Highlights from Last Week:

Students turned in their first homework project this past week. Overall, I was very impressed with their work. Students wrote some interesting stories about themselves, some charming compliments to people they know, and some clever predictions about themselves and their friends. To top it off, they created some very appealing artwork to represent themselves. Check out their colorful portraits on the Student Work Page.

In Writing, students composed "I Am" poems and added graphics to enhance them. Students learned how to cite their images in a kid-friendly way, and how to add alliteration and rhythm to their poems for effect.

Our class read aloud of Louis Sachar's There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom is helping the class use their literary analysis skills. Students are thinking critically about character development, theme, and symbols. I've been using the story to model my thinking and show students how reading is all about the inner conversation you have with yourself.

What We Didn't Get To:

• In Math, we have more to do with Place Value and Divisibility.
• In Writing, we still need to discuss what we want to do for our Kimball Class Newsletter.
• In Reading, we still need to work on Monitoring our Comprehension.

This Week's Plan


Upcoming Special Events: 

• Early Release --Wednesday, September 28th.
• Rosh Hashanah --Monday, October 3rd.
• Early Release --Wednesday, October 5th.
• No School, Columbus Day --Monday, October 10th.

Special Activities:

• DARE Class --Students learn decision-making skills and how to resist unwanted pressure with Office Smith for 10 weeks of 40-minute lessons on Wednesday mornings.

Math:
Multiplication Basics, Factors, and Number Theory.

• Divisibility --We learn what it means to be divisible by a number and we learn some tricks to determining divisibility without actually dividing.
• Square Numbers --Students learn about these special numbers and what exponents do.
• Open Response Practice --Students learn how to effectively respond to a math open response problem, showing their work clearly and concisely.
• Unit 1 Review & Assessment --We begin a review of what we've learned in this unit in preparation for our first assessment. Check out the Study Guide here.

Reading:
Launching Reading Workshop.​

• Monitoring our Understanding --Students will learn how to recognize that their comprehension is fuzzy and will practice some strategies for fixing it.
• What is a "Just Right" Book --We'll learn how to recognize books that are just right for us and how to recognize when a book is too hard.
• Our First Reading Response Blog --I will explain my expectations for student responses on the Reading Response Blog. For homework, students will respond the Blog #1.
• Teacher Read Aloud --We're reading There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar. An entertaining story about a boy who hates school, hates his peers, and hates himself, but turns his life around with the help of a committed school counselor and personal resolve.

Writing:
Launching Writing Workshop.

• "I Am" Poems --Students will finish their "I Am" poems, complete with rhythm, alliteration, graphics, and image citations.
• The Kimball Class Newsletter --I'll try to get our class newsletter started this week. Students will have an outlet to publish their writing for an authentic audience.
• Narrative On-Demand --To learn about students' skills with writing narratives, I will ask them to go through the writing process in order to write a complete personal narrative. Students will have 50 minutes. This is just a sample of writing to help inform my teaching in preparation for our Narrative Writing unit.
• Sharing "I Am" Poems --On Friday, we will have a class share of our poems complete with mood lighting and hip music.

Social Studies:
Inquiry Investigation of the US Government & Elections.

• Asking Questions --Students will learn how to ask deep questions about government and elections that require research and explanation.
• Taking Meaningful Notes --I will show students how to use note-taking as an exercise in thinking about the content. We'll create "What I Read/My Thinking" charts.
• Resource Exploration of NewsELA --Students will get log in information for a great web resource called NewsELA.com, where they can read about current events, particularly US Elections and Voting.
• Features of Informational Text --Students will read about US elections and learn how to navigate an informational text filled with a variety of resources.

Homework:
Please check the Homework page for more details. 

1. Respond to the Reading Response Blog #1 by Friday.
2. Read 25 minutes at home per day and keep a log in your planner.
3. There will be a math page for homework each night.
4. Find an article about the US Elections and/or Voting on NewsELA.com (using the log in information I give you in class) and complete a "What I Read/My Thinking" chart. More details in class. Due by Friday.
5. Get your All About Me rubric signed by a parent.

Thanks for Reading!
So that's the plan for the week. Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or feedback.

