Week of September 23, 2019

Hello Families, I hope you all had a great weekend and enjoyed the beautiful weather! I want to thank you all for coming to our Open House last Tuesday. It was so nice meeting you all. The students were really looking forward to showing you around and displaying all the hard work they have been doing for the first month of 5th grade!

Last week in reading we completed our first full Reader's Workshop. We read the story Strega Nona, and discussed situations of cause/effect in the story. Students then went back to their seats with their independent reading book and found cause/effect examples in their own book. I met with groups and we discussed which strategies we used to find cause/effect (was it inferred or explicitly stated in the text?).

We will be having our first science quiz tomorrow, the 1st! Students have their study guides to use for studying and their own flashcards that we made during class time. I also gave students a link to my Quizlet account where they can use the flashcards I have created. The URL for my account is www.quizlet.com/kgallagher650. You do not need an account to access mine. Just internet!

In writing we have been continuing to work on narrative writing and last week we learned how to organize our ideas. We learned how to timeline our stories and then transfer that to writing. This week we will be coming out of our writer's notebook and choosing one story we want to publish!

Students running for student council will deliver their speeches today and we will vote. I will announce our winners at the end of the day! I hope you all have a wonderful week and please reach out if you have any questions!

September 22, 2019

The past two weeks have been very, very busy! Students have been working so hard to complete work that will be displayed during Open House. Students have created an All About Me poster, All About Me Google Draw which will be displayed in a slideshow during Open House, and a QR code which will direct you to a recording of students sharing an All About Me poem! Open House is THIS Tuesday, September 24th from 6:00 - 7:30. Students are very excited to share their classrooms with their families!

In science, we began talking about the difference between living and nonliving and how we determine if something is living. Ask your child about MS GREN! We then moved on to discuss the characteristics of living organisms and the cell organization in which an organism is made up of. We will most likely be having our first science quiz at the end of this week, if not early next week!

In reading, we have been talking about our expectations for Reader's Workshop and practiced the different parts of Reader's Workshop. Students learned about a mini lesson, independent reading, Freckle, and what we do in a small group with the teacher. Tomorrow we will focus on partner discussions and what it looks like to have a meaningful "turn and talk" with our reading partner. I am still learning about who we are as readers and I have had some great discussions with students about our independent reading books!

On Friday, students were introduced to the fifth grade student council! For those that are interested in running, they brought home a large piece of paper and this will be used to create their poster. Students must put their names on it, some ideas that they will bring to student council and maybe even a slogan! These posters will be hung up in our homeroom starting on Wednesday. Students are asked to write a short (30 seconds to 1 minute) speech which will be presented to their homeroom. Speeches are due next Friday the 27th for teacher review. Speeches will be given on Monday September 30th and students will vote right after the speeches are given. I encourage all to run!

Please reach out if you have any questions! Have a wonderful Sunday and GO PATS!!

First (almost) Full Week Back!

This past week was spent getting to know one another, diving into our curriculum, and learning new things! All students have worked extremely hard this week and I am proud of all their efforts! We have been working so hard on our All About Me Gazette posters which will be displayed in our classroom for Open House! Please make sure you mark it in your calendars for Tuesday, September 24th.

In writing we started our first writing unit, personal narratives. We started off by learning that good writers use a variety of strategies to come up with ideas to write about. We began by writing in our writer's notebook about a turning point in our life. We then moved on to a special person where students made notes about moments in their life with this special person. On Friday, we thought about a special place that mattered most to us and wrote down moments that happened in this special place. Students then went back to their seats and did a "quick write" where they chose a memory from their special place and wrote a story about it. I was so impressed with everyone's stories! I can already tell we are all great writers!

In reading we began our first story, Red Kayak. In this unit students are thinking about ways people act courageous and brave and what inspires people to do so. We shared ways that we have acted brave or courageous and what inspired us to act this way.

On Wednesday we switched classes for math and met our math teacher! Students were very excited to have the opportunity to go to another classroom!

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend and GO PATS !!

Some photos from Week 2!