November 16, 2008

A quick update from my end of the hall…

Forensics… Unfortunately, I was unable to get the students ready for the first tournament. They all have their pieces, but recess is not a good practice time for a variety of reasons. I will need to have after school practices and I have already asked the students to sign up for a time. I am available on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Hopefully, we will be ready for the next tournament.

Student Council … Student Council has just finished sorting and boxing all the groceries from the food drive. Thanks to your generosity they filled 20 food boxes to be delivered to families in need. The proceeds from the children’s bingo will be used to add a grocery gift card to be used to purchase their Thanksgiving turkey.

Student Council also manned a table at the craft fair selling ornaments and cards that the students had made in Mrs. Pontoriero’s art classes.

Eighth grade science has started a unit on genetics. They will be doing a family pedigree project in the coming weeks.



Fifth grade science will be doing a project on the Periodic table this week. They are anxious to mix some chemicals, so we will be doing a little “kitchen chemistry” later in the week.



Fifth and sixth grade math are still working on fraction concepts.





Algebra is half way through Chapter three and should finish it by Thanksgiving break. They have a project started and will need to take measurements of the bones of their family members. They need to collect data for twenty people.

I have told all my math classes that they should take their Simple Solutions book home every night regardless of whether or not they have an assignment to finish. They have been told that if we have a snow day, they should do the next assignment just as if we had been in school. (i.e. If assignment #49 was due and school is cancelled because we have a snow day, they should do #50 that night) I do not want them to get behind in the event of bad weather.
 

October 28, 2008

Just a quick update as I am looking forward to see you at Parent Conferences on Thursday.

The third and eighth grade science project is progressing nicely. The plants are growing tall and strong. Today we will begin the experiment. The students have brought various agents to water the plants with instead of water. The project will be ongoing for the next two weeks. They’ll let you know what they discover.

The eighth grade is also experimenting with osmosis and diffusion. They have removed the shells of eggs to reveal the cell membrane. Their eggs are now soaking in Karo syrup so they can observe the effects of diffusion.

The fifth grade partnered with the first grade to work on Mystery Boxes. They made inferences to guess what was in their boxes. Some really good observations were made by both groups and I think everyone enjoyed their prizes at the end of the exercise.

The fifth grade is finishing the work on their heat experiments. They are learning how to graph their data and write conclusions.

October 12

Forensics: I have just received the entry sheet for the first tournament of the year. I will be signing up the students who will be competing. The tournament is at St. Mary’s on November 22. The children have their pieces, and now it’s time to “whip them into shape.” We made need some afterschool practice time in November.

Student Council: The first dance was held on Friday, October 10. We are grateful to the Kwiatkowski family (Courtney and her parents) for providing us with the music. A good time was had by all. Student Council is now working on the Halloween party for the middle school students. A flyer will come home this week.

Eighth Grade Science: The students have finished a unit on electricity. They have chosen genetics and evolution as their next topic to investigate. The plants they started for their project with the third grade are starting to sprout. We should be able to move forward on that project as well.


Algebra: The students are finishing Chapter Two. They will be taking a second checkpoint quiz early in the week and the chapter test by week’s end.



Sixth grade math: Graphing and data collection have been the focus for this class. They are finishing a scatterplot project and will be moving on to the topic of central tendency.



Fifth grade math: The room remodeling project is moving forward slowly. The students will work online to find prices of carpeting and furnishings. They can bring newspaper ads and catalogs if they have them. They will have a budget sheet to work with. It will be coming home on Monday, October 13.


Fifth grade science: On Friday the fourth and fifth grade students saw a presentation by an atomic engineer from Westinghouse. He discussed nuclear energy with them. They will be working on a drawing to enter into a competition.
     If you are wondering about the cups they were asked to bring to school, we are going to do an investigation about insulators and heat loss. I want the students to learn how to collect data, come to a conclusion, and communicate their results.
 

September 21

Student Council News … Plans are in the works for a dance on October 10. The council is also working on some fund raising ideas and planning for the middle school Halloween party.

Forensics … The students have begun looking for their pieces with my help. I hope to begin practicing in the next two weeks.

My science classes (fifth and eighth grade) are going to begin working one day a month with a class from the lower grades. Fifth grade will buddy up with the first grade on the last Monday of the month and eighth grade will be partners with the third grade. They will share with them a lesson from something we have been working on in class. The students are looking forward to this new adventure.

Algebra students are finishing Chapter One. They will be taking a “checkpoint quiz” for material from the second half of the chapter on Tuesday and a chapter test on Thursday.

Sixth grade math students are finishing one graphing project and are embarking on a scatter plot activity. They will be taking another chapter quiz later this week.

Fifth grade math students are working on decimals and they too will be starting a project to integrate a variety of skills including measurement, area and perimeter, and decimal addition. They will be designing a room of their dreams. More information will be coming home later.
 

September 14, 2008

Forensics
Forensic dates are now finalized so you may put these on your calendar: November 22 at St. Mary’s
January 24 at St. Teresa of Avila
     February 14 at Assumption
     March 14 (Finals tournament) at Butler Catholic
     March 28 (Novice tournament) at St. Ursula School
 

Math After School
After school math groups met this week. I think those who participated found it fun and worthwhile. Tuesday is reserved for sixth grade and Thursday is the fifth grade’s day. Students are welcome any time after school. I am also available first thing in the morning for anyone who needs help.
Student Council is already busy planning for the school year. They should have something to share with all of you in the very near future.

