One Down, Three to Go!!!!

I can’t believe we are already one quarter of the way through the school year! We have gotten so much accomplished already and I am looking forward to even more the rest of the year. In the next few weeks we will be extremely busy. Although we have some breaks coming up, with parent teacher conferences, Veteran’s Day, and Thanksgiving, if we continue at the same pace, we will be well ahead of the learning curve!

The last few weeks have been jam packed in Reading! We have gotten through six Harcourt stories, and we have some good ones coming up. Although we spend a lot of time reading the story for the week, we spend even more time practicing good reader strategies. As of late, “monitoring and clarifying” has been the major focus. The students should be bringing home a bookmark with a variety of fix-up strategies they can use to clarify any reading problems they may have. With a little more practice, these strategies should become second nature. We will continue this for a few more weeks. 5J is also well on its way to meeting our goal of 500 books read and 100,000 minutes! Keep up all the good work at home with the independent reading!

As for Writing, we are finally getting into some of my favorite parts of the curriculum. For the next few weeks, we will be spending a lot of time on “memoir.” Although the students have had some experience with memoir in the past, there are much higher expectations for it at this level. We will be using this unit as an opportunity to develop our overall writing abilities that will carry over to all other modes of writing. ELABORTATION will be the number one focus during this unit. Not only that, but the students will become well versed in the writing process. During writers’ workshop, the students will spend a lot of time revising and editing their work, and the work of their peers. Evaluating others’ work is a great way for students gain a better understanding of what it takes to be a good writer. This will also help them become more familiar with the writing process, which will help them on future writing assignments (even outside of 5th grade). The Cool Cat Press is also up and running, so I am pushing students to get as much of their independent piece done as possible. I would like every student to be a published author by the end of this year!

Social Studies has been a major focus the last few weeks. We have covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. 5J has gotten from the Ice Age, 60,000 years ago, to the beginning of exploration just before Christopher Columbus. As I have mentioned before, we do not spend a lot of time in class reading the textbook. While the textbook is a great resource that needs to be utilized, I prefer students to read that at home. This gives us time to do more engaging learning experiences during class. I was very impressed with the presentations the students created about the early Native Americans. Not only did they learn a lot, but I learned a few things too! I was also very happy with how the class faired on the test. The average was an A-!!!!!!

Now that we have gotten through a unit in Social Studies, we are moving onto Science. We are already well on our way into learning about the digestive system, and I think the students have really enjoyed it so far. Just ask them about “peristalsis.” The next few weeks will be spent finishing up the digestive system, and the students will be creating a variety of products that demonstrate what they have learned. Be sure to ask them what they are doing with their group, I’m sure I’ll be in for a real treat.

It is hard to believe that we are already so far into the year. I guess time flies when you’re having fun! I am so proud of what we have accomplished so far, and I know there are great things to come. Keep up the great work everyone! One down and three to go.

REMEMBER TO LOOK AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POSTING TO SEE THE HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEK!!!!!

Getting in the Swing of Things!

Well the first few weeks have definitely been eventful ones. We spent the majority of the past weeks getting used to the routines, forming a sense of community in the classroom, and starting a few units in different academic areas. Although we were interrupted by a long Labor Day weekend, 5J is definitely getting in the swing of things.

In Reading, we have already completed one of the Harcourt stories! We usually read each story a minimum of three times a week: once as a class, once with partners, and once at home before the test. We also focus a lot on good reader strategies, so it is important the students practice those as they read independently (100 minutes per week at home). This week we focused on “making predictions.” The next few weeks we will spend a lot of time on “creating mental images,” and identifying “narrative elements.” 5th grade reading isn’t so much about “learning to read,” but about “reading to learn.” Many of the strategies we cover should be review, but now students have to start using those strategies every time they read (without the teacher forcing them to). If students can internalize each strategy, they will become better readers, and ultimately begin “reading to learn.”

