This week, our class has done a lot of reflecting over our year. And I loved reading this poster of lessons they have learned this year.

Tomorrow we are headed to Heritage Park at 12:15 to eat lunch and hang out at the park! In order to attend this field trip, please bring back the permission slip signed tomorrow! 

If the permission slip didn’t make it home, you can print one below. THANK YOU!

Old Town Presidio General_Permission FieldTrip

What a FUN day we had!

Here is a glimpse into our Robotics workshop! Everything was awesome!

(Chaperones, send me any pictures you took throughout the day!)

We have arrived to the last week of 5th grade! This week is still going on as originally planned! 

TOMORROW IS LEGOLAND! Students must wear their normal OTA uniforms and bring a sack lunch for tomorrow! I still am missing permission slips from a few students- (you cannot attend tomorrow if I do not have the permission slip!). We will leave campus around 9 and be back right before dismissal.

THURSDAY- June 11th- is Lunch & Kickball at the park! 4th and 5th grade will walk to Heritage Park to eat lunch, play kickball, and enjoy other activities at the park for the afternoon. Parents are welcome to walk with us to the park or meet us there for our picnic and games.

FRIDAY- June 12th- Half Day! Dismissal is at 12pm!

I’m excited to spend the last week with all my soon-to-be 6th graders! What a great year it has been! This week 5th grade is choosing to focus on the GREAT things we have done this year and the AMAZING strides each student has made in the past 9 months. 

5th grade brought their bright colors today for an awesome Field Day!! Our futures sure are BRIGHT! 

As the year draws to a close, we are frantically working on last minute projects here in 5th grade! It is a busy week. A couple reminders and announcements:

This Week:

• This week we are wrapping up the quarter with a few projects– The Gettysburg Address, a math test, the Civil War exam, the Civil War essay, and the Frederick Douglas Final Project. 
• We are also having some time to make-up other assignments throughout the week
• I have extended the due date of all Quarter 4 work to Monday, June 7th. We will have time to continue working on assignments and optional projects on Monday. 
• This Friday, (6/5) our class has decide to use a FREE DRESS day. They earned this day during from the jog-a-thon and have saved it all year!

Next week (aka the Last week of school!):

• Monday– more Q4 work time and Field Day
• Tuesday– LEGOLAND Fieldtrip! Permission slips were sent home yesterday! Please return the permission slip signed and the $16 dollars to cover the cost of the trip to me this week! Also, parent volunteer/chaperones are needed for this trip! I have a limited number of parents that we can bring into the park. If you would like to volunteer, please let me know ASAP. 
• Thursday– Kickball & Lunch at Heritage park with 4th grade!
• Friday– Last Day of School and its a HALF DAY! 12pm dismissal.

Hey 5th Grade!

As our Week 9, Make-Up week approaches us… just wanted to mention a few reminders:

• I will be staying after school Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday until 4:15. All are welcome to stay to have extra work time. At 4:15, we will walk downstairs to the lobby. Please be on time to pick up your child!
• This next week is the last chance to pass the States and Capitals! Study! Study! Study!
• I will meet with students on Monday to discuss any missing assignments. But for the weekend, their project trees should be highlighted and should offer any assistance in discovering what is missing! Optional Projects are a great idea to work on tonight as well. 
• Next Friday, June 5th will be a Free Dress Day! 

Thanks! 

Mrs. Cook

Hello All,

Quarter 4 is ending quickly! This is our last week of new assignments/projects! Next week will be our make-up week! Thanks for helping your child stay up to date with all their assignments! We will be working really hard this week to finish the last few projects on our project trackers, its so important to be here and be ready to focus! 

Announcements:

• June 5th- Last Day of Quarter 4. All Work must be turned in by this date to receive credit. 
• June 8th- Field Day- (more info to come)
• June 12th-Last Day of School / Half Day

Language Arts

• Vocab Week 8
• Civil War Essay- Finish Draft and complete the Final Draft on Blog
• NO Nonfiction this week 🙂
• Frederick Douglass (Finish life timeline & Final Project)
• Poetry-Battle Hymn and O Captain! My Captain!
• Reading Club

History

• Gettysburg Address
• Project 8 – Reconstructing the South

Math

• Lesson 103
• Lesson 104
• Lesson 105
• Last Math Test for 5th Grade! (next Monday)
• ST MATH and TARGET SCORES

Let’s finish strong!! We have almost made it!! 

