Bits and Pieces

Some reminders...

• Notes went home today for the supplies needed for Laura Day.  The kids need to have their supplies to school by FRIDAY!  (If they want to bring it earlier, they may.)
• Reading Minutes were due Friday.  We will still take folders on Monday before we decide on a reward.
• Thursday we will be traveling to Amana to see "Winnie the Pooh's Christmas."  If your child decided to bring their lunch that day...don't forget!

Stations

Today we were busy getting ready for the holiday season!  We made reindeers for our bulletin board, decorated paper Christmas trees, finished up math and practice multiplication doing Baseball Multiplication.

Science

What is the difference between a series circuit and a parallel circuit?  That was our challenge this week. and the kids enjoyed learning the two different ways to wire a circuit.  They also learned that the batteries have to be set negative to positive.  Their exit quiz was to determine which type of Christmas lights would they want on their tree, series or parallel.  Ask your student which one they picked and why.

Math

We continued working on multiplication and division facts this week.  Remember to practice these at home.  Right now the kids are all using their multiplication charts, but we will begin to limit this use after the Christmas holiday.  We also reviewed our adding and subtraction skills and worked with money.

We also learned a new multiplication game that can be played at home.  Ask your student about playing  Baseball Multiplication.  This can be played with either cards or dice.  We have a score chart we use at school, but feel free to make up your own!

Reading with Mrs. Bender

This week we wrapped up "The Mysterious Giant of Barletta" in our anthology.  The kids enjoyed learning about the real giant statue and also doing research about different types of giants.  Ask them about some of the ugly ones they found!  We worked on adding er and ing to words along with following directions.

We also started a project for our next story, "Raising Dragons".  The kids wrote a handbook about how to take care of their dragon along with coloring their dragon and dragon eggs.

Part of our reading will be focusing on the novel unit, Little House on the Prairie, as we are getting prepared for Laura Day next Friday.  Today the kids read a book about traveling in a covered wagon and reviewed main idea and supporting details.

Mrs. Hartsock's reading class

Our shared reading story (that we started last week) was The Mysterious Giant of Barletta, written and illustrated by Tommie DePaola. Ask your child to summarize this folk tale about the actual city of Barletta. 

Skill work focused on questioning (asking questions as we read to clarify and increase comprehension). 

We have also started our novel unit, Little House on the Prairie.  To build our background knowledge about pioneers and the westward unit, we read books using TrueFlix online and read  . . . If You Traveled West In A Covered Wagon and identified interesting facts and created outlines. 

Drawing illustrations for our selection vocabulary

Learning about pioneer life using TrueFlix

Language Skills

Spelling this week focused on words with a "bossy r," and our grammar skill was to identify what a verb is and find verbs in sentences.   We're also working hard to publish our news articles.  This project has taken us several weeks as we have journeyed through the steps of the writing process (prewriting, drafting, editing, rewriting/publishing).  Students have started to edit their own writing, and we also did peer editing on this writing piece.  

Peer editing news articles

Social Studies

Our final lesson in our study of government focused on the state level.  We reviewed the 3 branches of government and then identified  who is part of that branch and what they do at the state level.

Holiday schedule {Week of Dec. 17}

Several of you have asked for clarification regarding Grandparents Day, and if we are having an early dismissal on that day (Dec. 20) -- here's the scoop regarding that question and other special events that week:

• On Tuesday, December 18 the third graders have been invited to sing at the Kalona Rotary meeting.  Following our trip to Rotary, we plan to have our class holiday party (more info to come!).  Students are invited to bring a treat to share, as well as a favorite board game from home to play during the party.

• Wednesday, December 19 is a scheduled early out day, but there are no special events.  (Teacher inservice)

• Thursday, December 20 is Grandparents Day.  Grandparents Day is held from 8:30 - 11:00 (since we don't have the capacity to serve lunch to all of our guests, grandparents are asked to leave at 11:00.  This day is not an official early out day, but students wishing to go home with grandparents at 11:00 may do so if we have received written permission from a PARENT (an e-mail is fine).  We recognize that many grandparents have traveled from out of town to visit their grandchild(ren), and will allow students to leave early without being counted as absent.  It is very helpful for us to know in advance if your child plans to leave early. There are usually very few students remaining at school for the afternoon, so we typically watch a holiday movie together.  If you have any questions, contact your child's home room teacher.

Thanksgiving Fun!

On Wednesday we visited Mrs. Juilf's 4th grade class and watched two plays with a Thanksgiving theme.

Mrs. Bender's class then did some activities which centered around the cranberry which was very important to the Native Americans and the Pilgrims.  The best activity was being able to bounce the cranberry to see if it was fresh.  Luckily, most of ours were!

5P Coin Drive

Dear Parents,

    We will be doing a coin drive for the victims of Hurricane Sandy from November 27^th through the 30^th.  Money that is donated will be sent to the Red Cross. Once the Red Cross has it, they will send it to Hurricane Sandy victims. Please donate what you can.  The entire school is participating in this event. You are going to help many people if you donate money.  You will feel good that you did this and helped us with the entire donation. Every penny helps!

From,

Mrs. Pennington’s 5^th grade class

Old Creamy Event Planned

click image to enlarge

Math

Using division was our concept this week in math.  The kids used counters to help solve the division problems.  Continue to work on multiplication at home.  We have done several games in class to help the kids learn their facts.  These can also be played at home with a regular deck of cards.  Ask your student how to play Multiplication Top-It, Multiplication Beat the Calculator and Bloppo, which uses multiplication and also reviews  3-digit adding.

Science

This week we worked on identifying the difference between conductors and insulators.  The kids had an assortment of everyday items they needed to classify as either a conductor (would make a closed circuit) or an insulator (would make a open circuit).  We also were introduced to the battery holders and bulb holders so we had to learn some new circuit wiring.