Highlights from Last Week:

Color Day was a blast. Students cooperated in teams to chase victory in a number of fun events, such as tug-o-war, the sack race, and Battleship. It was a tiring but delightful day.

We started some fun projects last week. In Math, students could choose to either create their own end-of-year math assessment, or create a brochure of all of the topics we studied. Another project we embraced was creating a Fifth Grade Survival Brochure. Students are each working on a brochure designed to inform my next class what to expect and how to be successful in fifth grade. I can't wait to post student work so you can chuckle along with me at students' creative, clever, and humorous designs.

Here is the plan for the LAST 3 DAYS of school:

Special:
Fifth Grade Moving On Ceremony:  Monday, June 22 at 1:30pm in the gym. Students can bring their fine clothes to school to change into if they would like.

End of Year Assembly:  Wednesday, June 24 at 9:00am in the gym.

Reading: 

• I will finish reading aloud of The Eyes of Kid Midas by Neil Shusterman.

Writing:

• We finish our Opinion Essays. Students will publish their essays and engage in a debate.
• We also finish our Fifth Grade Survival Guides.

Math: 

• We will finish our end-of-year math assessments or brochures and share them with a partner.

Social Studies:

• We briefly learned about the US Constitution last week. I will show students a fun video on the three branches of government. We didn't have time for the mock government to run, unfortunately.

Thanks for reading! 

It's been a wonderful year with students. They truly are the BEST CLASS EVER. I wish them nothing but the greatest happiness and success in middle school and beyond.

Have a great summer, students! You deserve it! #BCE

Highlights from Last Week:

Students visited Bigelow Middle School for Step Up Day on Friday. They got a sampling of what to expect, got to meet teachers, and ran through an accelerated schedule. Excitement for the transition is in the air!

Our Rube Goldberg Machine project was a great success! Although there were a few glitches, those glitches were small and if we had more time, we could have made the adjustments that would have made the machine run flawlessly. Students learned about the importance of team work and determination. They also learned to test and retest their simple machine functions many times to iron out all the potential kinks. We had a great day and students agreed: it was better than Ware's Cove!

We wrapped up our unit on Algebra with the frog jumping contests. Students learned how to use algebraic expressions to represent a situation, and how to substitute variables for equivalent algebraic expressions in order to solve a problem. Most importantly, students learned how to persevere through complex challenges and use creative strategies and visual models.

It's our last full week of school!! Here is the plan:

Special:
Fifth Grade Spring Concert: Monday, June 15. Day show at 10:00am, evening show at 7:00pm.

Color Day: Tuesday, Jun 16th. Students will participate in fun athletic activities in their color teams.

Reading: 

• This week I will finish conducting Reading Assessments to gauge students' progress in their reading skills.
• We continue our read aloud of The Eyes of Kid Midas by Neil Shusterman. Students are wary of the powerful sunglasses that main character Kevin Midas found on a mysterious mountain top. What crazy incidents will he conjure up next? Will he be able to survive their power?

Writing:

• We continue our unit on Opinion Essays. Students have written strong thesis statements and clear, unique reasons that support their opinions. Our next step is to gather enough evidence to complete a draft.
• Students will learn how to write a rebuttal and debate with the opposing side.

Math: 

• This week we will review math concepts from the year in a fun way. Student partnerships will choose to either create their own end-of-year math assessment that contains problems from each unit we've studied, or a curriculum map that details all the different concepts we've learned.

Social Studies:

• This week we learn about the outcome of the American Revolution, the US Constitution, and the three branches of government. Students will run a mock classroom government where they will try to pass laws and question the constitutionality of current laws.

Thanks for reading! As always, please contact me with any questions, comments, or feedback.

Highlights from Last Week
Spring Carnival was a blast! Students surprised me with a giant inflatable basketball hoop that could barely fit through the classroom door, as well as cute new friends such as a snake and a stuffed dog. Thanks kiddos!