I just wanted to thank you all for your kind gifts last week! I continued to feel appreciated every day with all the fun and exciting gifts! Everyone made me feel so special. Thank you for the flowers, fruit, kind notes, and gifts. I am so lucky!

Hello 5th Grade Families,

Announcements:

• Yearbook order forms went home on Friday. If you would like to order a yearbook, please fill out the order form and send it to school with your child!
• Upcoming Half Day, Fri, May 22 (day before Memorial Day Weekend

This week in 5th grade:

• Language Arts
  • Vocab Week 6
  • Nonfiction week 6 (NewsELA and thinkCERCA)
  • The Narrative and the Life of Frederick Douglass – Reading excerpts from ch. 6 and 7. & continuing to fill in our file folder timeline of his life from slavery to freedom.
  • Civil War Essay- This week we will brainstorm and research for our civil war research essay. We will write the intro and first 2 body paragraphs as well.
  • Reading Club
• History
  • We finished Project 5 today! Our life-size images of women, soldiers, and generals of the Civil War turned out amazing. (Pictures coming soon)
  • We will take notes and start project 6 tomorrow. (Confederate Struggles Newspaper)
  • Geography- States and Capitals (students should have passed the following regions to be on track- Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest! This week they are focusing on the Midwest!)
• Math
  • Lesson 96, 97, 98, and 99
  • ST Math
  • Target Scores (Students should be on ‘Variables’ this week if they are staying up to date

We have 3.5 weeks left of Quarter 4! Let’s finish strong!

Have you seen this purple ‘Mid Quarter Check In’ in your child’s folder?

Every student has an updated project tree and Check list about what they have not turned in for Q4 so far.

Please take a look at this paper to see what your child should be finishing at home!

Also…have they studied their States & Capitals tonight yet? They should be studying NIGHTLY for their quizzes!

Congratulations Paris, Parker, and Diego! 

These students will be competing in the OTA Olympics tomorrow, Thursday, April 23rd, at 2pm in the 7th grade room. Parents are welcome to attend!

Just a reminder, our 5th grade poetry contest will take place on Tuesday!! The top 3 students will then compete in the OTA Poetry Olympics on Thursday! Please make sure your child is practicing at home for this special event! Students must have their poem memorized. 🙂

Any 5th graders interested in this years Track & Field Meet? See Info below!

Point Loma High School

Future Pointers Track & Field Meet

April 12, 2015

Come out to enjoy a fun community event on the PLHS campus. After April 7th registration will be accepted on the day of the event between 8a-10a for $25. 

Grades/ Divisions  K, 1, 2 will begin competition at 9am

Grades / Divisions 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 will begin competition immediately after, approx noon. 

Download registration forms below:

2015 Reg Form 1

2015 Reg Form 2

We have made it! Quarter 4, the last quarter of the school year, has officially arrived! I hope everyone had a nice and refreshing Spring Break! 

Announcements:

• Q4 project trees and syllabi will be posted later this week
• Q3 report cards will be sent home on Friday!

This Week:

• We are starting a new novel called Bull Run and we will read it for the next 3 weeks.
• Vocabulary Q4 week 1 activities
• Nonfiction Reports (2)
• Reading Club
• Math lesson 80 on Monday, test on Tuesday, Investigation on Wednesday, and Lesson 81/82 on Friday!
• This quarter we will be learning about the Civil War in History! Look forward to notes and the first project starting tomorrow!

Encourage your students to start the Quarter strong and not get behind in week 1!

-Mrs. Cook

Hey 5th grade families!

Welcome to the last week of Quarter 3! Crazy! Just a couple announcements for this week:

Announcements:

• I will be staying after school Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday until 4:15 if your child would like to stay after school and have extra work time.
• All Quarter 3 work is due this Friday, March 27th! No exceptions!
• Book Report is due by Friday, 3/27 too!
• We will have time in class to work on missing assignments, however we are also finishing our Wonder Opinion Essay and working with one more poem this week!
• Spring Break is next week! We have 3/30-4/3 off 🙂

I know everyone is excited for the approaching SPRING BREAK and Quarter 4! But before we get there…let’s finish Quarter 3 strong!

