Progress Reports

Progress Reports are coming home today.

Please sign and return.

If you would like a conference, please let us know on the form.

3rd 9 week Grading Period Ends: March 29th

Reports Cards Come Home: April 20th
(Spring Break creates a 1 week delay)

Pictures to Come

Wednesdays in Room 138 are quite exciting! In case your student hasn't shared with you, we work on our personal laptops the entire day! 5th Grade shares a cart of laptops and we work on them on Wednesdays! We get a lot accomplished during these days.
Yesterday each student researched a part of the body, and our computer teacher, Mrs. Shaaber came out and showed the students how to use Key Notes (similar to PowerPoint) on the Macs! We have some great slide shows now that we saved to the Share folder. This allows students to view and learn about other body parts.
We also worked on FCAT Explorer. Some students have finished the Math portion and others are busy working on it. Remember- if you finish the Math and Science portion prior to the FCAT you will be invited to a pizza party.
Our district has really brought a lot of technology opportunities to our students. At home, students can work on Gizmo's, FCAT Explorer, Destination Success, and FCAT Simulator just to name a few. Make sure you are taking advantage of these great tools.

The count to testing is ON!!! We are ready in Room 138!!!!

American Grandstand

A Change in Date for this event:

Thursday, June 3, 2010
School and Evening Performances

Your students are bringing home a paper copy of our important dates for the end of the year activities. You will need to complete the second page and return to us!

Have a great week!

15 Weeks and Counting....

Oh... please make a brown spot Mr. Vine...

We were trying to demonstrate photosynthesis to our class with this plant. However, we cannot seem to make it work. We are not sure if it is the plant, the time of year, the exposure to the Sun, etc. but it just has not worked for us! It has looked really neat thought!

We have really enjoyed our computers thanks to our new extended computer table! We are no longer on top of each other! Thanks Mr. Bud!!!!

Room 138 LOVES technology! We enjoy giving the students "research" projects in Science now, because they can all look up the information.

Believe it or not, in ROOM 138, yes, ROOM 138 it is silent when the laptops are out!! Mrs. Yadon and I both laugh, because if you have ever been in ROOM 138 you know it is never quiet!!

Here we are looking up structural and behavioral adaptations.

We had a great visitor today. A bearded dragon named Monster came to visit. He fit right into our Science lesson.

Very Important End of Year Dates

(You will receive a hard copy of this as well!)

1. FCAT - 3/9-10 Math, 3/11 Reading (2 sessions), 3/16-17 Science

2. School Carnival - Friday, March 19th- School Carnival. You will need to purchase your chicken dinner prior to the carnival. The carnival is free! Water $1.00, Snowcones and Cotton Candy .50 cents.

3. March 22-26 Spirit Week - More Information to come. ROOM 138 won a lot last year and we are looking for a REPEAT!

4. March 25th - Snow Day with Cultural Arts

5. March 31 - 5th Grade Health Lessons- Forms to come home.

6. April 1 - Teacher Planning Day

7. Spring Break - 4/2-4/9 Be Safe and HAVE FUN!

8. April 15th - In School Field Trip

9. May 7th - 5th Grade Dance - We need parents to help with this- PTA does all the decorating, we just need help with food and chaperoning. All 5th grade teachers will be there as well.

10. May 13th - Science Fair (All students will participate) Families can come tour the Science Fair that evening.

11. May 27th - Evening performance of American Grandstand! A 5th Grade TRADITION!!

12. June 8th (Tuesday) - End-of-year class party. We need LOTS of help with this! We need parents to help with food, games, and planning.

13. June 9th (Wednesday) - 5th Grade Awards and 5th Grade Picnic - WE need LOTS of help with this too! We bring in bouncies, have a cookout, and have stations (bubbles, watermelon, etc) set-up for the kids! It is an all day event.

14. June 10th (Thursday) - 5th Grade trip to Animal Kingdom. Cost $60.00. Money due: April 23rd. Parents are encouraged to chaperone. You can ride on the bus with us. The park closes at 6:00 pm that day, so really by the time you pay for gas and parking, the $60.00 deal is not bad! We always have a great bus ride to and from the park.

15. June 11th (Friday) - Final Breakfast / Last Day / Noon Dismissal

Parents needed to help send in breakfast items. We like to eat and talk our last day together :-)

As you can see, these last 15 weeks are going to fly by! Make sure your student is present at school each day. We have a lot to do to get them ready for middle school.

FCAT will be here in 12 DAYS!!!

But, in Room 138 that is NOT reason to panic. We have been working all year on skills and targets that will help us be successful on this test.

There are a few things that you can do at home to help your child-
1. FCAT Explorer is a FREE program for your student. They can work on Math and Science for 5th grade. They can also work in 4th or 6th grade Reading. These questions are structured to represent question stems of the actual FCAT.

2. Stamina - Make sure your child is really hitting their nightly reading. This will assure that your child is able to meet and exceed their personal FCAT challenge.

3. Variety of reading - spend these next few weeks reading a variety of materials with your child. Poetry, cookbooks, how-to books, biographies, memoirs, newspapers, magazines, maps, graphs, etc. The FCAT uses both fiction and nonfiction texts.

It is important that your student is at school everyday! Most of our work is instructed through the classroom and missing a day is really missing A LOT!!!!

