A few updates before winter break:

Report cards will come home on Friday, December 13th.

If you are still interested in sending in something for our Christmas Around the World project check your child's assignment sheet for items we still need. 

On Tuesday your child will be bringing home important info about the recent 1:1 initiative/laptop roll out in Orange County Schools and the new playground to built at HES! :) 

Please encourage your child to read daily over the coming break. If you are interested in some extra math practice for them to do while out of school let me know. I can send home worksheets or they can work on websites we have used in class www.mrnussbaum.com  or www.coolmath-games.com. 

Have a wonderful break, see you on January 6th! 

Visit our class Pinterest page for links to activities we use in class! 

http://www.pinterest.com/a5thgrade/boards/

Weekly Update November 18-22

Where has the time gone? We are almost halfway though the school year!

By now you have (hopefully) heard about an exciting new part of our classroom....MONEY! Last week students began earning (and sometimes losing....) money as part of our classroom economy. Since the beginning of the year students have had weekly jobs and responsibilities. Now they are being paid for their jobs ($50/day) and fined for not meeting certain expectations. So far there are a few ways they can spend the money they earn, such as 1 writing homework pass/week, a day off from their recess lap, etc. As they start to build up more and more money they will have more options for spending it.One reward I would like to offer is a small classroom store- I would love to have items donated such as mechanical pencils, individual pencil sharpeners, or other 'school supply' type items. We still have supplies from the beginning of the year available to everyone, but those with extra money could buy nicer items. :) And now you are wondering how they can lose money, right? Together we compiled a list of behaviors and actions that would result in fines and we created categories of $1, $5, $10, and $15 fines. Things like talking, disrupting others, etc result in a $5 fine, forgetting homework is $10, disrespect toward classmates of teachers is $15. Students can also earn bonuses, last week the entire class earned an extra $1 when Mrs. Workman complimented their straight, quiet line. 

This week in math we will look at adding and subtracting mixed numbers. So far this has been relatively simple but as we move into subtracting with borrowing it becomes more complex. For many of them writing neatly and large enough makes a difference in their ability to solve correctly and find their own mistakes if necessary. We have talked about and practiced NOT squishing a fraction into one line of the paper and leaving space between problems to help avoid careless errors. 

In reading we are wrapping up our historical fiction book clubs focused on the Holocaust and working on a small group project about theme. At the conclusion of their book I want them to think deeply about what the story was really about....not details like the setting, or character traits, but broad ideas like survival and hope. 

In writing we have crafted thesis statements about Holocaust survivors and are now stretching them into essays. This is the longest, most intense writing project we have done this year, but we have slowly been building up to it and I think they are ready! We are hoping to have rough drafts mostly complete by the end of this week and crossing our fingers that next week they can type them on their brand new laptops! 

We are wrapping up our weather unit and will probably begin our social studies unit on government this Wednesday. I think they have really enjoyed becoming little meteorologists. We will revisit weather for a review in the spring before the science EOG, in the meantime watching/listening to weather forecasts on the news is a great way to reinforce the vocabulary and concepts we have focused on. 

A few other things....

At this time of year our school helps out 2 groups in our community. Over the next 2 weeks we will be collecting items for the Orange County Animal Shelter and the food bank at OCIM. All donations are appreciated! 

**Be on the lookout for info about a celebration/activity we will do on the last day of this 9 weeks, 12-13-13. We will be learning about how Christmas is celebrated differently in different countries and sampling foods from different parts of the world.**

Weekly Update October 7-11

Welcome back, I hope everyone had a great break! I am so excited that our week is off to a great start!

I was a little nervous to begin our work with alternate division strategies, as it usually illicits lots of grumbling from students and bewilderment for parents. This ‘box method’ is NOT the way you and I learned how to divide. Despite the initial confusion, I love that this method truly teaches children to understand that division is repeated subtraction of equal groups AND it makes large division problems workable for ALL students, regardless of their mastery of multiplication facts. If all they remember are their “2’s” they can still solve the problem- they may get tired of drawing boxes, but they CAN do it!

In reading we have begun our historical fiction unit. As I discussed with your in our report card conferences, this unit will focus on the Holocaust. Of course, this topic is not 100% age appropriate for 5^th graders, but we have worked to find novels for book clubs and picture books for read alouds that allow the students to learn about this period on their level. This week we are working to build the students prior knowledge and understanding by creating a timeline beginning in the early 1930’s to start identifying causes and important events leading up to World War II and the Holocaust. We have just started our read aloud novel, One Eye Laughing, One Eye Weeping  by Barry Denenberg.  Next week we will continue to add events to the time line and read picture books to build more background knowledge and start our book clubs.

