The News According to Greta! 5/4/14

Reading and Writing

In reading the past three weeks, we have been doing several things. One of the things we have been doing is wrapping up our historical fiction reading. To do this we had to answer questions about how the book and the Revolutionary War connect, what books we read, and how many pages in all we read. Then we added up all the Loyalists’ pages, Patriots’ pages and the Neutralists’ pages to see who won the “pages contest”. The Loyalists won this contest, even though the Patriots have been winning the weekly reading contest, that we tally up every Friday. Unfortunately, last Monday was our last day with Joan. We worked on answering “hot seat” questions, questions you answer on the spot. We had to answer according to character, and it was harder than it sounds. Luckily, Mrs. Crowther said Joan will be back soon to work with us on a whole new topic!

In writing the past three weeks, we have been mainly working on our big historical report. After taking notes, we wrote a flash daft. Now we’re working on revising. We have worked on introductions, using National Geographic, but we have really been working hard on elaborating. This has really been hard for us to do, to go into our writing and find a place to put elaboration. To make this easier, Mrs. Crowther demonstrated elaborating on a classmate’s writing, and she hung up a poster giving starting words for elaboration ( “I’m realizing……., “I wonder………, “I think this was important because…….., “This makes me think……… etc.). Ask your child what topic they’re doing! We have also been moving into writing our second draft!

Math, Number Corner, Science

In math the past three weeks we have been wrapping up Unit 4 and skipping Unit 5 to go into Unit 6. To wrap up Unit 4, we played some workplaces with our partners, we had a review day, and finally, we had our Post- Assessment test. Yes, we are actually skipping Unit 5, but we are going to come back to it after we complete Unit 6. So far in the new unit we have been solving division fraction problems, and we have learned what the Greatest Common Factor in fractions is, and how to find a fraction’s simplest form.

In number corner the past two weeks we have been observing the April calendar, and working on the April activity. This month’s calendar features cubes, and every day the number corner people have been recording the surface area and the volume of the shape. Also there is a pattern that we notice. April’s activity is called the Space Race. In this game, two teams are racing each other to Uranus. Starting at the Sun, each team picks picks a card stating how many miles to travel that day. We track this process on a record sheet.

The past three weeks we haven’t really been studying anything but we did have a NECAP practice test. Ask your child what the test included!

https://docs.google.com/a/cssu.org/file/d/0BwA37fHQc4eSd1RBRG1wRy1yTzhqZExGYkpMcXFLNzNvUmh3/edit

https://docs.google.com/a/cssu.org/file/d/0BwA37fHQc4eSaG9aM3A3WlhoQkFYQkNTNEZBMGxqS0lzMnlj/edit

The News According to Greta! 3/28/14

Reading and Writing

In reading the past two weeks (sorry for the late report!) we have been doing many things. First, we have been reading historical-fiction books as part of our U.S. history unit! We got to pick from a selection of historical-fiction books (such as Hope’s Crossing, Toliver’s Secret, The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Calico Bush) and then whoever picked the same book, was your partner! Also, some kids have read two of the books this month! Along, with historical-fiction books, we have been working with Joan, a woman from the Flynn Theatre, on acting out famous events from the past! She will be coming every Monday for four weeks! Ask your child for more info! And check out these pics from the first week!

Patton and Connor dressed as Mohawks!

Ben, Macy and Mackenzie dressed as a Blacksmith, Farmer, and a Shopkeeper!

Ben dressed as a Blacksmith!

     

Greta and Hunter dressed as a Shopkeeper, and a Farmer!
Juliet, Janson and Will dressed as a Writer, a Printer’s Apprentice, and A Printer!
In writing the past two weeks, we have been preparing for our big U.S. History report at the end of the unit, and the upcoming On Demand writing! To prepare for these upcoming projects, we have been working on taking notes, planning our writing, and writing Flash Drafts on historical info we already knew! We have been really trying to do a Painted Essay (3-4 paragraph essay) in not a lot of time. It all payed off when we completed the On Demand and Mrs. Crowther said we did a great job! Also, we have started planning out our big U.S. history report! Ask your child what topic their report is going to be!

Math and Number Corner

In math the past two weeks, we have been continuing to work on solving big division problems with multiplication menus. We are well into Unit 4, and we have gliding into long division using the well-known multiplication menus and area models. It is a fun, new strategy!

In number corner the past two weeks, we have been doing a couple things. One of the things we have been doing is working on the calendar. This month, we have been working with Mumford the Mole to plot points. Mumford is a mole who is digging nests and feeding areas in the ground. Each day, we get directions of where Mumford’s next nest or feeding area is. Along with this, we have been plotting points to go along with the amount of daylight and darkness for each day of March! So much plotting points this month!