Families of 5th grade! 

We have reached week 8 of Q3!!! Next week is the LAST week of Q3! Time to get everything completed and turned in for this quarter! 

Announcements:

• Narratives/Books must be completely finished by this FRIDAY! Everything needs to be finalized online…both text and pictures in order to be considered complete. We will be in the lab 2 more times this week! 
  • 7 pictures
  • 7 pages of text
  • 1 cover page
  • 1 dedication page
• We had a fun day in art today! 5th grade made fun pillows! See below:

What we are doing this week:

• Language Arts
  • Vocab Week 8 Activities and Quiz
  • Nonfiction Week 8 (on Thursday)
  • Draft 2 of our Wonder Opinion Essay
  • Poetry- Some Opposites Activity
• Math
  • Lesson 76
  • Lesson 77
  • Lesson 78
• History
  • Finish Project #6
  • Project #9- The Gold Rush! 

As always, next week (the last week of the quarter) I will be staying after school until 4:15 on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday for extra work time. 

Let’s finish strong!! 

-Mrs. Cook 

Hey all,

Tomorrow is our field trip to SDSU! We will be leaving OTA around 9:30 and returning around 1. Also, we will be eating at SDSU before returning back to OTA, so please have your child pack a sack lunch for tomorrow! 🙂

Also, I need all Studentreasure order forms tomorrow! Without the order form, they cannot publish their book.

Thanks again!

Mrs. Cook

Hey all, 

Week 7 is up and running!

Announcements:

• Our field trip to see SDSU’s symphony is this Friday, March 13th! Please return all permission slips by tomorrow! We will be leaving around 9:30 from OTA, we will take the Trolley to SDSU, watch the symphony, eat lunch on campus (BRING A SACK LUNCH), and then head back to OTA around 1. 
  • If any parents want to attend, we have a few spots left! Let me know!!
• Book Publishing: Your child is working on publishing a story! Each child will recieve a free hardbound book of their very own story and pictures.
  • Today, an order form and envelope came home with the option to order more copies. I need the order form by by THIS FRIDAY. Even if you are not ordering more books, I still need the order form back. There is a box at the bottom of the page that says I do not wish to order any copies at this time. Check the box, sign the bottom, and return it by Friday. If you are ordering more copies, just follow the directions on the form! 🙂 Thanks!!
  • All 7 pictures need to be done by Friday. All text and pictures need to be finalized online (on the publishing website) by next Friday (3/20). We will be working hard this week and next week! 
• Q3 will be over before we know it! (Hasn’t it flown by?) We have 2.5 weeks! 
• Q3 Book Report (This project has been on the Independent Reading Project Tree all quarter!) Report Ideas came home last Friday, which gave your students 3 weeks to complete the book report of their choice. Book Reports are due March 27th! (last day of Q3) Any projects received after 3/27 will not receive credit. 

This week:

• Language Arts:
  • Vocabulary Week 7 Activities and Quiz
  • Poetry- A Poison Tree Analysis 
  • Opinion Essay Draft 2
  • Close Reading Article- Native American Impact 
• Math:
  • Lesson 72
  • Lesson 73
  • Lesson 74
  • Lesson 75
• History 
  • Finish the Gaining Land Booklet (Project 7 and 8)
  • Project 6: Traveling West 

Thanks everyone!

Hey 5th grade families,

If you were looking forward to the movie night last week, then get excited because it has been rescheduled for tomorrow night! Movie night is officially tomorrow, Friday, March 6th! All details are the same as last week! Thank you so much for those families that brought baked goods last week.  We are hoping to have some more baked goods donated tomorrow!  If you or your 5th grader would like to bake something tasty, that would be awesome! Please package the dessert individually to be sold in dollar increments! Thanks so much!!