In science we have started our unit on force and motion. Today we worked on essential vocabulary to prepare for some fun tomorrow! We will conduct experiments with Hot Wheels cars on difference surfaces to learn about friction.

In writing we are working on responding to reading by making predictions and writing opinions/thoughts about our new read aloud. So far we have learned that the main character Julie lives a very privileged life in Austria in the mid 1930’s. Based on what the students have written so far they don’t think too kindly of her and her fancy life. It will be interesting to see how their opinions change as Julie’s life changes when the Nazi’s invade Austria.

Important Dates:

October 16          Early release day, 11:20
             17          DC parent info meeting in the library 5:45

   

WEEKLY UPDATE AUG 26-30

This week in math:

We will continue our work with place value. We have reviewed rounding decimals and estimating with addition and subtraction and next will move on to multiplication. We have spent much time focusing what a number in either hundredths or thousandths place represents and creating a deeper understanding of what it means to be less than one but greater than zero.

This week In Reading:
Now that I have completed beginning of the year reading assessments for most students we will get into a somewhat normal routine of me having one on one reading conferences with students about their independent books. One of the main things I will work on is what they can tell me about the story that goes beyond a simple summary. We have talked a lot in our mini lessons about thinking deeply about characters, events, setting, etc and I am hoping to see that transfer into their work in their independent books.

This week in Writing:

Last week with Mr. Shabazz was so much fun! If your child hasn’t shared any of their poetry with you, take a peek into their Writer’s Notebook! You will love the creativity and imagination they used! This week we will pick up where we left off in the stories they had begun writing based on an idea generated after reading Wonder.

This week in SS:

We will finish our unit about Colonial America. We are almost finished with our class read aloud book Standing in the Light by Mary Pope Osborne. I have been really excited to see some of that deeper thinking we’ve been working on in reading transfer to their thinking about this book. Especially how they are seeing Native Americans through the main characters eyes and how her hatred has changed to respect, admiration, and connection.

*Read-a-thon News*

Pledge envelopes were returned today and pledges are due next Friday, September 6^th. If your child’s total minutes read were not listed, please turn in their signed tally sheet ASAP. We are hoping to meet a class goal of 14,000 minutes read and we want to make sure everyone’s efforts are counted.

 DC TRIP UPDATE

Please send in your child’s deposit of $25. Please check with me if you are unsure if you have paid yet. The total cost is $99 per student and $126 for adults. You may begin sending payments in at anytime. I will send out a payment schedule soon, but if smaller weekly payments is easier for your family I am happy to take $10/ week, etc.

~Scholastic Book Orders~

Last week your child received our first Scholastic Book Order for the year. These book orders are a wonderful, easy, and CHEAP way to build your home library (and find birthday and Christmas gifts J). Each month there are a few $1 books and lots of book sets that average out to $2-3 per book. Our class also earns bonus points that I can use to purchase books for the class. We are so excited that the September catalog has our beloved read aloud, Wonder . I am so glad I have some leftover bonus points to order several copies for our class library! If you are interested in ordering online you can go to www.scholastic.com/readingclub and order from the September “arrow” flyer. Our class code is MBKLF.

**please complete and return the report card conference sheet so that we can meet to discuss your child’s progress this 9 weeks and goals for the next quarter.**

           

Important Dates:

Sept    2    Labor Day- no school
         13    end of 1^st 9 weeks

Oct      7     1st day 2^nd 9 weeks

           16   early release, 11:20

           17   DC parent meeting, 5:45 pm

Science Fun for Everyone!

Today we had our in-school field trip with Science Fun for Everyone. Students rotated through 3 different stations titled, "DNA Detectives", "Storm Chasers" and "Newton's Lab".

 In "DNA Detectives our students really impressed the scientist with their prior knowledge from our mini unit on genetics at the beginning of the year. They learned about the make up of DNA and were able to extract DNA from blueberries.

 

Next, at "Storm Chasers" students learned about all the different components that make up weather. The session started with every student that wanted to getting a turn to touch the lightening maker. Later, they observed how clouds form in low pressure and disappear in high pressure.

