Updates: Week 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

• The first Sky Ranch payment is due Friday, October 21st. If you and your family will not be able to make this payment, please email your son/daughter's teacher. (See the blurb below about more Sky Ranch details.) 
• Pumpkin Design Challenge - Town Center is having another Pumpkin Design Challenge. Please click on the picture to learn more about the challenge. 

Conferences

As you know, we will be having Parent Teacher Conferences during the beginning of October. Our official conference day (in which learners will not have school) is Friday, October 7th, but we will be offering additional time slots as well. If you have not yet done so, please sign up for a conference time slot. 

If you sign up for a face to face conference, you will have a 15 minute slot to meet with both of your son/daughter's teachers. These conferences will be learner-led, and we invite you to bring your son/daughter with you.

Miss Peccarelli & Miss Seifert's Classes: 

• 5A/5B Conferences Sign Up
• 5A/5B Pre-conference Question Form - Complete prior to your conference time. 

Miss Natherson & Miss Taylor's Classes: 

• 5C/5D Conferences Sign Up
• 5C/5D Pre-conference Questions Form - Complete prior to your conference time. 

During our conference, one of the things we will be discussing is your learner's beginning of the year data. To help you better understand the data and because the 15 minute time slot can go by quickly, we have created a short presentation for you to view prior to your conference. This presentation includes two videos and will explain each of the assessment tools in detail. Please take a few minutes to view it. 

5th Grade Fall Conferences Parent Presentation

PDF | Google Presentation 

We look forward to conferencing with you about your learner! 

Updates Week 6

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

• We loved having visitors in our room for Special Friends Day last week! 

Parent Teacher Conferences

• Friday, October 7th is our Parent Teacher Conference Day. On this day, learners will have the day off, and educators will be at school having conferences. We would love to conference with you and your son/daughter, and we hope you will be able to sign up for a conference time. 
• If you sign up for a face to face conference, you will have a 15 minute slot to meet with both of your son/daughter's teachers. These conferences will be learner-led, and we invite you to bring your son/daughter with you. (If there is a topic you'd like to discuss without your son/daughter present, we can arrange that as well.) 
• We are offering some conference slots during the week prior to October 7th as well. If you are unable to find a time slot that works for you, please let us know and we will be happy to set something up. 
• If your schedule does not permit a face to face conference, we would still love to offer you a phone or email conference. If this is the case, please email your child's homeroom teacher to set one up. 

Conference Sign Ups: 

If you would like to sign up for a face to face conference, please access the following links. Prior to your conference, please complete the quick questionnaire so that we may be more prepared for your conference. 

Miss Peccarelli & Miss Seifert's Classes: 

• 5A/5B Conferences Sign Up
• 5A/5B Pre-conference Question Form - Complete prior to your conference time. 

Miss Natherson & Miss Taylor's Classes: 

• 5C/5D Conferences Sign Up
• 5C/5D Pre-conference Questions Form - Complete prior to your conference time. 

Classroom Communities

• We have emphasized that at TCE, we are one big family. In keeping with that theme, we will be showcasing family pictures in our classrooms again this year. If you have not already done so, please send a picture of your family to your child's teacher. You may email the picture or send in a printed picture. Thank you for your help with this! 

Curriculum Tidbits

Math

The learners will begin a new unit exploring the place value of decimals. They will be able to represent numbers with decimals up to the thousandths place.

Science

This week in science we will continue exploring the different properties of matter.

Reading

In reading, we will wrap up our study of our first short story, Charles, through the Junior Great Books curriculum with a "Great Debate" in which the learners will discuss their ideas about the story. In preparation for this "Great Debate," the learners will be working on justifying their opinions with evidence from the text.

Writing & Spelling

We are loving our Narrative Writing Unit! So far the learners have learned about how to "Begin with a Bang" and end their narratives with a "Take Away Conclusion." Later this week, we will focus on writing more descriptively and really engaging our readers.

In spelling, the learners will continue to get a new list each week, study and understand the spelling patterns throughout the week, and take a quiz on Friday. As requested at Curriculum Night, you may access the learner's spelling lists on our class websites.

Social Studies

We have begun our study of the United States Constitution! Our learners are beginning to understand the purposes of our checks and balances system and the role of our three branches of government!
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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

Upcoming Events: Special Friends Day, Fall Family Picnic, & Conferences

A few important updates for this week: 

• We will celebrate Special Friends Day this Friday, September 23rd from 1:30-2:30. Learners may invite special friends (such as family members or close family friends) to visit during this time. During their visit, the learners' special friends will have the chance to visit our classroom, the book fair, and other areas of our school. Please let us know if you have any questions! 
• The Annual Fall Family Picnic is this Friday, September 23rd at 5:30 PM at the Town Center pavilion right next to our school. This is a fun event for the whole family, and we hope to see you there! 
• This week will be our second Texan Town, and we will be selling popcorn again. Learners may buy a bag of popcorn for $0.50 or purchase a subscription for $4.00. 
• As you may have learned, we do have the book fair going on this year! We would love for you to visit the book fair with your learner before or after school. In addition, you may send your learner with cash to spend. However, we recommend sending the money in an envelope, bag, or wallet; We want to be sure the learners don't lose their money. 
• Finally, we will have Parent Teacher Conferences on Friday, October 7th. We will be sending out a sign up for these conferences in the next few days, but we thought you might want to be sure to add it to your calendar. 

