We feel like we are Spring Cleaning in A-2 as we wrap up some pretty big projects. The State Project iBooks are going to be completed by Monday. We cannot wait to share these with you at the upcoming Curriculum Night on March 31st. Not only will there be hardcopy folders of the student’s work, but we will be loaded with iPads that will show off the finished iBook. It is so exciting to see what they have produced.
Science Alliance from Gunn High School will be coming to Nixon to demo some Chemistry lessons to the entire Fifth grade. This is occur on Tuesday, March 17th from 1:00-2:15. I have worked with the Science Alliance since their inception. It has been incredible to watch them grow into a popular club at Gunn.
Star Party will be on March 27th- rain or shine….we hope shine. We will need to begin the entire evening a bit later due to the longer days. I will be sending home the time schedule by end of the week. I hope you can all make this event. It might be the last Star Party and we plan to celebrate Dr. Roy and Duncan by surprising them with a “thank you” gift from the classes.
Poetry Unit begins. As we take a break from the Writer’s Workshop process, we will celebrate the beauty of poetry by reading poetry as a class and writing several types of poems. This week, we will focus on Limerick and Fishbowl Poetry. Each poem will be followed by an art lesson. This is a nice and fun break from all of the hard work that was required during the State Project. The poems will be on display at Curriculum night.
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I am sure you have heard the buzz at your house already. The biggest project in 5th grade will be reviewed and assigned this week- The State Project. Of course, choosing the right state is so important for the students. This project is big- but manageable. Actually, much of the grade is making sure the students are meeting the mini goals- planning it out, breaking it down in to small steps and working on mini goals to get to the larger goal- the completing of the state report.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I plan to go over the assignment with the students. Not only we will read through the step by step instructions, but we will also use a calendar to plan each part out for goal dates. This will help teach the students that time management is so important in their future education and life. Today, we will complete this part of the report as well. After we create the calendar, I will either scan it and attach it to the page labeled “State Report” at the top of the blog, or I will type in all of the due dates.
In addition, I have made some very important changes to this report- it is completely digital. We will be making an iBook with chapters, sections, pages, graphics, movies, audio….the choices are left up to the students to see how much they would like to add. I have some basic requirements that are included on the assignment and some extra credits for those who would like to try some new technology that interfaces well with iBook. Creating an iBook is important because we move to a more digital age, our students are practicing and becoming more aware and technologically savvy. I find that this also makes it more available to others to enjoy Students have already been taught the process to upload the iBooks to home iPads and maybe family who live far away can have access to the report.
Since most of the report is on iBooks, most of the technology part of the project will be completed at school during designated class time. Already, students are starting the research, note taking process, and in writer’s workshop, they will complete a lot of the writing. What is needed at home: support, daily check in’s with your child, awareness of due dates, and written portions not finished during class time will need to be completed at home.
Of course, as we go through this process for the next 4 1/2 weeks, many updates will be blogged. Always check the weblog to see what is coming next. Next week, I will create a new page on the blog titled “State Report”. Attached will be the entire assignment and rubric. We will be going over this today.
It is an exciting and fun project. Many students recall this assignment as one of their favorites. I am looking forward to guiding the students in this endeavor as well as sharing all of their iBooks on Curriculum Night.
Please email me if you have any questions.
Take care,
Mrs. Manou
Hoping to finish 13 colonies writing, chemistry, and Ibooks. Getting these things finished will help us start a new thing, although we’re all “a happy family”. Things are getting worrisome, but we’ll kickstart a new month with some good behavior.
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I hope you all had a restful weekend. I enjoyed my time very much. I am watching the destruction part of my house renovation and I got to tell you, it looks like fun. One third of my house is down to it’s skeleton.
This week is a short week. We will have Spelling, but it will be due on Friday. No Wordly Wise and no Reader’s Response.
This Friday, January 23rd, from 8:30-9:30, will be the Freedom Heroes Assembly. The 5th graders will perform last, so it is safe that if you come around 9:00-, we will not be on stage yet. If you have yet to attend one of these assemblies, I must tell you how beautiful they are. Each grade performs a song or poetry about people in the world who have made a positive change for others. This is in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
I have also attached the latest book report assignment to the blog. It is under Science Fiction/Fantasy. I want students to concentrate on reading and taking notes about the setting and characters. Then beginning on January 27th, students will be given work time to prepare the Glog. Each Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, I have scheduled cart time for them to work on this assignment.
Star Party is being organized! Dr. Roy and Duncan have planned our 4th Annual Star Party. This star party will take place on Friday, February 27 from 6:00-7:30. Those who attend will first gather for a small presentation by Dr. Roy on Galileo and then we will proceed outside to look through several telescopes. We are very fortunate to have some local members of the Astronomical Society volunteer to bring some impressive telescopes for us to enjoy. It is going to be quite an amazing evening filled with many stars and planets! *** This is still in the planning stage. Dr. Roy has an upcoming surgery in early February that might require us to move this date. I am sure we can all understand that we want him to be part of this night, so waiting is not a problem. Thanks for understanding and please pay attention to any updates that are in the blog. So far, this date is still on the calendar.
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Last Thursday, I officially assigned the next book report- Science Fiction/Fantasy. Most students have checked out a book from the Library already. Others told me that they have a plan to visit their local library. No matter where they pick up their book, I would like to check it for the appropriate level by next Thursday. If they have their book, please go ahead and have your child begin to work on the reading. They should be reading the book and beginning the writing of notes about the settings and characters on post-its. This book report will be another Glog (technology project) and it is a theme of Travel Poster that advertises the most important settings in the book. It is due on February 5th, but time will be allotted in class for working on the setting descriptions and Glog. Please ask you child more about this book report.
Science with Dr. Roy- We are staring Chemistry! This Friday, we will have our first lesson with Dr. Roy after several “readings” in our Science text with me to review concepts. We have discussed Mixtures, Solutions, Saturation, Super-Saturation, Chemical Reactions, and Crystallization. Next week, we will continue to look at the Periodic Table, Elements, Atoms and Molecules. It is going to be a lot of fun.
Writer’s Workshop will focus on the genre of Informative Writing. Next week, students will receive an on-demand prompt that asks them to teach me “all about” a topic of their choice. This topic should be one that they have great interest in and already have enough information to be able to write a well constructed paper. This prompt will kick off our new Writer’s Workshop study. The students’ will have multiple mini lessons as well as time to write several informative papers in class. We are excited to begin this new unit that will take us through March.