On Thursday we participated in the final Battle of the Books competition. It was an extremely close match up, but in the end the class of Mrs. Hubler/Loeung beat us by 1 point. I was very proud of what our class accomplished during the Battle of the Books.

On Friday we measured the amount of weight that our bridges could hold. The Geek Squad won the prize when their bridge held 56 pounds. Students also voted on the bridge that they felt showed the best craftsmanship. The winner, as voted by the class was Top Hammer. Look for an upcoming post with bridge pictures.

There is so much going on next week that I think the best way to give the information is by going day by day.

On Tuesday 5/29 the PE soccer championship will take place. The final drafts of the persuasive essays are due. Students will begin organizing some of their work for portfolio night.

On Wednesday 5/30 it will be bounce day. The PTA is rewarding the classes for their hard work at the Jog-a-Thon by bringing a bounce house to the school for the day. We will playing in the bounce house from 9-9:30. In the evening from 4-8 will be portfolio night. Stop by anytime from 4-8 and let your student show you some of their accomplishments from the school year.

On Thursday 5/31 we will be going on our jet boat field trip. The buses will leave at 10:30 and we will return about 3:15. Before we go to the field trip the 5th graders will be going to the middle school from 8:15-8:45 for an orientation.

Friday 6/1 is the last day of school. School is dismissed at 12:35. We will be watching movies in class. One of the movies we will be watching is a movie adaptation of the book “The Westing Game”. The movie is rated PG. In order for your child to be able to watch the movie they need to return the permission slip that was sent home last week.

Let me know if you have any questions about what is going on next week.

Another paper that came home is a permission slip to watch a PG movie. We just finished reading “The Westing Game” by Ellen Raskin. The students loved reading the book. On the last day of school we will be watching a movie adaptation of the story.

Finally, you are invited to come and watch us in our last Battle of the Books battle. It will be the championship match and will begin at 2pm on Thursday 5/24.

We were defeated in our Battle of the Books battle on Thursday. The good news is that our three previous victories were enough to place us in the championship battle on Thursday 5/24. The students are excited to have the opportunity to go out on a winning note. Regardless of the result in the final battle, they can feel proud of what they have accomplished during the competition.

Students are making progress on their persuasive essays. The final drafts will be written in ink and their best handwriting by the end of this week.

There will be no morning meeting this week. We will be using the time to work on our math problem solving work samples. Students will be given a problem to solve and they receive a score from 1-6 on five dimensions. The dimensions are making sense of the task, representing and solving the task, communicating reasoning, accuracy, and reflecting and evaluating. Getting the correct answer is a very small part of earning high scores on these problems. The key is to show your work and make it so someone could easily follow the steps you took to solve the problem.

Portfolio night will be on Wednesday 5/30 from 4-8. This will be a student led reflection on their accomplishments throughout the year. There will be no appointments, you are free to come anytime between 4-8. If you would like to have a private conference please let me know and we can arrange a time to meet.

There are lots of important dates coming up.

5/24 – Battle of the Books Final

5/25 – Friday School Day and Bridge Contest

5/28 – Memorial Day –no school

5/30 – Portfolio Night

5/31 – Jet Boat Bridge Tour field trip

6/1 – Last Day of School half day

Our room will become a construction zone for the next two weeks as students will begin making their bridges. Last week they finished up the design process and ordered the materials they will need.

The persuasive essays are coming along nicely. Students have now written a draft of their introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. This week we will combine the draft paragraphs together to create the 1st draft of the total paper. Students will revise and edit their drafts as they work towards a final copy.

Volunteers do an amazing job at Corbett to make school a great place. Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to help out at the school in any way. Please join us for a volunteer appreciation on Wednesday 5/16 from 3:40-4:15 in the Trillium Room. There will be childcare provided.

Now that we have spent a couple weeks learning about bridges, students will begin using their knowledge to make a bridge. Next week they will work in their corporations to begin planning a bridge for the intermediate-wide contest. The bridges will be made from popsicle sticks. They will be judged on three categories: 1. Weight they can hold (60%)  2. Cost efficiency (20%) 3. Aesthetics (20%).

Last week students selected a topic to write a persuasive essay on. We will spend the beginning of this week working on the introductions for essays. An area I am really going to focus on is getting them to have a “hook” sentence at the start of the paper that makes the reader want to continue reading their paper. By the end of the week hopefully we will be ready to move on to our on body paragraphs.

We now have only four weeks of school left. Please keep on your student about completing their daily math assignments. If they do not complete a lesson in class they need to finish it as homework.

On Tuesday we will begin the round robin portion of the PE soccer tournament. We have split the classes into four teams. Each team will player the other teams two times. A team gets 3 points for a victory, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. The two teams with the highest point totals at the end of the round robin will play in a championship game.

There will be a reading letter due next Thursday. Another important event on Thursday is our 3rd Battle of the Books battle.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact me.

The reason we will have a bye this week is because we will be on a field trip on Thursday 5/3. This trip will be a walking tour of the Portland bridges. We will be leaving at 8:30 and returning around 3. Make sure your student has comfortable walking shoes, as we will be on our feet all day.

Last week an author named Sarah Leith Bahn visited the school. She wrote a book we read in class called The Ancient Realm. The students really enjoyed the book, and had a chance to ask Sarah about what to expect in the sequel. There is an opportunity to order a signed copy of The Ancient Realm for $10. All orders need to be in by Thursday May 3rd, and checks can be made out to the school.

Thank you to those of you who have turned in your Jog-a-Thon money. The PTA is asking that all money be turned in by Tuesday May 1st.

Look for another post with pictures from our bridges of the Gorge field trip.

Last week we started our study of bridges. We learned about the 4 types of bridges: arch, beam, truss, and suspension. This week the students will learn about the components that make up bridges. We will be going on a field trip to visit and observe the bridges at Latourelle, Sheppard’s Dell, and the Bridge of the Gods on Wednesday 4/25. We will be leaving at 8:30 and expect to return to school around 1:30. I am still missing permission slips from 6 students. If your child is one of the 6, please send the permission slip back ASAP.

We are really hoping to get back to the school by 1:30 on the day of the field trip, because author Sarah Leith Bahn is visiting our school. We are currently reading her book The Ancient Realm as our read aloud book. The kids are really into the story and it would be an awesome opportunity to listen to a published author.

We now have 6 week left of school. Ask your student about their progress in their math book. The class expectation remains a lesson or test needs to be completed each day. If a lesson is not completed in class it is homework.