Good morning! I hope everyone that attended our trip to DC last week had a great time. I was very impressed by how respectful the kids were while at Arlington Cemetary.

We have a lot to do in the next 3 weeks before testing begins. Lots of things to finish and to review. Each week I will create new Study Island assignments for the kids to complete and next week I will begin more in class reviews.

Spring conferences have begun, if you did not get an invitation to sign up, please let me know so I can send you the link. We are reviewing the case 21 data and discussing what the each kid needs to do to prepare for EOGs and which concepts need more practice.

Thank you to everyone who voted for our video in the Dr. Lodge Music Video Contest with the Discovery Education Network. The grand prize winner will be announced Thursday night at the Discovery Education Network awards ceremony. I am not sure if it will be broadcast on television but it will be on the Internet at the following address: http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2012/04/19/denny-awards-2012/. We will also be performing our routine at the talent show on Friday night, where we will announce who won the contest to the whole school.

In math we are working on algebra concepts again, it’s amazing how many student have forgotten some of these things since we haven’t had a lot of focus on this since second quarter. In reading we are working on making informed judgements based on bias, stereotypes, propaganda, and media techniques. After EOGs we will do an advertising project using these skills. We are also now working on science with Ms. Fehlker.

I think that covers everything for now. Don’t forget to check the calendar page for upcoming events. And as always, if you have any questions about anything, don’t hesitate to shoot me an email.

Thanks, have a great rest of the week!

You will also find book orders in your Tuesday folders this week. Please place all orders online as this will get the books to us faster and allows me to purchase more books for free for the classroom. If you have done this in the past then you should have a username and password already. If you have not ordered online before then you will need the class code which is GMX69. There is more available through the online catalogues than there will be in the catalogues in your Tuesday folders. All orders will be due by May 18th. Thanks!

Good Morning! I hope everyone has had a restful weekend and is ready to get back to work! We have a VERY busy week in 5th grade this week.

First, we are taking Case 21 tests this week. These tests are taking the place of Blue Diamond tests that we took last year and are supposed to be good indicators of EOG scores. I will be holding conferences when we get the scores back from these tests. Hopefully we will have them back by the end of the week so conferences can start as soon as we get back from Washington.

We are in the final stretch to our Washington trip. The parent information meeting is this Wednesday night at 5:45. Please plan to join us even if you are not chaperoning so you can find out what is expected from chaperones and children attending the trip.

In order to prepare for next week’s trip, I have asked that if students want to watch movies on the bus that they bring only G and PG rated movies to me by this Friday so I can determine which videos are acceptable. Hopefully the weather in Washington is good while we are there, but it would be good to have a raincoat just in case. W have asked the kids to make sure that they wear their purple 5th grade shirts on Thursday and an orange shirt on Friday so that they stand out from the crowds in DC.

Thursday night is Tech Night at PUE. each grade level will be showing how they use technology in the classroom. We will begin at 6:30 in the gym and then have 2 breakout sessions in classrooms around the building. It would be great to have a couple of 5th graders come in to answer questions and show parents how to use the technology we have in the classroom.

In your Tuesday folder this week you will find the Washington permission form as well as a form about medication that needs to be filled out if you child takes any medications at home that I might need to take car of. This includes ibuprofen or other medicine for headaches. There will also be a couple of notes about the Talent Show. If you hadn’t heard, our class made the talent show with the dance we did for our music video. One page is just an information sheet, the other needs to be filled out so I know who is going to be there in order to practice with the correct numbers.

I think that covers it for now. If you have any questions, please send an email, don’t forget to check the calendar page for other upcoming dates.

Can you believe it? Track out is already over and we are headed into our final quarter of work together. Before you know it these 5th graders will be 6th graders. We have a lot of work to do this quarter and a big trip to Washington, D.C. next month. I just want to send out a few updates on what to expect before we begin.

First, Washington payments are due on May 4th. Notes went home a few weeks before break letting you know how much you owed. If you have any questions about your amount due or if financial assistance is needed, please send me an email right away so we can get that taken care of. If you are wanting to pay online, the office has been made aware of the amounts that are owed and those payments should be available soon. Please continue to check the website for that to come available. We will be having a parent meeting for all that are attending the DC trip. Whether you are a chaperone or your child is attending the trip without you, we would ask that you attend this meeting so you know what we are expecting from everyone while on the trip. This meeting is scheduled for May 2nd at 5:45 in the Cafeteria. There will be numerous handouts about what to bring and what not to bring as well as the much anticipated rooming lists. Hopefully this meeting will last no longer than 45 minutes.

On April 30th we will begin some benchmarking tests. These tests are supposed to be taking the place of the Blue Diamond tests we used to take and will most likely be used more often next year. These tests are supposed to be a predictor of how your child will do on the upcoming EOG tests. We will be taking three tests. Reading on April 30, Math on May 1, and Science on May 2. I do not have a schedule for how long the tests will be or how those days will look, but I will let you know as soon as I have more information.

EOG testing will also take place this quarter. The science test will take place on Friday, June 1st, reading will be on Monday, June 4th, Math Calculator Active will be on Tuesday, June 5th, and Math Calculator Inactive will be on Wednesday, June 6th. There are a number of links on the EOG Review materials tab for the science test and more will be added for the reading and math tests in the next week. We will begin doing review homework for the tests in a week or two.

As far as the curriculum for the next couple of weeks goes, we will be picking up right where we left off with math and continuing our unit on Multiplication and Division. We will review multiplication first and then spend more time focusing on division. In reading we are going to start reading poetry and focusing on making inferences while we read. In writing we will finish our tall tales and then begin writing poetry of our own. In social studies we are going to learn about American Government and the documents that helped build our country. Ms. Fehlker will be teaching science this quarter and will be focusing on Weather.

I think that covers everything for now. The calendar page will be updated throughout the next week and a half, so check back soon for those updates. Thanks and have a great rest of the week.

Just a few quick reminders I want to make sure everyone is aware of.

First, human growth and development parent meeting is tomorrow night at 6. If you ate unable to attend you can get a lot of information at the following website, http://www.pgschoolprograms.com/puberty/. The instructors guide they have on this page is not what will be used in class. If you would like to see the curriculum we will have to schedule a time to do that because I only have 1 hard copy of it and as far as I know it is not online. The videos we will be showing in class can also be found on that website.

Second, Friday is an early release day. The Pleasant Union calendar says we get out at 12:30 but that is not correct. We get out at 1:15 just like we have the rest of the year.

Next week we have another field trip to Wakefield Middle school. Thank you to everyone for getting the permission forms in early.

Last, I need to know which parents are going with us to Washington, D.C. In order to get our final payment amounts I need to have a count of exactly who is going to attend. I understand that last minute things may come up at work and other arrangements may have to made as we get closer to the trip, but we will deal with those issues as they arise. Please let me know right away via e-mail which parent is attending the trip. The sooner we get our numbers turned in to Holbrook Tours, the faster I can let you know how much you still owe for the trip. I think that about covers it for now. I will let you know if anything else comes up. Thanks so much!