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January 30, 2012

Character Word of the Week: Self-Reliance

CONGRATULATIONS to Reilly. He made us proud at the Cobb County Spelling Bee this past Saturday.

Important Dates This Week:

Tuesday, Jan. 31 – Alexus's birthday

Tuesday, Jan. 31 – Talent Show Auditions for K – 2 after school

Wednesday, Feb. 1 – Talent Show Auditions for 3 – 5 after school

Thursday, Feb. 2 – PTA and the 4^th grade PE Show

Friday, Feb. 3 – VEGA Challenge Kick-Off for 3 – 5

Friday, Feb. 3 – Paws and Claws meeting after school

Do you know the formula to find the area of a triangle? Do you know why that is the formula? Wednesday we will investigate why that formula works. On Friday we will have a quiz on area of rectangles, squares, parallelograms and triangles.

The standards we are working on are:

• M5M1b – Derive the formula for the area of a parallelogram
• M5M1c – Derive the formula for the area of a triangle
• M5M1d – Find the areas of triangles and parallelograms using formulae

Please have your child practice these skills on IXL this week. Thank you for continuing to encourage your child to practice math skills daily using this website.

Last Friday was our 100^th Day Celebration. Congratulations to the members of our 100 and 100 PLUS club:

100 Club – Matthew J and Zach

100 PLUS – Alexus, Jordan, Sophie, Matthew B, Sam. Anna C, Noah, Alan, Luke, Olen, Reilly, Austin, Nathan, Antonette, Gabriella, and Ryan.

Don't stop practicing. We'll continue to take timed tests every Thursday.

Look out! We are working on perfecting our persuasive techniques this nine weeks. This week we will read papers, locate the writer's position, and then evaluate the writer's supporting evidence. Does the evidence support the writer's position, is the evidence relevant, and is the evidence strong enough?

We will continue to work on recognizing simple, compound, and complex sentences and differentiating between dependent and independent clauses. By Friday your child should be able to recognize and write each of these three types of sentences.

Some practice websites are:

http://www.myschoolhouse.com/courses/O/1/56.asp

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/english/spelling_grammar/language_structure/play.shtml

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/sensort/index_pre.html

 

We are continuing to investigate text structure. This week we will be reading Christmas Tapestry and I Am The Dog, I Am The Cat , deciding which text structures are used and then proving our opinions with text evidence.

Please continue to encourage your child to read at least 20 or more pages each night. Remember, your child needs to take at least one fiction and one informational AR test each nine weeks. The tests must be on their reading level and then must score at least 80%.

Our word sort this week is Sort 14. Your child must be able to spell the words, use them correctly in a sentence, and know which syllable is accented, or stressed. We will be writing simple, compound and complex sentences this week on our spelling test for an English grade. The accented syllable should be in capital letters in your child's agenda. Don't forget to practice using Spelling City.

Last week we did a cool lab on chemical and physical changes. Be sure to ask your child which experiment they liked the best and why. This week we will continue to study physical and chemical changes.

Some websites are:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/materials/changing_states/play.shtml

http://e2bn.skoool.co.uk/content/primary/science/changes_temp_or_perm_1/index.html

http://vital.cs.ohiou.edu/steamwebsite/downloads/ChangeLab.swf

January 23, 2011

Character Word of the Week: Initiative/Effort

 

Important Dates This Week:

• Tuesday, Jan. 24 – Chick-fil-A Night
• Friday, Jan. 27 – 100^th Day Celebration

   

• Spirit Day – chick-fil-A biscuits for sale for $3.00

   

Monday we will work on a congruency performance task, and then we will move on to finding the area of quadrilaterals – squares, rectangles, and parallelograms.

The standards we are working on are:

• M5G1 – students will understand congruence of geometric figures and the coorespondence of their vertices, sides, and angles.
• M5M1a – Estimate the area of geometric plane figures
• M5M1b – Derive the formula for the area of a parallelogram

Persuasive Writing is our next genre. We will begin the unit by reading some persuasive texts - Hey Little Ant and Dear Mrs. LaRue. We will then look at persuasive advertising.

