Update 8/31

Please read the other post from today titled "PSG Fundraiser Update" for important and fun ways to volunteer without actually being here at Reagan!

Social Studies:
We are working on a regions scrapbook throughout the year. This scrapbook should stay in your child's GAME File, in the SS section.

We will have a Northeast Regions quiz on Friday. The students completed a study guide and we have discussed the guide two times together this week.

Reading:
We have a quiz over the story "Yang the Third and Her Impossible Family". The kids are encouraged to bring home their reading books tonight and tomorrow night to prepare for the vocabulary and comprehension skills on this quiz.

Math:
Homework tonight is to read the Family Letter for Unit 2 with a family member (if possible). I will also send this letter via email today. The results of our first math test were AWESOME! Thanks to all students and family members that guided them--your hard word was well worth it!

Spelling:
Spelling will resume next week. There are a few students that have tested out of spelling for this nine weeks, so those students will have vocabulary words instead. You will know whether your child is on a spelling list or a vocabulary list by Tuesday of next week.

PSG Fundraiser Update

Take a look at all the ways you can contribute to your child's school/classroom without lifting a finger:

1) Entertainment Books: Our class has sold a total of 10+ books so far. The books will pay for themselves, so think holiday gifts, birthday gifts, etc.  The class who sells the most books wins a pizza party.  There are prizes for every level of selling, too. Even for just selling one book, students will receive Alvin prizes the day the order(s) is returned. 

2) Box Tops: Even though our first contest has not officially started, I wanted to alert you to a couple of great ways to earn Box Tops for our school.  The first is the Meijer special that is going on only through today, August 31st.  Meijer is a Box Tops GOLD MINE!  Each time you purchase 10 Box Tops products, you get a certificate good for 70 Bonus Box Tops (it prints by the receipt).  The trick is you can do mulitple purchases in one day. If you would like to see a list of all of Meijer's Box Tops items, go here: http://www3.meijer.com/boxtop/list.pdf. Please begin sending Box Tops into school as you have them.

 
3) Avery products is also offering a contest based on voting.  The top five schools at the end of the promotion will each win $10,000 worth of Avery School Supplies, 10,000 Bonus Box Tops coupons, and $1,000 worth of gift cards. Twenty-five runner-up schools will also win 5,000 Bonus Box Tops coupons! 

Reagan is really moving up the ranks!  As of this morning, we are in 475th place (after starting somewhere in the 3000s less than 2 weeks ago).  In the last several days, we have been gaining about 100 positions a day.  Many of our Box Tops committee volunteers are voting, but we could use your help too. This contest only lasts a few more weeks and is over on Sept 16th, so please vote daily to help us.  It literally only takes a few seconds.  To join in, visit http://givebacktoschools.avery.com/

Let's all work together to make Reagan more spectacular than it already is! Plus, it sure would be fun to win a pizza party and prizes!

Update 8/30

What a busy but productive learning day today!

If students finished page 14 from their social studies workbooks, there is no other homework due tomorrow. We will, however, have a reading quiz on Friday over this week's story and vocabulary (Yang the Third and Her Impossible Family) and the Northeast Regions states and capitals (study guide went home Monday). I will link a few new sites to the links section of this blog tonight.

Just to clarify: Those students attending the reading lab in the mornings DO NOT have social studies requirements. Those students attending the math lab in the afternoons DO NOT have science and/or health requirements. I will specifically discuss each assignment with each individual child. Please contact me if you are not sure.

Keep selling those Entertainment Books! Due September 8!

Update 8/29

We had a very busy Monday! The kids, as a whole, seemed totally on it today all across the curriculum! That's great news for the progress we're making each day!

Assignment Avenue:
Math: Unit 1 Assessment on Tuesday--all students should bring home his or her Student Reference Book (SRB) and Math Journal to guide studying. They each have a new study guide, too, that is for studying/practice purposes only. It is not a grade nor required to complete for a grade. We reviewed the other study guide as a class today and students had the opportunity to work in a small group with me during math, as well as at recess is desired.

Social Studies-We will have a Northeast regions quiz on Friday this week. Students received a handout this morning to complete (locate the state in an atlas and list its capital). We reviewed this handout together this afternoon so students can use it for a study guide for Friday.

Reading: Workbook pages 11-12 due Tuesday (Students were given 12 minutes to complete in class today with a partner.)

Health: Ad Techniques handout due Tuesday (Students were introduced to the various types of techniques in advertisements briefly today. We also discussed this handout thoroughly before giving the kids 5 minutes to begin working on the matching section.)

NO SPELLING THIS WEEK!

Have a wonderful evening! I know the assignment lists seems lengthy, but please be advised that I allow students a lot of time to complete these activities in class (other than test prep). In fact, we had 15 minutes (car riders and walkers) to 25 minutes (bus riders) to complete any unfinished work today or ask questions about anything.

