Winter Concert Information

The music department at Memorial presents

Winter Rock 

on Wednesday, December 14th at 7pm

Attire:

Morning: Regular school clothes, but please no t-shirts with logos or words

Evening: Students should dress as though they were from the 1950's/early 60s. Some ideas for girls: full skirts, cardigans, sweaters, jeans, capri pants, leather jackets, high ponytails Some ideas for boys: jeans, white t-shirts, button-down shirts, leather jackets, varsity jackets, sunglasses, black boots, greased hair, etc.

Call time: 

Please arrive to school no later than 6:40pm. Band students report to the music room, string students to the lesson room, and chorsue who do not play an instrument to the art room at 6:50

Please note:

All 4th and 5th graders must attend the Winter Concert! 

Thanksgiving Speeches

Your children have started  to work on thankfulness speeches in celebration of Thanksgiving. We have been discussing that Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the things in life that we are lucky enough to have.  We’d like to invite you to hear their speeches and celebrate this holiday with us. The event will take place on Monday, November 21st at 9:30am in your child’s homeroom. It should last about an hour.  Any family member is invited. If you have another child at Memorial who would like to attend, please get permission from his/her teacher.

We are looking forward to this special event!

Gratefully,

Fifth Grade Team

PTO Info

Be sure to check out the PTO website to pay your dues and to sign up for the Halloween Spooktacular and I-Scream Social taking place on October 28th. This event is online registration only! 

Engineers at work

This week in science, the students were presented with a challenge to create a convenient AND environmentally friendly carrier for soda cans. They are working in design teams to come up with a plan and then create the "harmless holder" using the materials provided. I can't wait to see the progress they make!

Planning first

Gathering materials 

Where do we come from? Part 2

I apologize for the delay on Part 2! 

Paul told us about pierogies, a popular Polish food. 

Hailey is pointing out her map of Italy. 

What makes an Italian wolf an Italian wolf?!

We learned a lot about Jonathan's culture and family traditions from India. 

Emerson had a great story about her last name, which comes from Lithuania.

Where do we come from?

I often share with my students that the coolest thing about this world is that we are all different. The first assignment in fifth grade is a way to learn about and celebrate each others' backgrounds and differences. I can't take credit for this idea, as I "borrowed" it from the wonderful fifth grade teachers at Fox Hill and brought it to Memorial. Each fifth grader is responsible for creating a Cultural Identity Quilt piece that showcases the country or countries from which his/her family came. These quilt pieces are then "woven" together to represent who we are, where we came from, and that together we make one unique (and pretty fabulous) classroom community. Today was our first day sharing. I can't wait to learn more tomorrow!  

Pari shared an amazing story of obstacles her father had to overcome while in Iran. 

Ava included some words in Italian AND French. 

Evan included a picture of a typical house in Madeira. 

Jack shared a picture of an Irish castle and some popular Italian food. Mangia! Mangia! 

Brody did a great job drawing the Swedish, German, and Italian flags. 

Maddie shared with us an important landmark in Canada. (And a picture of her new baby sister!)

Nolan explained the symbolism of cracking red eggs on Greek Easter. 

More to come...

Open House

It was so nice to meet you at Open House last week. Here is my presentation if you were unable to attend.


Also, I'm working on getting the iMovies to you! 

Bournedale Packing List

Here's what you need to know about Camp Bournedale in order for it to be a successful trip! 

• Luggage should be confined to one piece
• LABEL ANY BAGS WITH NAME AND SCHOOL 
• All medications should have been noted on the school health form and signed by doctor
• Medications will be given to the nurse the morning of departure

Must Bring: 

• Comfortable clothes
• PJs
• Towel (if you plan to shower)
• Sneakers
• Sleeping bag (or sheets & a blanket)
• Pillow
• Extra empty trash bag
• Soap/shampoo (if you plan to shower)
• Toothbrush & toothpaste

Can Bring:

• Sports items for recreation time (tennis, baseball, lacrosse, etc.)
• Disposable camera

Leave at home:

• Money
• Candy/gum
• Food
• Roller blades/skateboards
• Electronics
• CELL PHONES!!

Open House info

I look forward to meeting you at

Open House tomorrow night (9/14)

6:30-7:00 grade level presentations (room 235)

7:00-7:30 all school welcome in cafeteria

7:30-8:00 repeat grade level presentations 

This night is useful for ...

• Seeing our classroom and your child's work.
• Learning about 5th grade expectations, curriculum, and events.
• Signing up for conferences.
• Signing up to volunteer for 5th grade committee.

Kindly remember that individual discussions about your child will take place 

at conferences on December 1st. 

Day One

We had a fabulous first day together. Please fill out and return the forms at your earliest convenience. Here are some highlights from day one!

What do you know about Ms. Conceison?

We love Kahoot!

Room 235 scavenger hunt. Where do you put completed classwork?

Where are the band-aids?

Our year is going to be so bright, you're going to need sweet shades!

We ended our day with a kick off party.

Here's to a great year! 

This year is going to ROCK!

