Congrats to CAA's Reading Bowl team for placing first in the divisional competition! We are headed to state in two weeks!

Hi families!

Well, last week was a wash! We did get a lot done on Friday in reading, math, and science, so THANK YOU to everyone who sent your kids in to school! 

We are moving into a VERY busy week, so read carefully!

Field Trip
Our field trip from last week to the Atlanta History Museum for the Civil War exhibit has been moved to THIS THURSDAY (2/26). We leave at 8:30 am and will return by 1:30. We will eat lunch when we get back to school, but we have parents who are providing a special snack for the trip down there so the kids aren't starving! :) The permission slips you have already turned in are valid for this trip even though it's been rescheduled. If you still haven't turned in your child's permission slip, please do so by Wednesday.

Our trip to Atlanta in April is becoming more finalized by the day! We are going on Monday, April 27th to Atlanta! We will visit the Georgia Aquarium and the Delta Museum, and we will stop at the Varsity for dinner! We are using Daniels Charters & Tours to plan our trip for us. The first deposit is coming up very quickly - students will need to pay $20 by THIS FRIDAY (2/27) in order to go. If there's no deposit, your child cannot go on the trip. If you have any questions about this, please let me know. 

Parents who wish to chaperone must submit an application. Let me know if you want to be considered. It is possible that not all parents who wish to go will be able to go depending on the number of applicants. The cost for parents is $99 with $55 due this Friday. Please contact me ASAP if you wish to chaperone. Please note that chaperones are held to all expectations and rules as students - no stopping anywhere off the planned route, no souvenirs or spending money, etc.  

Coming Up This Week

• Mon, 2/23: Math HW page (R) 15-1
• Tues, 2/24: Number the Stars test; GMS Band info during activity; Math HW page (R) 15-3
• Wed, 2/25: Need a hanger for math class; permission slips for History Musem due; Math HW (R) 15-4
• Thurs, 2/26: Field trip to Atlanta History Museum; Math HW (R) 15-5
• Fri, 2/27: $20 deposit due for big Atlanta trip in April; Math test (2-D shapes); Science test

Skills/Focus
My homeroom students are with me for one more week of our skills/focus classes. We'll be catching up on reading we missed from last week and doing a little extra math for this week!

Reading & Writing
We are finishing up our Number the Stars novel unit this week! We have loved learning more about this time in history (Holocaust and WWII), and the characters of Annemarie and Ellen have become very dear to us! We will test on Tuesday. We will spend the rest of the week practicing a skill that is very difficult for the students - reading two passages on the same topic and then discussing how the comprehension of one passage impacts the understanding of the other. We will be reading about the history of Hawaii in these passages!

Students will continue to write about what they read, and we will also be working on affixes (prefixes and suffixes) and comma rules! Both are pretty tough topics for 5th graders.

Math
We will be working with 2D shapes this week - focusing on the hierarchy of shapes and how different quadrilaterals relate to each other. We took notes on this on Friday of last week to help us prepare for this week. We will be asking ourselves questions like this: Is a parallelogram always a rectangle? Is a square also a rectangle? Is a rectangle also a square? Students will have to use attributes of these shapes to help them answer these questions. We'll be working primarily with quadrilaterals (4 sided polygons) and triangles (3 sided polygons). Students will need a hanger for our activity on Wednesday. Don't worry - we won't tear it apart or destroy it in any way - and it will come home to you eventually! We will use it to help us organize the hierarchy of shapes. Test this Friday.

Science
Students will spend this week with Mrs. Hawkins finishing up their unit on earth science. They will test on Friday.

Movie This Week
This week, we'll be watching the movie Ruby Bridges to prepare us to start our Civil Rights unit next week. We'll watch it on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons (we won't have science or social studies those two days because on Wednesday, Mrs. Hawkins has the field trip, and on Thursday, we're eating lunch during that time when we return from the field trip). We will finish up on Friday morning if needed. You have already sent in your signed permission for this movie at the beginning of the year. I love this movie, and I bet your students will too!

Dear families,

Welp, what can I say about the weather? I thought I'd be writing this for you from my classroom this morning (Monday), but I am on my couch writing it instead! So far, no big deal weather-wise, but hoping ice does not become a problem tonight or in the morning. Stay tuned to local news to see if anything pops up about school closings or delays. I can assure you that we rarely know before you do if school times change, so be on the alert. Should I find out any news about anything, I'll send out a Remind text. In the meantime, let's take a look at our hopefully-regular school week!