In our last session, "Newton's Lab"  students got a preview of our upcoming science unit about force and motion. I was so amazed at their enthusiasm! They literally raced back from lunch and into Mr. Zatt's room! I was also really proud of the amount of prior knowledge they shared about Newton's laws. In this session they worked in pairs to catapult objects of varying masses into a basket and make conjectures about which objects would go the furthest based on their mass.

 

And at the very end they enjoyed launching water rockets! 

Weekly Update Aug 19-23

This week in math:

We will continue our work with place value. This week we will start working with decimals extending to the thousandths place. We will be comparing, ordering, rounding just as we did with whole numbers. You will notice a little difference in the homework, most nights it will be in the “Homework and Remembering” book.

This week In Reading:
Read, read, read! We are working to build up as many minutes for the Read-a-thon as we can. Because of our visiting artist our reading time is broken up throughout the day, all students will have independent reading time in the afternoon.

This week in Writing:

We are very fortunate to have visiting artist-in-residence Phillip Shabazz visiting 5^th grade this week.  Many thanks to the PTA for funding a cultural arts activity for each grade! Mr Shabaaz is working with each class for an hour each day to work on poetry. He does an amazing job of encouraging the students to be creative and showing them that they are poets!

This week in SS:

We will continue talking about Colonial America. Our next class read aloud book is the Dear America book, Standing in the Light by Mary Pope Osborne. We will use this book to compare and contrast the daily life of a 10 year old girl in Pennsylvania in 1763 to our lives today.

*Read-a-thon News*

Please turn in your pledge envelopes if you haven’t already. Make sure to record your child’s MINUTES read each night and return the reading log to their binder. This year all grades are recording minutes read, and both home and in-school minutes will be recorded on the same form.

**SCIENCE DAY**

On Monday August 26 we will have our first in-school science field trip through SCIENCE FUN FOR EVERYONE. The students will rotate through 3 different sessions. The cost for this is $21.00., please send in money by 8/26. We will host 3 scientists and each class will rotate through stations that will enhance and preview the 5^th grade science standards.

 ~DC TRIP UPDATE~

Please send in your child’s deposit of $25. Please check with me if you are unsure if you have paid yet. We hope to have a finalized price in the next few weeks, but the estimated cost per is $120.

Scholastic Book Orders

Last week your child received our first Scholastic Book Order for the year. These book orders are a wonderful, easy, and CHEAP way to build your home library (and find birthday and Christmas gifts J). Each month there are a few $1 books and lots of book sets that average out to $2-3 per book. Our class also earns bonus points that I can use to purchase books for the class. We are so excited that the September catalog has our beloved read aloud, Wonder . I am so glad I have some leftover bonus points to order several copies for our class library! If you are interested in ordering online you can go to www.scholastic.com/readingclub and order from the September “arrow” flyer. Our class code is MBKLF.

**Be on the lookout for report card conference sign up sheets to come home early next week.**

           

Important Dates:

Aug  21     early release, 11:20

        26    Science Fun day ($21)

Sept  2      Labor Day- no school
         13    end of 1^st 9 weeks

A Peek Into Our Week...

This was our full first week having Word Study for this year. Teachers often hear, “My child is a terrible spelling, when do you work on that?” During Word Study we work on several different types of word work, how to spell words correctly, how to correctly use them in your writing and how to read them in a text. At the beginning of the year each child was given a spelling inventory, by looking at their mistakes and patterns of misspellings I am able to identify where they are developmentally as a speller. Using the program, “Words Their Way” students work on a list of words each week that specifically targets an area they have demonstrated a need for growth in. Throughout  the week students have different  assignments with words. Through these multiple and varied exposures they gain experience spelling the words correctly and using them in meaningful sentences. See our weekly schedule below:

Monday- cut apart words and sort them based on their pattern (ie- prefixes, vowel sounds, endings, etc)

Tuesday- sort words by their part of speech (as of right now our only categories for this are noun, verb, adjective, and ‘other’)

Wednesday- write meaningful sentences that show your understanding of the kind of word it is and it’s definition

Thursday- tactile centers- more about this below :)

Friday- Buddy tests

This week was the first time we have used our Word Study centers. In each of them students have some type of object to use to ‘make’ their words. So far I have introduced 4 different ones. As the year progresses I will add new ones to keep them interested. This week your child made their words out of clay, pipe cleaners, magnetic letters, or square letter tiles. Several years ago I attended a wonderful workshop at the Hill Center in Durham about Spelling and Handwriting and their multiple layers of importance. The most important thing I learned that day was that offering ALL students varied experiences with correctly spelling developmentally appropriate leads to much more transfer to unknown words. Here are some of our classmates “making” words.

