Here's what's been happening lately!

It has been another busy week in room 23.  We have started working with Hands on Equations, a program which makes algebra fun and easy to learn.  Here are some pictures of the students hard at work.  

Ask your child about what they have been doing and learning with this program.    

We have been reading Bridge to Terabithia and discussing character traits, figurative language, and foreshadowing.  We will finish off the book by watching the movie and comparing and contrasting the two.  

We have begun to look at the differences between personal narratives and personal essays.  The children may come home from school sometime soon with some excellent strategies to persuade you for something special.  Be ready!

Last Wednesday and Thursday we took the ELA MCAS.  The students worked very diligently and should feel good about the excellent effort they exhibited.  

We have finished Earth Materials and are moving on to our last science unit of the year, Ecosystems and Food Chains.   We have begun our study of the American Revolution and are getting ready to take a close look at the heroes of that time.

Finally, we have started our DARE classes.  Officer Mucciarone comes in each Thursday, teaches a lesson, has some great discussions with the children, and answers any questions they may have.  The students are quite engaged and really seem to enjoy their time with him. 

 

Great website!

One of the students just showed me a great website that I want to pass along.  It has many fifth grade math and science concepts that are presented in video format.  Many of the concepts also have a karaoke song about the topic, and they all have an area where students can test their knowledge.  What a great way to study for a test!  Here is the link.  Enjoy.

Bay Colony Educators

It has been another busy week at Parmenter School.  We have another guest blogger to fill us in on all of the details.

           This week we are working on coordinate grids, volume, and area in math.  In science, we did catastrophic events PowerPoint presentations. 

Also, on Wednesday we had a visit from the Bay Colony Educators.  They taught us about what it was like to be a kid in the 1700s in Franklin.  There wasn’t much money back then because 9 out of 10 people did farming.  When you lost your first tooth you were considered an adult!  When you were a kid school wasn’t such a big deal, and sometimes you didn’t get to go to it.  So, in school, if you were left handed they tied your left hand behind your back and you had to learn how to be right handed.  They taught us that they put a brick in a fire and then put is in a wool bag and placed it on their chest to warm their heart and lungs when the hunters were outside in the winter.  Clothing was very different because they had wooden shoes that the man, Tim, could stand on without hurting Carol’s foot.  Also, the men shaved their hair off and bought a wig to look fancier.  Usually if you had a wig that meant you were rich.  It was very interesting to the presentation.  Thanks to the PCC for bringing this to our school!

Also on Thursday we continued DARE and went over marijuana and how bad it is for you.  

Reptile and Birds of Prey show

On Monday, March 5, 2012, there was an animal show which showed reptiles and birds of prey.  For the reptiles it showed snakes, lizards, and turtles. 

Marie Isaac showed us bones of the animals.  When she had the lizard, she brought it up the aisle and put it in Mrs. Duhamel’s face!  It brought out it’s tongue and was smelling her. 

She also brought out a crocodile that was 4 feet long.  She had said that when she found it, it was only 2 ½ feet long.

 

 She showed us some feathers of birds, as well as some bones.  It was interesting that the bones were hollow so that they could fly easier.  When she brought out the hawk, it tried to fly away but she was holding a string that attached to it’s feet.  She was calling it by it’s name and petting it.  Marie showed us the hawk’s wingspan, which was really pretty. 

After the hawk, she brought out a falcon. 

 

It was showing off by showing it’s wings and making noises.  Then she showed us an owl.  It can turn it’s head all the way around.  It looked like a robot.  There was also a turkey vulture.  

It’s head was completely bald.  It was the biggest bird we had seen.    Thank you to the PCC for having this show for us.  It was exciting!

Welcome back!

          Room 23 students have had a busy week back from vacation!  We have been reading a lot of non-fiction, discussion text features and text structure in a way that deepens our understanding.  Here is a great link to the five text structures that we have discussed.  Here is another link that explains text features and allows you to practice using them in an interactive manner.  In math we are continuing to practice multplying fractions and mixed numbers.  There will be a test next week on converting between fractions, decimals and percents, converting between improper fractions and mixed numbers, adding, subtracting and multiplying fractions and mixed numbers, and finding equivalent fractions.  All of these skills can be practiced on IXL.

Guest bloggers

For social studies we had our 13 Colony projects due today.  We presented them in front of the class.   We filled out graphic organizers and made them into a book.  Our 13 Colony test is next Thursday.  

In math we have been reviewing fractions.  We made flip books that are like our own mini student reference book.  They talk about different topics that we have been doing in math.  We have also been multiplying decimals because everyone was having trouble with this. 

In reading we have started literature circles again.  We are reading mysteries such as The Ghost Children, From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The Freedom Trail Mystery, Snow Treasure, and How to Disappear Completely without and Never Be Found.  We have learned new mystery terms such as red herring, sleuth, victim, suspect, suspense, cliff hanger and foreshadowing.  We are continuing to do think notes while reading.

In Science we took our soil quiz this week.  We will be reading about weathering and erosion next week, and then catastrophic events after vacation.   We also did a web quest on rocks, minerals and soil in the computer lab.

We have finished our personal narratives and gone on to poetry.  So far we have written haiku, diamante, and I Am From poems.  We are also reading Pizza, Pigs & Poetry by Jack Prelutsky. 

Next week we will celebrate Valentine’s Day by bringing our own special, nut-free snack.  If you want to bring in a valentine treat, please make it non-edible.  Also, if you bring any valentine cards, please bring one for everyone. 

We continue to talk about leadership in

Open Circle

.  We talked about how we can lead the younger kids by setting good examples.  We are keeping track of what we do this week so that we can share next week.

Math help

This week we will be testing order of operations in math, and then beginning a new unit on fractions.  The students have done a very nice job with order of operations, but if they wish to study before the test, Here is a terrific link that explains order of operations very well.  Here is another great link that would be helpful reviewing fractions.  In class we have been stressing that effort is an important component of success across the curriculum, particularly in math where many problems require multiple steps to be completed correctly.