Week of 11/1/10 - 11/5/10

Thank you to the moms who came into our classroom and provided games, activities, snacks, and beverages to our children for the Halloween party. A particular shout out goes to Mrs. Cione and Mrs. Kubik for running the whole party! You are all so appreciated by your children and me! Junior Achievement started this week and I learned lots of new things about the business world from Mr. Blocker. He will be back the week of November 8. Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Coming up this week:

Mrs. Klacza's Reading/Spelling Class:

This week, we will review all the skills we have studied so far this school year, specifically, summarizing, drawing conclusions, inferencing, identifying author generalizations, and visualizing while reading a realistic fiction novel. The novel we will be reading in room 208 will be The Kid in the Red Jacket. The students will love reading about Howard's problems as he moves to a new house in a new state. He is the “new kid” and his only friend seems to be Molly, a little girl who lives next door and is a royal pain!!

Spelling: Lesson 9: Pretest on Monday. Homework due on Thursday; Test Friday.

English: We continue our study of Verbs this week. We will specifically learn about past and future tense and subject/verb agreement. A test on the first 8 lessons will be on Tuesday, November 9.

Social Studies: I hope our children enjoyed the trade fair as much as I did! This week we will make “circle books” to go along with Lesson 3. We will discuss Ben Franklin and his Poor Richard's Almanack. Lesson 4 will follow, entitled “Slavery in the Colonies.” I have a Chapter 6 test planned for Wednesday, 11/10.

Science: We'll be making a 3-D pyramid of energy on Monday, reviewing chapter 5 on Wednesday, and taking our test on Thursday. Look out for a “How to Study” sheet!

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:

We have covered Chapter 5, lessons 1-3 on decimals, and will have a “quest” on Wednesday. Review will be on Monday.

Important Dates:
11/2 – Election day/teacher institute – no school
11/11 – Veteran's Day – no school
11/12 – End of Trimester 1
11/16 – Report cards
11/24, 25, 26 – Thanksgiving holiday

Have a wonderful Halloween weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 10/25/10 - 10/29/10

We will be celebrating Halloween on Friday with our 1:00 parade and 1:30 party. Thank you in advance to all the moms who have volunteered to organize and run it, and send in treats and drinks. Students need to bring their costume to school on Friday. The costume might need to be simplified for school purposes since students need to be able to change in a short amount of time. Changing will take place in the classrooms. The fifth grade will have designated classrooms for girls to change in and for boys. Washrooms will not be available for costume changing. No weapons, even fake, are allowed at school.

Junior Achievement will start this week (Wednesday) in Room 208. We have a wonderful instructor, Mr. Blocker, who will visit us once per week for 5 weeks and teach us about business!

Coming up this week:

English: We continue our study of Verbs this week. We will specifically learn about main and helping verbs, linking verbs, and present tense verbs.

Social Studies: This week we will learn about life in the cities, towns, and farms of the 13 colonies. Trading and bartering was very important to the colonists and in order to learn a little more about trading and supply and demand, we will be having our annual trade fair on Thursday, 10/28. Every student needs to bring at least one of something homemade to trade. We've discussed it extensively in class and there is a parent permission slip due back to me on Monday. Ask your child about it!

Science: The “leafy critters” were fabulous! We had such a ball exploring all the different types of leaves and using them for various animal parts. We will have our “lesson review” on lesson 2 Monday. Students may use their notes and textbook.

Mrs. Klacza's Reading Class:
Our CORE reading skill this week continues to be analogies. All fifth grade students will learn how to analyze and complete various types of analogies. In addition, all students will continue to focus on the important skills of drawing conclusions and making inferences. We will specifically be using short written pieces this week. I find that short mysteries work well with inferencing and drawing conclusions!

Spelling: Lesson 8: Pretest on Monday. Homework due on Thursday; Test Friday.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
We will work on Chapter 5 this week, focusing on place value with decimals, equivalent decimals, and comparing with decimals.

Important Dates:

10/11-12/3 – Read to Succeed program (Chicago Wolves)

10/22 – Buona Beef fundraiser

10/29 – Halloween parade and parties

11/2 – Election day/teacher institute – no school

Have a wonderful weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 10/18/10 - 10/22/10

The children did a wonderful job during MAP testing! We will have one more day of testing for this session; math will be tested on Thursday. Don't forget, Wednesday is an early dismissal day.

Coming up this week:

Spelling: (My reading class) Lesson 7: Pretest on Monday. Homework due on Thursday; Test Friday.

English: We will start Unit 3 this week on Verbs. We will focus on action verbs and direct objects.

Mrs. Klacza's Reading Class: Our CORE reading skill this week is analogies. All fifth grade students will learn how to analyze and complete various types of analogies. In addition, all students will begin focusing on the important skills of drawing conclusions and making inferences while reading a fictional text.

Social Studies: This week we will begin Chapter 6, "Life in the English Colonies." We will specifically be learning how the early colonists worked and traded. The trade fair will be coming up in about a week and a half. Look out for the permission slip!

