come into class. We also do not have a library at this location, so reading books is
considered a luxury as of now.” ~Lindsey Kelley, 4th grade teacher at
St. Amant Primary School in St. Amant, Louisiana
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
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