Weekly Update August 12-16

This week in math:

We will continue our work with place value. We will start the week with ordering, then move to rounding, then hopefully start working on addition and subtraction by the end of this week. With each objective we will look at related math vocabulary in word problems (for example: if a word problem asks you to order items from least expensive to cheapest, that means the same as greatest to least). We will continue to revisit exponents since they are a new concept for 5^th graders.

This week In Reading:

Our reader’s statements for the week will be focused on habits/instincts that readers use to keep themselves engaged and actively thinking while reading. We will start the week talking about how to “read yourself awake” when bored with a book, and how to catch yourself when you are “reading on autopilot”.

This week in Writing:

Students will begin planning and drafting the piece they chose last week. They will start by meeting with me to decide which genre of writing best fits their chosen topic. I will create small groups of students based on genre and work with them on the elements of that kind of writing.

We will continue with word study this week. Our weekly schedule is:

Mon- sort words based on pattern or sound

Tues- sort words by part of speech

Wed- write a sentence correctly using each word

Thurs- “making words” stations (using pipe cleansers, clay, magnetic letters, etc to form words)

Fri- tests *these will be graded and in their binders for you to see*

This week in SS:

We will continue talking about Colonial America. We will focus on the theme of freedom. We will evaluate who/what groups have freedom and which ones don’t. We will also begin talking about relations between colonists and Native Americans.

*Read-a-thon News*

We are currently in the pledge gathering part of the Read-a-thon. One new activity this year is the book swap scheduled for next Monday. This is a great way to clean out some space in your house and get a few ‘new-to-you’ books. You may begin sending in books any day this week. We will swap them on Monday 8/19.

**SCIENCE DAY**

On Monday August 26 we will have our first in-school science field trip through SCIENCE FUN FOR EVERYONE. The students will rotate through 3 different sessions. The cost for this is $21.00., please send in money by 8/26.

           

Important Dates:

Aug  15     1^st PTA meeting, 6:30
         16     Interim Reports go home
        21     early release, 11:20

        26    Science Fun day ($21)

Sept  2      Labor Day- no school
         13    end of 1^st 9 weeks

A Peek Into Our Week...

This year the 5th grade teachers decided to approach writing in a different way. Students are working together to brainstorm writing topics based around a central theme or idea and we are guiding them in choosing the appropriate writing genre to showcase their interest. This week we collected possible writing topics centered around our read aloud, Wonder by R.J. Palacio. (Hopefully you have heard a lot about this book! If not, ask your child about it. Reading this book together has been a wonderful class bonding experience and a GREAT way to start the year!) We categorized their ideas and students choose several that they found interesting to do quick writes about.

Having explored the ideas they were interested in, students were then able to narrow their interest and choose one topic they would like to expand into a story using planning, editing, revising, and drafting. So far, students have listed the ideas they have for a story and discussed them with a partner to get suggestions and feedback. Next week, they will conference with me individually and we will determine if their piece of writing should be fiction or nonfiction, and then which kind. Some students were interested in finding out more about the main character Auggie’s medical issues (craniofacial anomalies) while others choose imaginative topics like how the story would be different if characters switched roles.

Because they have had so much freedom (topic generation, genre, etc), I have not seen students hesitate to write or share their ideas. The only problem is that some of them have so many good ideas they can’t choose just one- a good problem to have!

Our Week at a Glance

Weekly Update Aug 5-9

This week in math:

We will continue our work with place value. One of the new math objectives in 5th grade is exponents (for example: 10³  =10x10x10 = 1000). We will spend a little more time on expanded form to prepare to start working with exponents on Tuesday or Wednesday.

This week In Reading:

Our reader’s statements for the week will all revolve around active thinking while reading. We will look at what authors do that make us stop and wonder about their purpose, predict what is about to change, or how a character is going to react to a problem in the text.

This week in Writing:

Students will narrow their topic choices from the list we generated as a class related to our read aloud, Wonder. Once they have chosen the one they are most interested in they will work in pairs of students with the same interest and generate questions they want to answer, ideas on the topic, etc.

