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