We have also completed 2 units in Spelling! It is imperative that students follow through with the Spelling program I have set in place. Each week, we will have a pre-test on Fridays. Then the students have from Friday to Thursday to complete their spelling contract. On Thursdays we will have the test for that unit. As I have always said, doing well in Spelling is merely a matter of how hard you try. If students complete the contract, and study the words, they will do just fine. Also, if students get 3 A’s in a row, they will not have to do the contract if they keep getting A’s! Bottom line: work hard and you will be rewarded.

We have been very busy in Writing as well. We will spend a lot of time this year writing a variety of pieces that are in the 5th grade curriculum (Ex: memoir, expository, book review, etc.). However, before we even get to those, we needed to set some groundwork. The students will be doing a lot more independent writing this year (more so than in the past). Therefore, we spent the first few weeks reviewing the writing process, brainstorming ideas for writing, and studying basic grammatical concepts. Not only will this help students with the upcoming writing units, but it will also get them started in the process of publishing a piece with the Cool Cat Press. 5J has a reputation of having a lot of published writers, and I expect to maintain that reputation this year.

In terms of Math, the 5th grade uses flexible math groups. These groups are formed by the teachers, and take into consideration learning styles, teaching styles, and pacing. One thing to remember is that these groups are constantly changing. Depending on the unit of study, students may move from one class to another at anytime. This is in accordance with what research has shown as best practices for teaching Math, and it has worked very well in the past. No matter whose class the students are in, I can guarantee they will be pushed harder than they ever have before.

As for Social Studies and Science, we only teach on subject at a time. We will spend a few weeks doing a Science unit, then we will transition into Social Studies for the following weeks. As much as I love Social Studies and Science, there is just not enough time in the day to do both. However, we have already gotten through one unit in both. In Science, we learned about the Scientific Method by creating bridges and testing their strength. Now we are focusing on Social Studies, and learning about geography, culture, and the government. I am especially excited for the upcoming Social Studies units. 5th grade focuses on the history of the United States from Exploration to the Civil War. There is a lot of intriguing information to be learned, and I am certain that, by the end of the year, students will love history as much as I do.

5J has had a very busy few weeks (and many more to come), but we are definitely getting into the swing of things. By the end of the year, I can promise that every student will be ready for the next level. Of course we will learn a lot of new academic content, but we focus on so much more in 5th grade. Developing the skills and qualities to be a successful middle schooler, high schooler, collegian, and community member are on the front burner of everything we do in 5J. I have high expectations for this group, and they are well on their way to meeting/exceeding those expectations.

REMEMBER TO GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG TO SEE UPDATED HOMEWORK FOR EACH WEEK!!!!!

Welcome Back!!!

I hope everyone had a great summer! I stayed very busy, and I am definitely ready to be back to school. I will be using this blog as a way to communicate with parents, students, and others involved with 5J. There will be a variety of valuable information on this blog throughout the year. Browse around and you will see some helpful features that may be useful at some point. I will be updating this periodically on what we are doing in the classroom, the homework we had for the day, and a variety of links students can use during our Reading units. Those are just a few of the features I have embedded in this blog, so be sure to check this on a regular basis.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to start a new year. I hope everyone is ready to go. I promise to do my best to make your last year at Brooks as exciting, challenging, and memorable as possible. However, I expect everyone to come in ready to work. You are the big dogs on campus now, and as you will see, I have some high expectations. If all goes as planned, by the end of the year, you will be more than ready for the next level (MIDDLE SCHOOL)!!!!!

ALWAYS GO TO BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG TO SEE HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEK!!!!

ISAT WEEK!!!

The last few weeks have been spent preparing for this upcoming week. ISAT week is a big deal, so we need to make sure everyone is ready to go. Here are a few tips to keep in mind during ISAT week.

1. Get plenty of sleep at night.
2. Be sure to eat breakfast each morning before coming to school.
3. Students are welcome to bring gum to chew on during testing.
4. Students may also bring snacks for between tests.
5. Students may bring water bottles for during the tests.
6. TRY YOUR BEST!!! (That’s all I can ask for).


Being that this coming week is ISAT week, we will be cutting back on other academic areas. We will not be reading a Harcourt story, and we will not have a spelling list. I am also going to slim down on the homework this so we can stay focused on what’s important.

