Week of January 23

Mrs. French's Spelling                        Ms. Stanger's Spelling
basketball, wheelchair, everybody, up-to-date                  operate, operation, explode, explosion, create
cheerleader, grandparent, newscast, first aid,                    erosion, invade, conclusion, decorate, expand
weekend, wildlife, highway, daytime, whoever                creation, comprehend, allude, illustration, erode,
test tube, turnpike, shipyard, homemade,                           decoration, invasion, imitation, conclude
household, salesperson, brother-in-law                              comprehension, illustrate, imitate, expansion,
                                                                                           allusion

Science Fair - February 1
You should be putting the final touches on your projects, getting the display boards ready, and students should be getting ready to do in-class presentations.  These presentations are just 1-2 minutes of sharing about what they did, why they chose the project, and what they learned.  This just gives us a chance to evaluate their independent learning process.  Students may bring them in at any time.

Science Fair Judges Needed
Mrs. Bauman is greatly in need of judges for the science fair.  If you are available on the 1st or 2nd for an hourish, please let her know ASAP.  Thanks so much.  It is actually quite fun and informative to go through another grade's projects.

Monday, January 30
I will be joining a group of teachers from our school at a leadership team seminar.  Mrs. Bishop will be substituting that day.  She really enjoyed working with the kids earlier this month.  It is so nice to have someone that will keeping the schedule moving smoothly while you are out.

State Fair Details
As soon as science fair is over I will be sending you specific details about the state fair project.  This won't happen until April!

DARE
We are scheduled to start our DARE program next month.  This is a multi-week class led by Officer Galietti of the Cottonwood Heights Police Dept.  It will culminate in a graduation ceremony later this spring.

Daily Schedule
We begin lessons right at 8:30 so it is very helpful for students to arrive on time.  We have switched our blocks so that we begin with math promptly at 8:30.  There is so much to cover that it is important for students to catch every part of a lesson.

Utah Write
Students may practice their persuasive writing test at home.  Simply google Utah Write.  Each student has his/her username and the password is write.  They may practice the prompts up to 2 times.  They are evaluated and remedial lessons are provided to develop skills.

Reading and Math Facts
Once again, I can't stress enough the importance of practice.  Benchmark tests are greatly affected when students aren't fluent in their basic skills.  Keep up the good work.

Short Week Update

Just a couple of reminders about this week:
1. We will not have normal language arts classes as we are working at a special writing project.
2. Your child should have brought home a permission slip for the publishing project.  We need a signed slip from each family by Thursday, January 19.
3. Students will be dismissed at 1:15 on Thursday and we will not have school on Friday.

Mrs. Bauman is urgently in need of science fair judges.  Please contact her if you have a few free hours on either February 1 or 2.  The more judges she has, the fewer projects each judge will have.  Thanks for your help with this great project.

January 9

Happy Monday

Just a couple of notes about the next two weeks.  As mentioned before, I will be at a conference on Wednesday and Thursday.  Mrs. Bishop really loved the kids (no surprise there) and will be back.

Wax Museum on Friday - the students will be ready at 11:00 to share their knowledge with you.  They will be in order of their presidential number.  We will be in the gym until 12:20.  They have done a great job on their speeches.

Next week - We will not have school on Monday (MLK Day) or Friday (Teacher training day).  Therefore, Thursday will be an early day.

Science Fair - Judges will begin scoring the students' projects on Wednesday, February 1.  Parents will be allowed to view the projects during the day on Friday, after the judges have made their decision.  Projects will need to go home on Friday.  Students will have a desk to display their boards, reports, and any items that were used in their project ie. plants, crystals, etc.

Skyward Access - a letter will be coming home this week that has information for accessing our online student information.  This will be the site for you to register and complete forms online.  Please be sure to ask your child for the paper.  They are specific for each family.

Please e-mail with any questions.

Mrs. French's Spelling Words
jewel, sparkle, angle, shovel, single, normal, angel, legal, whistle, fossil, puzzle, bushel, mortal, gentle, level, label, pedal, ankle, needle, devil
Challenge: mineral, influential, vital, neutral, kernel

Please check Ms. Stanger's blog page for spelling words.

Both math classes are working on computation with decimals.  Please check your child's homework and corrected papers to assess progress.  Also, MCAP and MCOMP practice tests are great sources for information on what is expected of students in 5th grade.  You are welcome to correct, complete, or find resources with similar problems to help your child become fluent in these problem types.

Very Important: Please practice math facts at home.  Children who do not have mastery of their basic facts struggle with grade-level content.  We need to give them every opportunity for success.  This is not a part of our daily lessons so they really need the help at home.

Writing - students are practicing their persuasive writing each week at computer lab.  This is the format they will use to take the scored test.  Keyboarding practice at home would be very helpful.

Recommended Homework Schedule
Many people are under the impression that we don't give a lot of homework in 5th grade.  This may appear to be true but actually students should be working at least an hour each day.  This increases when students are working on one of the many home projects we have in 5th grade.
20 minutes - reading grade level texts (this should be in novel format); included in this should be 1 minute fluency practice reading grade level text aloud
15 minutes - practice with basic facts
15 minutes - practice spelling and vocabulary
Additional time required for work not completed in class and for home projects such as science fair.

I look forward to seeing you at the Wax Museum on Friday.

Mrs. French

Happy New Years

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday.  I want to thank you for your warm wishes and overwhelming kindness.  Your thoughts and gifts were very special and mean so much.  I also want to thank you for your donations to the food bank.  The two grades collected 1000 pounds of food and the Food Bank was thrilled to receive these much needed items.

My Schedule
I will be out of the building on January 6 - my son is getting married.  :)
I will be out of the building on January 11 and 12 - I will be at the State Office of Education for some mathematics training.

Mrs. French's Spelling Words
VCCV and VCV Pattern
equal  parlor  collect  closet  perhaps  wedding  rapid  value  arrive  behave  shoulder  novel  tulip  sorrow  vanish  essay  publish  aware  subject  prefer

Challenge Words
device  skittish  logic  sincere  nuisance

Mrs. French's Reading Group
New Story: Katie's Trunk - Focus is on "cause and effect"
Grammar - Verb Phrases with "have", correct use of teach/learn; let/leave; sit/set; and can/may
Writing - correct sentence and paragraph structure as it relates to writing a persuasive essay

Please continue to read with your child.  This is the best way for he/she to become a more confident and competent reader.  Ask questions to help with comprehension.

In math, all groups are working on multiplying and dividing decimals.

Students may begin presenting their president speeches.  They will be scored on presentation and content.

Happy New Years
Mrs. French