Growing to Maturity:
This week the children will take part in our growing to maturity lessons. These lessons will take place this Monday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday. A couple staff members and I will work with the boys and Miss. Longton and Mrs. Aupperle will work with the girls. We will encourage the children to come home and talk to you about what we discussed and learned in class. Look for your child's growing to maturity packet to come home with your child on Friday. This packet is a great way to start a conversation on what we discussed. Please let me know if you have any questions.
District Choir Practice:
On Tuesday, all of the 5th grade choir members throughout the district will take part in a "District Choir Festival" practice. Every 3 years the 5th grade choirs, middle school choirs, and high school choirs come together for a performance called the "District Choir Festival." The first practice is at the High School this Tuesday, February 11th. We will leave Glenmont at 9:25am and then leave the high school at 10:50am (we will be back to Glenmont for 11am). There will be additional practices as we get closer to the actual concert. If you have any questions on this event feel free to contact Mrs. Seebode.
Report Cards & Conferences:
Report cards have been available on BC@Home since last weekend. Last Friday your child's reading and math mid year progress notes (AIMS Web) were sent home in your child's backpack. Feel free to contact me with any questions regarding your child's report card or the AIMS Web updates. It was great to meet with some of you last week and I look forward to meeting with several of you for our last half day conference day on Tuesday.
Writing Update:
The children have been busy writing argumentative essays. They are currently writing an essay on whether or not cursive writing should be taught in schools. This is a very controversial topic around school districts in America. The children researched cursive writing, chose a stance, and are now finishing up their essays. We are currently discussing rebuttals and counterclaims in class. On Monday the children will add counterclaims to their essays. This week I will continue to teach the children strategies on how to revise and make their essays better. I am extremely impressed with the children's progress they have made in writing this year.
Reading Update:
We are currently working on a non-fiction unit in reading. Recently, we have had two reading blocks each day. The first block of the day focuses on non-fiction. The children are learning the text structures of non-fiction. A text structure is how a non-fiction author writes non-fiction. We already learned definition, description, process, & classification. The children are reading very interesting non-fiction articles and then using graphic organizers to identify and explain the different text structures. These text structure ensure that the children are understanding and synthesizing what they are reading. Our second reading block focuses on the children's literature circle and independent books. There is a lot of "good thinking reading" going on in "The Kourt Room."
There will be spelling and vocabulary this week. In social studies we are currently discussing the Civil War. This week we will start a mini-unit on the Westward Expansion.
The children are very excited about our Hoops for Heart - teachers vs. 5th graders 3 on 3 basketball games on Thursday. We will have our Valentine's Day party on Friday. Have a great week and enjoy Winter break next week!
Thanks for your support!
Andrew
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