Sunday, January 22, 2017

Updates: Week of January 23

Thank you for taking the time to stop by our blog and read about what's going on in 5th Grade. Please be sure to check the Google Calendar that is linked at the top of the blog for important updates. 

Announcements
  • Town Center Cookbook - We wanted to have the opportunity to create a TCE Family Traditions cookbook this year since our theme is all about family and celebrating the diversity within our community.  We would love to have you share one of your favorite family recipes to go into our cookbook this year.  If you are interested in participating, please send in your recipe to Casey Wagner, cwagner@coppellisd.com, or you may send in a paper copy of your recipe to the front office. 

  • Snowman Stretch Challenge! We will be having another campus wide design challenge, and this time we are inviting the kids to design snowmen! Please see the flyer to read more about the challenge. All submissions are due February 1st. 
  • Mrs. Martin, our PE Teacher, has an awesome community health challenge to share with our TCE families. Please read her letter explaining the challenge and then check out these linked flyers about the challenge and ways to earn points
  • As a reminder, we did add headphones to the learners' supply kits this year. We invite the learners to watch videos, use online learning tools, and play educational games in class often, and it is really important that they have headphones for these tasks. If your learner does not have a pair of headphones at school, please help them locate a pair so that they can be prepared for class. 
  • We do have a new Safety Patrol schedule! See this link for a copy of the schedule

Sky Ranch Updates

  • Please see our Sky Ranch flyer for updates and details about our trip. Within this flyer, we have included a link to our payment letter and a place for you to ask questions about the trip (should you feel the need). 
  • We will have an informational meeting for all 5th grade parents this Thursday, January 26, 2017 at 5:30 PM. 
  • Our next payment of $50 is due on Friday, January 27th. After this payment, your paid balance should be at least $150. If you are unable to make these payments, please reach out to your son/daughter's homeroom teacher.  Of course, we understand that sometimes budgets can be tight and it may be hard to make the payment by that date, and we are happy to help if we can, but we do need for you to communicate with us rather than just not pay. Thank you for understanding! 

Curriculum Tidbits
*We hope that you will periodically check our Twitter accounts as we tweet glimpses of what we're learning in class. You can find our tweets by searching the hashtag #tce5th or by going to our individual pages.

STAAR Updates
As we enter into the spring semester, we are getting closer to our STAAR tests. In preparation for the tests, we will be doing some practice assessments in reading, math, and science over the next few weeks, which your learners may tell you about. We will continue to engage our learners in innovative and collaborative lessons, but we want to provide them with some practice as well. You may also notice more STAAR-related homework coming home as well. As with everything we do, we have been talking to our learners about having a growth mindset when it comes to these assessments. We want them to have all the tools they need to feel successful! 

Math
In math we will be wrapping up our unit over expressions and equations. The learners will be working on a test review in class and will be taking an assessment later in the week.

Science
In science we will be continuing our unit over patterns in the natural world. This week the learners will be researching the Sun, Earth, and Moon. They will be crafting paragraphs based off their research.

Reading, Writing, & Spelling
In reading, we will continue to study different genres. This week we will be looking at two paired passages and analyzing how they compare and contrast. The learners will also be able to continue to graph their progress and set goals for themselves. 

In writing, we will continue to study expository writing. For their midyear writing assessment, the learners wrote to explain why cellphones are important in our lives. We really enjoyed reading the enlightening reasons they came up with! 

Social Studies
We are learning about the original 13 colonies and attempting to answer our essential question, "How were the three colonial regions alike and different?" We are also working to understand the big idea that where you live affects how you live.

Homework Tidbits

  • Reading Homework: 
    • We are counting down the weeks until STAAR! Starting this week we will have your learners studying STAAR Reading vocabulary words for homework. They will also be exposed to these words during the school days and will be assessed on Fridays. 
    • In addition, we will be starting our weekly Article of the Week (AOW) homework this week. If you were here last year, this homework will look similar to last year's homework. The learners will be provided with a current events article, and they will have specific tasks to accomplish each night. 
  • Weekly Spelling List - Quiz on Friday: As a note, the learners do have a weekly spelling list that they are expected to study throughout the week. We include "Study for Spelling Quiz" in the homework section of our daily agendas, so if every your learner says they don't have homework, they do. While we do cover spelling in class, it is important for them to take the time to study at home as well. 
  • Math/Science Homework: The weekly homework packet will be including Math practice and Science practice. The learners will have up to 5 Math questions and 5 Science questions a week. The learners also need to be completing their Reflex Math time. If their Reflex Math is not completed for the week, they will be required to spend that time in Homework Club during Texan Town. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact your learner’s Math/Science teacher.

