Falling Into Place

I am glad to say that things are really starting to fall in place! Students are getting the routines down, we are advancing as planned in the curriculum, and the high expectations of 5th grade are being met. I am so proud of this class, and I can’t tell you how many times I have bragged about them to my wife. I really think she is getting sick of it.

Anyway, this week has been another great one! In Reading we pushed through “Dear Mrs. Parks” in just four days. We will have to do the same thing next week with “Elena.” We also just finished Roald Dahl’s “The Twits,” and the students loved it! I highly suggest locating more of his books. They are awesome! We will have to look for a new read aloud on Monday. Not only that, but the students compiled a large number of minutes in reading this week. As a class, we read a total of 2,657 minutes! If we keep it up, we should have no trouble meeting our goals of 100,000 minutes and 600 books! As I mentioned at Curriculum Night, Reading is very important to me. Research shows that students who excel in reading normally excel in other content areas. Therefore, let’s work together to make reading a priority!

Obviously the reading has been working. The students did fantastic this week in Spelling. We had 19 students earn an A on the Spelling test Thursday. Good job students and parents, and keep up the good work. Remember: 1.) Contracts are due every Thursday. 2.) Test is every Thursday. 3.) If you get 3 A’s in a row you do not have to do the contract the following week. 4.) If you are on alternate list, you need to choose words from the base list (including the ones missed on the pretest). 5.) PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!!!

As I mentioned in the last blog, we started writing in our journals this week! The students were ecstatic to finally start writing. We shared a number of the entries and I am proud to announce that we have some real up-and-coming authors in the ranks. We will continue working in our journals next week. I have some real high expectations for this class, and I am excited to see what kind of writers they will progress into throughout the year. Keep in mind that students are allowed, and encouraged, to take their journal home and do some free writing on their own. If ever parents would like to join in, feel free to write some entries in the notebooks as well. That interaction can often spark some really great writing pieces. Besides just the journaling, we will also continue to work on “extended response.” We are on our way to becoming great writers!

Although all the 5J students are not in my Math class, it is my understanding that the Math classes are progressing as expected. Ms. Horst’s class, along with mine, will be having a test on Unit 1 Monday. Make sure you spend this weekend looking over your notes. As for the other classes, you can stay up-to-date by checking out the other 5th grade teachers’ blogs. You can find them by going to the Brooks homepage (see “Helpful Websites”) and clicking on the “Blogs” link. Tech also put a link for my blog on there (just in case you forget the url). Remember, if at anytime you are having trouble with the Math homework, you can refer to a number of resources. You can bring home your class notes, SRB, math journal, and even the parent letter at the beginning of each unit. If those don’t do the trick, as Mrs. Parks said in the story this week, “never be afraid to ask questions,” it is the only way you will learn the content.

Although we didn’t accomplish everything I wanted to in Social Studies this week, we were able to watch President Obama’s address to the students. The President delivered a very powerful message and if you missed it I highly suggest you check it out. You can see it online at any of the following links.

mms://media.ipsd.org/ipsd_ondemand/ObamaSpeech.wmv
mms://media.ipsd.org/ipsd_ondemand/ObamaSpeech2.wmv
mms://media.ipsd.org/ipsd_ondemand/ObamaSpeech3.wmv

We will really hit Social Studies hard next week and learn about exploration from the eastern hemisphere to the western hemisphere.

I would also like to mention the fact that I ran into one of Brooks’ 5th graders from last year on Thursday. She is currently a 6th grader just across the street, and we had a long conversation about a number of things. One thing that I would like to highlight is her take on middle school. She had a lot of good things to say about how 5th grade really helped her prepare for middle school. It wasn’t always easy for her, but she kept her nose to the grindstone and now she is excelling at the middle school level. However, she wanted me to give this year’s 5th graders a piece of advice. She said, in much more words, that you need to make sure you work hard and really try to learn as much as you can in 5th grade. Much like I have been preaching, middle school is a whole different ball game, but if you put forth an honest effort in 5th grade, the transition to middle school will be a smooth one. I am confident, that if everything continues to progress as it has so far, everyone will be ready to go for next year.

This week has really been a great week! Things are beginning to fall into place and I am excited to see how we will continue to progress. I hope everyone has a great weekend. Let’s be ready to have another productive week next week.

Just a Few Side Notes:
-I will hopefully have a “suggested” parent volunteer schedule posted by this weekend.
-Mrs. Archey will be coordinating the parent volunteer schedule. She has all your available times and contact information. She will be contacting you soon to set up the volunteer schedule.
-The “Inisbrook” fundraiser is underway, so make sure we are getting on that.
-There is no school this coming Friday (Building Articulation Day).
-GO BEARS!!!