The News according to Greta! 2/10/14

Reading and Writing

In reading this week we have been wrapping up our World Geography unit and have been starting a U.S. History unit. To wrap up our Geography unit, we were given a checklist that with alllllll of the geography projects/tests we ever did. Mrs. Crowther would then give points for each project we did. Out of 100 points, our goal would be 80 (for some of us, she hasn't corrected them yet and we’re still biting our nails waiting to find out). To move into our U.S history unit, with our reading partners we picked 2 books from a wide variety of non-fiction books then compared and contrasted them after we skimmed them. For example, one of your books could be a picture book and the other could be a heavy duty book. We also read articles that looked like a newspaper and talked about ways non-fiction readers read with power. Remind your child to log their reading daily and bring their log back to school everyday!

In writing this week we have been starting Kidblog up again! We have only done posted responses to prompts twice, but here is the kink to Mrs. Crowther’s class Kidblog if you want to check it out! http://kidblog.org/MrsCrowthersClass/

Math, Science and Number Corner

In math this week we have been continuing Unit 3. Our focus is to be precise and accurate as possible. We have also been working finding out the reflective symmetry, rotational symmetry and other properties of polygons. To go along with this study, we have been figuring out polygon riddles. A polygon riddle is where we get 5 clues about a polygon and we have to use the process of elimination to figure out which polygon is the answer. For example, My polygon has no right angles or My polygon is a quadrilateral. Ask your child about Studio in math!

In science this week we haven’t really been doing much. Hopefully we’ll be starting a fun, new subject soon! Stay tuned!

In number corner this week we have been making observations about our new calendar which involves fractions but we have also been working on probability too. If you remember last year, Mrs. Crowther filled a bag with different colored tiles and we had to figure out the theoretical probability and the experimental probability as we took 6 samples a day. We have been using words such as certain, likely, as likely as unlikely, unlikely, impossible. Ask your child what all these words mean!

Other Important News and Events

- Book fair is this upcoming week! Tons of fun new books and knickknacks await!

- Ask your child about our fieldtrip to the UVM Fleming Museum!

- If your child is in Concert Band, make sure he or she is practicing and filling out their practice sheet!

The News according to Greta! 1/10/14

Reading and Writing

    In reading this week (of 2014!!!!) we started to begin reading non- fiction books online about continents. This reading will also tie in with our geography study. Mrs. Crowther gave us questions to answer about the continent we were reading,  and then the next day, we had to write a L.E.A.F paragraph answering an overall question about the continent. So let me back up and explain what a L.E.A.F paragraph is. L.E.A.F stands for:

L lead

E evidence

A analysis

F finisher

It’s an easy way to organize and think about paragraphs! Also, we have started practicing Reader’s Theatre’s skits! Except this year, we’re mingling with Vasanthi’s class!

    In writing this week we wrote about 2014 Endeavor. Basically it was a reflection of our goals from earlier in the year. First, we read our goals from the beginning of the year, and then we wrote about our progress and some new goals for the rest of the year! Also, as another fun way to share our new goals was a choice to either write in cursive, or draw a comic strip of ourselves! Ask your child what their new goals are!

Math, Science and Number Corner

    In math this week we have started Unit 3. This unit involves geometry and measurement. Geoboards have been a great tool for us to show congruence, area of shapes and a lot of other things! We have also been using shapes we know to find the area of other shapes! Ask your child about upcoming online tests!

    In science this week we have continued our World Geography study. Connected with our non-fiction reading unit, we have been reading Truflix books about continents. After we read the books, we had to answer questions in L.E.A.F paragraph form about the physical features. Also, for our monthly share in January, the theme is World Geography FAMOUS SITES. This digital presentation will be mostly homework, but we will get time to do it at school. Ask your child more for the details.

In number corner this week we have been observing our new calendar pattern, and measuring temperatures of locations on the world. On the January calendar, not all the days are filled in. It involves cubes and is sort of like a puzzle every 4 days. To figure out the puzzle, we observe different views of one shape made of cubes. Also, we have been tracking the temperature here in VT every day, and our chosen “sister city” Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (of course we can’t actually measure the temp. there ourselves, so we use a website online) . We find it fun to see the weather difference!!!! We record the temps. of these locations three times a day, and then we average them!

Dear Family - Space Letters

SPACE LETTERS                                               

Dear Mom and Dad,

Please don’t make us go to Neptune for Winter Break. Haven’t you heard of all the bad things that happen on    Neptune? Well here is some information about it.

