Hansen's Happenings in Room 25

Hello all!

You have probably noticed that 5th grade has been very busy these past few weeks. Our field trips last week to the Museum and Elm Place were interesting and lots of fun. We have also been enjoying the activities connected to the last 26 days of school.

Today we completed the Reading MAP test and tomorrow will be the Math MAP test. As I mentioned in previous posts, this is the first year that the middle school is going to be using this MATH MAP score as part of their placement process.

5th grade has also been working on our spring sing. Many of the 5th graders have been involved in the script writing, dances and planning for the sing. It is starting to come together.

Below I’ve listed up coming events. Take care!

May 16 -Math MAP testing          -Spring Orchestra Concert /7:00

May 17 -  Early Release

May 25 – 5th Grade Government Everything Sale

May 28 – Memorial Day,  No School

May 29 – 5th grade Spring Sing 2:15 and 7:00

May 31 – Field Day

It is May already! April just flew by. We have some exciting events in May. I’ve listed them all out below.

May 1 – Robert Crown student presentations

May 2 – We start the last 26 days of the year 5th grade activities

May 3 – Band Rehearsal a.m.      -Visit from the Elm Place World Language department

May 4 – Wood Carver, Eric Widitz – Part of our 5th grade gift is a 5′ wood statue of a Panda Bear reading a book. It will be placed in the front of the building. During the day at various times,  students will watch his progress as he carves the Panda.

May 7 – Field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry

May 8 – Final CBM testing

May 9 – Spring Band Concert

May 11 – Field trip – Elm Place Tour

May 15  – Orchestra  Rehearsal a.m.       -MAP testing

May 16 – Spring Orchestra Concert        -MAP testing

May 28 – Memorial Day,  No School

May 29 – 5th grade Spring Sing

May 31 – Field Day

Haven’t the flowers and flowering trees been lovely…. It gives me such a sense of peace when I look at them.

The past two weeks have been busy for 5th grade. We completed the Middle School Math placement tests and sent them off to Elm Place. We also completed the District Writing Benchmark test. It is always wonderful to see the growth students have made in their writing. All students are more confident and some are spreading their wings in terms of word use and depth.

Today marked the end of the 5th grade Science Fiction novel study. We discussed a variety of themes and ideas connected to the genre. Remember the communicators on Star Track…. Cell phones now….  Interesting….

In math, all groups have finished up with Chapter 12 on Fractions. Groups are now working on addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions. All groups are also continuing to review skills that have been covered. Something new this year for middle school math placement will be the use of the Spring Math MAP score. The 5th grade teachers have been encouraging the students to review skills using the HSP Intervention website that is bookmarked on the Sherwood website. What’s nice about that site is that students can access the 6th grade material, too.

All groups in Social Studies have almost completed their American Revolution projects. Each group has been researching a famous person connected to the American Revolution. Each student within their group, took notes on a Google doc. and is now working on a group essay and Google presentation. Students are being evaluated on the project, as well as, their ability to focus during work time and how they work in the group.  They all seem to be enjoying the collaborative approach.

We have some exciting up coming events.

•April 25th – Elm Place Musical Field trip

•April 26th – Visit from Elm Place Administration and Students

•April 27th – 5th Grade Government Walk A Thon to benefit the Nyaka Aids Orphan School and Doctors without Borders

•April 30th – Robert Crown Parent night, 6:30 in the IMC

•May 1st – Robert Crown student presentations

Hello all, I wanted to let you know when the Middle School math placement testing will take place next week. We would love to have 100% attendance on those days.

April 9: 5-6 math placement, 30 minute test, @2:05

April 11: 5-6 math placement, 60 minute test, @1:55
We will also be administering our last District Writing Benchmark next week.
April 13: writing benchmark @10:45-11:45

Take care!

Well, April has arrived. I hope everyone had a super fantastic Spring Break.The month of April is busy for 5th grade.

Up coming events:

•Week of April 9th-13th – District writing benchmark test. Middle School math placement tests

•April 25th – We will travel over to Elm Place to watch the middle school musical (9:15)

•April 26th – Elm Place administrator and students will come to Sherwood to talk to the 5th grade class.

•April 30th – Robert Crown Parent presentation. This event will be in the Sherwood IMC at 6:30. A representative from Robert Crown will share the presentations that will be completed with the 5th grade students on May 1st.

This week we started a 5th grade novel study. The genre is Science Fiction. Students will be exploring the themes of science fiction with a focus on Adaptation. They will also be analyzing characters, identifying examples of literary devices, and story elements. As always, all groups will focus on opportunities for fluency practice and vocabulary development.

In math, all groups are working on fraction concepts. Students can brush up on math skills prior to taking the middle school math placement tests and the Spring Math MAP test by completing lessons on the HSP Intervention web site. It is bookmarked on the Sherwood School Website under Learning Links – By Subject – Math. What is nice, is that students can complete 5th grade lessons and 6th grade lessons.

Students are currently working on a collaborative research project in Social Studies. Students were put into research teams and then each team picked a famous person from the Revolutionary War time period. They will be using google docs. and google presentation as part of the research process. All groups are currently completing research and taking notes on a google doc. page. Their end products will be a group expository essay and a presentation.

