Mrs.O'Donnell's High Tide

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Week of January 30

Character Word: Self Reliance

Congratulations to these students who have made it into the 100 Club: Kenzie and Timmy. These students have made it into the 100 Plus Club: Miles, Nicholas, Branson, Bradley, Mary, Camila, Joshua, Jake, Matthew, Lydia, Katy, Grace, and Alan. They were recognized at our 100 Day Celebration on Friday, Jan. 27. We are very proud of them!!

Happy birthdays to Kayla: Jan. 31!!!

 

Important Dates:

Remember that tutoring will be on Thursday this week instead of Tuesday.

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

Friday, Feb. 3: Tuesday rotation for Specials

    VEGA Challenge Kick-Off for grades 3-5

    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!!

 

Do you know the formula to find the area of a triangle? Do you know why that is the formula? Tuesday 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. Remember there is a requirement to practice at least 40 minutes a week. Thank you for continuing to encourage your child to practice math skills daily using this website.

Writing: 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.

Reading: We are continuing to investigate text structure. This week we will be reading Christmas Tapestry and investigating the text structure of cause and effect. 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.

Spelling: 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. Don't forget to practice using Spelling City.

 

 

Science: This week we will complete 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.

Week of January 23

Character Word: Initiative/Effort

Congratulations to these students who have made it into the 100 Club: Jake, Lydia, Katy. These students have made it into the 100 Plus Club: Miles, Nicholas, Branson, Bradley, Mary, Camila, Joshua, Matthew, Grace, and Alan. Our 100 Day celebration will be on Friday, Jan. 27. We will take time tests Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday so hopefully there will be more names to add!!

Thank you to all the parents who contributed to Mrs. Hersey and my sky lights! We can't wait to get them installed!! A big thank you to Mrs. DeVore for organizing our wonderful birthday celebration!!

 

Happy Belated birthdays to Selena: Jan. 7 and Leonardo: Jan. 18!!

 

Important Dates:

Tutoring will begin next week. Make sure you know how you are getting home.

Friday, Jan. 27: Monday rotation for Specials

    Spirit Day and Chick-fil-A biscuit sale: $3

    100 Day Celebration    

 

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!!

 

 

Math: We will be reviewing area and perimeter of rectangles. This will lead to our discussion and exploration of the area of a parallelogram. Check out the math sites on my blog to practice calculating area and perimeter.

Writing: We are beginning our discussion of persuasive writing.

Reading: We will continue discussing text structures and how these help with comprehension.

 

 

Spelling/Grammar: There will be a spelling sort (Sort 12) introduced this week. Remember to use Spelling City to practice your words. We will explore complex sentences this week.

 

Science: We are beginning our study of Matter in science. We will be discussing physical changes and chemical changes.

Science Standards: Matter

Students will be able to…

    explain the difference in a chemical and a physical change

    identify examples of physical change;

    list examples of chemical change

    recognize the different states of water 

    differentiate between mass and weight

 

 

Students will know…

    vocabulary including; physical, chemical, change, states of matter, reaction, phases of matter

    the properties of a substance including temperature and color

    the evidence indicating change including changes in temperature, changes in color, change in shape, and change in odor 

    how to measure objects

    the difference between mass and weight

Week of January 9

Character Word:Self-Confidence/Empowerment

Welcome back!! I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing break! I sure did!!

Congratulations Nicholas! He was the runner up in our Spelling Bee.

 

Thanks for all the parents who made our holiday party so great! We had more than enough food. So much that we were able to share with one of the 1^st grade classes. Thank you for all you donations and all the parents that came in to help and join in the fun!

Important Dates:

Tutoring will not begin again until the week of Jan 23^rd. We will be sending home a reminder.

Monday, Jan. 9: No School

Tuesday, Jan. 10: Stevi B's Night The class with the most attendance wins a pizza party.

Friday, Jan. 13: Monday rotation for Specials

        Report cards will be sent home. Please return the signature card and the envelope on Tuesday.

