READ AT HOME

We have started our Read At Home program at school.  In order to participate, your student needs to agree to read 600 minutes in 6 weeks.  Your student has a blue calendar to use for this.  Remember to sign it and turn it in at the end of February. Every student who completes this goal will receive a free Silverwood ticket!

Note:  if your child is not participating in the Read At Home activity, he/she is still expected to complete the classroom assignment of reading 4 times a week for 20 minutes at each time. I will continue to check those reading logs on Mondays.

Stream Tables

Erosion, deltas, meanders, canyons, plateaus and more! Today we built stream tables and watched erosion up close!  How was the Grand Canyon formed?  How do scientists know erosion played a part?  Can we pick up the Grand Canyon and bring to a science lab?  Can Earth Scientists stand in the middle of the Grand Canyon and watch erosion happen?

Aw!!  Maybe they use a model??

Next, the kids built Stream Tables.

I have to say...the kids did a GREAT job with this investigation!  They were focused and working hard.  I was super proud of them.  Next, every group shared what they observed.

Science!!

We have a new science kit!  The kit is called Landforms.  This kit will help to teach many important science skills, concepts and science vocabulary.  We started the kit last week with a discussion about why we use models and maps.  The kids started by creating a schoolyard model.

After building the model, we had a discussion around how a person might share the information from their model.  Would it be easy or convenient to take the model to a meeting about the schoolyard?  That lead to the idea that perhaps a map might be a more efficient way to share out schoolyard landforms and structures.  The kids became "cartographers" and drew a map of their model using a grid overlay and markers.

They did a great job!  We will be using the models and trays to create Stream Tables.  It's a lot of learning mixed with a lot of fun.  Wait!  I thought learning wasn't supposed to be fun!

Welcome Miss Board!

We have a new face in our room!  Miss Kaity Board will be spending the rest of the year with us.  During her time in the classroom, she will observe the daily activities in the room and she will teach several lessons as well.  While I will always be in the room with her, I can already see that she will be a great teacher and have confidence in all she has to share.  We are excited to have her join our class!

"Harvest" Party

As usual, we had a great time at our Harvest Party!  I loved seeing all the awesome costumes.  Our parents provided many, many wonderful treats.  We loved being part of the costume parade and had fun seeing all the costumes from the rest of the school!  Take a look at these very creative costumes!

 Did you notice all of the great decorations?  We have the BEST mom helpers!

Mystery Bag Book Reports

In October, we explored the "Mystery" genre.  The students enjoyed learning about the elements of a mystery.  When they finished their books, they were given the assignment to create a "Mystery Bag Book Report".  They needed to create a new cover, describe a "grabbing moment" and  list the elements of a mystery.   They also needed to include three concrete items that represented parts of their story.  Each student had a turn to present their projects to the class.  Th is gave them an opportunity to practice their public speaking skills.  Hope you enjoy the pics of some of our presenters!

Technical Difficulties

I've been trying to update my blog with current spelling lists and events of the month but Blogger isn't allowing me to update.  I appreciate your patience.  The spelling words should be on my school website found at www.mlsd.org.

Picture Day

Bring your best smiles tomorrow! It's individual picture day! Monday,Sept. 23 is the day and we are scheduled for 12:00pm,

Parent Information Evening

Just a reminder that tomorrow, Wednesday Sept. 18,  is  PIE Night at Hallett Elementary.  Now that we have been in school for two weeks, you may have questions about routines and expectations in our room. This is a great time to stop in and get those questions answered.  We have two sessions, 6:30pm and 7:00pm.  Please feel free to come to either one of those times.  Of course, be sure to enjoy a piece of pie in the multipurpose room!

Two Weeks!

We have now been in school two full weeks!  Whew!!  It seems like time has flown by!  We have been busy getting to know one another and learning the expectations for learning in our classroom.  We are developing some great listening and working habits.  I feel like we are now on our way to learning all we can to be successful 5th graders!

You will start to see more posts on the blog and pictures of what is "really" going on during your child's day. Your students are excited about learning and ask a lot of great questions!

Please remember to check their planners every day!  I have sent a couple of whole class emails home.  If you haven't received them, please let me know so I can make sure we have the right email address for you.   We have a great system for sending out a quick email to everyone at once. Your email addresses are not visible to everyone else.  Sometimes, I will send a note out to let you know what we are working on in class and ways to help at home.  Other times, I may send a note to give you some important information.

Always let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  It's important that we work together to help your child succeed!

Welcome To 5th Grade 2013-2014

Hello!  I am looking forward to a great year! I am excited to get back to blogging this year.  Due to some events out of my control, I wasn't able to blog as much last year.  This year will be a blog-filled year!  I love to give parents a window to our 5th grade world.  I know how hard it is to wonder what your child is doing all day.  I love to take a lot of pictures and let you experience 5th grade with your child!  Feel free to look through some past blog posts.  You will love them! I only post pictures of students whose parents have signed a release form that allows me to.  I also try to put spelling words up and routine homework assignments as well.

Hope you are excited as I am for the new year!!