Students enjoyed a thrilling set of math classes where we combined concepts from algebra, coordinate grids, and multiplication to solve problems related to a Frog Jumping Contest. We also used algebra and double number lines to find out which of three frogs had the furthest jump in relation to single steps. The perseverance in problem solving that students demonstrate is remarkable!

In Writing, students chose a controversial topic to argue in their opinion essay. We have a wide range of topics: gun control, equal pay for women, prevention of animal cruelty, reduction in parent business trips, mandatory electric cars, and marriage equality, just to name a few. Each student developed a strong thesis began researching for evidence related to his or her topic.

In Reading, Ms. Faucon taught lessons to improve students' summarizing and synthesizing skills. She read aloud from some fantastic literature. The class adored the picture book, "An Angel for Soloman Singer," by Cynthia Rylant with it's gorgeous and intriguing illustrations by Peter Catalanotto.

Here is the plan for this week:

Special:
Tuesday, June 9th: Rube Goldberg Project Day --We'll attempt to create a giant class Rube Goldberg Machine inspired by OK Go's music video. The goals are to explore the physics of simple machines, to use engineering design to solve force and motion problems, and to effectively collaborate as a team player.

Friday, June 12th: Step Up Day --The fifth grade visits Bigelow, meets teachers, explores the classrooms, and gets a taste of the middle school schedule. 

Reading: 

• This week I will conduct Reading Assessments to gauge students' progress in their reading skills.
• Students will write a short response about their reading to practice their summarizing, synthesizing, and analyzing skills.

Writing:

• We continue our unit on Opinion Essays. Students will learn how to be persuasive and more analytical, able to weigh evidence, to follow lines of logic, and draw evidence-based conclusions. 
• Students have chosen a topic to argue in an essay. Once students have gathered evidence to support both sides of the issue, they will draft, carefully select and unpack quotes that support their reasons, and compose rebuttals.

Math: 

•  We wrap up our "Frog Jumping Contest" Algebra unit this week.
• We will operate on algebraic equivalencies to create new equivalencies and solve for unknown quantities. 
• If we have time, we will review some of the tricky concepts that we've covered this year, such as decimal operations and fraction operations.

Social Studies:

• This week we wrap up our study of the American Revolution. We have been watching PBS's "Liberty" series, and will learn next about the battle at Yorktown and the end of the war.

Science:
On Tuesday, while the rest of the grades are at Ware's Cove, we create a giant Rube Goldberg Machine composed of simple machines and clever design and engineering.

Thanks for reading! As always, please contact me with any questions, comments, or feedback.

Note: My apologies for the delayed update in plans for this week. My father is in the hospital for a broken ankle that he stupidly sustained from falling off of his roof while trying to clean gutters in a rainstorm. He's doing well! His slogan for this experience is, "If you're going to be stupid, you better be tough." Hopefully he learned the valuable lesson to be careful and always prioritize "Safety First."


This week's plan is very similar to last week's plan, as we continue our journey through these units of study.

Special:
Friday, June 5th: Spring Carnival from 3-7pm

Reading: 

• We are still wrapping up a couple of guided reading book groups. Students have been reading a book that has survival and resilience as a theme.
• This week we will learn strategies for summarizing and synthesizing what we read.

Writing:

• We continue our unit on Opinion Essays. Students will learn how to be persuasive and more analytical, able to weigh evidence, to follow lines of logic, and draw evidence-based conclusions. 
• We begin writing argument essays about issues that we feel strongly about.

Math: 

•  We continue our fun yet challenging unit on Algebra centered around a frog jumping competition (we won't actually be using frogs).
• Students will learn how to use variables and algebraic expressions to represent objects.
• We will operate on algebraic equivalencies to create new equivalencies and solve for unknown quantities. 

Social Studies:

• We continue our study of the American Revolution by watching PBS's "Liberty". We will learn about important battles and actions of the revolutionary war, such as Bunker Hill, Trenton & Princeton, Saratoga, Valley Forge, and Yorktown. We will also learn about important revolutionary figures, such as John Adams, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and more. 

Thanks for reading! As always, please contact me with any questions, comments, or feedback.