Week of 1/31/11 - 2/4/11

Can you believe that January is just about over?? Soon it will be Valentine's Day and we'll be celebrating! I will be sending home a classroom list for valentines very soon. Furthermore, moms who have signed up for the party will be notified via email.

Coming up this week:

Mrs. Klacza's Reading Class:
We are practicing writing an extended response using a nonfiction genre. This will help us succeed when taking the ISAT tests! We will also be identifying cause and effect relationships using a variety of instructional materials. This week, we will read Katie's Trunk in our literature books.

Spelling: Lesson 18 – Pretest on Monday, test on Friday. Homework due on Thursday.

English: We learned how significant the comma was after reading the book Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. The students are working on their own pair of sentences that are greatly changed once commas are inserted. We will then move on to interjections and quotations.

Social Studies: I have been seeing some of the Webquest projects and have been impressed. They are all due on Monday. Students may present them to the class. I will keep them for open house night. We will start chapter 9 this week, “Winning the Revolution.”

Science: We will start Lesson 3, “Chemical Properties and Change” this week. Our open note/book quick study will take place on Friday. Tentative test date for this chapter will be 2/9.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:

Lesson 7, symmetry, will be studied on Monday. Tuesday will be a review day and Wednesday is our Chapter 18 test date. We will wrap up the week with a target review and test on geometry and graphing coordinates.

Important Dates:

February 14 -- Valentine's party
February 15 -- Argonne Labs field trip
February 21 -- President's Day -- No School
February 25 -- End of Trimester
March 1 -- Report Cards

Have a wonderful weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 1/24/11 - 1/28/11

Tuesday is our district spelling bee and David C. will be representing the fifth grade. Go David!! Please remind your child to keep reading and getting those book reports finished. Stay warm this weekend and Go Bears!

Coming up this week:

Mrs. Klacza's Reading Class:
We will continue to understand the author's viewpoint and to distinguish between fact and opinion using instructional level materials, in particular, the story And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? from our textbook.

Spelling: Lesson 17 – Pretest on Monday, test on Friday. Homework due on Thursday.

English: We started “Capitalization and Punctuation.” This week we will focus on proper nouns, proper adjectives, and commas in a series. We will use the book Eats,Shoots, and Leaves to help us understand the significance of the comma!

Social Studies: Our Chapter 8 test is Tuesday. The students will be introduced to our “webquest” project which focuses on the Revolutionary War. They will be able to pick their own activity from a list given to them on Monday. We will visit the computer lab once, but most of the work will be done at home or in class during study hall. The projects are due on or before Monday, 1/31.

Science: Lesson 2 will be completed this week on physical properties and changes. The open note/book quick study will be on Thursday.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
We will continue with geometry this week, focusing on drawing and measuring angles, polygons, circles, congruent and similar figures, and symmetry. There will be an open note quiz on Wednesday covering important geometry terms and angles. The chapter 18 test is tentatively planned for 2/1.

Important Dates:

January 25 -- District Spelling Bee @ 10:00 a.m.
February 14 -- Valentine's Day parties
February 15 -- Argonne Labs field trip
February 21 -- President's Day -- No School
February 25 -- End of Trimester
March 1 -- Report Cards

Have a wonderful weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 1/17/11 - 1/21/11

We discussed Martin Luther King, Jr. today and the significance of Monday's holiday. Has your child told you about our reading buddies in 3rd grade? We have been meeting with Mrs. Olsen's class every Tuesday and sharing books. What a great way to share our love of reading!! Today marks the mid-term point of this trimester. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to access your child's grades online through Parent Connect. If you are having difficulty accessing the grades, please contact the office and they would be more than happy to assist you.

Enjoy the 3-day weekend and stay warm. GO BEARS!!

Coming up this week:

Mrs. Klacza's Reading Class:
This week we will be determining the author's viewpoint as we read And Then What Happened Paul Revere? in our literature books. We will also be focusing on the differences between a fact and an opinion.

Spelling: Lesson 16 – Pretest on Tuesday, test on Friday. Homework due on Thursday.

English: Our next chapter will be “Capitalization and Punctuation.” We won't start until Friday.

Social Studies: Lesson 3 is entitled “The Revolution Begins.” We will learn about the “shot heard round the world,” Paul Revere's ride, and Lexington/Concord and create some puzzle pieces, which will be our notes for this lesson. The test date for Chapter 8 is Tuesday, 1/25.

Science: There will be an open note/open book “quick study” quiz on chapter 14, lesson 1, which discusses the structure of matter. We will then begin lesson 2 entitled “What are Physical Properties and Changes.”

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
Students should be ready to learn about graphing coordinates on Tuesday and Wednesday and then jump into geometry, chapter 18, the latter part of the week.

Important Dates:
1/17 -- M. L. King Birthday -- No School
1/17 – PTO dining fundraiser
1/18 – Fifth grade spelling bee (We will be sending David C. and Clayton – congrats!)

Have a wonderful weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 1/10/11 - 1/14/11

Happy New Year! We started TGFD this week. Please ask your child about it! There will be homework involved most weeks, and it will typically involve families. This grade will be applied to Science since it is health related. Our classroom spelling bee will be on Friday, with a practice round on Thursday.

Coming up this week:

Mrs. Klacza's Reading Class:
We will be working on story structure using a story map template while reading various literature selections from our basal and other short story passages. A vocabulary quiz over words from the selection Elena will be given on Monday.

Spelling: Lesson 15 – Pretest on Monday, test on Friday. Homework due on Thursday.

English: English test on adjectives will take place on Wednesday, 1/12. We will review Monday and Tuesday.

Social Studies: Lesson 2 is entitled “The Colonists Rebel.” We will specifically learn about the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party in this lesson. Furthermore, I will be asking each child to bring in a picture that they can call their “picture of the year.” This goes along with a year-end TFK issue. It can be a snapshot or a picture from a magazine or newspaper! I will assign this on Monday and the pictures need to be brought in to school by Wednesday. If you happen to find one before then, send it in!!

Science: We have finally completed chapter 6 and will jump ahead to chapter 14, lesson 1, which discusses the structure of matter.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
After our Monday test on chapter 24, we will work on a wintertime activity which incorporates a variety of important math skills.

Important Dates:
1/6 -- TGFD begins and continues for 10 weeks
1/14 -- Classroom spelling bee
1/17 -- M. L. King Birthday -- No School
1/17 -- PTO dining fundraiser
1/18 -- Fifth grade spelling bee

Have a wonderful weekend! Mrs. Klacza