April News & Boston Chaperones

Happy spring and happy Friday!

Hey there Teton and Olympic parents! We have had a busy couple of months, and made some incredible academic progress. We have some academic updates, a couple of exciting announcements, and a great opportunity for you to volunteer.

Academic Updates

Mr. Wheeler

We’ve worked on fractions and decimals in math, and we’ve started practicing with coordinate grids. Student’s have really enjoyed creating images and interpreting data with coordinates. We’re most of the way through the units, and students have worked so hard to speed up transitions to make class time more efficient.

We also started science. Students have designed experiments, played with magnets, and have begun conversations about the power of electricity. Ask students which properties of magnets they have observed in our experiments!

Mrs. Conley

The students have worked very hard on their great American projects. We are excited to share them with you on Tuesday, April 11 from 9:15 -10:00. Be sure to take a look at the portraits that the students drew. They are displayed on their lockers!

We finished our read aloud Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk. Our current read aloud is Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen. Please ask your child about these fabulous books.

On Thursday, April 13 we will be visiting Bay Square. the bus will take us there after lunch recess and we will be walking back to school at 2:30. We made Kindness Rocks to place around Bay Square. We are bringing our Senior Citizen friends cards with spring Haiku poems in them.

Volunteering Opportunity

Parents! Our Boston Field Trip is June 5th, and we need chaperones. We encourage all interested parties to fill out the linked Google Form by the middle of next week (4/12). If the number of volunteers exceeds our number of available chaperone positions, we will pick names from a hat! 

Now it’s announcement time from Mr. Wheeler!

As much as I have enjoyed my time on the fifth-grade team, and my time teaching math and science, I am excited to announce that I am accepting a position teaching Language Arts and Social Studies at Harrison Middle School, starting next year. I am overjoyed to work with this fifth-grade class through their transition to middle school, and to keep growing the connections I have made.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Zac and Kelly

January 2023

Hi Parents, 

We had green grass during our break in December and now... here comes the snow.  Tomorrow the students will be participating in the glow run at Harrison Middle School. Please wear the same attire as you would for gym class. The students need to wear boots to walk to HMS and carry their sneakers.This Friday we are planning on visiting the residents at Bay Square. We plan to leave right after lunch/recess at 1:55. We will be walking back to school at 2:30 on the Elizabeth Condon trail. 

As a part of the Glow Run fundraiser, Molly had enough sales to silly string Mr. Wheeler! They had SNOW MUCH FUN!

It is an awesome time to be a fifth-grader, and we still have so much time together!

The Olympics

social studies colonies

Our idiom of the week - Don't open a can of worms.

Our vocabulary word of the week - motive

Class read aloud Rules by Cynthia Lord

In language arts we are working on letter writing and persuasive essays. In our letter writing unit, the students are writing letters to a person of their choice. You can click on this link to the choice board. We are addressing envelops and sending the letters from school. Thank you for helping your child with this by providing the address to the person(s) to whom they are writing. 

Students wrote a practice essay about chocolate milk being allowed in schools. We read three articles about the many health benefits chocolate milk has, and we also read about the amount of sugar the milk contains. Students have formed their own opinions and are writing their own persuasive essays about their thoughts on whether or not chocolate milk should be or should not be in schools. The students will be selecting their own topics and writing persuasive essays. We have been working on strong leads, using specific transition words, and how to include specific supporting detail in our body paragraphs.

On Fridays we continue our work with poetry. Recently, we have written two different styles of poems; both used color as the subject. 

color poetry

  

winter idioms

Reading nightly continues to be an expectation for the students. Our class read aloud, Rules, explores what it is like living with someone who sees the world so differently than we do. Students are completing an assignment about their own called 5 Looks on a Book.

Winter is finally upon us. I hope you’ve had a chance to get out and enjoy the weather and that your fifth-grader has too. It’s been a while since we last blogged and we have been able to accomplish so much. In math we diligently worked our way through unit two, multiplied and divided with the best of them, and had a great chance to show what we knew with the unit assessment. Students rocked this unit, and carried great momentum into unit three. Unit three focuses on fractions, and the unit three parent letter will be sent home this week. It outlines a bit more specifically what the unit focuses on, and also what you can do at home to support your learner. 

In Social Studies students have established colonies, worked together to come up with ground rules, drawn flags, cooperatively built shelters, and some have even planted seeds. We have also had difficult conversations regarding some of the consequences of colonization, especially in early America. Over the next few weeks we will dive into the early days of the 13 Colonies, and the pre-revolutionary history of America! 

Field trip and photos

 Hi Parents,

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have a few updates and a bunch of photos to share with you before our Thanksgiving break.

For an upcoming reading project, students have been asked to bring in a 4 by 6 photo by 11/22.

The students had a wonderful time at the Osher Map Museum. They made a 20 sided globe and enjoyed viewing unique and old maps.