Thank you for taking a few minutes to read our blog! 

Updates: Week 4

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

• Safety Patrol is up and running, and our fifth graders are doing a fantastic job serving our school. Each learner that has signed up to participate in Safety Patrol received a copy of the Safety Patrol Schedule, which you can also access here. 
• We will start Texan Town this Friday, September 16th. In preparation for Texan Town, our learners will have the chance to fill out a job application and rank their top five club choices. Learners will also have the opportunity to run for Student Council on Monday. We encourage our learners to take a risk and try for Student Council if they're interested. 
• Destination Imagination and the Geography Club are both after school programs that will be offered this year. To learn more about these clubs, please access these links: Destination Imagine & Geography Club. 

Classroom Communities

• We have emphasized that at TCE, we are one big family. In keeping with that theme, we will be showcasing family pictures in our classrooms again this year. If you have not already done so, please send a picture of your family to your child's teacher. You may email the picture or send in a printed picture. Thank you for your help with this! 

Curriculum Tidbits

Math

This week in Math we will continue to focus on Whole Number Operations. The learners will be working on estimating and different algebraic expressions.

Science

This week in Science we will begin investigating different properties of matter. We will be looking at the different ways that we can describe properties of matter.

Reading

In reading, we have been enjoying our first short story, Charles, through the Junior Great Books curriculum. The learners will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of self-paced stations including focusing on vocabulary, point of view, and theme. Then we will wrap up our study of the story with a "Great Debate" in which the learners will discuss their ideas about the story.

Writing & Spelling

This next week we will begin our narrative writing unit. We are excited to dive back into the narrative writing process and watch as our learners get creative with their writing. Learners will have the opportunity to work through a set of blended, self-paced lessons in which they will learn about refining their craft as writers.

In spelling, the learners will continue to get a new list each week, study and understand the spelling patterns throughout the week, and take a quiz on Friday. As requested at Curriculum Night, you may access the learner's spelling lists on our class websites.

Social Studies

This week we will finish our study of map tools and the physical geography of the United States! The learners will participate in a review game on Tuesday and will take a test over what they've learned on Friday.

In addition, we will celebrate Constitution Day at the end of the week as we begin our unit on the Constitution of the United States.

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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

Curriculum Night Information

First, thank you so much to those of you that were able to come to Curriculum Night this year. We appreciate the time that you took to come and participate in our evening. We also understand that some of you may not have been able to make it, and we want to be sure everyone has access to the information we shared.

Click here for a PDF copy of our Curriculum Night Presentation. You can also find these on our teacher websites.

Last week, Dr. Applegate included an informational video on her blog, Town Center Elementary Principal News. If you have not already done so, please check her blog for that important piece of communication. If you'd like to bookmark this blog for the future, the link is: http://tceprincipalnews.blogspot.com/.

Updates: Week 2

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

• 3rd-5th Grade Curriculum Night will be this Thursday, September 2, from 6:30-7:30. (Each grade will be in a different room. We will email later this week about which room we will be in.) During this evening, we will share a presentation with important details, guidelines, and procedures for 5th grade. We will share our presentation after Curriculum Night, so if you aren't able to make it, you'll still be able to access the information. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. 
• If you have not yet done so, please take a few minutes to complete your child's Student Information Form online. Your teacher has emailed this link out to you, but if you do not have it, please email them for it. This is a very important document and we really appreciate you completing it. 
• This Tuesday, the 5th graders will have the opportunity to attend an information meeting to learn more about Safety Patrol. Once we have the meeting, Mr. Shelby will begin to create a schedule for all those participating. We will share that schedule on this blog once we have it. Thank you, in advance, to all of the 5th graders (and their families) that have volunteered to participate. If you have not yet seen the letter that went home regarding safety patrol, you may access it here. 

Classroom Communities

• We have worked hard to foster safe and comfortable learning communities in our classrooms through various activities during the first week. One of the activities we did was to invite the learners to create their own class code. Ask your learner about his/her class code! 
• Last Friday, the learners participated in Growth Mindset stations. During this activity, they learned about a growth mindset vs. a fixed mindset. Ask your learner if he/she can tell you the difference! 
• We have emphasized that at TCE, we are one big family. In keeping with that theme, we will be showcasing family pictures in our classrooms again this year. If you have not already done so, please send a picture of your family to your child's teacher. You may email the picture or send in a printed picture. Thank you for your help with this! 

Curriculum Tidbits

Math

This week in Math we will be focusing on Whole Number Operations. The learners will be reviewing multiplication and division concepts.

Science

This week in Science we will be continuing our discussion of science writing, the scientific method, and the Engineering Design Process.

Reading

In reading, we will take the data from our genre pretest to create self-paced blended learning opportunities based on learner needs. Once the learners have learned about each of the genres, they will be able to create a small project to share what they've learned.

Writing

Last week the learners started the year with two writing assignments! They wrote about the legacy they want to leave at TCE, and their personal hopes and dreams. Be on the look out for these displayed in your learner's classrooms. This next week we will begin our narrative writing unit. We are excited to dive back into the narrative writing process and watch as our learners get creative with their writing.

Social Studies

Last week we started our first unit of the year: Geography. This week we will begin to dive into our study of map tools and the physical geography of the United States!

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