Wow! That is hard to believe! We are moving into the home stretch, and I am hoping we can get through March with NO snow!
The class did such an amazing job on their biography projects and the Wax Museum was awesome! They really worked hard and it showed. I was impressed with their expert knowledge.
As we move into the last few months of 5th grade, spring fever has struck early and struck hard. Many students are not coming to school prepared to learn. We've had lots of off-task behavior and even disruptive behavior. I've had many conversations with the class on the importance of respect, not just to teachers and adults, but to each other. Many students have gotten into some bad habits of calling out in class, talking while I am teacher or giving directions, and talking while another classmate is sharing. Not everything that is said in class needs a comment. We've talked about how there are 27 students in our class and if everyone feels the need to make a comment over everything that is said, we lose lots of important learning time. Also, it is frustrating to many students, especially our more quiet ones, when they raise their hand to share and other students are holding side conversations instead of listening. I want our class to be a place where everyone feels secure in speaking out, but we have to remember to respect each other and listen to each other.
Some other behaviors occurring in class have become downright disruptive to our learning. I think some of our friends have a case of the dreaded 5th grade-itis. That happens when we try to earn "cool points" with friends, instead of focusing on work and things that need to be done. More information will be coming home soon. It is my hope that we can all get back on track quickly so that we can have an enjoyable and productive end of the year.
We are continuing to learn about the history of our country. We are beginning Colonial Times and will work up to the causes of the Revolutionary War. We have two new science units for 5th grade. The space unit will be condensed, since the kids learned much of it last year in 4th grade. Our last unit will be on the structure of matter and is designed as a "forensic science" type of unit. It looks like it will be really fun! We should be starting that in the 4th quarter.
As always, please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Email is the best and quickest way to reach me, but you can also call 240-236-3867. It will only ring in the class before 9:00 and after 3:30 though, but you can leave a message.
The class did such an amazing job on their biography projects and the Wax Museum was awesome! They really worked hard and it showed. I was impressed with their expert knowledge.
As we move into the last few months of 5th grade, spring fever has struck early and struck hard. Many students are not coming to school prepared to learn. We've had lots of off-task behavior and even disruptive behavior. I've had many conversations with the class on the importance of respect, not just to teachers and adults, but to each other. Many students have gotten into some bad habits of calling out in class, talking while I am teacher or giving directions, and talking while another classmate is sharing. Not everything that is said in class needs a comment. We've talked about how there are 27 students in our class and if everyone feels the need to make a comment over everything that is said, we lose lots of important learning time. Also, it is frustrating to many students, especially our more quiet ones, when they raise their hand to share and other students are holding side conversations instead of listening. I want our class to be a place where everyone feels secure in speaking out, but we have to remember to respect each other and listen to each other.
Some other behaviors occurring in class have become downright disruptive to our learning. I think some of our friends have a case of the dreaded 5th grade-itis. That happens when we try to earn "cool points" with friends, instead of focusing on work and things that need to be done. More information will be coming home soon. It is my hope that we can all get back on track quickly so that we can have an enjoyable and productive end of the year.
We are continuing to learn about the history of our country. We are beginning Colonial Times and will work up to the causes of the Revolutionary War. We have two new science units for 5th grade. The space unit will be condensed, since the kids learned much of it last year in 4th grade. Our last unit will be on the structure of matter and is designed as a "forensic science" type of unit. It looks like it will be really fun! We should be starting that in the 4th quarter.
As always, please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Email is the best and quickest way to reach me, but you can also call 240-236-3867. It will only ring in the class before 9:00 and after 3:30 though, but you can leave a message.