Hello All,

5th Grade Announcements:

• On Friday, I sent home a field trip permission slip! We are headed to SDSU on March 13th, with 4th grade, to watch the symphonic performance called “Lights, Camera, Music!”. Please see the information page and complete the permission slip! If anyone would like to join us to attend this performance, please let me know!

Weekly Update: This week we will completing the following assignments:

• Language Arts
  • Wonder- will will finish the book on Wednesday!
  • Vocabulary Activities for Week 6
  • Nonfiction Week 6
  • Writing-Opinion prewriting, planning, and beginning of Draft #1
  • Narrative Typed for publishing!
  • First 4 pictures complete for narrative
  • Last Novel Update
  • Think About It…pages (Wonder)
• Math
  • Lesson 69, 70, TEST, Math Lab, Investigation
• History
  • We are finishing our Texas and Oregon Project
    • Texas and Oregon Booklet pages should be finished by tomorrow
  • We will start our next project/notes tomorrow.
• Gala Letters! 3 per person!
• Gala Art Project– If you are able to send in Fabric Scissors that we can use on Tuesdays for the project that would be awesome! We will return them, I promise! 🙂

Thank you!

-Mrs. Cook

I am so sorry this message is so late, I meant to post this sooner. We are in need of some supplies tomorrow for art! Tomorrow, 5th grade will be working on their art piece for the Gala.

Here are some items that will help tomorrow run smoothly. If you have any of them and wouldn’t mind us using them, please send them to school tomorrow before 1:45!

• sewing pins
• FABRIC scissors
• an iron

We appreciate any help with materials! We will return all items. Thank you!!

To assist with Gala letter writing, we discussed some ideas and planned how we could organize our letters, below you will see our plan. This should help guide the class if they are writing them and need some assistance.

Paragraph 1-

• Introduce Self
• Introduce Old Town Academy
• Connect with the company

Paragraph 2- 

• State Purpose of the letter (we are having a Gala to raise money for our school)
  • talk about the Gala
• Specifically ask for a donation of something  (example, “Would you be willing to donate a gift card that could be raffled off at the auction?”
• State what we are raising money for (learning stations for STEM learning)

Paragraph 3- 

• Closing (example, “Thank you for reading my letter! If you would like to donate, I have attached instructions. “)

So far Tatym and Parker have completed all 3 letters! Woo Hoo! Keep up the good work! 

We have made it halfway through Q3! Time is flying by! 

Announcements for 5th grade:

• OTA is hosting movie night for this Friday, Feb. 27th! (See info for the movie night here) In previous years, 5th grade has played a large part in donating baked goods to be sold and once again, we (along with 6th grade) will be supplying the baked items that will be sold at this event! We would appreciate all baked goods sent to school with your child on Friday or brought to Movie Night. These desserts will be sold individually, so please cut and package the dessert to be sold individually. Baked goods should be packed to sell individually in $1 increments ($1, $2, $3, etc.). WE APPRECIATE YOU! 

What is happening in 5th grade this week:

• Gala Letters – Our goal is for every student to write 3 letters!! We would like them by the end of this week! Students wrote the first one in class last week. I am encouraging them to use that letter as a guide to write the other 2.
• Publishing our Narrative– Like mentioned before, each student is publishing a book this quarter. This week we are planning for our books and starting our pictures for the book. They can always work on these pictures at home as well! They need 7.
• Wonder- We are reading pg. 236-280 this week and completing 2 more Novel Updates
• Close Reading Article– Motivations for Moving will be completed on Thursday
• History– We are finishing Project #5 (Manifest Destiny ShowMe) and beginning our 6th project (Traveling West).
• Math– Lessons 66-68.
• Target Scores- Target Scores are on the Math page. The link can be found at the very top of the Math page in red!
• St Math– Since we have focused only on ST Math in math lab this quarter, our cones for this quarter should be more than half way done! keep making progress! We need to focus more on Target Scores, since those are new!

Once again, your child is using their project trees as a guide to help them know what they need to work on for the quarter. Their trackers/trees should be be highlighted and you should be able to see what they have not turned in for the quarter yet!

Let me know if you have any questions! Thank you for taking time to help guide your child at home! It is so necessary and appreciated.