 Highlights from Last Week:

Our first full week of school! ​

• Student Council Elections --We had some fabulous presentations from eight students about why they wanted to be student council representatives. After holding a primary and then a final election, Alex and Caroline had the most ballots and now serve as the 5K student council members. Congrats!
• First Homework Project --Students received their first homework project of the year, "All About Me." We've been planning out our daily tasks each day to make sure we complete the project on-time and so it meets expectations. Students are challenged to think about their lives and the people in it who matter to them.
• Aspiration Essay --Most students have finished their essay describing their aspirations for 5th grade. Students learned about the structure of an essay and some strategies for making it flow smoothly and adding more detail, such as using transition words and asking questions of yourself. Students also assessed themselves using a class-created rubric.
• Math Games --We played a fun Ms. K-created game called "Predict a Product" to practice our multiplication facts and estimation skills. Students enjoyed betting on a product and rolling the dice to determine factors.
• DARE Class --I forgot in my planning last week that DARE Class begins. Students met the amiable Officer Chad Smith and learned about the goals of the DARE program. 

What We Didn't Get To:

• In Math, we didn't get to place value. I may move it until the end of the unit.
• In Reading, we didn't get to "Just 

This Week's Plan


Upcoming Special Events: 

• Open House --Also known as a Parent Back to School Night, is this Wednesday, September 21st. Fifth grade goes at 6:50pm after the principal's address in the auditorium at 6:30pm. I hope to see you in there!
• Picture Day --Thursday, September 22nd. 5th grade goes at 8:40am.

Special Activities:
We continue to take time throughout the day to learn expectations, routines, interpersonal skills, transitioning, and much more. These understandings are essential to the smooth operations of our entire school year.

• DARE Class --Students learn decision-making skills and how to resist unwanted pressure with Office Smith for 10 weeks of 40-minute lessons on Wednesday mornings.
• Submitting Assignments & Using Google Classroom --As exciting as our online class community can be, it can also be overwhelming. We'll learn how to submit assignments via Google Classroom, check grades, and ask for feedback.

Math:
Multiplication Basics, Factors, and Number Theory.

• Multiplication Patterns --Students will investigate patterns in the multiplication table.
• Multiplication Games --We'll be learning Factor Captor this week to practice finding factors of numbers.
• Extended Multiplication Facts --We'll learn how to use basic facts like 6 x 7 = 42 to help us find extended facts like 60 x 70 = 4,200.
• Place Value --Students will explore the place value system as powers of 10 up to the billions place.
• Divisibility --We learn what it means to be divisible by a number and we learn some tricks to determining divisibility without actually dividing.

Reading:
Launching Reading Workshop.​

• Listening to the Inner Reading Voice --We'll identify thoughts we have as readers and how important it is to keep a conversation going in our brains as we read.
• Monitoring our Understanding --Students will learn how to recognize that their comprehension is fuzzy and will practice some strategies for fixing it.
• What is a "Just Right" Book --We'll learn how to recognize books that are just right for us and how to recognize when a book is too hard.
• Responding to the Reading Response Blog --I'll discuss how to appropriately submit comments to the class blog and remind students of the importance of using correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar online.
• Teacher Read Aloud --We're reading There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar. An entertaining story about a boy who hates school, hates his peers, and hates himself, but turns his life around with the help of a committed school counselor and personal resolve.

Writing:
Launching Writing Workshop.

• "I Am" Poems --Students write poems about their inner selves using a creative template.
• Adding and Citing Graphics --I will teach students how to add graphics to their "I Am" poem pages and how to cite the sources for those graphics.
• The Writing Process --We'll review the different stages of writing (planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) and learn about what should be happening at each stage.
• The Kimball Class Newsletter --From the suggestion of Thomas8, we are hoping to start a class newsletter, filled with student writing. This will give us a great forum for publishing to an authentic audience!

Science/Social Studies:
Next week (week of Sept 26) we should be ready to start Social Studies by diving into the US Government and how elections work. We'll tie in our research with current events about the 2016 election. We'll launch Science the next month, and cycle between Science and Social Studies each month.


Homework:
Please check the Homework page for more details. The "All About Me" Homework Project is due this week!

1. Homework Project: All About Me. Students will think, create, and write about themselves and those close to them. Due Thursday.
2. Read 25 minutes at home per day and keep a log in your planner.
3. There will be a math page for homework each night.
4. Respond to the Reading Response Blog by Tuesday.

