That's a Wrap! Edition V

Here are some things to talk about this weekend...

• We had our first Class Meeting this week. Ask your child what went on! I was so proud of them.
• Congratulations to Paul and Cole for being recognized at Wall of Fame! 
• Student Council has been working on some great things to improve our school.
• We had the pumpkin vocabulary parade on Monday. The 5th graders represented science and social studies words. 

Math: My math class had their test on Topic 3 yesterday and we began topic 4 today. Topic 4 is all about dividing by 1-digit divisors. I gave out an optional math challenge to students. This is due by November 5th. 

Social Studies: We have been learning about the Vikings this week, and we will start our explorers project next week. There will be a quiz on the Seven Reasons to Explore next Friday. 

Science: Mr. Musselman is coming in next week to do a star lab activity with us. Looking forward to it! 

Reading: We finished Morning Girl this week and took a short assessment on it. Students had to compare and contrast the two characters, Star Boy and Morning Girl. We had a very interesting discussion after reading chapter 5. There is quite a bit of figurative language in this book. Students were on the hunt to find examples in the text and they did a great job. One group even found a cliche, without even going over what that meant! 

Writing: We continued working on Thanksgiving speeches in ELA. The students are also creating simile poems based on a section of Morning Girl, where she uses similes to describe her appearance. I will post some examples on the blog when they're finished. 

Important Info: 

• Please consider paying your PTO dues to help support all of the wonderful work that our PTO does! 
• There is an important PTO meeting next Thursday. We will be talking about Title 1 math support. It will be a good conversation to join. Please consider coming! 
• Erin Moulton, the author of Keepers of Labyrinth series, will be at the public library next Friday, Nov. 13th at 3:30 for an afternoon of craffts, contests, trivia, and prizes! 
• Order forms went home today for Memorial Pride clothing. 
• Thanksgiving Speeches will take place on November 24th
• Sign up for conferences at the following link OR e-mail me to schedule an appointment for December 3rd.  http://bit.ly/1VRHYfk 
• I'll be using the Remind app to send out quick reminders to parents. Be sure to sign up if you haven't yet!  Text @mconcei to 81010. You'll receive quick reminders from me right to your phone. No need to download the app. 

Enjoy the weekend! 

That's a Wrap! Edition IV

Here are some things to talk about this weekend....

• Take a look at the videos Mrs. Dressler posted of our dance party here: Memorial School: Whole School Dance Party
• Congratulations to Dakota for being recognized on the Wall of Fame this week. Every time I look around in the morning or at dismissal, he is helping out around the classroom without being asked. 
• Ms. Martin came in to discuss ways to name our feelings through the Zones of Regulation. This is good language to use at home, as well.

Math: My math class is finishing up Topic 3. Ask your child to describe the Distributive Property to you. It was the most challenging lesson in this topic!  

Social Studies: We have been discussing the Seven Reasons to Explore this week. We began our unit on Explorers with a Jigsaw activity.  One of the discussion questions was: What fears do you think explorers faced? Ask your child about the fears we discussed. 

Science: The Solar System quizzes went home on Wednesday. I always allow students to do test corrections on social studies and science quizzes. They have the chance to earn back half of the points they lost if they correct their mistakes. Assessments are learning tools, too! 

Reading: We have continued reading Morning Girl this week. Students are comparing and contrasting the two characters, Star Boy and Morning Girl. We had a very interesting discussion after reading chapter 5. Morning Girl was curious to find out what she looks like because they didn't have mirrors in the 1400's. I asked the class to respond to the question "How would life be different if you couldn't see your reflection? Would you like this? Why or why not?" Ask your child how they'd feel about that! 

Writing: We continued working on Thanksgiving speeches in ELA. I challenged the students to come up with inviting leads and creative conclusions. Wait until you hear their speeches! We have also been learning about different types of sentences, how to correct fragments, and subjects and predicates. 

Check out our whole school dance party! 

Important Info: 

• Please consider paying your PTO dues to help support all of the wonderful work that our PTO does! 
• Order forms went home today for Memorial Pride clothing. 
• Vocab parade is Monday, October 26th
• Thanksgiving Speeches will take place on November 
• Sign up for conferences at the following link OR e-mail me to schedule an appointment for December 3rd.  http://bit.ly/1VRHYfk 
• I'll be using the Remind app to send out quick reminders to parents. Be sure to sign up if you haven't yet!  Text @mconcei to 81010. You'll receive quick reminders from me right to your phone. No need to download the app. 

Enjoy the weekend! 

That's a Wrap! Edition III

Here are some things to talk about this weekend....

• We had Wall of Fame today. Be sure to ask who was recognized & what they did to get put on the "wall!" 
• Mrs. Dressler met with fifth graders about our whole school reward for filling up the Responsibility rocket. We are going to do a fun dance on Tuesday as school! 

Math: My math class is in the middle of Topic 3, which is on whole number multiplication. We've been rounding numbers and estimating products. We've been working on the properties of multiplication. As your child to explain them and to share the difference between a factor and multiple.  Multiplication facts are very important during this topic! Your child should be doing Reflex math three times per week. 