-Mrs. Cook

Quarter 3 is quickly flying by! We are really trying to keep our project trees up to date this Quarter. Below you can see our project trees with the assignments that we have completed highlighted. Your child’s tree might look different than mine. If your child has completed everything for this Quarter so far, then their trees should look identical to mine. I encourage you to use these trees as a guideline. What is not highlighted on your child’s trees that should be? What should they work on this week in order to stay up to date?

This week in 5th grade:

• Vocabulary Week 4 Activities and Quiz. Below you will find a screen shot of our words for this week so far. This list will grow to 10 words by tomorrow! TONIGHT: Activity 1 should be complete. Tomorrow, activity 2 should be complete. Thursday, activity 3 should be complete. And on Friday we will have a Quiz.
• 
• Nonfiction Week 4 :We will do this on Thursday
• Wonder: This week we will be reading to page 242 and completing Novel Updates 7 and 8.
• Reading Club book and assignments
• History– Project #5 Manifest Destiny ShowMe. We will start this tomorrow and work on it until Friday!

Any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me at mssarah@otacharter.org

We are also starting our Gala Donation Letters this week. Tonight, students are brainstorming smaller San Diego/California businesses that they could write to! Please have a conversation with your child about some ideas! 

Thanks so much! Let’s make this week a good one!

OTA Parents, please join us Thursday night to learn more about a new charter high school for San Diego. Bill Hixson, lead developer of the project-based STEM High School, will be there to tell you more about his new school. Bill is a software entrepreneur who after selling his company “retired” into a second career in teaching. He focused on STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Math) education and worked on school turn-around teams in NYC, in addition to teaching on the faculty of Colombia Teachers College.

We believe this school will be a good fit for OTA students, with a strong faculty and a curriculum focused on independent learning (the school will be incorporating Project Trees) and mathematical & scientific literacy. Internships will be a large part of the program starting in 11th grade, and its project-based, blended learning model will integrate in-class and online learning activities within each project.

The projected opening date for the new high school will be the 2016-2016 school year. All parents are welcome but parents with students in grades 5th-8th are particularly encouraged to attend Thursday to learn more.

Hi 5th Grade Parents, 

Last quarter your child worked really hard on writing a narrative that will be published into a real hard-bound book! In order for us to get to the publishing part, I need to sit down with every student and edit their stories and help students revise their writing. I would love to have some help in this process! Would anyone be willing to come next week to help students with editing and revising their stories?

Next week, on Wednesday and Thursday from 10:40-11:55 we will be editing our drafts. If you are able and want to come support the 5th graders in this process, please let me know! I would appreciate any help, even if its for a portion of the time. 

Please send me an email if you would like to participate in helping out. Thanks so much!

Just a quick reminder if your child wants to pass out Valentine’s Day cards, we will have time at the end of the day tomorrow! Make sure you bring one for everyone in our class (30 students). Treats are welcome as well. 

Hello all, 

5th grade Assignments Update for Week 3:

• Language Arts: By Thursday we will had:
  • read to page 160 in Wonder. 
  • Completed Vocabulary Activities for Week 3 using the following word list:Q3 vocab week 3
  • Our first Close Reading Article and Questions: Daniel Boone
  • Opinion Writing- Prewriting and Oreo Planning Page
• Math:
  • Investigation
  • Lesson 61
  • Lesson 62
  • ST Math
• History:
  • Transportation Changes (Project 3 on Syllabus and Tracker)

5th Grade Announcements:

• No school this Friday, Feb. 13th and Monday, Feb. 16th. 
• On Thursday at the end of the day, we will have a some time for students to pass out Valentine’s Day cards/candy if they would like to. 
  • If your child brings Valentine’s, please make sure they have one for everyone in our class. We have a class of 30 Students. You can find our class list here if your child would like to address the cards individually: 5th Grade Class List
  • If anyone wants to provide treats for the whole class to enjoy during this time, that would be great. Just let me know! 

🙂

Hello!

If anyone would like to donate to our classroom to refill some of the supplies that would be amazing!

Here are the items we are either out of or are running extremely low on:

• pencils
• Kleenex (everyone has the sniffles)
• scissors
• rulers
• lined paper (wide rule)

Thank you in advance for anyone who is willing to donate. We appreciate it!

