January at a Glance

I hope you are all having a spectacular Christmas break!

Your homework for these two weeks is simple:

• Read
• Read
• Read (Don't forget to fill out your reading log.)
• Find three things to represent yourself for our January essay writing.

Coming soon to a classroom near you:

Math:

Continue learning about fractions.  (I want you to remember that the most important skill you take away from this unit is not remembering everything about fractions, but knowing how to find the answer.  Use every resource at your fingertips.  If it's not at your fingertips, reach out and find it!  Being smart does not mean that you've memorized everything.  It means you can solve the problem no matter what)

• Understand what a fraction is and be able to make a model of a fraction.
• Add like and unlike fractions.
• Subtract like and unlike fractions.
• Add and subtract mixed numbers.
• Regroup fractions and whole numbers.
• Simplify fractions by reducing and converting to mixed numbers.

Reading:

We will work on our Reading goals and work on making BIG jumps in our IRLA levels.  There will be a lot of opportunities to read authentic texts.  We will also tackle fables and folk tales.  By the end of January, you should be able to:

• Identify the topic of a composition.
• Explain why an author wrote what they did.
• Identify the main idea of a paragraph.
• Identify unknown words in a text and learn some of those words to use for your own.
• Read for enjoyment:  Find a new story, author or genre to explore.
• Write a book review summarizing the story, connecting it to your own experience, and evaluating it.

Writing:

We will spend a couple of days finishing the story we started in December.  Then we will work on the art of writing an essay.  If you can write a proper essay, everything else in writing will come much more easily.  An essay must have:

• Conventions (the usual:  capitals, punctuation, spelling, etc.)
• An introduction paragraph.
• A thesis statement in your introduction that tells what your essay is about.
• A conclusion paragraph.
• Three main idea paragraphs.
• A topic sentence for each paragraph.

Science:

It's time to finish our study of living things.  There will be some reading assignments.  If you are efficient about the reading and writing, we will have time for actual Science Projects.  We have a  Science Fair coming up this Spring, and there is so much to explore.  By the end of January, you should be able to:

• Use a dichotomous key that you find to identify a life form.
• Classify a life form into at least three categories of the standard taxonomy.
• Describe a life form using advanced Science vocabulary.

Other:

We will create a classroom economy.  Details of this will be posted on the class web page.  I'll be working on this over Christmas break, so come back once in awhile to learn more.  In a nutshell, everybody will have a job, and most classroom activities will have a value.  You earn money for completing jobs.  (Homework is not a job in this economy, sadly.)  Services will cost you money.  For example, you'd earn money for the job of organizing the math supplies.  It will cost money to use the bathroom or pencil sharpener during instruction.

I'd like to get the loom working.  This will take a dedicated person in the weaver job.

The Week: 12/16 - 12/20

Flip Your Classroom!

Math lessons for this week:
3.1a:  Adding Unlike Fractions (p. 122)
3.1b:  Benchmark Fractions (p. 124)

The Week 12/9 - 12/13

School is two hours late on Wednesday!

Bad Weather Ahead
Please do not call the school to find out if there is school!  There are two secretaries and 500 students.  That's 250 calls per person if everybody calls the school!  If you're reading this, then you have internet.  Please sign up for alerts at flashalert.net.  Then you'll know as soon as anybody else on the planet!

READ!  READ!  READ!
Remember to read 30 minutes every night.  Be sure to record your reading minutes on your Reading Log.  Need an extra?  Download one here or look in the Resources section of our web page.  When you read, be sure to keep up on your reading goals!

Hour of Code!
Khan Academy is promoting the Computer Science Education Week Hour of Code.  In our world filled with computers, we need to prepare a new generation of programmers.  This week, we will participate, taking half an hour a day to learn basic coding (programming) skills.  When you log into Khan Academy, be sure to use your student login so you can get points and save your programs.

• Khan Academy
• Khan Academy Hour of Code page
• Here's a program that I wrote
• Here's another
• Article on Hour of Code

If you feel like challenging your teacher, give me an idea for a simple program to write.  By simple, I mean that it should only accomplish one or two tasks.  Sure, I could write a pac-man program, but that would take a few more free hours than I had back in high school when I did this more often.

Fractions!