Although some things will be cut out for next week, we will continue a few things. Social Studies will be scheduled like normally. I am planning on having students finish their Tic Tac Toe activities and have them presented by this week. Not only that, but we will be having a S.S. test on the American Revolution on Friday. I have typed up some notes and important vocabulary each student must know. This should help the students study. Besides Social Studies, we will continue our writing curriculum. The Writing ISAT test isn’t until Thursday, so we will be doing some more writing to prepare for that.

I hope everyone had a nice, long, relaxing weekend and now you’re ready to come in get down to business with these ISAT’s. After seeing how far this class has come from the beginning of the year, I am confident in how the results will come out.

Celebrations!!!
TBA

Long Weekend!

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend. I know for many of us, it started off on a high note. With the open house, the Valentine’s Day party, and the class party after school on Friday, last week was definitely an interesting one. Thank you so much for those of you who came to the open house. It was good to look back at all of the things we have done this year. The PowerPoints were especially impressive. I would also like to thank all of those involved in the Valentine’s Day party. I know it takes a lot of work to organize such a massive event, and I really appreciate those who took the time out of their days to make it possible. The pizza and movie party was fun too! We watched UP!, and I enjoyed it so much I convinced my wife to buy it. For those who couldn’t make it to the party, I will be sure to make it up to you. We are planning on coming in during lunch and recess to watch a movie and I will be providing popcorn! I know it’s not the same, but hopefully this will be worth all the work you put into earning it.

Speaking of work, we did a lot of it last week. In reading, we finished up the Harcourt story, Evelyn Cisneros: Prima Ballerina. I know this probably wasn’t the most appealing story for most of the boys, but they did a good job of gutting it out and staying focused on the bigger picture. Besides just reading the story, we finished up our unit on Extended Responses. Although we are done with the unit, there will still be a few more opportunities to practice before ISAT’s come around. I am confident that the students are where they need to be in terms of the extended responses. Being that we have two short weeks in a row coming up, we will spend them both reading Off and Running in the Harcourt Series.

In writing, we started getting back into the ABC & D of prompt writing. This is also an ISAT prep writing unit. We started it a few weeks back, then went away from it for awhile. Now we are back to it, and the students will be doing a lot of writing in the next few weeks. The unit is meant to give students a plan of action when given a prompt to write about. It is very systematic and should help make the enormous process much more manageable. Prompt writing is not an easy task, but with a few weeks of practice, I think we will get it done.

We are wrapping up our unit on the American Revolution in social studies. Last week, we finished up the last of the presentations on various battles and turning points of the war. Then we started watching this very interesting series of movies that delve even deeper into major parts of the American Revolution. If you have the chance, I would highly recommend checking it out on your own time. You can go to unitedsteaming.com and search “American Revolution Battles.” It is the Discovery Education series called “The Revolutionary War” and there are three different videos to watch. We should finish up watching those by this week. After that, each student will be responsible for completing 3 activities on our American Revolution Tic Tac Toe Board. There are 9 activities to pick from, and this will give the students an opportunity to choose a way to show me all they have learned about the American Revolution. I can’t wait to see what they come up with.

Celebrations!!!
-100% on Unit 20 Spelling
Aimen, Hannah F., Arushi, & Max
-100% on Satchmo's Blues
Megan, Dominic, Gabby, Max, Matthew R., Kevin, & Avarie
-Victoria Passed Otter Creek 12's.

Another Good Week!

5J has really had an awesome year so far, and once again, we had another good week! We got a lot accomplished and I am happy to say there was some very visible growth. In every subject, the students learned something new, or solidified a skill that we had been working on.

For example, in reading, I am now confident in the students’ ability to read a passage and complete an extended response. This week we really hit extended response hard, and after making the needed corrections to their first drafts, I think they are ready for the next one. Next week we will be reading Evelyn Cisneros: Prima Ballerina, and focusing on a number of things. We will continue practicing our extended responses for the ISAT’s. We will also focus on the skill of summarization and picking out the key parts of a story.