5th grade, 

Heads up: Report cards for Quarter 2 went home today! Please look over your child’s grades and return the signed receipt by Friday. It would be great to sit down with your child and review their grades and discuss areas of growth, focus levels, and how Q3 can be more successful. 

What to Look for this quarter:

• You child will be using their project trees as a check list and guide for what assignments are due for the week, what projects are passed, and which projects they are still working on. 
• PLEASE stay up to date with your child and use the project trees as a guide for each week. Your child will be highlighting each project when they have received a passing score. This step is crucial to help with time management for the quarter. MANY students are left with many assignments that are not complete at the end of each quarter. It is your child’s responsibility to be aware what they are missing and what they can work on. 
• A quick daily update would be a great way to begin. We write on our planning page everyday. Some assignments that we complete weekly that you can make sure are complete are:
  • vocabulary activities
  • nonfiction report
  • vocabulary test (on fridays)
  • DAILY Saxon practice
  • a History project (we work on 1 a week)
  • ST Math and Target Scores 

Thank you for taking a little bit of time out of your day to help make quarter 3 run more smoothly. I am determined to create an environment that reaps more success each quarter and assist every student in succeeding individually. With your help each day at home, you can help make that process easier. THANK YOU!

-Mrs. Cook

Hi parents! 

This quarter 5th grade is going to be using 2 programs, Piano Maestro and Duolingo. Both programs use a current parent email address. Please send your child to school tomorrow with a current email address.  This will allow them to log in and for you to check their progress, etc. 

Thank you!

More info for Quarter 3 will be coming! 

Well, we are here. The last week of quarter 2! All late and missing assignments must be completed and turned in by Friday to receive credit. A couple things to be aware of, I planned more than we had time for this quarter. We had many short weeks this quarter along with the Star of India, which unfortunately means we did not have time for a few projects on our project trees. We simply crossed out these projects out on our project trees. You will see them again on Q3’s trees.

Reminders for this week:

• We will have an Age of Exploration exam and a Grammar Quiz this week
• Due to this being a shortened week, we won’t have as much time in class to work on unfinished work.
• Each student is doing a 60 second commercial in front of the class about their cereal box this week
• There will be no new math lessons this week
• Friday is a half day! 
• I will be staying after school until 4:15 tomorrow and Thursday for the students who would like to stay and have extra work time. 

Important Info for Quarter 2:

• Students need to finish their narrative this week that we have been working on.
• Work on ST Math and Target Scores at home in order to finish. Students need to be 44% completed with ST Math by Friday, and have only the first column completed for Target Scores.
• If your child thinks they are done with everything for the quarter, have them ask me to double check and work on OPTIONAL PROJECTS!
• Optional Projects are needed in History, Writing, and Literature & Poetry to receive an A. 

Let’s finish this quarter strong!!

-Mrs. Cook

Hi Parents,

Once again, please read the following link about a great opportunity to help your child feel loved while on the Star of India. Please help by participating!!

VOHletters

“Imagine the amazement of the sailors when the Captain gives them their letter telling them of life back home in England or Europe, or friends or family awaiting their arrival in America!”

Thank you so much!! I look forward to seeing the letters come in tomorrow and Wednesday.

5th grade families,

After a quick winter break, we are back! I hope you all enjoyed your break. It was a crazy break for me…with the holidays, my wedding, and a quick trip up north but over all it is a time I will never forget! First off, I wanted to thank you for all your sweet gifts and the extremely gracious gift of money! Oh my goodness, I was shocked and speechless! Special thank you to Diego and Lisa Delgado for organizing that sweet surprise. I have never felt more loved and cared for by my students and parents before. I am continuously thankful for each and every student of mine and view my role as their 5th grade teacher as a very important job. Thank you for extending your thoughtfulness.

