Thank you so much for such a successful P.I.N.! It was so nice to meet everyone and to share our exciting adventures in room 16! If you did not get a chance to come, you can find my P.I.N. slideshow in the "Parent Info" tab on this website. If you have not signed up for conferences or filled in the "About Your Child" form, please do so as soon as you can (links in previous blog posts below).
MATH
- Completed topic 1- Place Value (but will continue to review concepts as a spiral review all year)
-Moved onto topic 2- Adding/ Subtracting decimals
-We've had some great math center and workshops with stations this week... the students enjoy this fun learning style!
SPELLING
We began our first spelling unit this week. I wanted to ease into this, so every student had the same words with all online homework assignments. Next week I will differentiate this more by what each child needs.
EXPLORER TIME
Mrs. Lowerre and I assessed on the scientific method today after completing "The Great Banana Challenge" and getting some great discussions going about this. We jumped into how scientists and explorers are similar and why asking "I wonder" questions is so important. I showed this great video on why studying history is important, and the students really loved it! I am including the link below... Next week we will assess their understanding of the continents and oceans as in order to dive into our world explorer unit, they need to appreciate and be able to locate these points.
READER'S/ WRITER'S WORKSHOP/READ ALOUD
Author's Craft in Informational Text
Our Reader's Notebooks are finally here! The students are officially documenting books for the 40 Book Challenge-- which they are very excited about! As we are reading The One and Only Ivan, we are documenting how this story-- which is based on a true story-- is written. The author's craft of writing informational writing in a fictional way is a focus area for us right now. The students have done an excellent job of being able to identify techniques that author's use in making writing sound more interesting. This will help them when crafting their own written work.
CLASS MEETING/ DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP
We continue to try and build our classroom community by getting to know one another and talk about respecting one another and our school. Our discussions moved on to the theme of Responsibility today. As we have jumped into using the iPads, we are continuing to talk about the importance of making good decisions with any device. My goal is to get the students ready for the middle school. Our theme of "it's okay to make mistakes" is helpful in getting the students to take risks in a safe environment while learning all of these rules. Devices in a school setting have different rules than at home use.
A great article about Instagram on Common Sense Media... worth checking out! Click here for the link.
OCTOBER THEME OF THE MONTH: Responsibility, Self-discipline, & Reliability
FIRST STAR OF THE WEEK... Shannon!
Come see me at Park Street Books on 10/7 at 4:30 pm for the Dale Street fundraiser by PTO!
Have a great weekend! Thank you for sharing your wonderful 5th grade student with me!
~Kerry Cowell
MATH
- Completed topic 1- Place Value (but will continue to review concepts as a spiral review all year)
-Moved onto topic 2- Adding/ Subtracting decimals
-We've had some great math center and workshops with stations this week... the students enjoy this fun learning style!
SPELLING
We began our first spelling unit this week. I wanted to ease into this, so every student had the same words with all online homework assignments. Next week I will differentiate this more by what each child needs.
EXPLORER TIME
Mrs. Lowerre and I assessed on the scientific method today after completing "The Great Banana Challenge" and getting some great discussions going about this. We jumped into how scientists and explorers are similar and why asking "I wonder" questions is so important. I showed this great video on why studying history is important, and the students really loved it! I am including the link below... Next week we will assess their understanding of the continents and oceans as in order to dive into our world explorer unit, they need to appreciate and be able to locate these points.
READER'S/ WRITER'S WORKSHOP/READ ALOUD
Author's Craft in Informational Text
Our Reader's Notebooks are finally here! The students are officially documenting books for the 40 Book Challenge-- which they are very excited about! As we are reading The One and Only Ivan, we are documenting how this story-- which is based on a true story-- is written. The author's craft of writing informational writing in a fictional way is a focus area for us right now. The students have done an excellent job of being able to identify techniques that author's use in making writing sound more interesting. This will help them when crafting their own written work.
CLASS MEETING/ DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP
We continue to try and build our classroom community by getting to know one another and talk about respecting one another and our school. Our discussions moved on to the theme of Responsibility today. As we have jumped into using the iPads, we are continuing to talk about the importance of making good decisions with any device. My goal is to get the students ready for the middle school. Our theme of "it's okay to make mistakes" is helpful in getting the students to take risks in a safe environment while learning all of these rules. Devices in a school setting have different rules than at home use.
A great article about Instagram on Common Sense Media... worth checking out! Click here for the link.
OCTOBER THEME OF THE MONTH: Responsibility, Self-discipline, & Reliability
FIRST STAR OF THE WEEK... Shannon!
Come see me at Park Street Books on 10/7 at 4:30 pm for the Dale Street fundraiser by PTO!
Have a great weekend! Thank you for sharing your wonderful 5th grade student with me!
~Kerry Cowell