Week of 5/3/10 - 5/7/10

It is now officially May and we are busy in the fifth grade. Not only are we busy here at school, but I know many of my students are involved in baseball, softball, soccer, etc., etc.... Spring is my favorite sport season, particularly baseball, but let's not lose sight of everything we are still learning at PV. Please continue to motivate your child to study and do homework before their sport, if possible. I remember my own kids coming home so tired after a game that all they wanted to do was shower, eat, and go to bed! But, I do love May!!

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE: Students from Project Challenge have started a fundraiser for the ASPCA, a foundation to stop animal cruelty. The kids will be selling Smencils® (scented pencils) for a 1.00 each. The pencils will be sold each morning in the grade level areas. The sales will start Friday April 30th and go through May 28th. We will track our sales on the bulletin board by the multi-purpose room. For every twenty dollars we raise, one food bowl will go up on the bulletin board. So please help save our animals. Buy Smencils.

Coming up this week:

Spelling: Lesson 31 – the prefix ex: pretest on Monday; test on Friday

English: On Monday the students will take their test on Pronouns. The rest of the week will be devoted to persuasive writing. This class did a tremendous job with their expository writing; I am curious to see how well they will be able to persuade!!

Reading: We continue to use the reading strategies and skills that we have learned throughout the year using the novel Jacob's Rescue. This week, we will particularly focus on summarizing, inferring, and predicting. Our novel takes place during the Holocaust and involves Jacob, a Jewish boy who is sent to live with a non-Jewish family in order to stay safe. I am sure the children will enjoy it.

Social Studies: This week we start Chapter 12, “Times of Change.” The United States turns 50 in Lesson 1. What a great nation we are becoming! Sadly, the Native American people are being pushed off their land in this lesson; we will read about the Trail of Tears.

Science: We have finished Lesson 1 and have begun Lesson 2 which focuses on the moon. We will specifically learn about its phases this week.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:

We will finish our very short perimeter lesson and take our chapter test on Wednesday. Chapter 24 which covers volume and area is up next!

Important Dates:
5/3 – Start buying smencils!
5/13 – Students visit Lakeview to see Oklahoma (dress rehearsal)
5/14 – Early Dismissal
5/31 – Memorial Day/No school

Have a wonderful weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 4/26/10 - 4/30/10

As we enter our final week of April, I'd like to remind you all to continue to check your child's grades on line. Also, PLEASE make sure your son or daughter has a silent reading book in school. We have silent reading time EVERY DAY. I sometimes see students wandering around and they tell me they do not have a book nor are any in my classroom interesting to them! So, much time is wasted when it could be spent reading and getting a book finished for a book report.

Coming up this week:

Spelling: Lesson 30: -or words: pretest on Monday; test on Friday

English: We continue our study of pronouns and will do plenty of reviewing this week. I have pushed back the test to Monday, May 3. Persuasive writing will be explored after our pronoun test!

Reading: We will continue to reinforce the reading strategies that we have studied this year using the novel, Night of the Twisters. Our discussion groups were wonderful to watch. All the students participated in a positive way. This week the students will be working on a book project that presents the characters, the setting, the summary, etc. A comprehension quiz will occur on Wednesday and we will watch the movie Night of the Twisters on Thursday and Friday. The students will be comparting and contrasting the novel and the movie.

Social Studies: After reading a little more about Lewis and Clark, Lesson 3 will be explored which deals with the War of 1812. Did you know “The Star Spangled Banner” was written during this war? The chapter 11 test is planned for Friday.

Science: After finishing up Lesson 1 which discusses the reason we have seasons, the students will take an open note/book assessment on Wednesday. We'll then move on to Lesson 2, and we will specifically study craters.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
After taking the Chapter 22 test on Monday, we will start Chapter 23 on Perimeter, the distance around an object. This will turn out to be a very short chapter so a test on this chapter is tentatively planned for May 5.

Important Dates:
4/26 – Dr. Tiede visits room 208 to read to us
5/13 – Early Dismissal
5/31 – Memorial Day/No school

Have a wonderful weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 4/12/10 - 4/16/10

It was wonderful visiting with so many families last night at our annual Open House and Book Fair. What a great turn out we had on a very hot night! The students were thrilled to show off their work; thank you for making this last Prairieview open house so special for your child.

An important message from the office:

Since Earth Day falls on the 22nd & we have Early Dismissal that day we will be celebrating on April Friday 23. Students & staff members may wear their Earth Day shirts or green shirts & pack a "NO-trash" lunch as well as walk or ride their bike to school & any other great ideas you may have to celebrate this national day!!! Remember if students are planning on visiting their parents' work on Thursday, April 22nd (Take Your Child to Work Day) encourage them to do so in the afternoon since we are dismissing at 11:00 on that day.

Coming up this week:

Spelling: Lesson 29 – Compound Words: pretest on Monday; test on Friday.

English: We continue our study of pronouns, particularly contractions with pronouns and using we and us with nouns. I have a tentative test date planned for 4/30.


Reading: We will continue to review the reading strategies that we have studied this year using the novel, Night of the Twisters. Our book clubs will continue to meet after the discussion sheets are completed. Many skills are used to complete these sheets, such as predicting, summarizing, self-questioning, and connecting. The book is so exciting now – ask your child about it!

Social Studies: We begin Lesson 2, "Jefferson Looks West." It seems we could use a little “elbow room” in America so Jefferson purchases some land that increases the size of our country a whole lot!



Science: A new chapter begins this week. Chapter 13 discusses the earth, the moon, and beyond. We will start with the seasons and why they occur each year.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
We've made lots of measurement progress and will continue this week with elapsed time and temperature. We'll review the entire chapter on Wednesday, take a pretest on Thursday, and take our Chapter 22 test on Monday, 4/26.

Important Dates:
4/22 – Early Dismissal (11:00 for PV)
4/23 – Talent Show (fifth graders only)

Have a wonderful weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 4/12/10 - 4/16/10

Thank you to all the parents and grandparents who came to cheer on our students as they graduated from the Too Good For Drugs program. It was great to see such a big crowd come out on a Friday morning to show support. Please remember that Thursday night is our open house and book fair. Please try to attend; the children have been working very hard on all their fabulous projects!

Coming up this week:

Spelling: Lesson 28: Greek combining forms. Pretest Monday, Final test on Friday.

Reading: We are reinforcing all the strategies previously covered in reading as we continue our novel, Night of the Twisters. We will particularly focus this week on self-questioning as we develop a “twister journal” answering “right there,” “think and search,” and “on your own” questions.

Language Arts: Pronouns will be covered this week specifically object pronouns, using I & me, and possessive pronouns.

Social Studies: We will review Chapter 10 on Monday with a test following on Tuesday. I hope my students remembered to bring their textbooks home since I reminded them to reread the chapter this weekend. They should not be cramming on Monday! We will begin Chapter 11 on Wednesday entitled “The Young United States.”

Science: We will finish reading and discussing lesson 3, Waves on a Beach, and will have a short assessment of that lesson on Wednesday. The test for Chapter 12 will be on Friday.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
We will continue our study of measurement with customary capacity & weight and metric capacity & weight. Furthermore, all students will enjoy Geospace in their own homerooms this week.

Important Notes:

4/12 - Spirit Day – Chicago Baseball Day – Support your FAVORITE team!!!
4/13 - Geospace inschool field trip provided by the DuPage Children's Museum
4/15 - Open House and Book Fair
4/22 - Early Dismissal (11:00 for Prairieview)

Have a great weekend! Mrs. Klacza