On Neptune there’s dark storms,giant hurricanes,and streaky white clouds of methane ice. So, Mom and Dad if we go to Neptune we might get caught up in a hurricane and die,because hurricanes on Neptune are very strong and powerful. So don’t take us to Neptune if you haven't read, there are dangerous and unsafe things on Neptune that I’m sure we don’t want to get involved in.

If you don’t believe me than keep reading about Neptune and hopefully change your mind about the whole thing.

    Did you know Neptune is very cold? Well Neptune is very cold. About -400 degrees. If we go to Neptune and face the cold temperature there I hope you can afford clothing for it. Do you know why its so cold on Neptune? Well that’s because its the 8th planet from the Sun. About 2,800,044,000 miles away from the Sun!!! That’s pretty far away.

So please don’t take us to Neptune for Winter break. I never want to witness the things that happen there.

    I Love you,please change your mind.

                                                                  -Mackenzie

Dear  Mom,

Please don’t send me to Jupiter for a x- mas, because there is a great big storm known as the great red spot. I also re-quest that you the  not send me here because there is no where to land! Then again  the only place to land is the core that is blazing at 35,000 degrees. this is why you should not send me to Jupiter.               

The storm on Jupiter known as the great  red spot is a very large storm that is on Jupiter. This storm the largest storm to be recorded ,and though it does not move changes shape,and size so it expands.I also know that you don’t want to go here because its way to hot!  

Want to know why I say its way to hot? I say this because it only has one place to land the , core! The core of this planet is blazing at 35,000 degrees. This is because Jupiter is a gas giant so it mostly made up of helium, and hydrogen. so  there would only be the core to land on. Plus any spaceship to get to close would burn up and disintegrate or be crushed by giant flying gas filled rocks that come of the core

So now you see my reasons of the great red spot and the blazing core of 35, 000 degrees.This is why I do not to go to Jupiter for x-mas this year

 

LOVE JAMES

       

Dear parents,

I will not go on our family vacation if it has anything to do with the biggest planet in our solar system, Jupiter.

First of all, One: there is a permanent storm called the great red spot.

The Great Red Spot is a super hurricane. The Great Red Spot could fit 2 earths in it.

Another reason is Jupiter is a gas giant. Jupiter is the giant planet in our solar system.

It is covered with constantly moving clouds miles thick. Jupiter is mostly made of gases.

Jupiter surface is an ocean of liquid hydrogen . The hydrogen may be 10.000

Or more miles deep.

Hopefully i talk some sense into you because we would go bankrupt and die. Also we will dissolve into nothingness. I will haft to secede from the family.

Love, Benny

  

Dear mom and dad,

Have you ever wished to fly like Peter Pan and see a whole other world? Well if you have, your wish is coming true!  For my birthday,I want to make our family happy by taking  you guys on a one month vacation to the International Space Station.We may not have the money for 5 spaceship tickets,but we could make a run for it right now and leave my sisters at home.Plus, my sisters are little, and the might get spacesick on the trip there.

One reason why we would have the time of our lives on this one month vacation is because there is a number of things we can do thats not possible on Earth.This trip may not be what we are used to on our planet,( especially the bathrooms) but we would get used to it shortly.( Its always good to try something new right?)One thing that we can do thats not possible on Earth is grow perfect crystals and make mixtures of metals that are stronger than made on Earth.Could you imagine it?Maybe if we are really good, the hostess might give us a free crystal, just to be nice.The most exciting thing to do of all would be.......TO FLY!! It may be obvious,since there are lots of books saying that you could fly in space,but not that many people actually experience it.  Not only people, but also everything else can fly to! Water bubbles would be flying everywhere! This paragraph is only one reason why we should take a trip to The International Space Station.

Another reason why you should take this offer is because its pretty safe considering thats in outer space.One fact why it is safe is because in case the station was hit by a meteorite, or if something went wrong with the computers, there is a vehicle called the X-38 on the station.If anything went wrong,the X-38 would take the passengers safely back to Earth.Here is another fact how the station is safe. Did you know that after they are finished with the space station it will weigh about 1 million pounds?Thats pretty heavy! Wouldn’t you think that something that heavy would fall down? Actually, the station does! As the station orbits Earth, it slowly gets closer to the planet.If it weren’t boosted back up, the station would crash into Earth.Thats why there are small engines on the station.They help move the station back into a higher orbit when it slows down and moves closer to Earth.This makes the station crashing into the Earth a pretty bad possibility. The last fact is what if the station gets too hot when it is in the sunlight?This is another thing that can not happen to The International Space Station.The extra heat is collected and carried to the radiators, which are turned away from the sun. Heat travels from a hot place to a cooler place,so the heat in the radiators leaks into the intense cold of outer space.