In science, students are exploring the structure of atoms. I understand that some building of atoms will happen soon.

Students have been presenting their Great Mail Race projects. It has been fun learning about the different states. We have also enjoyed see the items that students, “packed” in their suitcases. We were hoping to get all of the projects presented this week but it looks like we may need to go into next week. The letters that students wrote to other 5th grade classes around the United States will be mailed on Friday.

Well, I guess that is it. Take care!

I can’t believe this weather! I hope everyone had the opportunity to get outside and enjoy this lovely treat.

I enjoyed the chance to meet with everyone during conferences this past week. It is always satisfying to celebrate successes and work together as a team to set goals.

In reading this week we will be learning about the inventor, Thomas Edison. Hopefully, learning about him will spark a bit of creative thinking. We will also be finishing up our study of onomatopoeia by creating cartoons that utilize the literary device.

All math classes will be taking the fraction pretest this week. We will be studying fractions for the next three to four school weeks.

This week will also be a busy week in social studies. We will be starting the simulation called, Independence II about the events leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We will also be starting a collaborative study of the famous men and women who were part of this time in America’s history.

Ms. Hancock’s Science class will be taking a quiz over pp. 343-347 on Thursday. Students should be reviewing all week in preparation.

Well, I guess that’s it. Take care!

I wish the weather would make up its mind! It is so strange to start the day at 32 degrees and end the day at 65 degrees.

Well,  ISAT testing is behind us. The kids were brilliant. They all seemed to try their best and were focused and ready to go each day. In between taking the tests last week, some of the students worked on a special project to go along with our celebration of Dr. Seuss. Some students from all three 5th grade classes developed google presentations to use as part of discussions and activities connected to the story, The Lorax. They then were assigned a k-3 classroom. On Monday of this week, they went into their assigned classroom and presented. The 5th grade teachers received positive feedback from the k-3 classroom teachers saying that the students did an amazing job.

This week in Reading, we are exploring the Genre of Folklore. We are starting with Fables and will then move on to Fairy Tales. We will be analyzing the structure of each type of folklore and then each student will write their own fable and fairy tale. We will also be having fun with the literary device, onomatopoeia.

All groups are finishing up with geometry and patterns in math. The students will be taking the second district math benchmark test next Monday and Tuesday. We will be reviewing some concepts and skills in preparation for the test later this week.

All students handed in their Science Fair projects. I have to say, they look fantastic. I can’t wait to see them next Wednesday at the Science Fair. In Social Studies we will be moving into the events leading up to the American Revolution. In addition to learning about this time in history using our History Alive books, we will also be participating in a simulation called, Independence 2.

Well, I guess that’s about it. Take care!

Hello all! It’s a winter wonderland out there. I hope everyone is staying warm.

*Just a reminder that we have ISAT Testing next week. The 5th grade schedule is as follows:

Monday – Reading a.m.                               Tuesday – Reading a.m. / Math p.m.

Wednesday – Reading a.m.                         Thursday – Math a.m.  /  Math p.m.

In Reading this week, we took the test for the story, A Drop of Water. Our focus skills were analyzing expository text and cause and effect. We also explored the literary device, hyperbole.

All math groups have been focusing on Geometry skills with lots of review thrown in.

In Social Studies, colony groups will be presenting their projects on Tuesday and Wednesday. I always appreciate the imaginative and creative ideas that the students generate. The presentations should be very interesting.

The Science Fair projects seem to be coming along. All the students have been busy with their experiments. I can’t wait to see them.

Well, I guess that’s it. Have a great weekend!

Ms. Hancock asked me to post the following information regarding the Science Fair Project:

•Each student should write their hypothesis following what was practiced in class “IF . . . THEN . . . BECAUSE . . . ”
•Then create a data table BEFORE beginning their experiment.

Hello all! Brrrrrrrrrrr…. Winter decided to pay us a visit after all.

Last week sure was busy. We had an early release day, an author visit, and the Band and Orchestra Concert.

The Band and Orchestra Concert was wonderful. The students are to be congratulated on their success. All of their hard work paid off and those of us who attended were treated to a fantastic concert.

We finished up the Survival Novel Study last Thursday. All groups seemed to enjoy the books that they read. We are now moving back into StoryTown. We will be exploring the story, Drop of Water, which is an expository non-fiction piece. Today we saw a movie about water and played a bit with water by finding out how many drops of water fit on a penny. Our focus skill for this lesson will be cause and effect and we will be reviewing prefixes.

Our writing these past few weeks has focused on literary devices and reading extending responses. We finished up the literary device, personification last week, and will be exploring idioms this week. We will continue to practice writing reading extended responses.

All math groups are exploring skills and concepts connected to geometry. We have been working on coordinate math, angles, circles, triangles, polygons. You name it, we are working on it. We have continued to work on writing math extended responses.

In Social Studies, we have become an advertising agency. The students have been put into small groups and their job is to come up with an ad for one of the 13 colonies. The slogans that some of the groups have come up with are wonderful. Ms. Hancock continues to walk the students through the steps for their projects leading up to the science fair.

We are all looking forward to the Valentine’s Day party tomorrow. A big thank you to the moms who are helping to put it together.

Take care!