Science: Students should be on a leaf hunt this weekend. They each have a packet of directions on how to press their leaves properly. We will be making leafy critters next week. Lesson 2 will also be read which covers the passing of energy through ecosystems.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
This week, I will be giving the students a "target" review to see how well they know the most important concepts in the first 3 chapters of our textbook. This will give me a good idea of concepts I may want to focus on a little more before moving on too quickly. We will begin Chapter 5 this week (putting off Chapter 4 until a later date.) Decimals will be introduced.

Important Dates:

10/11-12/3 – Read to Succeed program (Chicago Wolves)

10/15 - Movie Night

10/21 – Book Fair 6:30-8:00

10/29 - 1:00 Costume parade 1:30 parties

Have a wonderful weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 10/11/10 - 10/15/10

The weather is warming up a bit and the trees are beginning their glorious transformation! I hope you all have a wonderful 3-day Columbus Day weekend. Please be advised that we will be MAP testing next week on Tuesday and Friday. Here is a little information on the topic:

There is a new testing system being employed by the district this year. MAP testing stands for Measures of Academic Progress. These tests will be taken beginning next week, in the areas of Reading, Language, and Math. Students will take a series of multiple choice tests in each area on the computer. The program computes a score, which is then placed along a continuum to show each student's individual progress. It will even be able to show what particular areas each student excels at, and what areas they may need some additional support with. We are hopeful that this new system will help make our instruction for our students even better!

Coming up this week:

Spelling: Since we will be MAP testing, there will be no spelling lesson this week.

English: We will finish chapter 2 (Nouns) this week. After reviewing extensively, our test will be on Thursday. Watch out for a “How to Study” sheet.

Mrs. Klacza's Reading Class: We will continue to work on finding the main idea and supporting details in various types of text. Homonyms/Homographs and multiple meaning words will also be our focus.

Social Studies: We will continue to study the New England, Middle, and Southern Colonies. Our chapter 5 test will be on Friday.

Science: Back to the textbook! Chapter 5 will begin this week which covers ecosystems. Photosynthesis will be the first topic studied and the children will be responsible for gathering some fall leaves and flattening them at home. A packet of information regarding this project will be going home later this week.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
The chapter 3 test is now scheduled for Wednesday (part 1) and Thursday (part 2.) I am breaking it up so the students will have enough time to work hard and finish! We have truly reviewed and I hope my students are practicing math facts and studying division at home. We will begin reviewing for a “target” test which will cover important concepts in chapters 1-3.
http://www.aplusmath.com/Flashcards/multiplication.html
http://www.thegreatmartinicompany.com/multiplication.html

Important Dates:
10/11-12/3 – Read to Succeed program (Chicago Wolves)
10/11 – Columbus Day (no school)
10/15 – Box tops turn-in day (pizza party at stake!!)
10/15 - Movie Night

10/29 - Halloween parade & parties

Have a wonderful weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 10/4/10 - 10/8/10

Happy October and Happy Autumn everyone! I'd like to remind you all to check "parent connect" to see how your child is doing in each subject. We are officially halfway finished with the first trimester. If your child is receiving a grade below a C, a progress report has been mailed to you. I ask that you sign and return the bottom portion as soon as possible. If you have concerns at any time regarding your child's progress, please contact me.

Coming up this week:

Spelling: Lesson 6; pretest will be on Monday. Homework will be assigned on Monday and due on Thursday. Final test on Friday.

English: We continue our study of nouns with more plural nouns (and their interesting spellings,) and singular and plural possessive nouns. An example of this would be: the pencil belonging to the boy = the boy's pencil. Or, the books belonging to the teachers = the teachers' books.

Core Reading: Homonyms/Homographs and multiple meaning words will be our focus.

Mrs. Klacza's Reading Class:
We will be reading non-fiction text and concentrating on finding the main idea and supporting details in the selection entitled The Golden Lion Tamarin Comes Home.

Social Studies: Lessons 2 and 3 will be our focus this week as we specifically learn about some new European colonies started by the French and Dutch. Later in the week, we will concentrate on the original 13 colonies.

Science: The owl pellets were a success! The students learned a little about the barn owl through their eating habits. On Tuesday, the students will be taking a culminating quiz on the owl pellet experience. They will be able to use their notes.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
There will be a quiz on Lessons 1-4 (Chapter 3) on Monday. We will then continue the chapter, focusing on patterns in division and estimating and dividing using 2 digit divisors. I have planned a test (tentatively) on this chapter for Friday. We will certainly review on Thursday and I will assess the situation and see if the students are ready for a test. However, it will not be put off any more than 1 day.

http://www.aplusmath.com/Flashcards/multiplication.html
http://www.thegreatmartinicompany.com/multiplication.html

Important Dates:
10/1 - Bingo Night
10/11 – Columbus Day (no school)
10/15 - Movie Night

Have a wonderful weekend! Mrs. Klacza