Here are a few photos from our visit with our 2nd grade buddies, a few from our visit to Bay Square, and a couple from our visit with Chef Zoe.

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We have started our new read aloud, A Night Divided. With the sudden rise of the Berlin Wall, twelve-year-old Gerta finds her family divided overnight. She, her mother, and her brother, Fritz, live on the eastern side, controlled by the Soviets. Her father and middle brother, whom had gone west in search of work, are unable to return home. 

Our reading mini lessons include learning about the traits of a protagonist and antagonist. 

In writing we are working on personal narratives. The students have practiced writing a bunch of short prompts and the students are now writing about about a true moment in their lives. 

In math students are applying the standard algorithm to real world problems, as well as working hard with unit conversion word problems. Students are showing determination, and are gaining reasoning skills. Keep working hard with students at home and we will keep making gains here. 

Students have created incredible maps in social studies, and we are concluding our exploration unit next week. Students have learned about the reason exploration began during this era, some of the major exploring nations and explorers, and many of the consequences of exploration, especially as they concern Native Peoples. Students should be proud of their thinking and meaning-making, and I am so excited to keep our curriculum moving.

Friday, October 21, 2022 (Updated)

Happy Friday,

Last Friday our field trip to Bay Square had to be called off due to a COVID outbreak  As soon as everyone is well and out of quarantine, we will reschedule.

Important Updates:

Parent Teacher Conference Link and Code

Use this link to access Conley/Wheeler parent teacher conference scheduling.
 www.ptcfast.com/parentlogin.php, 

The code for this conference (Wheeler/Conley Fall 2022) is:
 1GR1429284

Class Visit 11/4

On Friday, November 4. Mrs. Conley's friend, Zoe Borenstein, will be coming in to share the many incredibly fun aspects of her career as a personal chef. She will explain how reading and math are used in her job each day.  Zoe will talk about specific recipes and share some stories of how she uses her math skills while she is cooking for private dinner parties. Zoe will be bringing in her organic granola bar for the students. Everyone will receive a small piece. I have already sent emails to parents of those with dietary concerns. Here is the recipe. Please contact me immediately if it is not okay for your child to have a piece of this. Mr. Wheeler and Mrs. Conley's homerooms are NOT nut free.

Organic granola bars ingredient list:

1 cup nut butter

¼ cup honey

1 cup rolled oats

½ cup mixed nuts/seeds/dried fruit

1 tsp salt

Pumpkin Decorating

Our homeroom classes are both decorating pumpkins to look like one of the characters in our class read aloud. They will be displayed in the hallway for the whole school to enjoy.

If you are able to contribute material; that would be great!

The main characters have pet praying mantises, a pet hedgehog, a chameleon, a snake, and a cricket.... The characters make root beer floats. Any material to help us make these items would be helpful.

October 31st Update

On October 31 students are allowed to wear pajamas to school. 

Reading and Writing Update:

6 word memoirs

Idiom Game Cards

This card game helps us review common idioms. Students each have a card, and Mrs. Conley begins the game by reading the first clue. Someone in the class has the answer to the clue and then has their own "Who" question for another student. The classes time themselves to see how quickly they can get through 30 cards. 

We have a second card game that reviews: alliteration, onomatopoeia, similes, and metaphors. It is played in the same manner that the idiom game is played. 

In language arts class we are learning about generating story ideas for personal narratives.  We have written about people that matter to us, places we enjoy, and the first times and last times we did something important.

We are working on grammar and punctuation daily!

In reading we shared Patricia Polacco's An A for Miss Keller.  In the story Patricia learns how to write a personal narrative about someone who means a lot to her.

We also enjoyed  The Stranger by Chris van Allsburg. The story gives hints about who this stranger is... and it is Jack Frost.

We are taking notes and learning about characteristic traits and making inferences. While we are reading our own books; we are on the look out for similes, metaphors, and hyperboles! 

Here are some conversation starters:

Animal House and Iz

They're going bananas.

hyperbole ( "I could eat a thousand of these.")

Math and Science Update

In math Mr. Wheeler has noticed remarkable progress in work ethic, stamina, and quality of work. Students are playing a variety of math games, on and off of their IPads, have become masters of multiplication, and can calculate area, perimeter and volume with the best of them! Next week we will have our Unit One Knowledge Check, and students should be proud to show off all that they have learned. 

In Social Studies students are engaged in a parallel course of study, leading to the European discovery of the Americas. One of these courses of study is a small group research project centered on groups of native people, thriving in North America before European Explorers made their way to the continent. The other is engaging with historical technologies and discoveries that made the age of exploration possible. Students had some very lively conversations regarding the most significant technological upgrades of the era, and some very interesting viewpoints were shared. 

Things are moving at a blistering pace, and everyone is looking forward to an awesome fall!

Friday, September 23, 2022

Hi Parents,  

It was so wonderful seeing you so many of you at Open House last night. We have attached our slide show with links to the curriculum for you to view.