We are starting fractions on Monday.  Look for a section on the class web page with videos.  (Look back here.  I'll change this paragraph when it's ready...)  There's a lot to learn, so be sure to complete your homework every night!

Class Plays

This week, we will rotate class play practice during reading time.  We must find props and costumes.  By Tuesday, I need boxes for backgrounds.  Can you help me with 16 or so boxes?

Looking Ahead

In January, we will learn the art of writing an essay.  Every fifth grader will be expected to write in complete sentences with capitals, periods, punctuation and correct grammar on everything that is written.  We will also complete a unit on English grammar.

Vocabulary
I could tell you the meanings of these words, but it will mean more when you look for them on your own.  You're reading this on an electronic device; go ahead and open a new tab and search for the meaning of each of these.  You also have them in the resources we used for learning this week.  There will be a quiz on Monday.  Be sure to practice these words all week!
Math Words:

• diameter
• radius
• kilometer
• mile

Context Clues:

• addle
• contemplate
• satire
• repertoire

Fraction Words:

• like fractions
• unlike fractions
• equivalent fractions
• mixed number
• number line
• simplest form
• prime
• composite
• numerator
• denominator
• reduce
• improper fraction
• express
• GCF
• LCD

Big Idea Science Words:

• ground water
• irrigation
• aquifer
• porous
• pore
• water table

Monday

Tuesday

Open Letter to Mrs. Creasey's Class

December 6, 2013

Dear Mrs. Creasey's Class,

     When you read, unfortunate consequences may ensue.  For example, your friends might think you are anti-social.  Reading is an independent activity; you read by yourself.  When you do this, you ignore your friends.  You might even forget that you have friends!  They may abandon you because they think you like your fictional friends more than your real friends.  Do you really want to lose your friends because you are lost in a book?

     Why do you you need to read?  Animals don't read and they lead a peaceful, productive life in the world.  Animals can be protective and loyal without the burden of reading.  They can do jobs and even earn good salaries!  Because they don't read, many animals have much better eyesight than humans.

     Worst of all, you could DIE because of reading!  It starts with a book that you can't put down.   Many large books take a week or even a month to read.  In that time, you could forget to eat or drink and then die of starvation or dehydration.  Do you want to perish from this earth because of a book?

     Please save yourself from these disastrous perils and stop reading now!


Sincerely,
Mr. Schneider

The Week: 12/2 - 12/6

Cookie Dough Sales

Cookie dough pick up is on Monday.  Please make plans to pick up your cookie dough between 2:00pm and 5:00pm on Monday.  This must be refrigerated and we do not have refrigerator space at school.

READ, READ, READ!
Don't forget to read 20 minutes every night.  Most of you are already doing this.  Be sure you get your reading log signed.  We must beat Mrs. Creasey.  If we beat her, I'd like to have a breakfast party with the class.  Any volunteers?

Class Play!
We will be presenting three class plays in two weeks.  A presentation schedule will be released next week.  Part of our home work includes practicing parts for the play.  Another part of homework is looking for props to use in the play.  Please help us out!  (If you need a script, look at last week's blog for the link.)

• Listen to "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas"
• Listen to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"

Satire
We learned about satire this week.  Satire is when you find the flaws in something or poke fun at something in an intelligent and creative way.  To practice this fine skill, we are writing letters to Mrs. Creasey's class explaining all the reasons not to read.  (This is so we can win the reading contest!)  Let us not forget to read every night!  Be sure to read my letter to Mrs. Creasey's class.

Math Test on Friday!
How do I study for a math test?

• Take Notes: Make a list of skills to know.  Our list looks like the one at the right.
• Research: Read about the skills to know.  Use the internet, your reference book, your math book, the Math to Know book, an adult, or even an older brother or sister.
  A copy of my Math Reference can be found in the resources section of the class web page.
• Practice!  Complete the practice pages 112-113.  Try every problem.
• Check:  Check your answers with another person or the answer guide.
• Repeat
  If you didn't understand a section, go back to the beginning of this list.

Vocabulary Test on Monday.  We have a large list to study.  Please work on this every night.  The crossword puzzle we worked on this week is your study guide.  Please review this over the weekend!  This is a lot of words.  There will be more next week.