Parents Needed-

We need parents to help with the following events:

1- 5th Grade Picnic after 5th Grade Awards
2- 5th Grade Dance

If you are interested in any of these events please email or call Mrs. Rowan.

Thanks!

Homework this week-

We are sending home (for the first time this year) Reading Skills Sheets. These reading assignments target certain strands that are tested on the FCAT. It is crucial that you review these sheets with your student when they finish. Let them explain to you about the "crazy uncle" or the "evil twin". We will be working on these sheets for the next 8 days. Make sure you see them each night. They are YELLOW!!

Progress reports will come home next week.

Reminder -- We are still seeking breakfast donations for the week of FCAT. If you are able to contribute please let us know!!

***Be on the lookout for Chicken Dinner Notices! This will be the only food available at our carnival on March 19th. All dinners must be purchased PRIOR to the carnival!!

Animal Kingdom -

Happy Wednesday!!

The cost of the ticket for Animal Kingdom (including ticket and bus) will be $60.00. This money will be due two weeks after Spring Break. This should be around April 23, 2010.

If you would like to chaperone this trip, you may! In fact, the more chaperones we have the BETTER!!! If you would like to ride the bus with us, your cost will be $60.00. If you want to drive your own car, the cost will be $36.oo (plus you will have to pay for parking at the park + your gas). I checked the calendar for our date (6/10) and Animal Kingdom will close at 6:00 pm. It may actually be a better deal to ride the bus!!!

You should have received your student's FCAT Math practice test. There were a few areas that your student may need review in. This is a great opportunity to use FCAT Explorer as a supplement at home.

To help us, help your student, please make sure you are signing your child's planner, and encouraging them to read for 30 minutes each night. Some of our students are showing signs of low stamina which will sink them on the FCAT!!

We will have a small Valentines exchange during lunch on Friday. If you would like to send in a special treat we would appreciate that!!

Things that Came in 100

We had so much fun Friday with our 100 Day Snacks and displays of 100 things. We had cars, rocks, hair bows, and random stickers! It was great fun to see the kids be creative!!

Just think... only 79 days of 5th grade left and we still have so much to do!!!

Start thinking about your Science Project!! You need to really think about the Scientific Process, and make sure you pick a PROJECT and not a demonstration!! You will get more information soon!

Polygons and Macs

Our new story this week is great! We all loved, Dear Mr. Henshaw. Dustless chalk... who would have thought it would change our results!!!!

Our chalk did better than we thought because we had "dustless" chalk!!

Grape Jolly Ranchers - They did not hold up so well in the water!!!!

Making polygons with power polygons!!! Oh what fun math can be!!!!

We were learning to "build" 3, 4, and 5+ sided polygons and count our sides.

Our polygons come in all shapes and sizes! You would be amazed at what all we can make and learn from these shapes!!!

Wednesday's will now be known as : Web Days in Room 138! Our school received Mac Carts with 32 laptops!! Our day is Wednesday and this week we did lots of cool stuff. Of course, everything we access at school, you can access at home. Like Gizmos, Destination Success, FCAT Explorer, Brain Pop, etc. These are great FREE resources to help your student get ready for FCAT.

We noticed Wednesday, NOT one student needed a restroom break....

a PASS to the clinic...

or SNACK!!! These computers were a big hit!!!

Remember Friday is a WHOLE DAY Celebration!!! We can't wait to see what you bring in!!!! Just think on Monday you will have 90 days of 5th grade left!! That means 90 days and you will NO LONGER be in elementary school!!!! YIKES!!!

Whole Day Celebration pictures to follow!!!!

Classroom Needs

Help!! Our supplies are running low!
We need the following items:

Kleenex
Individual Wrapped Hard Candy
Liquid Soap

Six More Weeks it is!

Happy Groundhog Day!!! Check out ALL things Groundhog here:

http://www.groundhog.org

Today your student should show you test papers in Reading, Math, and Science. These tests represent the first grades of the third nine weeks. You can also access Oncourse for new grades this grading period. If you have not already received your log-in information, please stop by Beauclerc and see Mrs. Hughes in guidance.

Friday is the 100th day of school and we would like to have a whole day celebration. If you are able to send in a snack it would be greatly appreciated.

New Spelling and Vocabulary words came home Monday. While there is no homework for the next 2 weeks, you may want to quiz your students on his or her words.

Can you believe it????? The 100th Day of School!!!!!

Hello February!!

The two J's hard at work.

Jared working hard!

Leroy is hiding from us!

Wow! Hard to believe that today was the first day of February, and even harder that Friday is the 100th day of school!!! I keep asking where has the time gone??

I believe the cost of the trip to Animal Kingdom will be $60.00. This will include a small fee towards our end of the year picnic. We will collect this money this month. You can opt to ride the bus down, or drive. We will take air conditioned school buses, and they are not that bad. Animal Kingdom is also the only Disney park that closes at sundown, so it may not mean a longer stay if you drive yourself.

We have had a lot of fun with our new Science lessons. Today we used sugar cubes to demonstrate weathering for our principal. Ask your child how the sugar cube with stood the sand paper. These lessons provided to us from the district are really "hands-on" and provides lots of opportunities for our students.

Don't forget Wednesday is an Early Release Day! We will also go to the library that day.

Has anybody checked on the Groundhog? What has he been up to? Does anybody know if Winter is coming or going????

Stay tuned!!