Environmental Stewardship Continues

Although we have concluded our time at Harford Glen, we are now using our experience to craft a plan for improvement at our school building. We are collaborating between classes to come up with a singular focus that we will be presenting to the administration for approval. With any luck, we'll get that approval and be able to implement our plan once we warm back up in the spring.

Next week, we'll be moving into our next science unit after a brief revisit of Native American tribe work, since our research is starting in the media center.

Here's a look at group brainstorming for our potential projects.

Spelling is Back!

Friendly reminder to all classes that spelling is back this week.  Click the "Weekly Spelling Homework Menu" tab at the top of  the website or here for homework outline. 

O'NEILL & ROST  This week, we're moving from thinking about characters to thinking about theme; i.e., now that we know characters well, we can consider their experiences, what they learn, their mistakes, etc. to grow ideas about themes. 

Target Learning Goals:  To grow ideas about theme, readers can...

• ... use "Somebody Wanted But So Then" to distinguish plot vs. theme.
• ... use our schema to generate ideas about "Bumper Sticker" themes vs. topical themes (see pictures below).  This target learning goal is all about jogging students memories and generating themes we're familiar with so we can refer back to them throughout the unit.  This strategy will also help students later on as we dig into conflict resolution and its implication on theme. 
• ... consider mistakes and what character might learn/ do differently.
• ... explore character development, change, growth.
• ... look for and study symbolism.

TLGs in Action: If you see a snapshot of you child below, ask them if they were wearing a bumper sticker or topical theme.  Ask them for a 6-word sentence about what they learned in Readers' Workshop today.

MEZAN  This is a very exciting week for Mezan's room-- we've started our new Read Aloud book, Crenshaw, by Katherine Applegate!  During this Read Aloud, students all have a copy of the text in front of them; however, I still read aloud and model fluency and comprehension strategies. Students engage in dialogue about characters, internal v. external conflicts, theme, ect. as we stop, think, discuss, and write. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to put what they're learning into action, but still have the support of an experienced reader reading to them.

Target Learning Goals (TLG):  To grow ideas about characters, readers can...

• ... use thinking and writing stems to push our thinking about characters.
• ... pay attention to Memory Moments (flashbacks) and think about why they might be important; considering...
• ... what the character might be struggling with internally.
• ... what the character depends on, holds dear, be worried about.
• ... what it reveals about the character's traits and relationships. 

TLGs in Action:  Below is a book trailer for Crenshaw! Take a look!

Homework: 

• Math homework
• 30 minutes reading
• Book club reading and assignments, if not completed in class.
• Spelling (just words in planner on Mondays)

Reminders:

• Get Caught Reading:  Remember to email in pictures when you "catch" your child reading!  Hadley.ONeill@hcps.org  

Upcoming Dates:

Thank you,

Mrs. O'Neill

Thanksgiving Break Math

On Friday students were given an optional Thanksgiving break packet. Any work that students do over this break and return to school will be rewarded with extra credit points. If the entire packet is completed, they will earn the extra credit points as well as be invited to eat their lunch at our fancy table in the commons to celebrate. Please feel free to help your child with this packet if needed. This does not have to be an independent activity.

Keep practicing those multiplication facts at home as well! Memorization of the basic facts leaves extra brain power to tackle multi-step problems in math class.

Keep an eye out for opportunities to use math during your holiday gatherings. Shopping for food and gifts can be great practice with estimation and working with decimals.

I am thankful for the opportunity to work with each of our fifth graders this year. They are a special group.

See you in a week!
Mrs. Mezan

Harford Glen Fun

The kids had a great time and it was a fantastic trip to the outdoors. We will be wrapping up our school based action plans in science following the Thanksgiving holiday.

Here's a look at a the mannequin challenge the kids wanted to do in the dining hall at Harford Glen after lunch on Thursday.  Have a great break!!!

Reading & Spelling Grading

Please see below for an outline of how ALL classes will be graded in Reading and Spelling. 