Thanks for Reading!
So that's the plan for the week. Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or feedback. I look forward to seeing you at Open House on Wednesday!

 Highlights from Last Week:

Another great short week of school! Students are learning expectations and routines, and I'm learning about them. Here are some highlights of the action:

• Core Values --We discussed the Pine Hill core values and what it means to be a respectful audience. We worked almost all day on Thursday to create a video on "How to be a Respectful Audience" to present at Friday's All School Meeting. Please check it out here!
• Multiplication Facts --Students assessed their multiplication fact recall and are working toward improving their speed.
• Read Aloud --Everyone is loving our class read aloud of There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom. Students are analyzing characters and trying to figure out why the main character, Bradley, tries to be so unlikeable.
• Aspirations for 5th Grade --Students began writing about their aspirations for 5th grade. We learned about the structure of an essay and will that structure to give shape to our hopes and goals for 5th grade.
• Independent Reading --We've been cultivating a love of reading by sharing our favorite titles and enjoying some long stretches of independent reading. Meanwhile, I've been floating around the room asking students to read aloud for me to get a sense of their reading skills.
• Expectations --We've been working out some kinks in how we meet classroom expectations. There have been some bumps, such as calling out a running commentary instead of raising hands, and getting off-task during independent work. I've been stopping the action to coach students on how to make good choices.

This Week's Plan

Yet again, much of last week's plans move to this week as we get back into the swing of routines. I also failed to plan ahead last week for the Core Values video that we had to create for Friday, which ate up almost a full day. It was worth it, though!

Upcoming Special Events: 

• Student Council Elections --Monday, September 12th.
• Open House --Also known as a Parent Back to School Night, is the following week, Wednesday, September 21st. Fifth grade goes at 6:50pm after the principal's address in the auditorium at 6:30pm.
• Picture Day --Thursday, September 22nd, the following week.

Special Activities:
We continue to take time throughout the day to learn expectations, routines, interpersonal skills, transitioning, and much more. These understandings are essential to the smooth operations of our entire school year.


Reading:
Launching Reading Workshop.​

• Teacher Read Aloud --We're reading There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar. An entertaining story about a boy who hates school, hates his peers, and hates himself, but turns his life around with the help of a committed school counselor.
• Informal Assessments --While students independently read, I will float around the room and ask individual students to read aloud for me so I can learn more about each of them as readers.
• Find a "Just Right" Book --We'll learn how to find books that are just right for us and how to recognize that a book is too hard.

Writing:
Launching Writing Workshop.

• Aspirations --Students will write about what they want to accomplish socially and academically this year in an essay. We'll learn a little about transition words and phrases, as well as framing our ideas with an introduction and conclusion.

Math:
Review Multiplication.

• Multiplication Patterns --Students will investigate patterns in the multiplication table.
• Multiplication Game --I love coming up with math games. We'll be rolling dice, betting, and multiplying to practice our multiplication facts.
• Factors and Arrays --Students will model multiplication using arrays.
• Place Value --We will explore how our place value system is set up and compare numbers in various place values.

Science/Social Studies:
These first few weeks we hold off on Science and Social Studies to focus on launching reading, writing, and math. 


Homework:
Please check the Homework page for more details. We have our first Homework Project starting this week!

1. Homework Project: All About Me. Students will think, create, and write about themselves and those close to them.
2. Read 25 minutes at home per day and keep a log in your planner.
3. There will be a math page for homework each night starting on Wednesday.
4. Continue memorizing your basic multiplication facts up to 10x10.

Thanks for Reading!
So that's the plan for the week. Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or feedback. I look forward to an awesome school year!

Highlights from Last Week:

We had a lovely first three days together as 5K 2017! Students seem eager, engaged, and excited --ready for a fantastic year of learning together. We pretty much did absolutely nothing academic, but look at all that we accomplished in only three days together:

