Guest Bloggers Alannah and Sierra

This is Alannah and Sierra updating you on the month of October!

Reading: In reading we are working on reading the book Where The Mountain Meets The Moon. We are also doing a packet on each chapter we read. 

Math:  In the beginning of the year we were and still are working with powers of ten. We have been working with decimals and multiplication too. 

Science: In science we have been working with planets, the Sun, stars, and Earth. We have been doing scale models too.

Social Studies: We are learning about the Incas, Aztecs, Christopher Columbus, and Conquistadors.  We played a Jeopardy game to go over what we have learned. 

Writing: In writing we are working on dialogue. We have been putting dialogue in our paragraphs and sentences.  

Read Aloud: We are reading a school read aloud called Winnies Great War. It is a great book about Winnie who sets of with Harry and Christopher. He is headed to the War. 

Extra: On October 2nd we did walk to school which was really tiring and very fun. On Monday  we might be working at the Fall fair for the book Winnie ́s Great War. 

Guest Blogger Jillian and Briella

This is Briella and Jillian. Today we will be talking a little about things we are doing this week. We are doing MAP testing (reading). (math)decimals (Social studies)we are doing posters of different maps skills (Science) We might be using the 3-D printers.We have jobs,(board eraser Deanna,Max) (paper passer Aiden, sarah)(chair stacker Mali, Ben)(Media specialist Joey and Aannah)(Errand Runners Tomas , Leland)(Buses Mia , Bailey)(windows Jalya , Andrew)(library Nathan, Santino)(line leader Isabella)(Bloggers Jillian, Briella)(sweeper Sierra, demarae)(Desks Samantha). Our homework is spelling ,Reading log, Daily math ,Current Events, Science Vocab.

StarBase!

Yesterday was our first trip to Starbase at Hanscom Airforce Base. The class had a blast experimenting with the metric system, Computer Aided Drafting, and making rockets. Stay tuned for student blogs detailing our experiences.

Welcome Back To School

Welcome to 5th grade!

I am excited to start a great year with this new class. We will do many exciting things in this last year of Elementary school. I hope your student has been coming home with happy reports and can't wait to be on the morning announcements, lead the recycling efforts, and join band. These are all 5th grade exclusive activities that many have been waiting for.

I am going to enlist the class to be in charge of this blog and updating it with news from our classroom and the school.

Stay Tuned!

Student Blog Post #1- Maggie, Alana, Tatum, and Michael

Hey 5B! This is Maggie, Michael, Alana, and Tatum here! We are going to talk a little bit about what we did in school this week. We started off the week by remembering what happened on 9/11, a terrorist attack that changed many people's lives. On Tuesday we got our new schedules for the beginning of the day and reading MAP, which took up most of our day. We started Wednesday by doing math MAP, which took up 2 hours of our day! So, we weren't able to do science and social studies that day. Then on Thursday, we did our name projects about how we got our name and fun facts about it!  Finally on Friday, we had gym for the fifth time this week, and we presented our Social Study projects and finished our name projects. We are getting ready for open house tuesday next week Now there is open house on Tuesday next week you are welcome to come and you can bring your kids if they are in the school or is in 5B.This has been a week of fun in school. Bloggers out!  

Welcome to 5B

Welcome back to school!

I am so excited to start the new year with this class of 5th graders. We are going to have the best year ever. This August begins my 14th year in 5th grade, and my 11th here at Johnny Appleseed. I will be teaming once again with Mrs. Demers, although she will be back later in the school year after her maternity leave. My content areas are ELA, Social Studies, and Writing, and the class will switch for math and science.

I use the service "Remind" fairly often. If you sign up, it will send notices and reminders by text to your phone. The link is below

https://www.remind.com/join/hkecc8


One of my goals is to update this blog consistently with the help of student bloggers, stay tuned for all of our class updates.

I am also looking to obtain some flexible seating options through Donorschoose.org for our class. Please share this information with anyone, or any company you feel may be interested in contributing. Right now every dollar is being matched!
DONORSCHOOSE Project

I look forward to meeting you at Open House!

Kelly Barnaby

October and November Highlights

October has been a busy month in 5B! We have been participating in the school wide read aloud reading The Wizard of Oz. The read aloud ended with our harvest fair, which had the same theme. The class participated by creating an engineering game with an Emerald City theme to play with the second grade, and by doing a reader's theater skit of a scene from the book. It was a great day!

In Reading we have started to read a new novel, Where The Mountain Meets The Moon by Grace Lin. The students have read the first twelve chapters and are really enjoying it, while working on many reading skills as well.

In math students are hard at work practicing multiplication strategies for two digit by two digit multiplication.

In social studies we have been learning about European Explorers and how colonies began in the new world. Students have learned about the Vikings, Portuguese Explorers, Christopher Columbus, and the Spanish Conquistadors. We will be getting into the early English colonies in November.

In Science students are working on ecosystems and animal adaptations. Mrs Demers is asking that students bring in clean egg shells next week for an experiment.

I am trying to finish my schedule for parent conferences, if you do not yet have a time please email me at Kelly.Barnaby@Leominster.mec.edu

Barrett Park

Open House Slide Presentation

Below is a link to 5A/ 5B's Open house slideshow. This will be running during our Open House on Tuesday September 13th. It has information on our classes, contact information, and curriculum.

