Weekly Parent Update

Parents!  I must say that we had another fun and exciting week.  The students finished their unit on animal cells, and we will start are social studies unit on learning about the earliest Americans.  I am still in the process of grading their writing process test and their spelling test.  So far, the students have done a great job.  This week our grammar skill will focus on being able to identify common and proper nouns, and in writing we will begin writing our own narratives. 

I sent home midterm grades on Friday, and I will need to have those signed and returned to me as soon as possible.  I was very impressed with their grades.  Also, the students will be taking a field trip to Grandview on Thursday, October 6, 2011.  I will be sending home permission forms this week.  The permission forms will also need to be signed and returned as soon as possible.   

I hope you have had a great weekend.  Make sure you look under our classroom photos tab in order to see pictures of the students creating their animal cells.  I look forward to another great week.  

Sneak Peak Pictures of our Animal Cell Creations 

The rest of the pictures are located under the classroom photos tab. 

Also, the students were NOT allowed to eat their animal cells at school.  However, I did tell them that what they did at home was up to their parents.  I hope you did not mind! :)

 

***Parent Update***

Parents!  I wanted to give you an update on some of the lessons I will be covering this week.  This past week we spent the majority of our language arts time working on learning about the writing process, the traits of writing, and the types of writing.  The students will have a test on this information on Thursday, September 22, 2011.  The students took notes in class, but there is also additional information under the writing tab of this blog.  Due to the amount of time that it took to thoroughly explain the elements of writing, I was unable to start teaching about independent and dependent clauses.  With that being said, the grammar skill this week will be independent and dependent clauses. 

In science we began learning about animal cells. The students created a diagram of an animal cell, and this week they will be creating their own animal cell models.  I just finished grading their animal cell diagrams, and they did an excellent job labeling and identifying the parts of an animal cell. 

As always, do not hesitate to call if there are any questions. 

-Ms. Keys

Our Acrostic Poems

Parents!  Please read the comments for this post.  The students have completed their very own acrostic poems!  I hope you enjoy!

Plant Cells and Animal Cells

Hey kiddos!  I found this video and decided to post it on the blog.  I plan to show it to you tomorrow in class!  I hope you enjoy watching it! :) 

"Sprinkle and Flipper"

Our classroom environment would not be the same without the addition of "Sprinkle" and "Flipper."  I am sure you are wondering who Sprinkle and Flipper are, and I am proud to say that they are our classroom pets.  The students have gone above and beyond to show their maturity and independence in taking care of our baby turtles!  I hope you enjoy the pictures of the turtles.  Good luck trying to find them in the pictures!  They are camera shy! :)

Regions Poster Pictures

Hey parents/students!  I have tried extremely hard to get the regions video presentations uploaded, and I could not get it to work!  Therefore, I have decided to post the different groups with their poster!  The kids worked really hard on gathering their research and creating their posters.  I hope you enjoy the pictures! :)

 The West Region

The Midwest Region

The Southwest Region

The Southeast Region

The Northeast Region

Social Studies: Region Presentations

Hey kiddos!  I know a bunch of you have been checking the classroom blog to see if I have uploaded the videos, and I have some bad news!  I tried to upload the videos last night and it would not work.  I am not sure what exactly is going on, but I am still trying!  Just hang in there!  I will do my best to get them uploaded this weekend!  I hope you guys are enjoying your weekend!  Please be safe! :)

Ms. Keys

Hinton Area Open House

Parents!  I would personally like to invite you to our Hinton Area Open House on Thursday, September 8, 2011 from 6-8pm!  I believe that this would be a great time to introduce myself, and I would love to meet the parents of the fabulous students that I am working with!!  I hope to see each of you there!

A Note From The Teacher: Parent Update

The first two weeks have been all about getting the kids into a routine.  Once again the students will be switching classes, so I have been working with them on organizational skills and techniques.  Many of them are doing great with keeping up with assignments, but there are a few that are still having trouble keeping their notebooks and folders organized.  I believe that between me and you we can help get some of the organizational kinks out of their systems.

For the past two weeks, the students have been working on the different parts of speech (noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, conjunction, interjection, and preposition), and the different types of sentences (interrogative, imperative, exclamatory, and declarative).  I spent this weekend grading their assignments and test and I was impressed with many of the scores.  However, as mentioned before it is important that we work together to teach study habits and skills.  Lastly, as of right now the students will more than likely have a spelling test every Friday.  We will spend time reviewing in class, but spending at least 10 minutes at home each night will also aid in their success on the test.

I look forward to a great school year working with you and your children!

Our Learning Environment

Our year has started off fast and exciting!  The students are a pleasure to have in class, and they are as eager to learn as I am to teach.  As soon as the students stepped foot into the classroom I wanted to make sure that the learning environment was conducive to learning!  I am the language arts and writing teacher for the fifth grade, so the following pictures will give you a glimpse of what my classroom looks like! 

 Our Classroom

 The Writing Bulletin Boards

The 6+1 Writing Traits Board

 The Writing Process Board

Our Calendar/Graphic Organizer-Resource Board/My Desk 

Behavior Board

Welcome Board

(This board now has the lunch menu, pe/music schedule, and bus dismissal information posted.)