We will also begin word study this week. Each day they will complete a different task with their word list. Their words are tailored to their needs based on a spelling inventory that showed what sounds and spelling patterns they have mastered and where they need more work. They will have test on Friday of each week. It is my goal to have these graded and in their binders when they leave on Friday afternoon for you to see.

This week in SS:

We are now studying Colonial America. On Friday we watched a fast-pace, kid friendly video called, “Crash Course in American History” to get an overview of colonial life and activate their prior knowledge. We will look at the colonies in regions and identify why they were founded, who they were founded by and what kept their economies going.

**SCIENCE DAY**

On Monday August 26 we will have our first in-school science field trip through SCIENCE FUN FOR EVERYONE. The students will rotate through 3 different sessions. The cost for this is $21.00., please send in money by 8/26.

           

Thank you,

Casey Nunnery      
casey.nunnery@orange.k12.nc.us                  
919.732.6137 X43502

Important Dates:

Aug  15     1^st PTA meeting, 6:30
        21     early release, 11:20

        26    Science Fun day ($21)

Sept  2      Labor Day- no school
         13    end of 1^st 9 weeks

Reading LONGER and STRONGER

This week our focus in reading was about how to read LONGER and STRONGER to become better readers. First, we discussed what reading ‘long” means for 5th graders. The kids generated a list of ideas like: reading “extra”, or above and beyond their 20 required nightly minutes or on the weekend. Others thought of giving a book a longer chance if it doesn't seem interesting or exciting at first. I asked them to think about how to go about reading longer. The next day they composed a list of strategies and ways to implement them into their reading life. Many students shared that they have a special, out-of-the-way place to read such as a closet or ‘cave’ they make in their rooms. Almost all students agreed that they wanted to push themselves using self talk to keep going, telling themselves to read for 5 more minutes or 1 more chapter.

On Thursday we discussed what it meant to read “strong”. We agreed that to be able to read strong you must be reading a ‘just right’ book, but that it was okay to SOMETIMES challenge yourself with a difficult book or SOMETIMES give yourself a break with an easy book. We decided that all of those specific components of reading (previewing, predicting, inferring, making a mind movie, making connections, etc) and doing them well are what make us strong readers. Next, we narrowed our strategies down to:

- focusing on the book and ignoring distractions

- stopping to check for understanding

-sticky noting to track your thinking

-keeping up a good pace to avoid missing details or growing bored

Keep an eye out for a sticky note on your child’s independent book next week to see what 2 goals they've chosen as their personal focus for reading long and strong.

2013 Welcome Letter

Weekly Update July 15-19

Welcome to 5th grade, we had a great first day! I hope you hear lots of good things tonight! Thank you for all of the supplies. We are going to work very hard to be efficient with our resources this year so hopefully we have enough to last all year!

I have traditionally sent home a paper weekly update each Monday. This year I am going to send it out as an email. If you prefer a paper copy please let me know. Each week your child will have an assignment sheet in the front of their binder. On this sheet they will record their homework assignments and I will list important dates and reminders. Please initial this sheet each night after checking that they completed their homework. I will talk more about homework in detail at parent info night next week.

Today they have just a little bit of homework; I am going to gradually ease them into our normal routine. J In class we spent most of our time working on our classroom community and getting to know each other. I have also explained to them many of my expectations, the most important of which is, “I expect nothing less than your personal best.” We talked about what this means for different parts of our day, different places in the school, and how it applies to academics and behavior. We will spend lots more time this week going more in depth with creating our classroom rules, identifying consequences, etc.

REMINDERS:

-Please complete and return the packet of forms from the first day. It is especially important that we get the emergency card ASAP and that it include the names and contact info of people, in addition to parents that we can reach in case of an emergency. Additional emergency contacts are especially important this year because we will travel to Washington DC for an overnight trip. Let me know if you need an extra copy of any of the forms.

Please feel free to contact me at anytime if you have questions or concerns for your child. Usually email is the fastest way to reach me. If you have an urgent message, such as a transportation change please call the office to ensure that I get the message before the bell rings. It is my goal to work with each of you to ensure that your child enjoys school and works hard to do their best this year…and has a little fun along the way J!

Thank you,

Casey Nunnery
casey.nunnery@orange.k12.nc.us
919.732.6137 X43502