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Finally, thank you again for taking the time to read our blog. We know how important it is for our TCE families to know what is happening at school! If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask. Our contact information is linked below for your convenience.

5A Morgan Peccarelli - mpeccarelli@coppellisd.com
5B Kate Seifert - kseifert@coppellisd.com
5C Marly Natherson - mnatherson@coppellisd.com
5D Jenna Taylor - jltaylor@coppellisd.com

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Updates: Week of January 9

Thank you for taking the time to stop by our blog and read about what's going on in 5th Grade. Please be sure to check the Google Calendar that is linked at the top of the blog for important updates. 

Announcements
  • Town Center Cookbook - We wanted to have the opportunity to create a TCE Family Traditions cookbook this year since our theme is all about family and celebrating the diversity within our community.  We would love to have you share one of your favorite family recipes to go into our cookbook this year.  If you are interested in participating, please send in your recipe to Casey Wagner, cwagner@coppellisd.com, or you may send in a paper copy of your recipe to the front office. 

  • Snowman Stretch Challenge! We will be having another campus wide design challenge, and this time we are inviting the kids to design snowmen! Please see the flyer to read more about the challenge. All submissions are due February 1st. 
  • Town Center's Annual Skate Night will take place this Thursday, January 12th! See the flyer that came home with your son/daughter for more information. 
  • As a reminder, we will not have school on Monday, January 16. 

Sky Ranch Updates

  • Please see our Sky Ranch flyer for updates and details about our trip. Within this flyer, we have included a link to our payment letter and a place for you to ask questions about the trip (should you feel the need). 
  • We will have an informational meeting for all 5th grade parents on Thursday, January 26, 2017 at 5:30 PM. 
  • Our next payment of $50 is due on Friday, January 27th. After this payment, your paid balance should be at least $150. If you are unable to make these payments, please reach out to your son/daughter's homeroom teacher. 

Spelling Bee
  • Congratulations to our 5th Grade Spelling Bee Champion, Mihir from 5C, and our Runner Up, Parthi from 5D. Way to go 5th graders! Mihir will be competing in the District Spelling Bee this Wednesday, January 11th. Wish him luck!

Curriculum Tidbits
*We hope that you will periodically check our Twitter accounts as we tweet glimpses of what we're learning in class. You can find our tweets by searching the hashtag #tce5th or by going to our individual pages.

Math
In math we have started our unit over expressions and equations. We have begun by covering prime, composite, multiples, and factors. Next week we will look at multi step problems involving the 4 operations and work to solve for the unknown variable.

Science
In science we have started our unit over patterns in the natural world. The students will be investigating the physical properties of the Sun, Earth, and Moon. They will also be investigating the day and night cycle and the water cycle.


Reading, Writing, & Spelling
In reading this week, we are beginning to review our nonfiction reading skills. We are focusing on finding evidence for all of our answers and really thinking about what we are reading. Next week we will focus on reviewing poetry.

In writing, we are continuing our study of various comma patterns. As your learner about the AAAWWWUBIS comma pattern!

As a note, the learners do have a weekly spelling list that they are expected to study throughout the week. We include "Study for Spelling Quiz" in the homework section of our daily agendas, so if every your learner says they don't have homework, they do. While we do cover spelling in class, it is important for them to take the time to study at home as well. 

Social Studies
We are learning about the original 13 colonies and attempting to answer our essential question, "How were the three colonial regions alike and different?" We are also working to understand the big idea that where you live affects how you live.

Homework Tidbits

  • Weekly Spelling List - Quiz on Friday
  • Reflex Math
  • Weekly Math Homework - Due Friday

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Finally, thank you again for taking the time to read our blog. We know how important it is for our TCE families to know what is happening at school! If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask. Our contact information is linked below for your convenience.

5A Morgan Peccarelli - mpeccarelli@coppellisd.com
5B Kate Seifert - kseifert@coppellisd.com
5C Marly Natherson - mnatherson@coppellisd.com
5D Jenna Taylor - jltaylor@coppellisd.com