Mystery Book Projects

About 2 weeks ago, I sent home a Mystery Book assignment.  Your student should have the book read by now and should be working on the project.  I sent a packet home that has all of the directions and an explanation of how it will be scored.  The project is due Wednesday, Jan 23rd.  My thought is that the 3 day weekend might provide some extra time to work on it.  I will send progress reports home after the projects are turned in. This is part of their reading and communication grades.  Again, contact me if you have any questions.  Your student can certainly bring it in on Tuesday if it is finished.

Read At Home Celebration

Our six week "Read At Home Celebration" started this week.  I am pleased to say that we have 100% of the class participating!  That is a first!  As you know, part of our weekly homework is the Reading Log.  Please don't feel like you need to fill both out during this six weeks.  You can simply use the calendar that was sent home.  Just let me know somehow on Mondays that the reading was completed for that week.  You can write a note in the planner or keep the calendar in the homework folder.  Your student will still get  a Hawks Pride slip for completing it each week. Let me know if you have any questions!

Silent Auction Basket for the Carnival

Hallett Elementary will have a school carnival on Feb 2nd.  Our PTSO has asked every class to provide a basket for the Silent Auction that is part of the carnival.  Our class is partnering with Mr. John's class to create a Mexican Themed Food/Kitchen basket.  I sent home a list of possible ideas to donate.  If you need another list, just let me know.  We appreciate any help you can give with donations to our basket. :)

We Are Hungry For Reading!

The students were to choose a book in their "Lexile Range" knowing they would be doing a book report on it.  They had no idea what the book report would look like!  Today was the day of the "Big Reveal"!  What would their assignment be?? 

CHEESEBURGER Book Reports!

Even though they are the oldest kids in the school, they are still kids! They love to cut, color and glue. They LOVED this project. I thought I would need to give several days for them to complete it. Boy, was I wrong! They wanted to keep working and working. So, we put on some Christmas music and went to work.

First, a little reading....



Next, a "First Draft"followed with some editing for correct spelling, scentence structure and punctuation.  The reports included story elements: plot, genre, characterization, setting and conclusion.  They were also asked what their favorite part of the book was and ......WHY?   Finally, coloring and assembly of the cheeseburger.  These were written directions.....that's right!  A following directions exercise, too!

 They were so happy with their "Final Products".  There were a lot of smiles as big as this one,,,, including mine!

Poster Math

Question:  How many different ways can 144 marbles be divided equally into bags?

That was the problem I gave the students on Friday.  I gave them some time to work on their own with it....no helping, no hints...just silent working time.  Of course everyone came up with 12 marbles and 12 bags.  They love that 12 x 12 = 144 multiplication fact!  Several of the students wrote their answer and turned their paper over.  Done!  I got a chuckle out of watching their faces when they realized I was giving way too much time to work if that was the ONLY possible answer.  Back to work.....:)

After they finished working independently, I put them into groups (I love group work!) They were given some chart paper and the task of showing AND explaining their thinking on their paper.  "Show and explain your thinking" is a great strategy for digging deeper.

 It's so much fun and very interesting to watch their thinking come to  life on their chart paper.  Group work helps stretch their thinking.  They are learning from each other.

Finally, they take a walk through the "Math Gallery" and look at all of the math posters.  One person from each group stays with the poster and explains ALL of the thinking on the chart...not just their own.  We follow up with a great whole group discussion and solve the question together.What worked? What didn't?  Why did you choose the solution you did?  How did you come up with that idea? So powerful to hear them share their thinking with each other!

 Can you figure out how many different ways there are to divide 144 equally?

Helping Others Project

Every year, Hallett Hawks support a "Helping Others Project" during the holidays.  This year, the ASB has chosen to help the Spokane Humane Society.  We need your help!

Items that are needed are:

Dry dog food

Dry cat food

Non clumping litter

Towels and washcloths
Kong dog toys

Large jars of peanut butter

Cat toys

Blankets (no electric)

Pet shampoos and conditioners

Grooming supplies

Cat beds

Frontline flea control

This is voluntary and all items will be taken to the Humane Society.There will be a large donation box near the front office.  If you have any questions please call the school at 565-3400.

Science Study Groups

We just finished Chapter 10 in science (Weathering) and are getting ready for a test.  It's always fun to   work in groups. so today's assignment was to work on their study guides in groups.  I love Pinterest and they had a great idea for grouping kids.  A fellow teacher gave me some wrist bands and I used them to group the kids by band color.  I had them draw the bands out of a brown bag. They loved it!!

They worked very well together.   

Help! We Are Working on Long Division!

We have started long division!  Yikes!  Although, many of us were introduced to it last year, we are still needing a lot of practice!  It would be great if you could help your student at night.  Right now we are working on multiple digits divided by single digit (4762 divided by 5 for example).  We use the algorithm:

Divide
Multiply
Subtract
Compare
Bring Down

You can help your student practice and become more confident by making up some problems and having them work through them with you.  Let me know if you have any quetions. :)

Woohoo!!

I FINALLY have our blog. The Spilker Scoop, up and running.  I have to apologize for the delay.  I know you all look forward to seeing what your kiddos are doing in school!  I changed things up on it a little.  It is only showing 3 posts on a page so be sure to click on the "older posts" tab at the bottom.  There are more posts from this year than are on the current page.  I hope you enjoy!