Although extended response is part of reading and writing, we continued working in other facets of writing. We have made some strides in the new grammar curriculum. We are all done with the simple sentence units, and now we are well on our way into the compound sentences part. Not only that, but students have come a long way with their independent pieces. We have a number of authors in our class who are in the final stages of publishing their books with the Cool Cat Press. I’m excited to see what they have in store for us. Next week we will continue as normal, while throwing in some more of the ABC’s D of prompt writing.

Social Studies has been a real blast! If you haven’t noticed yet, I try to steer clear of the textbook as much as possible. History can be very interesting, but sometimes the textbook can make it a little too dull for my liking. As a teacher, there are a lot of resources out there that I can utilize that will still deliver the same information to the students as the textbook. However, the textbook does offer some good guiding questions that the class should still pay attention too. Through our projects, movies, and use of library books, I still expect the students to be able to answer those guiding questions. The students have spent all this week researching their topic, and next week we will begin the presentations on the American Revolution. From what I have seen so far, I have some high expectations for what the students have come up with.

Celebrations:
-100% on Unit 19 Spelling Test
Aimen, Nathan, Victoria, Hannah C., Hannah F., Arushi, Lanie, Matthew R., Cooper, and Nick.
-100% on William Joyce Harcourt Test
Dominic, Avarie, Lanie, Megan, Matthew R., and Julia
-Hannah C. passed Otter Creek division

Conferences on the Way!

With the first half of the year done, it is now time for parent-teacher conferences! We will not be having school on Tuesday because that is the day of conferences. Like last time, I would like the students to be at the conference. I look forward to seeing the parents and students on Tuesday, and I hope everyone enjoys their day off. By the way, be sure to bring in some spare change for our school-wide fundraiser to support the people in Haiti.

As for last week, we were busy as always. In reading we finished up the Harcourt story about William Joyce: a famous author and illustrator. Now we will spend this upcoming week reading Satchmo’s Blues. After reading the students’ extended responses from the last story, I have noticed a lot of improvement. However, there are some things that we can still get better at. We will take the time next week to continue working on the timed extended responses.

In writing, we spent a lot of time breaking down the extended responses, but now it is time to move on. I think the students know what needs to go into those. Now we will get back to the prompt writing we started a few weeks back. We have already learned the AB & C of the steps to prompt writing, but now we will move onto actually writing the prompt and completing step D. Throughout the year we have definitely developed into great young writers, so I am excited to see how we will progress the second half of the year.

In social studies, we had the test on the causes of the American Revolution. Like our last test from the 13 colonies, this was a very difficult test. The students were required to recall what they learned from the other student presentations, and use it to answer some higher level, short-answer questions. Now that we are done learning about the causes, we are going to delve into the actual revolution itself. Each student has been assigned a partner, and they will work together to research a specific part of the war. Then after a few days of research, they will put together a presentation and deliver it to the class. I am excited to see what the students come up with, and hopefully I will learn something new like I did last time.

Celebrations
-100% on Unit 19 Spelling Test
Aimen, Kara, Hannah C., Hannah F., Dominic, Gabby, Max, & Landon
-100% on Shakespeare test
Brenna, Victoria, & Megan
-Max completed all the levels in Otter Creek!
-Gabby qualified for a national competition in swimming!
-Julia spent the weekend in Indiana for a big swim meet!

Fresh Start

Now that we are into the second half of the year, I must say that I am very proud of how far we have come. We have grown so much as a class over the past few months and I have some high expectations for the remainder of the year. Even though we had a great first half of the year, now that we are back from break and back in the swing of things, it is time for a fresh start. We got a lot accomplished in the first half, so let’s do the same as we close out the year and prepare for the next level.

Speaking of the next level, we spent two weeks on one story in the Harcourt Series, and now we get to move on. We spent the last two weeks focusing on William Shakespeare and the Globe, but now we are going onto The World of William Joyce Scrapbook. For this story we are going to continue practicing extended responses. Now that we have really hit them hard for the last few weeks, I am confident the students have a good grasp on what needs to be included in them. As a matter of fact, I had the students revise one of the responses they wrote earlier in the year, and they were shocked as to how far they have come in developing their writing. This is a good sign! Now instead of giving the students so much time to rework their responses, they will start being timed. This will help them get used to the pressure situation created when ISAT’s role around.