We will also begin working on complex sentences this week.

We will work on Word Sort 13 this week – vowel alternation – long and short vowels. Don't forget to practice using Spelling City.

We are continuing to work on text structures this week.

 

 

SCIENCE

Physical and chemical changes will be our focus this week. We will investigate chemical changes and then differentiate between chemical and physical changes.

Week of January 16

Character Word of the Week – Flexibility/Creativity

IMPORTANT DATES THIS WEEK:

Monday, Jan. 16 – Ryan's birthday

Tuesday, Jan. 17 – Terrific Kids

Friday, Jan. 20 – BINGO at Nicholson from 6:00 – 8:00

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO Matthew B. for being our Terrific Kid this month!

 

 

IXL NEWS – Did you know that your child should be using the IXL website at least 10 minutes every night ( Mon- Thurs)? Last week our top 4 players were:

• Alan – 2 hours, 11 minutes
• Antonette – 1 hour, 42 minutes
• Gabriella – 1 hour, 7 minutes
• Anna L – 1 hour, 2 minutes

Who will it be next week?

Congruency is our topic this week. We will be examining different polygons and deciding if they are congruent or not. The standard is M5G1 – Students will understand congruence of geometric figures and the correspondence of their vertices, sides, and angles. Practice using the IXL website.

This week we will focus on types of sentences – fragments, run-ons, and comma splices. Then we will distinguish between simple and compound sentences.

Remember that we are continuing our study of Word Sort 11. We will have a quiz on Friday. Don't forget to practice your words using Spelling City.

Sequence, description, cause and effect, compare and contrast, and problem and solution are all different types of text structures. This week we will take a brief look at each type and then delve more deeply into each type during Guided Reading.

SCIENCE – On Tuesday we verified that an object is the sum of its parts using Clementines. Be sure to ask your child to explain that standard. The rest of the week we will discuss physical changes of matter.

Can you believe the 100^th day of school is coming up next Friday, January 27^th? To be in the 100 Club, a child must score a 95 or better on the addition, subtraction, and multiplication test and at least a 90 on the division test. All tests contain 100 basic problems and must be finished in 5 minutes or less.

The members of our 100 CLUB are:

• Sophie  
• Sam
• Anna C
• Alan
• Matthew J
• Reilly
• Austin
• Antonette
• Gabriella
• Zach

 

The following students are not only members of the 100 Club, but they are also members of the 100 PLUS CLUB. That means they scored 100 on all four tests – addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. 

• Noah
• Luke
• Olen
• Ryan
• Matthew B
• Jordan
• Alexus

We will take more timed test this Thursday and Friday , so KEEP PRACTICING!!!!!!

Week of January 9, 2012

 

Character Word of the Week: Self- Confidence and Empowerment

 

IMPORTANT DATES THIS WEEK:

• Monday, Tuesday 9 – Student Holiday
• Tuesday, Jan. 10 – Stevi B's Night
• Friday, Jan. 13 - Videotaping

 

VIDEOTAPING

On Friday, Jan. 13 our class has the honor of being videotaped for the Cobb County website. Why? The class did a great job of writing during our informational writing unit and the county wants to share the students' expertise and  writings. A few students will be interviewed and all students' projects will be displayed. The video will also be used in teacher training. A permission slip will come home on Tuesday. Please sign and return it (with yes or no) as soon as possible. Please return it as soon as possible. Thank you so much.

 

This week we will multiply and divide fractions. On Tuesday we will take the Second 9 Weeks Benchmark.

Don't forget to continue practicing those basic math facts. The 100^th Day is coming up on January 27^th.

We will finish up our unit on prepositions, conjunctions and interjections this week. On Tuesday we will begin a "prepositional" poem and on Friday we will have a quiz on all three parts of speech.

READING WORKSHOP

We will begin to investigate the organization of text, or text structure. We will examine cause and effect, compare and contrast, sequence, description, and problem and solution. Understanding how a text is organized helps a reader to make sense of the text and to understand the author's purpose.

Continue to read at least 20 pages every night. I can't wait to see how much you read over the holidays.

