Division

Parents - We need your help! Students must be proficient at division in the next few weeks. When we return from the Thanksgiving holiday we will be working with fractions, decimals, and percents! Many of them are struggling with 2 digit division. Today in class I reminded them that they must be practicing at home. Some students were not able to even start the problem!!! Please make sure your student has a solid foundation in division (which would mean they were proficient in their multiplication!).

Thanks for your help!!!

2nd Nine Weeks

Report Cards will be issued Monday, November, 4th! If you would like to schedule a conference please indicate on the sign and return portion of the report card. We will let you know our availability.

We have many computer resources for students to practice. Please allow your student to utilize these programs at home:
FCAT Explorer, Gizmo's, Reflex Math

A Dual Language 6th Grade Meeting will be held, Thursday, November 7th at 5:30 in the library of duPont Middle School.  Your support is requested to discuss options for 6th grade Dual Language!


Thanks for a great 1st 9 Weeks!

End of First 9 Weeks

The End of the First 9 weeks was 10/21/2013. We are working to update Oncourse with Final Grades for the grading period. With all the changes, our grades were removed, rolls changed, and then put back again.

If you would like to schedule a conference, please send a note in the planner via your student.

We will finish The Lightning Thief this week and begin a unit on the American Revolution for the next 9 weeks.

Please take some time and review the CGA 1 scores from your students. These are some of the activities that you can practice at home with your student.

Remember that 10/31 is our Character Parade. Dress like your favorite story character.

Remember Friday 10/25/13 is a TEACHER Planning Day! No school for students!!

Enjoy your week!

Day 30!

We are rapidly moving through the first nine weeks. Today, we started I-Ready Math diagnostic testing. We should be done with this by Wednesday at the latest.

Thursday students will take the Spanish proficiency test. This should be completed in one day.

Graded (English) papers are coming home today. Math seems to be a big area of concern for us- specifically 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication and division (3 digit by 2 digit). This is our last week with these benchmarks, so please continue to practice at home. Students that have still not mastered these concepts will continue to practice through RTI.

We have divided back up into 2 groups of 14. We will operate A and B days- (A days Mrs. Rowan's homeroom will have English instruction in Reading and Social Studies and Math and Science will be in Spanish; B days Mrs. Ryan's homeroom will have English instruction in Reading and Social Studies and Math and Science in Spanish.)

If you are unsure, or did not receive your student's FCAT scores from last year, please check with me and I can get those to you. The state standard for proficiency is a Level 3.

We will continue to work hard in the classroom. Please make sure your student is reading nightly, completing homework and working on skills that were not mastered previously.

We have 3 resources this week, so the week is sure to fly!!!

Make sure that your student has logged at least 7 books in their planner. The 9th week is fast approaching, and we want everyone to be able to participate in our celebration.

Planners are a great way to communicate between home and school- make sure you check your student's planner each night!

Volunteers

Hello! We LOVE our Volunteers! You are so special to us and assist us in many ways!

However, new changes require that Volunteers complete an application every 2 years!

In order for you to be in the halls of Beauclerc, you must have an active Volunteer Screen on file.
You may complete the on-line form here:

 https://dcps.infomart-usa.net/app/index.php?aid=28

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter!

Science Fair - Totally Student Driven!

 We have been a little busy this week working on our own personal Science Fair Projects! Totally designed, tested, built, and reported by students! I must say it was very, no, extremely hard not to get involved and make some corrections- BUT the purpose of this week was to allow them to experiment with the Scientific Process and then walk them through the steps (and needed corrections) when they present. In asking probing questions, they were able to see the error of their ways, and tell me how they could do better!

 I've never seen girls eat melted chocolate so fast!!

 This was the hardest part! Letting them assemble their boards! But.. all the parts are here, and we will work on perfecting this process for our school Science Fair!

 I loved how professional this group was! When you walked up to them, they explained their survey, the steps you were going to do, and the flavors you were tasting!!!

 Another great board put together only by the students!

 Who does not love a jolly rancher? Would you prefer hard or soft?

 Another student built board!

 Melted crayons anyone? Let's see which brand melts the fastest!

 Does the container in which you place ice cream make a difference on how fast it melts?

 Making the data chart! I'm positively impressed by the computer skills of my kids! They are PROS!

 Working on "framing" for our boards!

Ready to survey ... "Which sport do you prefer?"

We have 4 projects yet to present. It has been CRAZY with our testing schedule! But do not fear.. we have made it to the end and will be going full steam ahead on Monday :)

For a bit we will be combined in an effort to catch-up and make sure everyone is on the same page. Don't worry .. we will still have a 50/50 split on our dual language!

It's going to be an exciting year!

The Third Thrilling Week of School

It's hard to believe we are almost at the end of the 3rd week of school! I don't know about you, but it is flying by! We have been super busy taking baseline benchmark tests! We still have to take the Iowa Reading Test and then we should be finished for awhile.

Regardless of all the testing, we have still been able to dive into our curriculum. I think students are having the most fun with our Science fair projects! These small projects will help us think like scientists all year long!

Upcoming Events

** Book Fair begins next week. Students should have brought home the flyer Wednesday. If you allow your student to purchase a book, those profits come directly back to our school!