Social Studies: We will begin our unit on explorers next week.

Science: We wrapped up our unit on the moon and the solar system today. There will be a quiz on Monday. Please see the homework tab on my blog for study information. 

Reading: We started the book Morning Girl by Michael Dorris. Ask your child to describe Morning Girl and Star Boy to you. They're siblings who are very different! The students will be using Google Classroom to answer questions about the book for homework. Some students are saying that they're having hard time logging on. Here are directions: 

Writing: All homeroom classes began brainstorming and organizing for Thanksgiving speeches. We talked about having an "attitude of gratitude" and that Thanksgiving is the perfect time to express that. Notices about the event went home today. In ELA, the students published their moment in time writing on Book Creator and shared those with their classmate. They had a "critic" in the audience whose job was to give the author feedback on his/her writing. 

Important Info: 

• Please consider paying your PTO dues to help support all of the wonderful work that our PTO does! 
• Sign up for conferences at the following link OR e-mail me to schedule an appointment for December 3rd.  http://bit.ly/1VRHYfk 
• I'll be using the Remind app to send out quick reminders to parents. Be sure to sign up if you haven't yet!  Text @mconcei to 81010. You'll receive quick reminders from me right to your phone. No need to download the app. 

Enjoy the weekend! 

That's a Wrap! Edition II

Here are some things to talk about this weekend....

We had Wall of Fame today. Be sure to ask who was recognized & what they did to get put on the "wall!" 

Math: My math class finished up Topic 2 and had our test today. We will be starting our unit on whole number multiplication on Tuesday. Multiplication facts are very important during this topic! Your child should be doing Reflex math three times per week. A quick note about math homework: some days I assign the re-teaching page, some days the practice page, and some days I assign both! I've stressed to the kids the importance of writing down the homework exactly as it is written on the board/the blog. 

Social Studies: I gave back the quizzes on ancient civilizations on Monday. Part of HW this week was to show this to an adult at home. I was very proud of how well everyone did!

Science: What perfect timing to begin learning about the moon after a recent Super Moon! We did a demonstration to show the various phases of the moon. Be sure to ask your child about our game of "Ms. C Says." I tried to trick them, but they were too quick! 

Reading: We kicked off the Global Read Aloud this week. We are reading Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. Check out the book trailer . We will be using KidBlog to connect with a class in Canada. We read Thank you, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco and the students made connections between the two books. These two books are "goosebump" books for me. I've read it hundreds of times, but I always have to hold back the tears when reading Thank you, Mr. Falker!

Writing: We finished up our personal narratives about one moment in time at Camp Bournedale and Camp Eagle. I shared my favorite phrase about teaching writing with our class: "When you think you're done, you're probably not!" I challenged them to include similes and sensory details in their writing. The final product will be produced using Book Creator. Wait until you read them! 

Important Info: 

• No School Monday (Columbus Day)
• Please consider paying your PTO dues to help support all of the wonderful work that our PTO does! 
• Sign up for conferences at the following link OR e-mail me to schedule an appointment for December 3rd.  http://bit.ly/1VRHYfk 
• I'll be using the Remind app to send out quick reminders to parents. Be sure to sign up if you haven't yet!  Text @mconcei to 81010. You'll receive quick reminders from me right to your phone. No need to download the app. 

Enjoy the LONG weekend! 

That's a Wrap! Edition I

Here are some things to talk about this weekend....

We had Wall of Fame today. Be sure to ask who was recognized & what they did to get put on the "wall!" 

Math: All classes are working on Topic 2, which is all about adding and subtracting decimals. The students in my math class have done a wonderful job adapting to our new class format. We started doing small groups and choice board activities. They seem to be enjoying this new structure! 

Social Studies: We finished up our unit on ancient civilizations. Ask your child about the civilization that they created. They needed to include all seven characteristics of a civilization. We kicked off this little project by reading Weslandia by Paul Fleischman. We used Kahoot to review yesterday and had our quiz today. I think everyone  was well prepared! 

Reading: My reading class has been working on Questioning and Inferencing. Ask your child about the questions and inferences they had about the book The Oher Side by Jacqueline Woodson. We had Book Buddies today with Ms. McLaughlin's second grade class. We will be kicking off the Global Read Aloud on Monday! My class will be connecting with a class in Canada. 

Writing: My writing class has been working on a personal narrative about "One Moment in Time." I asked them to write about one moment from Camp Bournedale/Camp Eagle. They needed to pretend as if they were watching the moment in slow motion. Ask your child about "scaling" some words to use in their writing. Isn't "slither" much more descriptive than "walk?" 

Important Info: 

• Symphony Math & i-Ready reading reports are in homework folders today. Symphony and i-Ready are used as universal screeners are the beginning of the year. 
• Kidstuff coupon books OR payment DUE MONDAY
• Conference sign-ups still ongoing http://bit.ly/1VRHYfk 
• I'll be using the Remind app to send out quick reminders to parents. Be sure to sign up if you haven't yet!  Text @mconcei to 81010. You'll receive quick reminders from me right to your phone. No need to download the app. 

Have a great weekend!