Now for the class news...

Fifth grade science is working on measuring mass and volume. We worked on regular solids to measure and calculate volume. The students will learn about displacement this week. They will have a practical lab test by the end of the week. Ask your child how they find mass and volume. (The best way to learn something is to teach it to somebody else.) It will be a good way for them to review.
The fifth grade is also working on decimals, area and perimeter in math.

Sixth grade is still working on graphing. On Friday they made measurements, which they will put into a scatter plot later this week. They will be having a graphing quiz by midweek. They are also finishing a small project using bar graphs and circle graphs.

Algebra students are working on functions and will be having their next checkpoint quiz by the end of the week.

 

Eighth grade science students explored static electricity and circuits last week and will soon begin a research project.

That’s all for now. It was very nice to see so many of you at the welcome meeting on Wednesday night!
 

September 7, 2008

     This past week has been another busy one.  Student Council officers were elected, student aides were assigned, and we had our first labs in my science classes.

     There is a Forensic moderators’ meeting on Saturday, September 13 and I will have the dates for the year’s tournaments in my next update.  The forensic team will start practicing next week during their recess.

The new Student Council officers are:

          Thomas K. - President

          Megan A. - Vice President

          Jane P. - Treasurer

          Rachel D. - Secretary

I look forward to working with them and the classroom representatives.

     In the fifth grade science class we are working with the properties of matter.  In Friday’s class I taught the students how to use the three types of balances we have in the science lab.  The students were asked to estimate the mass of items they brought from home.  After they recorded their “guesses” they had to use each of the three balances to find the actual mass.  Unfortunately, we ran out of time.  We will finish this exercise on Monday.  We will be working with finding volume next.

     The eighth grade science class has begun a unit on electricity and magnetism.

     I will be beginning after school groups at the request of the students.  The fifth grade has already chosen Thursday as their day.  I will send a message through Gradebook if my other two classes choose a day.

     We are beginning week three of the Simple Solutions.  I am using the results of the weekly quizzes to plan for my classes the following week.  The areas that show the greatest weakness for the class are the basis for my extra homework page.  I would encourage all the parents of the students in grades five and six to review math facts with their children.  Multiplication facts seem to be a little “rusty” generally.

Have a good week!

September 1, 2008

It is hard to believe that we have one week of school completed and I already have grades in Gradebook! Now that I have met all the students I would like to give you a quick update.

Math 5: I am really excited to have the fifth grade for math this year. I know that you have already gotten the letter about Simple Solutions, our new math program. I have asked the children to try to do as much of the work on their own as they can use the resources in the back of the book and their textbook. Some of the problems they encounter in the assignment may be things we have not yet covered. That’s okay. The program introduces concepts to let the student attempt the upcoming work. The assignment also has review problems and problems of the type we are currently working on in class. The idea is to be continually reviewing and moving forward at the same time. I go over the homework problems each day and answer any questions they have. They will have a quiz on the material each Friday. I will go over the quiz with them the following Monday and use the results of the quiz to plan the next week’s work.

We are also working in their textbook. Right now the first chapter is review work… place value and number notation.

Science 5: In science we are working on the properties of matter and the scientific method. During the next few weeks I will be teaching them how to write and perform an experiment, the use of various laboratory tools and the metric system (yes, more math!). They started to make a chart of solids I have in my classroom. They will be finding the mass, volume, and density of each item and recording that data.

Math 6: Simple Solutions works the same way in all the grades. We are also working on data collection, graphing and measures of central tendency. The student’s first project is making a bar and a circle graph that shows how they spend their day.
 

Algebra: We are getting a slow start because I am still trying to fit the extra work of the new program into the material in the textbook. The students will have work from both sources each night. Right now we are reviewing basic skills such as order of operations and variable expressions.

The link below has review material for the Algebra textbook.
http://www.phschool.com/webcodes10/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.gotoWebCode&wcprefix=atk&wcsuffix=0099

Science 8: This group is also doing a brief unit on the scientific method. They will be learning how to develop an experiment and how to use a variety of lab tools. They will also review the metric system.
Later this year we will begin to prepare for the Science Olympiad.

Forensics: I am also in the process of getting the Forensic team together. There will be more about that in my next note. Our school will be host a tournament for novices in February.

Yearbook: I will be signing up students who would like to work on the yearbook. We will have to meet at least one day a week after-school as there is not much time left in the daily schedule.

Student Council: elections will be this week.

If you have any questions or concerns you can contact me either through Gradebook or at the school office. I check my email each night by 9 p.m. and we respond to you as quickly as possible.

I look forward to a great year!
 

Supply lists

     Math Students - Grades 5 & 6

          Calculator - 5 function style

          One inch three ring binder

          Pencils

     Science Students - Grades 5 & 8

          One inch three ring binder

          Pencils

     Algebra Students - Grade 8

          Calculator - Texas Instrument 83, suggested but not required. Some school calculators

                            will be available for use. You may wait to purchase this once school has started.

          One inch three ring binder

          Pencils