Home/School Communication and 5th grade field trip today

Every student in the school has a colored, plastic folder meant for home/school communication.  When you open it up, one side says stay at home and one says return to school.  4th and 5th graders bring these folders home every night.  PLEASE ask your child to see these folders every night.  Many 5th grade folders still have papers in them that parents need to see.  We will also start putting weekly assignments or reminders on a sheet that will slide right in the front of the folder or go inside. If your child has a change of plans, please, please write a note and put it in the folder. Miss Brenda gets many emails and phone calls about change of plans during the day and it would be much more efficient if you write a note and put it in the folder.
 Thank you for your help with this.

Today the 5th grade went to The West Farm in Jeffersonville, Vermont.  We harvested potatoes, onions, and winter squash for local food shelves.  On our way home, we stopped by the Fairfield Community Center to deliver some of the food we picked.

Potatoes!!!!

Digging in the dirt.

Peter trusted me with a knife to cut down onions!!!??

And more dirt.

Hiking

This Thursday the 4th grade goes to Chester Arthur to work on the trails and on Friday the 5th grade go to Northwest Solid Waste District.

When Do We Post It?

For reading homework, the 4th grade should be reading for at least 20 minutes a night and the 5th grade for at least 30 minutes.  Post it notes are in the book bags and students should be using them to make inferences, write down big ideas or details, or note scenes they imagine in their minds.  Here is a chart the 5th grade made today answering the question, "When should I post-it?"

When do we post it?

Reading Homework

All students should be reading for at least 20 minutes (4th) and 30 minutes (5th) Monday - Thursday nights.  They have post-it notes that they should be using when they read.  We are practicing making inferences and they should be doing this at home in their independent reading.  Here are some links to some books where we have been practicing our inference skills.

A Day's Work  By Eve Bunting

Just Kidding    By Trudy Ludwig

New Piece of Playground Fun!

Added this past weekend!

The John Halligan presentation went well today. It's a heavy topic, but needs to be addressed.  We invite 5th graders because the bullying Ryan endured started in 5th grade.  I hope to see some of you at the parent presentation.  When my kids were in 4th/5th grade, we only had to worry about the desktop computer.  We were warned to leave it in a spot where it could be monitored.  There were no smartphones.  Today, most kids carry computers around in their pockets.  They are on the internet unsupervised.  Please be aware of the texting and sites your child visits.  It is hard to keep up with the newest apps.They will tell you it's his or her phone, but as long as you pay for it, it is your phone.  Just like the wall phones we grew up with.  Sometimes I miss the simpler days!

Reading Homework Officially Begins!

Every night, Monday through Thursday, the students are required to read for at least 30 minutes in 5th grade and at least 20 if in 4th grade.  Times will increase through the year.  We will read in school, but the students need to still read at night.

The 5th graders were timed 1 minute today while silent reading.  They took the length of what they read and figured out how many pages they should read in 30 minutes.  Then they figured out how long it should take them to read the book.  I will begin taking Status of the Class to record their books and the page they are on.  When they choose a book they will figure out how long it should take them to read.

If you have not checked out John Halligan's website, please do.  He visits our school tomorrow and will be at SATEC tomorrow night for a parent presentation.
https://www.ryanpatrickhalligan.org/

A permission slip was sent home today with 5th grade to visit Northwest Solid Waste District on October 4th.

Open House

Thank you for those who were able to make it to Open House.  The middle school made some great chile from the vegetables in our gardens.

In addition to the field trip we have on September 30th, we will also be going on another that Friday, October 4th.  We will visit Northwest Solid Waste District to learn more about composting and recycling.

We had another butterfly release today.  Here is the video.

We talked about 9/11 today.  I started by showing a read aloud of the book September Roses.  We then read an article about what happened that day and discussed how the country changed after that day.  The definition of terrorist was shared, but we did not focus on that part.

On September 30th we will be going on a field trip to the West Farm in Jeffersonville, VT.  Many papers were sent home today about this trip. We are planning this in conjunction with Healthy Roots. There are two permission slips you need to sign and return.  Linked here is the school permission slip.   Here is a link to Healthy Roots Collaborative.

Today we spent a lot of time reading! We looked through all of our non-fiction books and got rid of old ones that the students would probably not choose to read anymore.  This allowed the students to really see what kinds of books we have!  Here is a video of the kids reading.

And another video of our hula hoop hopping!

This week...

I'm sorry I haven't posted this week.  I usually don't post on Fridays and I have been really sick with the fall cold!  I get home and collapse.

We started switching classes this week!  How nice it is to be in a schedule and see the 4th grade!  The the have Mrs. Heald-Howrigan for math and Mrs. Howrigan for writing.

Fund raisers were sent home Monday.  If you haven't seen it, check your child's backpack.  You should be checking the Purple Home/School Communicator Folders.  I send them home every night even if we didn't hand anything out.

Next week is the presentation with John Halligan.  Here is his website if you would like to learn more. Ryan's Story  He will be here on the 17th and will present that evening at SATEC.

Open House is this Thursday. It starts at 5:30 pm with a chile tasting.  Classroom visits start at 6:00 pmand we will end the evening with a presentation from Fuel Up to Play 60.  You should be out the door heading home by 7:00 pm!!  I hope to see you then!

It's a Butterfly

A student brought in a chrysalis today and it turned into a butterfly during class!  On our way in from releasing it we saw a little orange frog!
Binders are ready, supplies & materials are ready, expectations have been modeled, taught, and gentle reminders have been given to remind students of the expectations.  Monday we start switching for math reading, and writing.  I will teach students reading, science, and social studies. I can't wait!  ** Open House is next Thursday! **

Expectations are up on the walls!

Hi Everyone,
Our 5th grade class expectations and the steps of what to do if one is not following the expectations are up on the wall.  Tomorrow I will start the steps if students are off task, etc.
I always try to give a non-verbal reminder! However, if I just finished giving directions and made sure that everyone heard them, then I will not give a non-verbal.
Step 1 - Redirection back to the activity
Step 2 - Move seat or place in line
Step 3 - Movement break or buddy room (our buddy room is the science room across the hall)
If a child reaches step 3, then a Minor Referral is written and communicated to home.  4 minors in one week becomes a Major Referral.
Step 4 - Planning room to reset.  Major Referral is written and communicated to home.
The starts new about every hour or transition from one class to the next.

Next week is Open House and I will have this all written out so you can take it home.  I will also include the strategies that we use to help students self-regulate their emotions and attention.

The Brain

Today we worked on our All About Me posters and learned more about how our classroom runs. Students took a diagnostic assessment of Lexia, which is an online reading program.  It is a supplement to our reading program.  I will send home information about our reading program at a later date.

If your child plays soccer, please send in a "forever note." A forever note says that your child can always stay after for soccer practices and games.  It also says what your child should do in case practices or games are cancelled.

We watched a video today about the brain.  Here is the link  Ask your child to show you how their hand can become a model for the brain before you watch the video!