These are the facts and reasons why I think we should take a vacation at The International Space Station.It will be an experience for all of us! I will be seeing you on the spaceship!

                            Love,

           

                        Juliet Hassenberg

                   

Subject: Please do not make us go to Mercury!

To:Parents

From:Petra

 Dear Mom, and Dad,

     Please do not make us go to Mercury, for our Christmas vacation! There are many reasons that we should not go here but, for me there are two main reasons (We would also go bankrupt if we went there!).

    Reason number 1: the temperature is very uncomfortable! I know that mom likes to be warm, but I don’t think she wants to be more than 750 degrees fahrenheit! For Mercury can get up to more than 750 degrees fahrenheit. We would have to pay millions for a air conditioned space suit, if we went there! Then we would have to have a whole nother space suit with heating! Why would we have to do that is because, in the night mercury can go down to -300 degrees fahrenheit! That would be very unsafe!

    Speaking of unsafe, my second reason is that it is very unsafe here!  If  we went to Mercury, we would die! Why you say, well there is no atmosphere so there is no air.  Also because there is no atmosphere  lots of meteors  crash into Mercury. These are no pebbles, some meteors can get to one-hundred miles wide! On Mercury's surface there are high cliffs called  scarps , some scarps slash meteors or any thing that comes in it’s way.So if we stepped on it then our foot would be gone!

    I hope I have convinced you not to bring the family to Mercury for christmas vacation. Between the temperature and the danger on this planet I think that you are not going to bring us there. Plus, if were going to go to Mercury, I have a whole nother letter of excuses,  but that is for another time.

                    Love your daughter,

                                Petra

November!! by Greta P

Reading and Writing

In reading the past two weeks we started reading our new reading group books with partners. Some books we are reading are Tuck Everlasting, Walk Two Moons and The War With Grandpa. Also, we have been continuing our read aloud, Wrinkle in Time. To dig deeper into the characters of this book, we wrote traits about main characters (Meg, Calvin and Charles Wallace) then had to find text to justify the traits.

In writing the past two weeks we have written three flash drafts for the same narrative. Soon we will work through the writing process with this narrative seed, then share the final draft to our classmates. Ask your child about Peter’s Chair!

Math, Science and Number Corner

In math the past two weeks we have wrapping up Unit 1 and started moving into Unit 2! Unit 2 will involve long division, 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication and making arrays for both multiplication and division. We have also played a game called I Have, Who Has? This is a game involving arrays!

In science the past two weeks we have been continuing our Solar System unit.

In number corner the past two weeks we have been starting to look at our new calendar for November, and this month, we will learn about liquid measuring. Also, converting ounces to pints, quarts to gallons etc......   

Other Important News and Events

- Our November share will be about what we are thankful for. Prepare to share on your day!

- Endeavor again will be holding a Pie Sale (yum!) for the Craft Fair! If you are want to participate please fill out the signup sheet and send it to school with your child!

10/8/13 Endeavor 5th grade according to Greta!! :)

Photos from our Fabulous Team Building Fieldtrip to Shelburne Farms!! 9/20/13

Reading and Writing

    In reading the past two weeks we have been  continuing to  talk about  what  good readers do such as  reading wide awake.  Including this,  during  the Friday snack shack we read Scholastic News which includes debates, fun  facts and  articles about current events. We also did a play from Storyworks about Hercules.

    In writing the past two weeks we have  been  continuing  to respond to  writing prompts so we can plant seeds for narratives. We also we read the book Chrysanthemum  then  wrote a story about  any name we wanted to (our own name, name  we  wish we had or just a fun story about a name)!

Math, Science, Number Corner

    In math the last two weeks we have  been working on prime and composite numbers and we even got observed by 12 teachers  during a math class  to see how kids learn! Also, we have been working on factor trees and riddles to go with numbers.

    We just started science and we are going to be studying  astronomy and space!  the whole Endeavor team made a poster  of  what we know about space and what we wonder about space. Also, for the next two weeks  kids  are  going to  make posters for  a word that involves space (eclipse, saturn, satellite, etc.) and then share them with the class. Next week we are also going to use iPads to study space.

    In number corner the past two weeks we have been  wrapping up patterns and observations about September’s calendar as the month comes to an end.

Other Important News and Events

• - HW this week was again minimized because of testing.  Students will simply be writing in their writing notebooks (needs to come back and forth each day!!) and keeping a moon journal!!!
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• Wednesdays this month are Walking Wednesdays!!!
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• October 17 - Conferences.  I've share the google doc with all of you to sign up, and you can access it at any time to find the schedule, or find it on our webpage.
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• Tuesday October 22 - Picture retake day AND Field trip to the Flynn to see Bunnicula!!