(Before we dive into academics) Congratulations to all the kiddos who participated in Young Americans this weekend! The shows were FABULOUS! I really enjoyed their take on music and movies over the last century, and their talent is phenomenal! Participating from our class were Lainie, Katharine, Margaret, Millie, and Will.

Oh, and congrats to our own Cody Brewer for winning the elementary schools spelling bee for Gainesville City Schools! We are proud of him!

This Week:

• Thurs, 2/19: Math test (coordinate grids); Talent show at 6 pm
• Fri, 2/20: Field trip to Atlanta History Museum for Interactive Civil War display

Reading & Writing
We are continuing our novel study for the book Number the Stars. We will be reading some nonfiction articles on Tuesday about refugee groups in recent history to help us understand why people flee their homelands. This is an important topic in the novel. We will also be discussing point-of-view as we see it in the story. Students have been learning about foreshadowing, and it is at this point in the novel that students will begin to see if their predictions are correct! We are also discussing how characters change in the story based on how they respond to a conflict. Many standards are being covered in reading this week!

In writing, students will be changing some of the text into first person point-of-view. We will also be focusing on affixes - prefixes and suffixes - and how those can help us understand new or unfamiliar words. Students will have an affixes quiz on Friday morning before our field trip.

Math
We are continuing our study of coordinate grids and plotting ordered pairs on the grid. This week, we'll be looking at XY charts for ordered pairs to use x-rules, y-rules, and x-y rules to generate a numerical pattern. Students will then be plotting these points on the coordinate grid. To practice this standard, we have a fun two-day activity called "Willie the Wheelman." 

Homework: Students will have math homework on Tuesday and Wednesday nights from their math workbook. It will only be a few problems each night. I like having homework based on the standard we are teaching; I've seen improvement in homework this way! We will have a math test on Thursday. 

Science
Students are staying with Mrs. Hawkins this week and next to continue their study of earth science.

There are 26 students in our class. If your child chooses to send in Valentines, he or she needs to send them in for everyone.
Jose
Will
Christopher
Wyneshka
Cody
Drew
Margaret
Linda
Lindsey
Millie
America
Melissa
Lainie
Caleb
Vicente
Katharine
Henry
Jan
Jason
Ali
Terrance
Yuliana
Alfredo
Sa'mouge
Angelyn
Hao

Dear families,

I hope you have enjoyed your weekend! This is a busy academic week for the students, so let's go ahead and dive into what's expected for the week:

Upcoming Events

• Mon, 2/9: English Language Arts Benchmark Test #1 (multiple choice and short response); Young Americans performance at 1:00 in gym
• Tues, 2/10: English Language Arts Benchmark Test #2 (writing about reading)
• Wed, 2/11: Math Benchmark test; Step & Musical performances at 8:20 and 9:20; Progress Reports come home
• Fri, 2/13: Math homework due; Valentine's Day snack at 12:45 (no party)

Coming Next Week

• Mon, 2/16: NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS (teacher work day)
• Thurs, 2/19: Math Test (Coordinate Grids & Mathematical Patterns)
• Fri, 2/20: Field Trip to Atlanta History Museum for interactive Civil War exhibit

FYI: Benchmark Tests
The benchmark tests we are giving this week will help give the students an idea of what the Milestones tests will look like in April. You (and the students) should not worry - we've been testing them this way all year. Tests will include multiple choice questions and some writing questions. I believe that students are being well-prepared. These tests will inform us about student progress, but they will not be used as grades for report cards.

English Language Arts
In reading, we are continuing our study of the historical fiction novel, Number the Stars. We will read the next few chapters and students will write journal responses that are standards-based and reflect on what students have read so far. One of these prompts will be graded at the end of the week. We are focusing this week on the following standards:

• RL.1 Quoting from the text; inferencing
• RL.3 Comparing and contrasting settings and character responses
• RL.4 Figurative Language
• RL.5 Story structure

In language arts, students are working on perfect verb tenses. For example: 

• I had walked
• I have walked
• I will have walked

Students will have a small quiz on Friday over the perfect verb tenses.

Math
Students will love what we are starting this week! We are working on coordinate grids (only in the first quadrant, so we are only working with positive integers). Students will love playing games like battleship and cracking secret codes as we work on this unit! On Friday, we introduce the second part of our unit which is about mathematical patterns. This part is more difficult for students. We will test next Thursday.


Science
Students are with Mrs. Hawkins for the next three weeks as they discuss earth science!