Old Cereal Boxes Please

In Mrs Rhoads' classroom we are looking for cereal boxes. Before you toss them into the recycling bin, send them on in. We are looking for about 30 boxes total. They will be the basis for upcoming Reading Workshop book reports. If your student is in Mrs. Rhoads class, ask them what book are they reading and to describe the plot (what the book is about)!

CONFERENCES

In Tuesday Folders this week your fall conference scheduling form when home. Please fill that out and return it to school with your child by Friday. Conferences will be Wednesday November 18 and Thursday November 19.

Amazing State Projects

Wow! Each of the classes has presented their state projects with astounding success! Nearly all of the students who gave their speeches last week met or exceeded the Oregon State Benchmark for speaking. The speeches, displays and alphabet books offered a rich learning opportunity for all the students. Every 5th grader I asked shared a genuine enthusiasm for the state they researched. Additionally, it was simply a whole lot of FUN!!! A huge "thank you" to families for the diligent care spent with your student insuring the excellence of their project. Success breeds motivation and through this project, I imagine students will be excited and ready for the next major task! Ah...but don't worry, Parents! We won't be launching another major social studies project before Thanksgiving.

Absent Students and Work Request

Recently we have had a number of students absent from school. Please remember that teachers need 24 hours in order to get the make up classwork together for students who have been gone from school. All work from the day is put into a blue "absent" folder with the various assignments that their class had worked on that day recorded on an "absent form." These items will be due the following week of school. If they are completed earlier, please send them back to school in order to be scored.

If you know that your child will be gone from school for three or more days, please contact their homeroom teacher. Teachers work hard to keep track of assignments. Please help us by reviewing the work your child was assigned to make sure it is finished before returning it to school.

Math with Mrs. Burgess

Amazing mathematical thinking is going on here! Students in Room 31 are beginning to work on the idea of mathematical and geometric proof. The concepts are very challenging! If your student is struggling a bit on the homework, please do not jump to the conclusion that they are falling behind. Rather, they are needing to use “guess and check” and make constructions (drawing in additional lines), to try to discover relationships between what they know to what they can find out. In the recent homework, 3.3, students were needing to know that a straight line = 180 degrees, as well as knowing that a single angle in an equilateral triangle = 60 degrees. Parents can support their students by encouraging them to try guess and check and to bring questions and challenges back to class. On Friday, Mrs. Burgess’s math class spent much of the time working with the homework piece and showing our varied mathematical thinking. It is a work in progress and students are doing a fabulous job!!!

If you need some additional help with math homework and have lost your family letter sent home at the beginning of each math unit use the link below to take you to the Everyday Math website.

http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/parents/homework_help/5th_grade/

5th Grade Art

Check out the art work that the 5th grade has been creating! We have been studying the elements and principles of design, with a focus on line. Students should be able to tell you the difference between actual and implied line. We have two different assignments, Types of Line and Rocks in the Field

Battle of the Books

Battle of the Books is well underway this year. Fifth grade students interested in joining have met, created their teams, and divided up the book lists. Teams will be meeting on a monthly basis, usually the last week of the month, at lunch recess.

This year we are asking that as students read each of their assigned books they create 10 questions/answers from that book. We will use these questions in our practice battles. This is also a way of making sure that all team members have been reading the books from their lists.

Students who read all 16 titles from the Battle of the Books list will be able to join "Book Club." Students have until February to read these titles. There will be a special activity after school one day where the book club meets and celebrates.

Check out the OBOB official web site at:
http://oboblsta.pbworks.com/