Week of 10/3/11 - 10/7/11

Thank you for all the magazine orders! Wow!! We are the second place classroom at PV; we missed first by only 1 order, so that is terrific. This fund raiser is a great one for our school.

We start Junior Achievement next week. There will be 5 sessions spread out over the next 6 weeks and we have an awesome volunteer instructor. Can't wait! We also have our in-school science field trip on Thursday morning. Sarah's & Jack's moms are my helpers. Thank you both in advance!

Coming up this week:

Spelling: Lesson 6 pretest will be on Monday. Homework from the workbook will be assigned on Monday and due on Thursday. Practice sheets will be due on Tuesday, however. Final test is on Friday.

English: We'll skip to unit 5 this week, Capitalization and Punctuation. Specifically, we will learn about correctly forming sentences.

Reading: This week, we will focus on story structure and mapping using the historical fiction tale of Elena. There will be a vocabulary quiz on Thursday. Vocabulary words will be defined on Monday. We will also work with analogies.

Social Studies: We will read and discuss lesson 2, “New European Colonies”, and lesson 3, “The First Colonies.” The Pilgrims and the Puritans are our main characters!

Science: There will be a lesson 2 “quick study” on Tuesday. This is considered a quiz, although the students may use their text book and notes while taking it. We will then focus on the pyramid of energy.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
We continue our division unit this week as we learn how to interpret remainders, put appropriate zeroes in our quotients, and work with patterns in division. There will be a quiz on lessons 1-4 on Wednesday.

Important Dates:

October 6 – In-school field trip
October 6 – Junior Achievement begins
October 10 -- Columbus Day -- No School
October 27 -- School Improvement Day/Early Dismissal

Have a great weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 9/26/11 - 9/30/11

Today is the first day of Autumn and the leaves are starting their slow change. Keep an eye out for a special leaf project we will be doing this week. Students are expected to find and preserve leaves. They will especially be on the lookout for interesting colors and shapes! More to come!!

Don't forget that Tuesday and Thursday are magazine drive turn-in days. Also, please remember to save all your General Mills box tops and send them in for our classroom. There are some stores that offer box top bonuses. If you happen to know of these bonuses, please let me know!

Coming up this week:

Spelling: Lesson 5 (review) pretest will be on Monday. Homework from the workbook will be assigned on Monday and due on Thursday. Practice sheets will be due on Tuesday, however. Final test is on Friday.

English: We will review chapter 1 on Monday; test on Tuesday. We will then skip to chapter 5 which focuses on capitalization and punctuation.

Reading: This week we will be focusing on drawing conclusions, homonyms and multi-meaning words, and an extended response which lines up with our anthology story A Boy Called Slow.

Social Studies: We have begun chapter 5. Ask your child about the mystery at Roanoke Island! Jamestown will be studied this week.

Science: We will be reading, discussing, and taking notes on lesson 2 this week which focuses on food webs and the energy pyramid.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class: We will have more review on multiplication on Monday and our chapter 2 test on Tuesday. Division and chapter 3 is next! I am thrilled to see how well the children are doing on their timed multiplication fact “minutes.” This will help them greatly with the test Tuesday and with the division chapter.

Important Dates:
District Magazine Drive -- Magazine Order Turn-in days: 9/27, 9/29

September 30 -- Early Dismissal

October 10 -- Columbus Day -- No School

October 11 -- Teachers' Institute -- No School

October 27 -- School Improvement Day/Early Dismissal

Have a great weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 9/19/11 - 9/23/11

There is certainly a chill in the air! Pretty soon the leaves will be changing colors and autumn will be here. This time of year brings with it our district-wide magazine drive. Tuesday is our first turn in day. This is an excellent fundraiser for our school so please consider taking part in it.

Coming up this week:

Spelling: Lesson 4 pretest will be on Monday. Homework from the workbook will be assigned on Monday and due on Thursday. Practice sheets will be due on Tuesday, however. Final test is on Friday.

English: We will learn about conjunctions this week, helping us will be the Schoolhouse Rock video “Conjunction Junction.” Run-on sentences will also be covered. After a chapter check-up on Friday and more review on Monday, a test on chapter 1 will be given on Tuesday, 9/27.

Reading: This week we will be focusing on drawing conclusions, doing vocabulary activities, and an extended response as we read a selection in our reading anthology – A Boy Called Slow.

Social Studies: After a review game on Monday called Numbered Heads Together, our chapter 4 test will occur on Tuesday. Watch out for the How to Study sheet!!