Reading

• 4-5 grades per week in Edline
• Nightly homework (4/ week)
• 100 points/ week (25/ day)
• Each night of homework is 25 points.  This means, if a student were to read 3/4 days, they'd get a 75% in homework for that week.
• Students can make up missed days reading.  Just have them read an extra 30 minutes one day or on the weekend.  Write me a note indicating when your child read and for how long; I'll restore their grade accordingly.  
• Book club reading
• 100 points/ week
• Students will lose 20 points each time they have not read to their stop page on our meeting days. Students have time to read in class.
• Book club assignments
• Students will lose 20 points each time they have not completed their book club assignments by our meeting days. Students have time to complete these assignments in class.
• Participation (in Readers' Workshop)
• Read aloud participation

Spelling

• 2 grades per week in Edline
• Nightly homework (4/ week)
• 100 points/ week (25 points/ day)
• Spelling quiz on Fridays

Reminders:

• Get Caught Reading:  Remember to email in pictures when you "catch" your child reading!  Hadley.ONeill@hcps.org  

Upcoming Dates:

• No school for students next week.  Have a very safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you,

Mrs. O'Neill

Harford Glen

The next two days we will be attending Harford Glen as part of our Environmental Stewardship unit.

Students will need a backpack with a change of clothes, just in case they get messy. Weather looks good, with temperatures around 60 degrees or into the low 60s both days, so light jackets should be fine. Boots are the preferred footwear, but tennis shoes are acceptable. If you marked that your student will bring a lunch, please make sure  a lunch is packed in the bag. If you marked that a lunch is being bought, a bagged lunch will be waiting here at school. All details are available in the parent packet that you got with the permission slip earlier this year.

We will come to school in the normal way, we will take busses over and back, and will be returning to Riverside as close to 6 PM as possible on both days. Please be sure that the ride for your student is here at Riverside at 6 PM, so that we may get students picked up promptly.

We appreciate all of your support for this trip and will see you tomorrow!

-Mr. Rost

Math Topic 4

In Math we will be learning to multiply whole numbers and decimals to hundredths. We began the unit learning how patterns to place the decimal point when a decimal is multiplied by a power of 10. We will also estimate decimal products. We will look for structure and patterns to help us to predict answers and understand concepts. 

This topic uses money as a real world context to connect what we are doing in room 22 to everyday life. 

Here is something you can do at home to practice:

1. Look at grocery sale ads.

2. Choose one item and decide the number of items that you want to buy. (2 or more)

3. Estimate about how much the purchase will cost. Students can round to whole numbers or compatible numbers (numbers they deem easier to work with). 

For example: 

Choose to buy 4 of an item that costs $2.89. 

4 x $2.89 is close to 4 x 3 which is $12. 

Choose to buy 16 of an item that costs $3.18.

16 x $3.18 is similar to 15 x 3 so the total cost will be about $45.

Happy shopping! 

Mrs. Mezan 

Book Clubs!

Good evening,

By the end of this week, all students will have started their first book club of the year! Essentially book clubs are "guided reading"; students read texts within their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD; see diagram below).  Additionally, because choice is so vital in reading with regard to intrinsic motivation, students ranked their top choices for clubs.  Based on those ranks (and other contributing factors), I assembled groups.  


Quick Facts about Book Clubs:

• I meet with each book club every other day (twice a week)
• Students (with my guidance) decide together how many pages to read for the next meeting.
• Students have time in class to complete their assigned reading and any additional tasks related to the reading.
• Students are allowed to take book club books home, if desired.
• During meetings, the teacher's role is to first ask questions to monitor comprehension, then push students to think more critically about text.  This is where the magic really happens... Meaningful and insightful dialogue (and eventually writing) comes out of these meetings. 
• Students still have time to read self-selected books during Readers' Workshop, throughout the week.

Reminders:

• Book Fair:  Mrs. O'Neill's homeroom will shop for books during Library tomorrow.
• PTA meeting tonight in the cafeteria, at 6:30
• Get Caught Reading:  Remember to email in pictures when you "catch" your child reading!  Hadley.ONeill@hcps.org  

Upcoming Dates:

• Harford Glen: Permission slips due Friday, Nov. 4 or your earliest convenience. 
• Parent-Teacher Conferences: Monday, Nov. 7  
• All students and families should have been notified of their conference time.  If you are unaware of your assigned time, please email your homeroom teacher. 

Thank you,

Mrs. O'Neill