First Week of October

Hello once again! I can't believe it's October already.

Some news first:

This week we will begin our Book-It Campaign! I will send home a letter later this week with details. As a short explanation (as I am sure you have all been through this before!) the students will have a goal each month in terms of how many books they need to read. If they meet that goal they will mark it on our sheet and receive a Pizza Hut coupon. The main purpose, however, is to get your child reading.

The first quarter is over in 3 weeks...I will give you a moment to let that sink in. Yes, October 18 is the final day of the first quarter. I have been updating Progress Book (finally!) fairly often nowadays to make sure you are up-to-date on your child's progress in each subject.


Now to the week!

Reading - We finally finished "The Westing Game" as our whole class reading unit. This week the students are doing project work rather than taking a cumulative test on the book. I have really pushed the students to put as much effort into these projects as possible. Some of them are a little more advanced, and others are going to take a lot of work. However, I did tell the students to not go out and buy supplies. I have plenty of materials in my classroom if they are in need of anything. We will also be writing our first book report together on "The Westing Game" in order to prepare them to write their own every month from now on. Beginning in October the students will be expected to turn in 1 book report on the last day of each month. I will be making them a copy of the format I would like them to use when we go over how to make it. We will then begin reading out of our Explorer books for the first time this year by the end of the week.

English - We had our first test last week, and with everything going on with Reading we will not be doing much in this subject this week. We will begin doing mini-lessons out of the spelling unit each week, but there will not be spelling lists or tests.

Social Studies - We are continuing with Chapter 2: Early People by looking at some of the earliest Native American tribes in the United States, such as the Iroquois, Algonquian, Cheyenne, and Pueblos. One of the skills we are focusing on is note-taking in the classroom. While I am not a huge fan of lecture, I do understand that students are expected to be able to do it in higher level classes. Due to this we are slowly coming into it by using PowerPoint presentations. The students are receiving the presentations with words missing while the one on the board is a complete version. They are gaining the ability to follow along and write in the correct statement or word.

Science - This week we are continuing with Earth and Space by evaluating the sizes of the planets on a scale comparison, making flip charts on the different planets and their characteristics, and then moving on to how the tilt of the Earth and the sun's rays create seasons. We will be having a quiz Friday just on the planets.

Until next week!

Mrs. Perkins
Fifth Grade Teacher
Seneca East