Open House Presentation

Computer Programs

Students have their passwords for Pearson realize and reflex math in their agendas. They may sign on to access their math books/homework as well as practice their math facts. 

Week of September 5th

I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend! Students went right to work today with a regular schedule, switching classes and having all four subjects. We worked on a globe scavenger hunt in social studies to hone our map skills, and read a readers theater excerpt to talk about close reading and expectations during the ELA block.

Students do have homework this week. We spent time this morning writing in agendas, so that students can use time management to complete their tasks by their due date. Math is given daily, science and current event are due Thursday, and they have one reading log this week due Friday. There is a tab on my blog where current events and reading logs can be printed if they do not find their way home. 

Here are some pictures of the students on task during reading and social studies:

Birds of Prey Presentation

Ice cube Prototype project

January Update

Welcome back after a nice holiday break! The class came back refreshed and ready to go. We are setting goals for the new year and working on our Growth Mindsets. One of my goals is to post more updates, and get the students involved in posting to this blog.

Reading:
Before break we took some time to read "We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball". Students really delved into theme, and social issues surrounding segregation in America in the first half of the 20th century. They researched negro league players, and constructed baseball cards depicting their contributions to the Negro Leagues.

This week we are reading  "Weslandia", a picture book about a boy who is considered an outcast. He takes on building his own civilization in his backyard as a summer project. This is in the fantasy genre, but we are exploring the theme of "being yourself" and students are taking Wesley's lead and creating their own civilizations as a part of their reading assignments this week. Next week we will be looking at expository text that ties into the Water Cycle in science called, "The Story of Snow".


Math: Students have been working hard on multiplying and Dividing decimals as well as working on long division in class. Most recently this week they are diving in to a long fraction unit. Right now, they are reviewing common denominators and other fraction concepts.

Science: In science, we have just wrapped up a long engineering unit that the students were really excited about. I will post pictures of the Ice cube project from before break. This week the students are looking at the water cycle and applying what they know to write a story about the journey of a raindrop! They are really enjoying writing these.

Social Studies: Social Studies time has been spent learning about the 13 colonies. We have learned about the way of life, economy, and regional differences of the colonies. This week we are focusing on the people who were leaders or had large contributions to the success of the colonies. Students are researching these leaders such as Ben Franklin, William Penn, and William Bradford. They are creating presentations on their Google accounts that they will share in class this Friday.

Spelling Words week of January 11th

1.    footprint

 

2.    fairground

 

3.    although

 

4.    laughter

 

5.    appoint

 

6.    coastal

 

7.    bleachers

 

8.    grownup

 

9.    encounter

 

10.  grouchy

 

11.  flawless

 

12.  lawyer

 

13.  entertain

 

14.  applause

 

15.  faucet

 

16.  caution

 

17.  boundary

 

18.  doubting

 

19.  southern

 

20.  roughness

 

21.  poet

 

22.  radio

 

23.  fuel

 

24.  nowadays

 

25.  distraught

Spelling Week of January 4th

1.    video

 

2.    poet

 

3.    riot

 

4.    piano

 

5.    diary

 

6.    radio

 

7.    ideas

 

8.    ruin

 

9.    diet

 

10.  patriot

 

11.  fluid

 

12.  rodeo

 

13.  cruel

 

14.  genuine

 

15.  casual

 

16.  trial

 

17.  fuel

 

18.  meteor

 

19.  diameter

 

20.  meander

 

21.  recent

 

22.  closet

 

23.  minus

 

24.  situation

 

25.  variety

 

 

 

Spelling Week of December 14, 2015

 

We are the Ship Spelling list:

 

1. Athletes

2. Autograph

3. Banned

4. Competition

5. Crouch

6. Culture

7. Debut

8. Disgracefully

9. Eloquent

10. Exhibition

11. Integrate

12. Integration

13. Intelligence

14. Legendary

15. Military

16. Negotiated

17. Precision

18. Recognition

19. Recruits

 20. Rival

November Updates!

The past few weeks have been busy in 5B! We have just finished "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" in reading. The students loved this book. Today in class we are wrapping it up with a book discussion in class. Next week, we will be beginning a book review on the two half days. What isn't finished, will be an at home project. Students will be given graphic organizers, a rubric, and explicit instruction to get started.

In math students are working hard in division and complex multiplication! They recently completed a topic 1-4 review to reflect on the term and content that was learned.

In science, students have been honing their structural engineering skills. They have built card structures and tested them, and are currently making structures with spaghetti and marshmallows. They test these structures and redesign using the process many engineers use!

In social studies, we are learning about the Early English Colonies. We learned the mystery of the lost colony of Roanoke. This week have been learning about the Jamestown Colony. Students learned about the struggles the colony faced and what led it to be successful. We are currently working on researching two important people to Jamestown, John Smith and Pocahontas. Students are creating Google slide presentations on their chrome book accounts.

Finally in writing we have been writing persuasive pieces on current issues happening in the world, mostly using our Time For Kids subscriptions as resources. Ask your students their views on Fair Trade, Diamond Mining in Africa, and honoring our Veterans.

There are two half days next week due to conferences, I look forward to meeting with you!

Virtual Jamestown

www.historyglobe.com/Jamestown


Students who would like to access the virtual Jamestown activity we did in class today can do so through this link.