First Week Finished....On to Week #2!

       What an amazing first week! The past few days have shown me that I definitely made the right decision moving up to fifth grade.

        The first week usually consists of getting to know each other and going over the rules and policies for the classroom and school. It is imperative the fifth graders know and carry out these rules because they are the top dogs of the elementary wing now the sixth graders have moved over to the high school side. I have seen great things so far from the students in all three classrooms.

        I have also learned so many interesting facts about everyone! Hopefully I learn even more over the next few weeks.

        Below is the Donation Door I put up right before the first day of school. I have already received a few items from parents, and let me take a minute to thank everyone for the support I have already seen. It's only the first week, but I was amazed at the offers of help from the parents and students! This is something new I had not encountered in my teaching career before now, and I am humbled by all of you. Thank you so much!

Here is the whole door picture. Below are some zoomed in photos so you can better read the words.

        This week we will continue with a few more get-to-know-you activities and going over rules and policies. Below I have listed the content we will be covering this week as well:

ELA - Last week we learned how to do reading logs, practiced SSR (Sustained Silent Reading), and wrote Bio Poems. They did an excellent job with the poems, and I learned a lot of new things about them! We will be presenting these on Monday with a possible surprise guest we wrote a poem about together. I have told the students they are expected to have a book by Monday and everyday afterwards. I have my personal library in the room and we will be going down to the Media Center/Library on Wednesdays so there are always books available.

     This week we will continue practicing some of the skills I would like them to focus on as we begin our regular classroom routine. This includes proper grammar (capitalization, punctuation, indenting paragraphs, no fragment sentences, etc.), correct spelling, and clear, concise writing. The latter we discussed in detail about what I mean by 'clear' and 'concise' - the writing needs to be neat so I can read it, and organized so I can understand what they are trying to tell me. I would also like to begin reading our first classroom book together (to be determined by a classroom vote - I like the students having as much voice in the room as possible) and get started on figuring out guided reading groups.

Social Studies - Last week we took a quiz on the fifty states to see how much the students remembered from last year. I have asked them to keep these in their accordion folders so they may refer back to them in the coming week. We also listened to some songs that listed the fifty states. I don't know about the students, but these were stuck in my head the rest of the day!

     This week we will be focusing on the first unit in their textbook, The Land and Early People. The first chapter, Our Nation's Geography, focuses on the different geography across the United States.

Science - Last week we learned about planning an experiment. In order to prepare for the many experiments planned for fifth grade, we developed our own experiment using the following steps:
               1. Observe and ask questions
               2. Make a hypothesis
               3. Plan the experiment
               4. Conduct the experiment
               5. Analyze data, draw conclusions, and share results
Our experimental question was "Which paper airplane will fly the farthest?" The students had a blast (as did I!) as we hypothesized, planned, and carried out the experiment.

     This week we will begin the first unit on Earth and Space looking at the Earth's rotation and orbiting practices with the Moon and Sun, and what occurs because of these rotations and orbiting (day and night, changing seasons, eclipses, etc.).

       Just a few reminders:
            *The students DO need gym shoes. Our P.E. classes are on Tuesdays.
            *The students DO need book covers. We have five hardcover books that need covered.
            *Book Orders for the month will be due Wednesday, September 25.

     Again, always feel free to contact me at the school number or my email.

Until next time,

Mrs. Perkins
Seneca East Elementary
Fifth Grade Teacher

First Day Countdown....

      Wow it seems unreal the first day of school is only two days away! All of the teachers have been hard at work getting everything ready for that very important first day.

      Below you will find a brief summary of what topics will be the focal points at the beginning of the year. I will update weekly to provide more specific subject matter.

Language Arts: There will be a variety of different projects going on with this subject, but I will try my best to make sure students are up-to-date with the assignments. Below are a few of the projects that will be going on throughout the year.
    Reading
        - Accelerated Reader: Students should already be familiar with this program. It will not begin right away (probably closer to September), so I have not decided on the amount of points the students will need per quarter.
        - Guided Reading: Students will meet with Mr. Schock or myself once or twice a week to read in small groups and work on skills (such as comprehension, context clues, antonyms and synonyms). While guided reading groups are going on the rest of the students will be completing other projects independently.

   Writing
         - Reading Journal - Students will be expected to write in their reading journals every single day. This will be very informal way for the students to jot down their thoughts on the book they are reading at the moment. It does not have to be long (4-5 sentences is fine), but they do need to explain their thoughts and write in a grammatically correct manner.
         - Weekly Essay - Every week I will give the students a topic to write about which they will complete independently. This can be done during free time in class or as homework, but it needs to be completed before the end of each week.
         - Monthly Book Report - I will give the students a paper with more details on this project, but in short they will choose one book each month and complete a book report on it. This can be done at anytime throughout the month, but needs to be turned in before the last day of the month (no matter the day of the week)

^The work above will not only allow ample opportunities for the students to practice their language skills, but also hopefully improve their independence, responsibility, and time management skills. I do understand this seems like a lot, but for the first few months I will be walking the students through it so they do not become overwhelmed.

Social Studies: The first chapter we will be studying is Our Nation's Geography. This includes, but is not limited to, map skills, states and regions, landforms, climate, and environment.

Science: This year science will revolve around three large units: Earth and Space Science, Physical Science, and Life Science.The first unit we will be focusing on is Earth and Space Science.

As you can tell, the emphasis in this grade level is language arts and math! Mrs. Sauber of course will be teaching math to the students. Please be aware that her homework policies are slightly different from mine!

I did finally finish the Donation Tree as well. I will post a picture of it on this site sometime this week.

If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me! Try not to leave questions in the comments if it is a specific question about your child or another student.

Have a great day!

Mrs. Perkins
Fifth Grade Teacher
Seneca East Elementary