Reminders:

• Cereal Box Book Report is due January 16th! Directions were sent home before break. Lost yours? Click Cereal Box Book Report and Cereal Box templates to download a printable copy. For more examples and information, contact me! Get started NOW!
• Week 9  (the last week of Quarter 2) is quickly approaching. Please make sure your child is working on unfinished work at home. Start those optional projects now instead of waiting!
• Each night students should still be watching their math video and taking their quiz. Please partner with me in reminding your child to complete this at home each night!! Also, designate (at least) 15 minutes every night to Target Scores!!!
• Star of India permission slips went home today! Please look through the packet and send back with your child ASAP! Our trip is January 14-15. Want to chaperone? Let me know!! 🙂

Happy New Year!

-Mrs. Cook

Welcome to Week 6! 

As I sit here and look at the calendar for this quarter, I cannot believe we are already in week 6! We have arrived to the final week of school before winter break.

This Week in 5th Grade:

• MAP Testing!! 5th grade has MAP testing on Thursday and Friday. It is very important to be here on our testing days.
• 5th grade will have a Holiday Party on Friday! If you did not receive my SignUp Genius email to sign up to donate for our celebration, you can click on here. Our celebration will take place at the end of the day. 
• We will still have a Vocab Quiz this Friday!
• 5th Grade is wrapping up our Q2 novel- Don Quixote this week!
• Don’t forget about the Sock Drive! Please donate socks and help homeless children in need. Sock Drive ends this Friday.

Future Announcements:

• 5th Grade’s annual trip to the Star of India is scheduled for January 14th. More information to come but I wanted to make you aware of the date since it is next month!

Last Week’s Highlights:

• We are so lucky to have Dinah (Maxwell’s Grandma) with us during Art this year. This quarter 5th grade is working on human form-drawing with balance and proportion.
• As difficult as this is, everyone is doing awesome! We have spent a lot of time measuring and making sure our drawings are accurate and proportionate.
• Thank you Dinah!!

-Ms. Rock

Our groups are off and reading their books! THANK YOU to those parents who graciously donated books to make this possible!

Report cards go home today! Be on the look out for a white envelope with your child’s Quarter 1 grades! Inside the envelope you will find their report card and a Report Card Receipt. Please sign the receipt indicating that you received and reviewed your child’s grades with them. Thank you!

On Friday we had our annual Jog-a-Thon award ceremony. This year was extra special, as OTA celebrated the dedication of our field to Alicia & Tony Gwynn. It was fun to watch 5th grade win many awards, and that was all from their hard work with raising money for OTA! AWESOME JOB 5TH GRADE! We have lots to look forward to…TWO Free Dress days & ONE awesome ice cream party!

Special shout out to our top runners: Ben, Jackson, Elena, and Christina! And to Tatym for being a finalist in this years t-shirt design!

Hello All,

Quarter 2 is here and going great! This post is meant to make you aware of the Quarter 2 changes. I spent a lot of time thinking about how to make this quarter better and opened it up to the class for suggestions as well 🙂

To begin, below you will find our new Weekly Planning Page. Each student has enough planning pages for the entire quarter. These can be found in your child’s RED folder. Their red folder should come home every night, it holds all the work that your child is not finished with.

Planning Page highlights:

• Each day we will write their plan/goals for each subject.
• Future Assignments/Projects: This section will help each child see what’s coming and what they should be working on.
• Class Dojo Grade: This section will be filled out every Friday. They will write down their weekly percentage score. Please help hold your child accountable for high percentages. Remember Class Dojo is about classroom behavior, they receive positive and negative points for their behavior.
• Missing Projects: Throughout the week and especially on Friday, I will meet with your child to discuss what projects they are still working on and what is considered missing. This will give you a better idea about what they can work on at home.

Other Quarter 2 Changes:

• Students will participate in Reading Clubs twice a week. They will be reading a novel with a group of students. I will meet with each group each week.
• No Reading Responses! Instead of reading responses, I have introduced Close Reading Passages. Each week, students will receive a passage to read with a response form. These passages are leveled and your child will receive the passage that fits their reading level. The topic of these passages correlate with our history curriculum. Students will be given some time in class to complete this.
• There will be 2 Grammar Quizzes throughout the quarter

Project Trees will be posted shortly.

Looking forward to this next week! 🙂

Ms. Rock

Sorry for all the Scholastic updates, but buying off the teacher wish list has been more difficult than anticipated!