SPELLING AND GRAMMAR

We will begin Sort 10 this week but, because of two four-day weeks, we won't have a test until a week from Friday. Don't forget to practice using Spelling City.

 

We will also begin to talk about types of sentences. We will begin with sentence fragments, comma splices and run-on sentences.

 

 

SCIENCE

We will begin a unit on Matter this week. We will learn about elements, molecules and atoms. We will then investigate a Clementine to see if an object has the same mass as the sum of its parts. Be sure to check out the Matter websites on the blog – numbers 23 – 31 in Science websites. Download Standards

December 19, 2011

Character Word of the Week – Humility

 

Important Dates This Week:

Monday, Dec. 19 – Wednesday, Dec. 21 – Candy Grams for sale before school (All proceeds go to Relay For Life)

Tuesday, Dec. 20 – Luke's Birthday

Tuesday, Dec. 20 – Nicholson Spelling Bee at 8:15 in the cafeteria

Thursday, Dec. 22 – PJ Day, Holiday Party, and Sing Along at 1:00 PM

Friday, Dec. 23 – Winter Holidays begin: Students return to school on Tuesday, Jan. 2^nd

^{Saturday, Dec. 24 – Reilly's Birthday}

You are always welcome at Nicholson. If you come in to volunteer remember to log in. Our goal is 2,500 volunteer hours. Every hour counts!!

 

 

 

^{CONGRATULATIONS to Nathan, Reilly and Matthew J for being our Spelling Bee Champions. Noah is our alternate.}

^{Good luck to them all at the Nicholson Spelling Bee on Tuesday morning.}

^MATH

This week we will continue to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators. Please continue to encourage your child to practice math using the IXL site every night.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS OF THE 100 CLUB:

Sophie, Sam, Anna C, Alan, Matthew J, Reilly, Austin, Antonette, Gabriella, and Zach

AND THE MEMBERS OF THE 100 PLUS CLUB:

Alexus, Jordan, Matthew B, Noah, Luke, Olen, and Ryan

WRITING WORKSHOP

We are putting the finishing touches on our informational projects this week and the final copy is due this Wednesday.

 

 

 

SPELLING

We will have a test on Word Sort 10 this Tuesday. We began this unit last week.

 

SOCIAL STUDIES

We are finishing up our unit on World War I, the Roaring Twenties, and the Great Depression. We will go over the study guide on Monday and then have a test on Tuesday. Your child's Social Studies Interactive Notebook is also due on Tuesday.

HEALTH DAY

We are going to have a health rotation day on Wednesday. Our topics will be tobacco, alcohol and drugs.

LATE BREAKING NEWS!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Anna today, December 12. The cupcakes were delicious!!!!!

 

Candy Cane grams will be sold in the front of the school near the media center on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week. The sweet holiday messages will be delivered on Thursday, Dec. 22, so get your orders in to make sure you don’t miss out on taking part!  Look for pre-order forms coming home this week.

December 12, 2011

Character Word of the Week: Kindness

 

 

IMPORTANT DATES THIS WEEK:

Tuesday, December 13 – Terrific Kids &;30 AM in the Media Center

Tuesday, December 13 – Stevi B's Night

Thursday, December 15 – PTA with 4^th/5^th grade Chorus performing

     Friday, December 16 – Spirit Day – Don't forget to show your spirit by wearing your Nicholson T-shirt. Chick-fil-A biscuits on sale for $3.00.

TERRIFIC KID

Congratulations to Gabriella for being our Terrific Kid this month!!!!

 

 

CHECKPOINT TESTING

Again this week we will be taking a brief test, just 15 questions, in Language Arts (Mon.), Math (Tues.) and Science (Wed.). These will be formative tests, which mean that some of the information on the tests is new material – material we haven't learned yet. Please make sure your child is on time, gets a good night's rest, and a healthy breakfast this week since we will be giving the tests first thing in the morning.

MATH WORKSHOP

Last week we did not get as far as I had hoped so this week we will add and subtract fractions with like and unlike denominators. For homework each night this week, I would like your child to practice fractions using the IXL website. If you do not have access to the internet, please just send me a note and I'll have your child work on this at school.