• Recess Games --We played Zombie Tag and Infection together as a class, learning how to play safely and fairly. We also learned an indoor recess game called Silent Ball, which is a thrilling game of standing on chairs and throwing a ball around the room. Crazy, I know, but students loved it and played safely and respectfully.
• Building Ownership --We engaged in some class discussions about how we should run the classroom this year, particularly about comfy chair privileges, to give students a sense of ownership of the space.
• Artistic Tricks --I taught students some graphic design tips to help them make their visual work stand out. We learned how to make bubble letters, cool backgrounds, cartoon people, and more. We even learned a little about decorating with collage. Students then created name tags and decorated their writing journals to practice their new artistic skills. These tricks will come in handy as students create posters, brochures, advertisements, and more to feature their learning throughout the year.
• Team Building --Students worked in teams to practice their listening and compromising skills. They had to name their table groups and create a group cheer together. The groups are:
  • The Rainbow Pandas -Kate, Emma, & Willie
  • The Knights of the Round Table -Owen C, Owen F, Eleanor, & Nadya
  • The Blue Dabs -Caroline, Anika, & Jacob
  • The Lazy Lizzzards -Alex, Katie, Max, & Isaiah
  • The Rays -Thomas B, Caly, Thomas H, & Wyatt
• Read Aloud --I started reading aloud from There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar. We've met main character Bradley Chalkers, who hates school, loves lying, and plays with imaginary animal friends.
• Routines --We practiced classroom routines, like lining up quietly, getting materials quickly, and cleaning up efficiently. Very important to get this stuff down now in order to focus on the real learning later.
• Google Classroom --I introduced Google Classroom to students, which will become our online space for many assignments, surveys, and responses. We learned what makes a good comment when replying to others' posts online.

This Week's Plan

Last week, I was extremely ambitious in my planning. We didn't get to most of what I planned for, so much of it will be moved to this week.

Special Events: 

• Labor Day ​--Monday, no school.
• Ice Cream Social --Thursday, September 8 at 5:00pm at the big playground.

Special Activities:
The launch of the school year is filled with a lot of non-academic learning. This type of preparation will make our classroom function smoothly and help us work together when learning gets more challenging.

• Getting to Know You --We'll be sharing all about ourselves, from our favorite summer memories to our favorite hobbies through writing, art, and social activities.
• Procedures Overview and Practice --We'll practice walking quietly in the hallways, quieting down quickly, coming to the rug, using classroom materials respectfully, and so on.
• Group Skills Training --Explicit practice in the art of working with other people. We'll focus on listening, compromising, and non-verbal communication. These skills are essential for the partner work and team projects we do throughout the year.
• Recess Fun --To aid in team-building, we'll be playing class games such as Zombie tag, Capture the Flag, and Captain's Coming. We'll focus on how to be fair, inclusive, safe, and good sports.
• Technology Intro  --Students will be using a lot of technology this year. We'll discuss how to safely and respectfully use technology and get active on some of our accounts.

Reading:
Launching Reading Workshop.

• Classroom Library Exploration --We'll learn about how the classroom library is organized. We'll develop a system together for checking out books and sharing recommendations. Students can choose a book to dive into.
• Teacher Read Aloud --We're reading There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar. An entertaining story about a boy who hates school, hates his peers, and hates himself, but turns his life around with the help of a committed school counselor.
• Informal Assessments --While students independently read, I will float around the room and ask individual students to read aloud for me so I can learn more about each of them as readers.
• Find a "Just Right" Book --We'll learn how to find books that are just right for us and how to recognize that a book is too hard.

Writing:
Launching Writing Workshop.

• Aspirations --Students will write about what they want to accomplish socially and academically this year. We'll learn a little about transition words and phrases, as well as framing our ideas with an introduction and conclusion.

Math:
Review Multiplication.

• Multiplication Review --To make sure students start fifth grade off right, we'll review our basic multiplication facts through 12x12. We'll play Multiplication Bingo and look at patterns of multiples.
• Explore Math Resources --Students will explore some of our math materials such as calculators, dice, cards, base-10 blocks, and more. We'll practice taking them out and putting them away neatly.
• Multiplication Game --I love coming up with math games. We'll be rolling dice, betting, and multiplying to practice our multiplication facts.
• Place Value --We will explore how our place value system is set up and compare numbers in various place values.

Science/Social Studies:
These first few weeks we hold off on Science and Social Studies to focus on launching reading, writing, and math. 


Homework:
Please check the Homework page for more details. Students will need to do the following at home this week:

1. Keep a log of at-home independent reading in your planner.
2. Read 25 minutes at home per day.
3. Practice memorizing your basic multiplication facts up to 10x10.

Thanks for Reading!
So that's the plan for the week. Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or feedback. I look forward to an awesome school year!