A reminder that pictures are this Wednesday.

A quick note about the orange folders. In year's past, parents helped organize and clean them out. We ask that you let your son and daughter be in charge of this. Fifth graders are learning organizational skills. We will help them in school.  We have had a few math and language arts homework assignments get recycled by accident. However, f a Tang packet had been corrected, you may take it out. Newsletters from the school are to be taken out as well.

Thank you for your help with this.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Kelly & Zac

Open House slideshow

September 12, 2022

 Happy Monday!

We have had a wonderful first few days with your children. We have quickly established routines and we are excited to begin our lessons. We've attached a few pictures at the bottom. Enjoy them.

Here are some conversation starters for you. 

Conversation starters-

Be A Perfect Perfect Person In Just Three Days

colossal

bizarre

It's raining cats and dogs.

Tic-Tac-Toe game

Reading

Students have been assigned books to read. During study hall we read for the first 15 minutes. During reading class we have time to silent read as well. Reading nightly at home ( 8-12 pages) usually takes about twenty minutes. There will be evenings that are busier than others. When this happens, if you could keep the book 'alive' by reading aloud for a quick five minutes or talking to you child about their book it will help keep the story moving forward.

We have set up Reader's Notebooks, shared out first Friday poem, and we have listened to the first chapter of Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days.

Language Arts

We have set up our Daily Oral Language and writing notebooks. Students have been introduced to onomatopoeia and we have practiced using sound in our prompts. 

Daily Oral language is where it all happens - grammar and punctuation mini lessons. Students will begin writing out the date and then work on two sentences to correct. We practiced aligning our writing on the margins, writing on the lines, etc. The sentences we correct are about people, places, and events. 

Mr. Wheeler’s classes have also gotten off to a hot start this year. Students spent a ton of time on the first

couple of days getting to know each other through Morning Meeting and activities like Personality Bingo!

Students also spent a lot of time modeling and generating the  expectations which will enable us all to

inhabit a safe, fun, and productive learning environment.  That environment will enable every student to

accomplish incredible things this year!

Over the last couple of days students have also been able to dig into some of the year’s first math content.

They have been introduced to a couple of TANG puzzles, a math game called skyscrapers, and a

challenge puzzle called Ken-Kens! Math is a subject that everyone is capable of excelling in and that

starts with finding joy in playing with numbers.

.

Friday, January 15, 2021

 Happy New Year,

We have started a homework club on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:15-2:45. This is a time for kids to catch up and do the work they were unable to do at home.  As  a team we will be working together with these students.  If your child needs to stay, they will call or email by lunchtime.  Students can be picked up after homework club or they can stay with Mr. Heckler in the cafeteria until 4:00 when they can catch the late bus.

Conversation Starters:

Who is the protagonist, antagonist in a story or movie?  Can you give examples of a protagonist and an antagonist from a movie, book, or TV show?

What was the mystery of Roanoke?

What was the legend of Virginia Dare?

Why did people come to the new world from England to settle?

What effect did the arrival of Europeans have on the Native people? Can you give examples?What was one moment in the False Prince this week that really stuck out to you?

motive means

my vocabulary page is 

I put my foot in my mouth.

My figuratively speaking poster... 

GOT FORCE DRIVE -Our weekly assignments are updated on our  GOT Force drive. 

FUNDRAISER - The children watched the video about the Move-a-thon fundraiser. Thank you for your support this. Please check your emails about this from Ms. Adler.

Math

Content: We are finishing up the division unit and moving into fractions.

Division is challenging for lots of kids we will revisit often during the year.

Skills : 

Division with double digit divisors

Interpreting remainders

Adding and subtracting fractions

Challenge Choice- Kids can choose between the regular Tang math packet and the challenge packet. We try to get kids thinking about math for twenty minutes a day beyond our Everyday Math lessons. We have added a skills packet this week. Kids can chip away on that during the week.

Mrs Found

Reading Content: We learned about protagonists and antagonists in stories, movies, or shows.  We brainstormed examples.  We continued reading aloud The False Prince.  It’s getting pretty intense!

Social Studies Content:  We learned about the Mystery of Roanoke.  This was a small island off the coast of Virginia (now part of North Carolina). After completing a Pear Deck we discussed our answers.  We also discussed what we thought really happened at Roanoke. How could the colony just vanish?

Language Arts content-

In class this week the students were able to do a gallery walk and view their classmate's figuratively speaking posters.  They shared many compliments with each other. The posters are laminated and were sent home with their grades. They will be fun to display.  

The students used descriptive adjectives to describe their topics in their Cinquain poems.  We worked on our first vocabulary pages.  A few of the new/interesting words that students selected from their novels were: fluorescent, volatile, exorbitant, rambling, and gnarled. Next week we will brainstorm topics and begin writing persuasive essays.