Reading/Vocabulary

Each week, we will focus on the current story in the book (green reader). This week's story is "Yang the Third and Her Impossible Family" page 72. The vocabulary and comprehension questions to guide students are in the book as well. We will take a quiz over the vocabulary words and comprehension of the story every Friday unless otherwise stated.

Picture Day

As you're planning ahead, school picture day will be Tuesday, October 4. We will send home picture packages as soon as they arrive.

Update 8/26

Go Bulldogs! Come out to see all of the BJFL players in their uniforms on the field tonight as the Bulldogs take on a win!

We WILL NOT have a spelling list next week. We are working out a system to challenge those students that ace spelling each week, so we're allowing ourselves some time to figure it all out. We will let you know how the system will work once we know the answers.

Instead of spelling next week, the students will have a Northeast Regions quiz. Students will fill out the states inside this region on Monday. They will be tested over this region on Friday. Of course, this will be something they have time to work on and study at the end of each day, too, and we will continue lessons about this region all next week. It will also be on the Assignment Ave. board daily.

We have our first unit test in Math on Tuesday over Unit 1. The students are bringing home a Test Alert handout with page numbers to focus their studying. They also have a study guide to work on (not an assignment, but highly recommended) in order to prepare for the test. We will also review Unit 1 on Monday. Students can access the math website, too, at http://www.everydaymathonline.com to play games, access the textbook and journal pages, as well as have the book read to them. Each student has a login and password--it is coming home today, too. Each student was also told to bring home his or her SRB and Math Journal for studying this weekend.

I updated the gradebook today, however, I'm not sure if the system updates the grades until Monday at 4. You should see any missing and/or late assignments in your child's PowerSchool account, as well as all grades thus far in 5th grade.

Please continue to attempt to sell just 1 Entertainment book for our school. It really holds some pretty amazing coupons that each family would use (even for Kroger). All books and/or money is due by Thursday, September 8.

Have a relaxing, fun-filled weekend!

Update 8/24

Happy Middle-of-the-Week Wednesday!

Please read the "Entertainment Fundraiser" post from today, as well.

We are super, super low on snacks. This is a time of day that the kids LOVE! If you have a chance to send in a few healthy snacks for 25 kids, that would be so helpful.

We also reward with Hershey Kisses in our classroom for initiative-type things. I purchased the first few hundred kisses, but a donation of more would be so generous, as well.

Volunteers: If any parent would like to volunteer at any time, please contact me via email or phone. I enjoy having parent volunteers in the classroom working with kids, or I can put you to work doing other things--your choice!

Ask you kids about "purple-WOW" words tonight!

Homework List:

Math--Study Link 1.7 due Thursday (Math test mid-next week--study guide going home soon)
Science/Health--Respect Authority handout page 47-48 due Thursday
Spelling--Lesson 2 Contract due Friday AND spelling test Friday
Reading--Reading vocabulary and comprehension test Friday
Social Studies--States and Capitals quiz will be some time in September

We completed literary stations again today. From those stations were three different pages to complete by Friday: A World Puzzle, See Behind Trees comprehension questions, and Homophones. We will pull these papers out of our GAME Files tomorrow, provide time to complete, and place on our assignment board tomorrow afternoon. THEY ARE NOT DUE UNTIL FRIDAY!

Entertainment Fundraiser

Entertainment fundraiser books came home today! We are so excited for each child to try to sell just one book! Each child that sells one book will receive a prize (Alvin and the Chipmunks gear)! We're having a friendly competition with the other fifth grade classes to sell the most entertainment books by Thursday, September 8. The class that sells the most will enjoy a class party (pizza, popcorn, ice cream: the kids' choice)! I know we can WIN that party, so rally, rally, rally!

Each child brought home one book today and an envelope for collecting money and orders. The book your child received is a sample for family, friends, neighbors, etc., but is not to be sold to those people. The orders should be taken on the envelope and money should be collected and turned in on or before September 8. If each family wants to purchase just the sample book, please send the money and order form into school by September 8.

There are so many amazing prizes for students that sell these books. They are $30 each. Students that sell one OR two or more books will receive prizes! And, if we meet our goal of $9,000, Mr. Chambers, our princpal, will dress up like a pirate all day on September 19!

Update 8/22

Parents and 5th Graders,
Many families have been so generous to send bags of snacks in for the class to share for our daily "brain fuel!" We still have two bags of pretzels that we will enjoy this week, but a little variety is nice, too. If you're out and about, and can take a minute to grab a snack for 25 kids, the entire Dicesquad would greatly appreciate your donation. Food donations can be sent in at any time. Please remember that all snacks need to qualify for a "healthy food": 5% of nutrient values minimum, and sugar cannot be the first ingredient. ***Students are welcome to bring their own snacks, too, and a water bottle each day.

We have a geography quiz tomorrow. I've linked a few of the sites to the blog that we used to review to for the quiz today. Your child also received a study guide on Friday and is encouraged to bring home his or her social studies book tonight.

We will finish up Unit 1 in math this week. We will be testing over Unit 1 at the beginning of next week, possibly Tuesday or Wednesday. I will provide a study guide for this assessment, and we will review in class, too.

