Ack News 1/16

ACK NEWS
 Week of January 16

HOMEWORK

Monday-Thursday  -Math sheet -Reading Response -Read 20 minutes -Words Their Way Monday--word sort.  Have your child sort their words and teach someone at home their pattern Tuesday--speed sort.  Time your child and see how fast they can correctly sort their words. See if they can beat their time. Wednesday--blind sort. Give your child their headings and read the words aloud individually so your child cannot see the word. They must tell you the appropriate heading it goes under. Thursday-- choice!  I have sent home a packet of all the homework guidelines. On the last page, there is a list of different choice options for a Thursday activity. FRIDAY THIS HOMEWORK IS DUE.  Someone at home must sign off on the homework sheet that your child completed an activity each night.

WHAT WE ARE LEARNING

MATH

Math was all about converting! They worked hard on this and we had some extra practice of converting feet to inches with our guest teacher Mike Anderson.  I worked with small groups on word problems due to the difficulty of these multi-step problems.  I will do an exit slip on this and word problems by Wednesday and complete some intervention in smaller groups if needed.   So many students are working on division and making some great gains in learning their table!  Please take time to practice with your child every night and it can be as easy as tell me what is 4x9... Students should be on lesson 15 in zearn.  iReady Math will be next week: 1/24, 1/25, 1/26

READING, WRITING, and WORDS THEIR WAY

READING: Last week, the kids worked SO HARD on their reading i-Ready test...to the point where they are still going!  I have a small handful who have finished and the gains are more than I could have hoped for!  We will still need to allocate some time this week to finish up testing for those who have not completed the test yet.  As soon as we finish up, I am happy to share the results with you. This week in reading, we will also continue to work on inferencing.  We will be taking a look at different passages and by using context clues and background knowledge, the kids will be working to make inferences with supported reasoning. Finally, I will be starting our second round of guided reading assessments, as this takes awhile to get through each child.  Back in September, your child was assessed and given a guided reading level on a scale of A-Z based on their fluency, retell, vocabulary, and comprehension.  The range in which we hope our fifth graders to be reading in is T, U, V.  This week, I will start our second round of assessment to determine your child's new reading level.  This will determine what books they can be choosing to read independently, as well as, their placement for guided reading groups this trimester. WRITING: Moving into argument writing, this week, we will be focusing on the idea that opinions should be based on evidence and not initial gut reactions.  We will also be discussing that when composing an argument, writers need to collect evidence in order to think through the various sides of the argument.  Much of the strategies in this unit will be modeled and taught through composing a piece debating whether chocolate milk should or should not be served in schools. WORDS THEIR WAY:Last week, your child was reassessed on their phonics and either put into a new group based on a major jump in their progress, or kept in the same group to keep moving forward with their patterns.  This week, we will resume business as usual-- they will receive their sort on Tuesday and homework will be due back on Friday.  Please make sure your child is completing at least one activity at home each night!!  It helps to reinforce their word pattern and give them additional practice.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Last week, we completed preliminary rounds for the National Geographic Geography Bee.  Congrats to all of our students who gave their best effort in competing!  This Wednesday morning, our class winners will be competing in our school bee to determine our school champion.  The school winner will meet with me by the end of January and take an online test through National Geographic to see if they qualify to move on to the state bee at Keene State College. In class, we will be continuing with our civics/government unit and taking a look at what rights all people should have, as well as, talking about the Declaration of Independence.

SCIENCE

This week, students will solve the Mystery, “How could you save a town from a hurricane?” They will collaborate in groups to figure out how to prevent their town from flooding, while also staying within the town’s budget.  You can encourage your child’s curiosity this week at home! Watch this quick 1-minute video together about how hurricanes get their names: http://safeYouTube.net/w/ouTb. It’s also a great time discuss any hurricanes that may have happened recently.

REMINDERS

Geography Bee is Wednesday! Our winners are: Daniel, Hunter, Natalie, and Cecilia Our Nashua Sings representatives: Mariah, Meredith and Micayala