The math standards we are working on this week are:

M5N4e – Explore finding common denominators using concrete, pictorial, and computational models.

M5N4f – Use >, <, and + to compare fractions and justify the comparison.

M5N4g – Add and subtract common fractions and mixed numbers with unlike denominators.

WRITING WORKSHOP

This week we are beginning to put the final touches on our informational pieces. Last week your child added formatting features. This week they will revise and edit their rough draft and then publish their projects as brochures, ABC books, comic books, and informational papers. The class has been working so hard and I know their final projects will be impressive.

READING WORKSHOP

Monday we will have group discussions on the books we have read about WWI, the Harlem Renaissance, and the 1920's. The class will try to find relationships between all three books. Prepositions will be our next topic. Be on the lookout for our preposition poems.

We only have 9 more days until the end of this 9 week period. Remember, your child should have taken at least one fiction and one informational AR test this 9 weeks. I will let you know this week in your child's agenda what tests your child has taken and what they still need to take. Thank you!

SPELLING

We will work with Word Sort 10 this week – words ending in "ation". Don't forget to encourage your child to use Spelling City to practice their words. We will have a test on Friday.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Hopefully we will finish our Social Studies unit this week and be ready for a test next Wednesday.

 

 

 

 

December 5th

Character Word of the Week: Generosity

 

 

Happy Belated Birthday to Zach!!!!

Important Dates This Week:

• Wednesday, Dec. 7 – Star Tree Deadline
• Wednesday, Dec. 7 – 5^th Grade Field Trip to Atlanta Symphony – leave at 11:00 and return approximately at 1:30
• Thursday, Dec. 8 – Menchie's Night

 

• Friday, Dec. 9 – Student Council Meeting – 7:30 AM

   

ATLANTA SYMPHONY FIELD TRIP

On Wednesday the 5^th grade will travel to see the Atlanta Symphony. We will leave at about 11:00 and return about 1:30. Last week I sent home permission slips with students that had not returned them. Please make sure you return the permission form so that your child will be able to participate in this field trip. Thank you.

 

CHECKPOINT TESTING

This week we will be taking a brief test, just 15 questions, in Language Arts (Mon.), Math (Tues.) and (Science). These will be summative tests. Please make sure your child is on time, gets a good night's rest, and a healthy breakfast this week since we will be giving the tests first thing in the morning.

VISITORS

I don't know if your child has told you about the many visitors we have been having in the past few weeks. Last Friday we had ten! This Monday and Thursday the class will also be open to teachers around the county. Each time teachers have commented how respectfully the students treat each other. To me, that is one of the best compliments they could bestow. Congratulations to them!!

MATH WORKSHOP

This week we will be comparing fractions and then adding and subtracting them with like and unlike denominators. The standards are: M5N4 e, f, g, and h. Don't forget to practice using IXL.

Websites for practice are mathsplat -http://fen.com/studentactivities/MathSplat/mathsplat.htm and Action Fraction - http://funschool.kaboose.com/formula-fusion/number-fun/games/game_action_fraction.html. Enjoy!!!!

We will have a quiz on comparing and adding and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators on Friday, as well as take timed tests. So don't forget to practice those basic facts each and every night.

WRITING WORKSHOP

This week we will investigate transitional words, add formatting features as well as write a conclusion for our informational paper. The class has really been researching and working hard on their projects. I can't wait for the finished product.

READING WORKSHOP

Relationships between people, events, ideas and concepts and reviewing main idea and details will keep us pretty busy this week.

Don't forget to encourage your child to read at least 20 pages each night. Thank you.

SPELLING

We will NOT have spelling this week due to our checkpoint testing. Next week we will explore Word Sort 10 for those students that want to jump ahead.

ENGLISH

We will review appositives and correlative conjunctions this week and then discuss prepositions.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We will discuss cultural influences of the 1920's and then move on to the Great Depression and FDR and the New Deal. We should finish this unit early next week so look for information on a Social Studies Test.