Disregard my previous post about emptying your shopping cart. I have reset my wish list to include the books that have not yet been ordered. Please only put the books in your cart if you are going to open an account and pay for your order immediately. If you hold them in your cart, they get taken off my wish list and magically disappear! Thank you for your patience with this 🙂

Hello 5th grade families,

For Quarter 2, I am planning more small group instruction for reading. This will allow me to meet the needs of your child on a more individualized basis. This really excites me! We will be starting reading clubs where a small group of students will all read the same book. Throughout the week they will meet, read, and dive into deep guided conversations. I will also meet with each group throughout the week to guide, assist, encourage, and participate. The goal for this time is for students to embrace the 4 C’s: Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, & Creativity.

However, in order for these reading club groups to be successful, we need books! I have created a wish list on Scholastic. On this wish list I have selected 7 books that are awesome 5th grade novels. For each book, I have requested 6 copies. That way each student in the reading group can have their own book to read. If you would like to donate any of these books to help make these reading groups happen, we would be so appreciative. The books are very inexpensive, they range from $2.00-$4.00.

If you would like to donate/purchase the books for our classroom, you can follow the following steps:

• VISIT scholastic.com/readingclub
•  ENTER the one-time Class Activation Code (M98RK)
•  SHOP from the Teacher’s Wish List

More information for Quarter 2 will come soon. 🙂 Stay tuned!

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been diving into short stories from our Literature books and focusing on certain skills. Each week, we challenge ourselves as we look at the text from different perspectives and work on skills like- main idea, cause and effect, mood, details, patterns, and more! Take a look at some activities we have done.

We Love Scholastic!

Due to the number of students who ordered books last month, scholastic gave every person in our class a free book! We are excited!

Our writing is off to a great start! We are in the early stages of writing essays and let me tell you, our 5th graders are doing awesome! Here is an example of how easy it is to expand our thoughts when writing. We have learned specific colors to help us organize our thoughts and write it out! Ask your child what green, yellow, and red means when they are writing!

We are using these colored strips of paper to help us visualize our essay before we write it out on paper. Organization is key! Stay tuned for some awesome writing samples! I’m excited to see our 5th graders develop as writers throughout this year.

Just wanted to make a quick announcement that many students are struggling with their multiplication facts! Please remind your child to practice them at home! Our math curriculum is built on the memorization of their math facts, therefore it is super important for these to be memorized. There are many websites with games or flashcards, or I have flashcards that your child can take home if you need them!

Thank you to everyone who came last night to Back to School night! I just wanted to address some immediate concerns and questions as well as recap some important info from last night.

A common question from last night was, “How do we know if my child is getting behind?”

To keep you in the loop, each week (normally on Mondays) I will post what projects we are working on in class throughout the week. This will give you an idea of what we are trying to accomplish. I will also include due dates so that you can help keep your child accountable. In class we will be tracking their progress on their project trees. They will highlight each project once it is completed. I know many of you are concerned that your child may fall behind, so I hope with the project trees and my weekly post on what exactly your child should be completing for the week, we will work together to help them achieve their projects.

“Does class dojo track academic achievement?”

Class dojo is strictly for class behavior. The percentages that you see when you log in, show your child’s behavior for the week. I cannot link this app to academics. It is only to see how your child is positively and how they can improve.

My goal and hope is to keep you informed about academics and behavior all year long.

Due every Friday: Weekly reading responses. We are also having our first Vocabulary quiz tomorrow. We have been talking about the words all week in class. Vocab quizzes will always happen on Fridays.

If are looking for our daily schedule, I posted it under the curriculum section. 🙂 Please let me know if you have any questions!

Ms. Rock

Hello!

I hope your children enjoyed their first day of school! Your child set some great 5th grade goals that they are hoping to accomplish this year. More routine and information will come tomorrow! 🙂

If anyone needs to get a hold of me, you can email me at: mssarah@otacharter.org

Also, 5th grade is having Back to School night next Wednesday, September 10th from 5-6pm. At this meeting we will discuss how 5th grade works and some important details that will help your child succeed this year.

Thank you to everyone who brought in classroom supplies! I am so thankful for your generosity.

Very excited for this year & I hope you are too!

-Ms. Rock