* Family Skate Night - Friday, September 13th (Mandarin Skate Station) $6.00 for skaters

** PTA Beach Party Back to School Dance - Thursday, September 19 (Free with PTA membership ($5.00 and permission slip) or $7.00 day of dance with signed permission slip

Housekeeping

Attendance is critical!! Please make sure your student is on-time and present every day! 

Have a GREAT day!

Open House

Don't forget 

Open House 

is tonight!!!

6:00 pm in our rooms! We will have 2 presentations (that are the same)

6:00 - English

6:30 - Spanish

See you tonight!

Week At A Glance 8/26/2013

Week at A Glance 8/26/13

ELA  -             Establishing Rituals and Routines

Leveled Readers A Boy Called Slow

                      Data Chats

                      Begin Reading The Lightning Thief

                      Selection Test  (ABCS)

                      Iowa Test

SS-                 Establishing Rituals and Routines

  What is geography?

                      World Maps

                      Longitude and Latitude

                      Continents

Math -             Establishing Rituals and Routines

                      Solving and Representing Division

                      Sequencing a list of multiples

                      Solving Division and Multiplication Problems

                      Comparing Strategies

Science-          

Establishing Rituals and Routines

                      Banana Experiment

                      Paper Airplane Experiment

                      Collecting and Interpreting Data

                      Starting Investigations

                      Baseline Assessments

** Resource Calendar Begins!

On the third day of school!

The first two days of 5th grade must be rated a success!! Thank you so much for coming to school prepared. We have been able to start instruction DAY 1, and even have completed some homework assignments.

If you have not purchased your journals, please do so quickly. The County is requiring that each student have a total of 6. We are also requesting an additional 2 for Social Studies.

The next few days we will start baseline assessments in Reading, Math, Science, and Writing. Please be patient as we move through this phase of testing. When we are finished we will have a positive understanding of the needs of each of our students.

We will begin reading The Lightening Thief on Thursday. If you are able to purchase this book, it would be a tremendous asset for your student.

Thank you for being present the first two days of school!!! We have a lot to learn this year and your attendance means EVERYTHING!!!

Orientation

Well Hello To YOU!!!

We will have an opportunity to meet

Friday, August 16th

10:00 - 11:00

See you Then!!

It's almost time...

Wow! What a fast summer! I hope you enjoyed yours as much as my family and I enjoyed mine. It seems like in some respect we were just eating donuts our last day of school and talking about summer plans, and now here we are 2 days before teachers have to report back!

There have been a lot of good changes at Beauclerc and I am ready to start working with many of the changes. The biggest change for me of course is moving out of STAR and into the Dual Language Program. I could not be more excited to be the 5th grade teacher of the first group that started in our Dual Language Program. I will be busy preparing our room next week for our new adventure.

I have not yet met with Mrs. Ryan, so I do not have a complete supply list, but I know to start you will need 6 journals, crayons, colored pencils, markers, paper, and pens and pencils. When Mrs. Ryan returns from Peru we will be able to provide you with a complete list.

Our first nine weeks in Reading we will have a novel study on the Lightening Thief. If you are able to purchase this book, I would highly recommend it as we will only have one set for our class to share.

I look forward to seeing you all at Orientation on Friday, August 16th. Enjoy your last week off!

There are lots of changes happening around Beauclerc!

Well, we are almost at the middle of July, about the 5th week of summer vacation and things have been busy around Beauclerc. Our summer camp is in full swing, and they have been doing some pretty fantastic field trips- movies, bowling, lunch at Chili's, water slides, park days just to name a few!

We also have a new principal for next year Mrs. Manabat. She is getting the school ready for you!

I hope that you are taking the summer to visit the library and check out some good books! I just finished reading "The House on Mango Street" with my oldest daughter. That was one of her summer reading books for Douglas Anderson.

I will see all of you soon!

Enjoy your summer!!!

1/2 Way Through our Year!

It's been awhile!

But I'm finally back! Thank you for all your concern during my absence! Last week was my first full week back since the accident, and it felt really good to be back! I must admit it was a little tiring, and by Friday I was certainly ready for the weekend! But, all in all it was a SUPER week!

With that said, I would like to thank  Ms. Hinton and Ms. Florence who were wonderful subs for our class. Both of these ladies worked hard to keep them on track with lesson plans, testing and perfecting our daily routine. I cannot express my gratitude for these 2 ladies!!

The first week back was a bit of an adjustment for some behaviors, but after 5 days of CHAMP retraining I really feel like we are in a good place for this point in the year. 

As we move into the middle of February we will continue to work on current standards, as well as, practice those skills that we still need help with. To make sure that are students master what they need to accomplish, it is critical that they are also practicing these skills at home. I cannot tell you the value of your help with your students at home. We are not able to achieve mastery through school alone. I have spoken with them about the importance of reading at home, practicing math facts that they are struggling with, and getting to bed at a decent hour. With your help, I know we can make our students successful!

Valentines is Thursday and we will have a small celebration. If you would like to send in a sweet treat for us to share, that would be great!

Thank you for working with us to make your child successful this year!