November 14

Character Word of the Week: Service to Others

 

 

IMPORTANT DATES

Tuesday, November 15 – Terrific Kids Ceremony

Tuesday, November 15 – Book Fair/International Night 5:00 – 7:00 PM

Tuesday, November 15 – Sell Your Gold at Nicholson (2:45 – 7:00 PM)

Thursday, November 17 – Thanksgiving VIP lunch for 1^st, 3^rd, and 5^th grade (K, 2^nd and 4^th is Wednesday, November 16)

Friday, November 18 – Spirit Day – Don't forget to wear your Nicholson T-shirt and buy your Chick-fil-A biscuit

 

Did you hear the great news? Our own Gabriella was elected as Nicholson's Student Council President? Way to go Gabriella!!!!!!

 

VIP LUNCH – If you are planning to come and eat this Thursday we will be eating at 12:20. The food is always delicious so I hope to see you there.

Congratulations to Sophie for being our Terrific Kid this month.

We are continuing to work on equivalent and simplifying fractions this week. Please encourage your child to practice these skills using IXL. Another site for review is http://www.helpingwithmath.com/resources/games/fraction_game4/equivalent01.html. We will have a quiz on Thursday.

Thursday we will take timed tests so don't forget to practice each night. On Friday we will begin to convert fractions to percents.

Last week we explored different topics for our informational paper and began to narrow down our thoughts. This week we will begin to read and research for our informational task. What will your child's format be – a brochure, an ABC book, a comic book, a photo narrative or an informational paper.

 

 

We will explore how to add the suffix "ion" to base words that end in "ce" and "te". Your child needs to know how to spell the word, the definition, and what part of speech each word is. Don't forget to practice these words using Spelling City.

 

Determining important and interesting ideas, as well as distinguishing between main ideas and details in our reading will help us to decide what to include in our informational performance task. This week we will research and take notes on our informational topic. Thank you for continuing to encourage your child to read every night. Did you notice that the expectation has changed this nine weeks? It is now to read at least 20 pages, but many students are going way above and beyond that each night.

 

 

This week we will discuss how Americans supported World War I.

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

Week of October 10, 2011

WOW! Can you believe that Friday is the end of the first 9 weeks of this school year? That means we have finished 1/4 of the school year. the time sure has flown!!!!

Character Word of the week: Cheerfulness and Positive Attitude

Important Dates This Week:

Monday - Friday IOWA TESTING from 8:00 - 10:00 AM

Tuesday, October 11 - Stevi B;s Pizza Night

Thursday, October 13 - Cafeteria and Custodial Staff Appreciation Day

Friday, October 14 - End of 4th week grading period

Friday, October 14 - Fundraiser Top Seeler Pizza Party

IOWA TESTING

Third and Fifth grade will be testing all week. We will test each morning from 8:00 - 10:00. So please make sure that your child gets a good night's rest, eats a healthy breakfast and is on time for school. Thank you.

CONFERENCES

I still can't believe that we are finishing up the first nine-weeks grading period. I will be sending home a conferece form on Thursday. Please return it as soon as possible to let me know if you can or cannot attend at your time. If you can't make your time, please send me alternate times that are convenient for you. Also, we do try to schedule sibling conferences back to back, so if there is a problem with that please let me know.

IOWA Testing will alter our schedule this week. We will NOT have Spelling or Reading Workshop, but your child needs to remember to read each night. At the end of this week your child should have taken 2 AR tests - one ficion and one non-fiction book. Please look in your child's agenda for a sticker letting you know which of these tests your child still needs to take. Also, your child will turn in their Reading Log this Friday. They should have read at least 750 pages so far this year. Many students have gone above and beyond those 750 pages.

MATH WORKSHOP

This week we will model multiplication and division of decimals. We will understand that the relationships and rules for multiplication and division of whole numbers also apply to decimals, as well as multiply and divide decimals using the algorithm.

WRITING WORKSHOP

Extraneous details, combining sentences and transition words will be our lessons this week and then we will write our final copy of our personal narrative.

SCIENCE

We will review the agents of erosion, and then discuss plate tectonics.