While extended response took up the greater portion of our writing time, now that we have gotten through the meat of the lessons, we can move on in writing. A few weeks ago we started the ABC’s & D of On-demand/Prompt Writing. We got through the A, B, and C, but now we need to actually practice writing our responses and completing the D portion of the process. We will spend the later part of next week going through exactly what needs to be included in these responses, writing a response as a whole class, and preparing the students to write one of their own. By the time this unit is done, hopefully the students will be as good at prompt writing as they are with the extended responses.

Social Studies has been awesome this week! We have gotten through a lot of the presentations and they were great! We had some skits, PowerPoint presentations, and some students even used the Elmo! It is obvious that the students learned a lot about the causes of the American Revolution. I even learned a few things. The next step is to talk about the Declaration of Independence, other events leading to the war, and the battles themselves. This is a very interesting part of American history, and my hope is that the students will feel the same way when this unit is all done. By the way, be ready for a test on Monday or Tuesday on the causes of the American Revolution. YIKES!!!!

Even though we have had two short weeks in a row, we have gotten a lot accomplished, and I have similar expectations for the upcoming weeks. We have a lot going on right now, but I am confident, that we can get through it. It has been a very productive first half of the year, and now it’s time for a fresh start. With as far as we have come since the beginning of the year, the sky is the limit for the second half!

Halfway There!!!

Can you believe we are already halfway done with the school year? It seems like it was just yesterday everyone was walking in the classroom and we were having a Jeopardy game on the classroom rules and routines. Then again, looking back at how far everyone has come, I am so proud of the 5J family. We have come a long way. As I stated at the beginning of the year, my number one goal for everyone in 5J is to prepare them for middle school, and we are well on our way there.

Being that we have been so busy in Reading, it is no surprise that we are ahead of schedule. That gives us the opportunity to spend two weeks on a story in the Harcourt Series, and really delve deeper into the focus skills. Last week we started reading William Shakespeare and the Globe, and we will continue working on it next week. While our focus skill deals with fact and opinion, I have a feeling our class has a good grasp on that, so we did some enrichment activities with this story. Besides continuing our work on asking higher-level questions, we also took a good look at what makes a good extended response. It is important to get this stuff down because ISAT’s are right around the corner, and we need to be prepared. Although we have done some extended responses in the past, we spent a lot of time critiquing them this week. The ultimate goal is to get students to the point where they can take twenty minutes to pre-write, and draft their extended response, while making sure theirs includes all the main components. After this week, I think the students have a good grasp on what needs to be in an extended response, so now we will start cutting down the time allowed to complete one.

Although extended response is part of the Reading section of ISAT’s, it also helps us accomplish some of the performance descriptors in the Writing curriculum. Students must be able to state a position and back it up with evidence from the story (or other resources), while including evidence from their own life. Not only is this a good skill for 5th graders, but they will use it in middle school, high school, and everyday life. Along with the skills we practice while writing extended responses, we also have been working on the A,B,C’s & D of Prompt Writing. This is a major part of the ISAT’s that we need to be ready for. We will delve into this even more next week.

As for Social Studies, it has been fun watching the groups prepare for their presentations next week. I have split the class into groups of 2-4 and each group is responsible for one major cause of the American Revolution. They have spent the week researching their topic, creating some sort of presentation (skits, PowerPoints, etc), and practicing. When we get back on Tuesday, each group will present to the class. I can’t wait to see some of the final products. I have some high expectations after seeing some bits and pieces of what they’re planning.