Science: Chapter 5 will be started this week on ecosystems. We'll start with plants and photosynthesis.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class: Please remind your child to practice his/her multiplication facts!! We are on chapter 2, multiplication, and it will help them to be successful. After learning lesson 3 on Monday, there will be a quiz on lessons 1-3 on Tuesday. We'll then continue with lessons 4-6, ending the week with another short quiz on those 3 lessons on Friday! It will be a busy week! Looks like a chapter 2 test is in our future – Tuesday, 9/27.

Important Dates:
Magazine Order Turn-in days: 9/20, 9/27, 9/29

September 30 -- Early Dismissal

October 10 -- Columbus Day/no school

October 27 -- School Improvement Day/Early Dismissal

Have a great weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 9/12/11 - 9/16/11

I always feel like the four day weeks are jam packed and very busy. Next week will be a nice, normal five-day week. I hope your child is feeling comfortable here in fifth grade. If you have any concerns, please let me know. It was great speaking to so many of you at Curriculum Night. If you were unable to attend and sign up for a conference, please email me and I will put you on the schedule.

We talked about the ten-year anniversary of 9/11 today and how we all need to do something to help people in some way to commemorate this day in history.

Make sure you check your child's backpack this coming week for the packet regarding our magazine drive. This is a huge fund raiser for our district and we all appreciate your support.

Coming up this week:

Spelling: Lesson 3 pretest will be on Monday. Homework from the workbook will be assigned on Monday and due on Thursday. Practice sheets will be due on Tuesday. Final test is on Friday.

English: We continue chapter 1 this week, focusing on simple subjects & predicates and subjects in the imperative.

Reading: We continue with Tall Tales. The skills specifically targeted will be identifying story structure and distinguishing between exaggerated and realistic story elements. As a review, we will use our visualization skills, define unknown words using context clues, and define and use roots, affixes, prefixes, and suffixes. We will also discuss and practice using similes and metaphors. This week we will be writing our own tall tales with plenty of similes and metaphors!

Social Studies: On Monday we will start our Aztec masks. Later in the week we will read, discuss, and take notes on lesson 3, “Life in New Spain.” Look out for a How to Study sheet because I foresee our first social studies test on 9/20.

Science: We read and discussed lesson 3 from our book and took notes on the scientific method. There will be an open note/book quiz on Tuesday on lesson 3. The week will end with an interesting experiment where we will use the scientific method.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
Our chapter 1 test will be on Tuesday. Please make sure your child has finished the pretest given to them as homework today. We will continue to review the chapter on Monday. Chapter 2 on multiplication is next!

Important Dates:

District Magazine Drive -- Magazine Order Turn-in days: 9/20, 9/27, 9/29
September 30 -- Early Dismissal
October 10 -- Columbus Day -- No School
October 27 -- School Improvement Day/Early Dismissal

Enjoy your weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 9/5/11-9/9/11

We have completed our first full week of curriculum work. I have already added some grades, so please make sure to check your child's grades frequently. Curriculum night is Tuesday, September 6th from 6:30-7:30. The presentation will begin in the gym with Mrs. Schultz. You will then be visiting your child's math teacher before you come to me in homeroom. You will have an opportunity to sign up for first trimester conferences in our classroom. I hope to see you all on Tuesday!

Coming up this week:

Spelling: Lesson 2 pretest will be on Tuesday. Homework from the workbook will be assigned on Tuesday and due on Thursday. Practice sheets will be due on Wednesday. Final test is on Friday.

English: We continue chapter 1 this week, focusing on subjects, simple subjects, and predicates. Get ready to meet Mr. Morton! He is a Schoolhouse Rock character and the students love this video!

Reading: We continue this week with Tall Tales. The skills specifically targeted will be identifying story structure and distinguishing between exaggerated and realistic story elements. As a review, we will use our visualization skills and define unknown words using context clues. We will also discuss and practice using similes and metaphors, which can be used to write a tall tale of their own!

Social Studies: We continue plowing through chapter 4 and will specifically focus on lesson 2 this week, “Different Worlds Collide.” We took our lesson 1 notes as a class, but after reading lesson2 I will expect the students to pair up and write their own on a graphic organizer. Don't worry, we go over them explicitly.

Science: Plan on a quiz on the tools scientists use on Wednesday. The students have notes on all the tools to study from. We will discuss the scientific method this week.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
We continue chapter 1 this week, focusing on lessons 4, 5, and 6. Students will be rounding whole numbers, estimating sums and differences, and adding and subtracting whole numbers. After some review, I foresee a chapter 1 test on 9/13.

Important Dates:
9/5 – Labor Day (no school)
9/6 – Curriculum Night for 4th and 5th grades (6:30-7:30)

Have a wonderful 3-day weekend! Mrs. Klacza