Colonial Day is Coming!

In order to bring American history alive and understand how children of the past lived, Caughlin Ranch 5th grade will be hosting the 11 annual Colonial Day!  Colonial Day is a culminating activity to our Colonial America unit of study.  During the day students will play, eat, and even dance (thanks, Mrs. Jackson!) as children living in colonial Williamsburg in the 1770s.  Colonial Day 2012 will be on Thursday, October 11 (note the day has been changed from its originally scheduled day due to picture day on the 12th).

An informational flyer asking for parental help went home in Friday's, September 28, Folder. We will need parents to prepare food, cut cloth, and assist in the rotation activities during the day.  In my classroom, students will be making and dressing corn husk dolls, the more helping hands the better!

To make the event as historically accurate and fun as possible, we encourage students to dress in a colonial fashion.  For girls this means a dress or skirt.  I will provide each young lady with an apron, and the girls will be making their own mob caps.  For the young gents, I suggest they wear football/baseball pants or roll up pants to simulate breeches, knee length pants, and tall socks.  A dress shirt and, if possible, a vest or dress coat, will complete their outfit.  Boys will be fashioning cravats, precursor to the tie,  out of material.  Don't rush out to purchase clothing--raid every closet in the house.  One of the best dressed colonial lads I ever saw wore his mother's full sleeved blouse and her vest!  If you do decide to buy something, try Savers or one of the other used clothing stores.  Old Halloween costumes can be fashioned into colonial clothing, too.

Below are some examples of student clothing from last year: 

Colonial Ladies

Colonial Lads

Hair Raising Science & Crystal Peak

I greatly enjoyed Parent Night last Tuesday.  If you were unable to attend, please stop by after school, and I will give you the parent handouts.  We had another wonderful week together:

In science we are investigating atoms and elements.  Students stripped electrons from their hair to negatively charge balloons.  It was a "hair raising" activity!

Students were then challenged to use the negatively charged balloons to move neutrally charged soda cans.



In other science news, as mentioned at Parent Night, Mr. Saulsbury and I will be leading a non-school sponsored field trip to Crystal Peak to dig for quartz crystals, feldspar and sericite minerals.  This is considered a group of friends out for a day of mineral adventure.  Teachers will not be responsible for students.  Parents will drive their own children or make arrangements with friends to drive their child. We will meet in Caughlin Ranch school parking lot at 9:30 am on Saturday, Sept. 22, and caravan out to the mine site through Verdi and Dog Valley.  A flyer will be sent home Monday, Sept. 17, with more information.  Hope you all can make it!

We are Well on our Way!

The first several weeks of a new school year focus on establishing rapport, expectations, and procedures to ensure a successful school year.  Below is an outline by subject of what we have discussed in class:

Math
We are using the Everyday Math program in our classroom.  Everyday Math is a leader in digital and on-line support for teachers, students, and parents.  The program supports teachers' instruction with ready made and easily modified Active Inspire flip charts.  Students have been given usernames and passwords to access Everyday Math's on-line resources.  These resources include Family Letters that explain the concepts and vocabulary of each unit and offer the answers to homework Study Links, videos demonstrating the use of various computation alogorithms, and games for practice. There's more, but that is all we were able to investigate in class!  Student log-in address is https://www.everydaymathonline.com/student_login.html or just google Everyday Math and the student log-in will pop right up!  I am in the process of laminating the students' log-in cards.  They should have them in their possession by the end of next week.

For math practice, we are also using IXL.com.  Students will be given three IXL skills to practice for one week.  The IXL skills will be announced on Monday and will be due the following Monday.  For some students having a weekend to work on these is helpful.  The IXL assignment is valued as 1/2 of a regular classroom assignment.. The IXL Smart Score is the score the student earns on the assignment. 

Spelling/Word Study
Zaner-Bloser is the spelling and vocabulary program we are using in all of 5th grade.  Students will have their own practice book which includes a dictionary and thesaurus. The books have not arrived yet, so students have been given photocopies of the practice pages. The spelling unit is introduced on Monday and students are given time in class to work on the pages that day.  The practice pages are to be completed by Thursday.  These pages may be worked on in class when other assignments are completed or as homework.    Each spelling unit includes a Connection to Writing page.  The writing page practice is not due until Friday. Students are expected to rewrite the model paragraph correctly and write their own paragraph on the prompt given. Students have been given a bright green scoring rubic for the self-written paragraph. I encourage students to word process their writing. Parents feel free to discuss the meanings of the words with your child and look over his/her work.

Reading
Students have been given their first Independent Reading Assignment. This assignment is linked to AR (Accelerated Reading). Students took a STAR test to help identify  their independent reading level.  I conferenced with each student to review the STAR test data. That information was used to determine an AR point goal suitable to their reading level.  Students are expected to read 30 minutes per day and attain their AR points goal by October 12. Students may read as many books as they want to attain their point goal.  Book levels shoudd be within the range indicated on their Independent Reading Assignment. For one book that they read before October 12, students are to complete a Story Map and write a Book Review.  Students will also collect 10 interesting words and the word's definition on a WOW! Words bookmark. Students will be given details on the Book Review and WOW! Words bookmark next week. 

Starting Monday, September 13, students will be given their first weekly fluency assignment.  This assignment promotes students' reading fluency and comprehension skills.  The idea is to have students read the given passage out loud to a parent several times during the week--they should become more fluent with each reading.  Corresponding comprehension questions are on the back of the paper along with a Parent Tip.  Parents sign of at the bottom of the page to indicate they listened to their child read. The fluency assignment is due Friday.

We will be focusing on reading informational text in the classroom in conjunction with our social studies and science units.

Writing
As many of you already know, students have been writing a Me Report. The purpose of this report was to highlight the writing process, review paragraph structure, and the structure of an essay (introduction, body paragraphs, and concluding paragraph). Their writing is definitely a work in progress and we will be continueing with this report on Monday. In order to prepare students for the state mandated Writing Test in February, students are encouraged to type their writing.  The Writing Test is taken in the computer lab and students are expected to type their responses to the prompt. Parents please review your child's writing especially to assist in spelling and punctuation.  Thanks!

Well, that's about all for now--probably more than you care to process in a single blog!  If you have any questions, please contact me! 

Looking forward to seeing you at Parent Night on Tuesday evening, September 14.

Support PTA to Support our School!

Caughlin Ranch's wonderful PTA is hard at work to raise extra funds to support our school.  The big fund raiser of the year, the Jog-athon, is right around the corner.  Students have been given packets to collect money for the Jog-athon.  The PTA is hoping every child in every classroom will be able to contribute something--every little bit helps!  Students will be jogging on September 21.  5th grade will be jogging at 10:45.  So come on down to the school and cheer your jogger on!

Another fund raiser PTA is encouraging is Box Top clipping.  Many products, cereals, can goods, even reams of copy paper, have a red and yellow symbol with the words Box Top for Education.  These box tops can be redeemed for money.  PTA is having a competition for the student, grade, and class collecting the most.  So start clipping and bringing those box tops to school.

The money our PTA raises helps to fund our Accelerated Reader Program, buy playground equipment and  technology for classrooms, and many other things the school district simply can't afford. 

Thanks PTA!