Ms. Alley's 5th Grade: Newsletter 3/11/12

ITBS testing is finished! The kids really worked hard and showed their personal best. I am excited to get the test back and look at the results. It is great to get another look at their abilities. As discussed in conferences, the STAR test is just a small picture and the ITBS will give us a better idea of their reading abilities.

I hope the kids will be ready for their last quarter as elementary students! Keep encouraging your child to preserve throughout the last quarter and finish the year strong. This amazing weather that we have been having will really have the students dreaming about summer!

We have an art study trip on Thursday. We are sooooo excited!!!!

The Week Ahead:

Religion: We will start chapter 12, Baptism and Confirmation.

English: We will be starting our 5-paragraph essays over recycling in class this week. The plan is to be finished teaching the process of the essay by Friday. The kids should be taking what we do in class, and be doing it at home with the non-fiction book they chose for their book report.

Math: We will be completing a math lesson in chapter 8 each day of the week. We will complete lessons 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, and 8.12 .

Social Studies: We will continue to learn about the events that led up to the American Revolution. We will be completing activities for the cumulative project and also be reading from the text book.

Reading: The kids will complete a Scholastic News issue.

AR points for the fourth quarter start on Monday. The kids need to have 20 points by the end of the fourth quarter.

Science: The kids have learned about each simple machine. I bet they have been singing the simple machines song to you! This week, we will start building the machines and playing smart board games.

Table Take Questions

1. Ask your child what they are learning from their research for their 5-paragraph essay over recycling.

2. We will be reading an issue of Scholastic News on Monday. Ask your child to summarize the articles that we read and ask their opinion on the news stories.

3. Ask your child about building simple machines. What did we build? Were they able to use effective group work strategies to build the simple machines?

4. We will be learning about the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Ask your child to explain these events to you.

Have a sunny spring week!

-Julie Alley