Spelling contracts and lists go home tonight. The contract is due Friday. The spelling test will be on Friday, too.

You can expect a Stud Link math assignment each night, unless your child finishes it at school. It's an important key to the succes of this math program, but our hour and 20 minute math block does not allow much time to finish the assignments each day.

Have a great week! I will continue to update as needed throughout the week.

Update 8/19

Each student should bring home their Friday papers today from the week. There are just a few today, but please expect them each Friday in their folder (that should be in their GAME expandable files). Please return the folder on Monday.

We will have a geography quiz on Tuesday. The kids have a study guide and their social studies books at their seats. They were asked to pack the books with their things tonight, just in case they have some to work on the study guide this weekend. We WILL go over the study guide to review, along with playing a review game, on Monday.(Those students attending the learning lab for reading WILL NOT take this quiz).

Upcoming Events:
Friday, August 19: Brownsburg Bulldog Football Game against McCutcheon
Monday, August 22: Learning Labs officially begin
Wednesday, August 24: 9:00 PSG Fundraiser Kickoff Convocation
Thursday, August 25: Computer Lab as a special

August 17 Update

We are full swing now! I just love this group of kids . . . they are all so generous, helpful, and genuinely enjoy learning (most of the time)!

We have a few assignments tonight:
Math: Study Link workbook page for 1.2--your child was instructed to pull this page out of his or her workbook two different times today, and then we discussed its difference from a mathbox assignment. It is due Thursday.

Spelling: Contracts and spelling tests will be due/on Friday. We will complete one more review activity tomorrrow before the kids head home.

Social Studies: We discussed latitude and longitude today--we also played a pretty fun game called "Treasure Hunt" that I've linked to the bottom of this blog. Students have handout p9 and p10 to complete for tomorrow.

Please know that my email is always "open" for any parent that wishes to talk with me. I will also check my voicemail messages each morning and after school, if you wish to leave me a message. My goal is to really get to know these kids for who they are--I've started this goal with the "Handle with Care" forms each parent filled out for me. I've enjoyed reading them, and I do plan to put those "ideas" and "concerns" into action.

Thank you for a great first week! It's hard to believe we've already been in school for 6 days!

Websites

I will always add websites that we use in class to this blog (at the bottom). Here is the Treasure Hunt game we played today to review latitude and longitude. You will also find it in the links below. Enjoy!

http://www.abcya.com/latitude_and_longitude_practice.htm

Monday, August 15 Update

Our first official Monday has come to an end . . . it was a VERY busy day, so I’m certain your 5^th grader will be EXHAUSTED! This is one of our vocabulary words this week, too—perfect, huh?

The EDM Unit 1 Family Letter was attached to an email today. This information will provide the parents (and students) with an understanding of what we will be doing in the math over the course of the unit. The answers to the Study Links are also on the back page of the letter for reference, if needed.

Please check the blog each evening for important information-the link was sent home with your child, and it's also at the end of my emails. I plan to update the blog before 4:00pm each day, but things do come up, and that may not always be possible. For the next few weeks, I will put assignments with due dates, as well as long-term projects on the blog. Once we hit September, the kids cannot use it as the only resource for finding assignment information; they MUST still use their assignment notebooks.

ALL students were given at least 35 minutes at the end of the day to work on any unfinished work. If the time was used wisely, there should be only 30 minutes or so of homework tonight. That time limit should be expected most nights, too. However, the time your child spends on staying on task and listening to directions in class is important to keep that time-frame in place.

Thanks for a great first few days! The kids seem excited to learn, and the kids and parents have all been so sweet with generous comments of the classroom. It means a lot!

Assignments:

Math: Study Link (S.L) 1.1 page 1 due Tuesday

Reading: Workbook pages 1-2 due Tuesday

Social Studies: World Map due Tuesday (coloring is extra credit, not required)

Spelling: New list went home--test on Friday; Contract due Friday

Science: Popcorn bar graph "What's Poppin'? due Tuesday

Welcome to a New Year!

Parents and 5th graders--I really enjoyed meeting many of you on Monday night at Parent Information Night! We've also had two really great days in 5th grade! I am so excited for all of the excitement this school year will bring--our team of teachers has some pretty cool things planned to guide each student toward a successful year, and to successfully prepare each student for middle school next fall.


Please be patient with me as I get the beginning of the year things together, including a group email. That is my main goal today so that we can all communicate with one another easily.


Things coming up . . . 
We are creating a "Science in Our World" collage, so the kids were asked to scour around the house for news clippings, magazine pictures, Internet images, etc., that represent science being used. Students should try to bring at least 5 pictures for their collages. We discussed many examples at school, so this should not be too tough. Drawing pictures is also acceptable. I'd like all pictures to be at school by Monday.


Contact information is coming home today, but just in case, here it is:
Lindsey Hill
Reagan Elementary
852-1060 x2640
lhill@brownsburg.k12.in.us
http://dicesquad.blogspot.com