I did want to mention the fact that we did our midyear reading fluency assessment this week. This is a key piece of data that the staff use to track the progress of students. It is also used to help drive instruction, and decide if the methods being used might need to be altered in some way, to better accommodate the students. Not only that, but research shows that measuring a student’s fluency is a good indicator of their overall reading ability. Well I am proud to say that our class performed outstanding on this assessment. As a matter of fact, we averaged an increase of over 23 words per minute! This is amazing considering the fact that the average 5th grader increases their fluency by 1 word every two weeks. That means that we our well above the curve, and whatever we’re doing is working! Keep up the great work everyone! I hope this news helps everyone to have a great long weekend. I will have plenty of time on the road to relish in our success as I drive to Indiana Friday night for another wrestling meet.

Celebrations!!!
-Obviously our CBM fluency scores: We had a number of students go up by 30+ wpm!
-100% on Unit 16 Spelling Test: Kara, Nathan, Victoria, Dominic, Gabby, Hannah F., Arushi, Landon, Cooper, Ally, & Avarie!
-100% on Hattie’s Birthday Box Test: Brenna, Nathan, Avarie, & Hannah F.!
-100% on Grammar Test: Hannah F., Victoria, & Nathan!
-Gymnastics is going well for Kara & Kira!
-Gabby, Julia, & Megan are loving swimming!
-Landon & Lanie have been doing a lot of traveling for hockey!
-Hannah C. have some stuff coming up in dance!
-Nick won a trip to N.Y. to play in a Baku-Con Tournament!

We're Back!!!

I hope everyone had a great break! I know I did. I spent a few days in Vegas at a wrestling meet, and my wife and I spent Christmas Day driving up to Michigan to see my family. However, I still got a little R & R and now I’m excited to be back and get back in the swing of things.

Although we have been off for two weeks, it didn’t take the students long to get back on track in Reading. We spent this week focusing on Hattie’s Birthday Box in our Harcourt Series. The focus strategy for the week was questioning, so the students spent a lot of the week creating higher-level questions. Not only that, but each student made two cubes with a question on each side. They turned out quite nice so hopefully we will be able to use them for the next few weeks. In order to link what we are doing in reading to writing, the students also created a diary with 3 entries as if they were Hattie. I haven’t had a chance to read them yet but I am very excited to.

I think I should also mention that, although we were on break for two weeks, the students still spent a lot of time reading. As a matter of fact, as a class, we read over12,000 minutes during break! That is amazing! We are now over half way to our goal of 100,000 minutes. Keep up the great work!

In Writing, we have been working on a number of different things. We are wrapping up the unit on simple sentences in grammar. We had a test Friday on everything we have learned so far, and I’m confident those went well. We have also been starting to prepare for ISAT’s by going over the ABC’s & D of Prompt Writing. This is a strategy I am teaching the class that will help them answer the writing prompts on the ISAT’s. It is a very systematic strategy that has been proven to work in the past. Writing has been very busy, so we haven’t had a lot of time for independent pieces, or journal writing. I want to encourage students to do those as much as possible on their own. The best way to become a better writer is to keep writing. The more you do it the better you will get. However, I am very happy with how far we have come since the beginning of the year.

In Social Studies we have started our unit on the American Revolution. This is one of my favorite times in U.S. history and I have some big plans for us. Each student will be doing a number of independent and partner projects that they will be presenting to the class. I am hopeful, with what I have planned, the students will enjoy learning about the American Revolution as much as I will enjoy teaching it. I would also like to encourage students to go to the links on the blog that deal with the American Revolution. There are so many resources out there and these are just a few.

Although it was a great break, it is good to be back. I am excited for some of the things we have coming up. I hope everyone has a great weekend (I will be in Iowa for the Team National Tournament). Get a little more R & R, enjoy the snow, and I’ll see everyone on Monday.

Celebrations
100% on Unit 15 Spelling: Kara, Nathan, Victoria, Hannah C., Hannah F., Dominic, Lanie, Julia, Landon, Brenna, & Matthew R.
100% on Cell Final: Nathan, & Matthew R.
100% on Memoir: Arushi, Julia, & Matthew R.
100% on Flying Saucer Test: Dominic, Gabby, & Matthew R.
Cooper, Victoria, Hannah F, and Gabby are all done with Otter Creek Division
Avarie is all done with Otter Creek Multiplication