I hope you are having a restful and fun summer! The beginning of the year is right around the corner. Teaching is my absolute favorite thing to do. Don’t get me wrong- I love summer: the beach, time with friends, barbecues, and good books. Reading is one of my favorite summer activities. I hope that you’ve enjoyed some good books this summer! Remember that you need to read one MCBA book and fill out the note-taking paper that you got at the end of the year. Do you need another copy of the note-taking paper? Click here!

There are some “supplies” that you’ll need to bring with you to Room 235. Please bring a positive attitude, determination, curiosity, and respect. Do you remember the sign that’s hanging in the front of our classroom? It says “It Takes All Kinds of Kinds.” This is a daily reminder that it’s important to accept and embrace everyone’s differences. We are all different, which makes this world a fantastic place!

I’d love to hear from you before school starts. Feel free to email me at mconceison@bpsk12.org. You can share some things you’ve done over the summer, what you’re looking forward to, what you might be nervous about or even some suggestions for this year. Also, bookmark our classroom blog on your computer at home if you have one.

Enjoy the rest of your summer! Soak up the sunshine. Read a good book. Laugh with friends and family. Get ready for an awesome year!

I spent a lot of time on the beach this summer. 

My favorite part was spending time

with my niece, Olivia, in Maine and on Cape Cod.

Dunk Tank Fun

Sixth Grade Summer Reading

You're (ALMOST) sixth graders!

Here is your required summer reading assignment. 

More homework fun!

Maggie reading with silly accessories

Maddie reading in the dark with a flashlight. Looks like fun! 

Homework Challenge

Maddie completing the assignment "read wearing silly accessories."

Now THIS looks fun! 

Abby completing the assignment "read in the dark with a flashlight" 

End of Year Homework FUN!

Yes, you saw it correctly-- 
Homework and FUN in the same sentence.

If you are in my math class or my ELA class, here is your homework for the rest of the year: 

End of year ELA homework

End of year MATH homework

Happy Homework-ing! 

Congrats Fifth Graders!

It's official. The fifth graders are the 2016 volleyball champions! Great work, everyone.

Game faces! 

Enemies for the day...

Grasshopper Ganley 

Celebrating the win!

That's a Wrap!

• Cedardale permission slips went home today. We will be contacting chaperones shorly. 
• Thank you for the notes of encouragement that you wrote to your children. They loved reading them and kept them in their desks during testing as a reminder of your words! 
• Are you on Twitter? Follow me to see what's happening at Memorial! @MKConceison 
• Congratulations to this week's Wall of Fame winners!  

Here's a  glimpse into our week...

Math: We started our week by reviewing multiplying and dividing fractions and mixed numbers. We then moved on to explore and identify polygons. Check out our "polygon puppy play areas" below. We are ready for math PARCC next week!
Talking tidbits: Is a square a rectangle? Is a rectangle a square? 

Social Studies: Students are finishing up their projects on the founding documents of the United States. They did an excellent job researching the "who, what, where, when and why" of their document. Students should be memorizing the Preamble of The Constitution by May 4th. Talking tidbits: Why was your document created?

Science: We will be starting our units on light and sound next week. 

ELA: We had ELA PARCC this week. Although this is not the most fun task, I was very proud of the way everyone worked and persevered through the test. We continued working on turning notes into running text for our informative writing today. 

Enjoy the weekend! 

-Ms. Conceison- 

That's a Wrap!

• Thursday was Cole's last day. He is moving back to New York. We had a class lunch together and put together an album with pictures and notes from classmate. We wish him all the best! 
• We have a field trip on April 7th. Please make sure to send in a brown bag lunch. 
• Are you on Twitter? Follow me to see what's happening at Memorial! @MKConceison 
• Congratulations to this week's Wall of Fame winners!  
• Send all baby pictures and kindergarten pictures to memorial5thgradecommittee@gmail.com Remember that it does not have to be the school K picture-- any picture around that age.   

Here's a  glimpse into our week...

Cole looking at his book of memories.

We had quite the April Fool's Day. Thanks to Amber for being a good sport for this  grand finale of jokes. Please know that this phone already water damaged and Amber was in on it! 

Math: We finished our topic on adding and subtracting fractions. We are doing "boot camp" this week on multiplying and dividing fractions. We are making sure we are prepared for PARCC! 
Talking tidbits: What has been easier for you- adding mixed numbers or subtracting them? 

Using the TIPS recording sheet to problem solve. 

Social Studies: We have continued our unit on the American Revolution. We watched many video clips and took notes on different battles and important people.  Talking tidbits: What was the first battle of the war?

Cause and effect of The Revolution 

Science: We started our unit on electricity. The students built circuits to make a light bulb light. We also made electromagnets that picket up paper clips. Talking tidbits: Why did the doors in the hallway close when the electricity went out on Thursday?

Let there be light! 

How did the nail pick up paper clips? 

Reading: We finished Bud, Not Buddy and we have been using a website called Storyboard That to create storyboards diagramming the plot, analyzing the characters, and interpreting themes. It has been a lot of fun! (Except for when the power went out and we lost our work).

Storyboard That feels like we are making our own video games! 

Writing: Students took on the point of view of a nature occurrence to show the effect that point of view/perspective has on the reader. 

Enjoy the weekend! 

-Ms. Conceison-