Monday, Jan. 16: No School Martin Luther King student holiday

Happy Belated Birthday to Emma! Her birthday was Dec. 27^th .

 

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!!

 

 

Math: We will be multiplying and dividing fractions this week. Remember to continue studying your math facts, the 100 Day Celebration is approaching in January. Part of the requirement for 100 and 100 Plus Club is to also achieve a 95% in both addition and subtraction tests. We will take those tests this week.

Writing: We are working on our informational reports. We are writing on topics from our studies in Social Studies. We will finish up the reports this week.

Reading: We will begin discussing text structures and how these help with comprehension.

Spelling/Grammar: There will be a spelling sort(Sort 11) introduced this week. Since this week and next week are shortened weeks we will take a spelling test on Friday, Jan 20. We will explore complex sentences this week.

Science: We are beginning our study of Matter in science. Social Studies Interactive notebooks will be sent home for a parent signature on Tuesday.

Week of December 19

Character Word: Humility

Congratulations to our Spelling Bee winners: Branson, Bella, and Nicholas.

Lydia is our alternate should anyone of our winner be absent. The school Spelling Bee is on Tuesday, December 20 at 8:15 a.m. in the cafeteria. Parents are welcome so I hope to see you there!

Remember we are going to have a book exchange. Choose a used book that is age appropriate book. Wrap the book and label it, Boy, Girl or Either. Bring the book in by Thursday

Important Dates:

Monday, Dec. 19: Candy Cane Grams are on sale Monday

Tuesday, Dec. 20: Candy Cane Grams are on sale

Wednesday, Dec. 21: Candy Cane Grams are on sale

Thursday, Dec. 22: Our holiday party will be breakfast.

Happy Birthday to Jake! His birthday is Dec. 23.

 

 

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!!

 

Math: We will be adding and subtracting mixed numbers this week. Remember to continue studying your math facts, the 100 Day Celebration is approaching in January.

Writing: We are working on our informational reports. We are writing on topics from our studies in Social Studies.

Reading: We are reading informational books in guided reading.

Spelling/Grammar: There will be no spelling test this week. We will explore complex sentences this week.

Health: We are going to have a health rotation day on Wednesday. Our topics will be tobacco, alcohol and drugs (both prescription and illegal)

Candy Cane Grams

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.

Week of December 12

Character Word: Kindness

Congratulations to our Spelling Bee winners: Branson, Bella, and Nicholas.

Lydia is our alternate should anyone of our winner be absent. The school Spelling Bee is on Tuesday, December 20 at 8:15 a.m. in the cafeteria. Parents are welcome so I hope to see you there!

Congratulations also to Jake! He is our Terrific Kid for December.

Important Dates:

Tuesday,Dec. 13: Terrific Kid Ceremony at 7:30 in the Media Center

    Stevi B's Pizza Night: the class with the highest attendance wins a pizza party.

Wednesday, Dec. 14: Star Tree Deadline

Thursday, Dec. 15: 6:45 Chorus Holiday Concert

Friday, Dec. 16: Spirit Day Chick-fil-A biscuit are on sale for $3

Happy Birthday to Timmy! His birthday was Dec. 11

 

 

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!!

 

We will be taking the second part of the Checkpoints tests this week. Last week we took the tests that will help us close the gaps between what has been taught. This next set of tests will help us plan instruction as we move forward.

Math: We will be adding and subtracting fractions this week. Remember to continue studying your math facts, the 100 Day Celebration is approaching in January.

Writing: We are working on our informational reports. We are choosing topics from our studies in Social Studies.

Reading: We are reading informational books in guided reading.

Spelling: We are on Sort 10 this week. Remember to study on Spelling City

Social Studies: We are finishing up our unit. The checklist for the Interactive Notebook was passed out Friday. The study guide will be passed out on Monday and is due on Wednesday. Our test will be on Friday and the Interactive Notebook will be due on Friday also.

Week of December 5

Character Word: Generosity

Important Dates:

• 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

        Specials rotation is a Wednesday

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. You have already sent in the permission.  It was the Performing Arts form that you sent back at the beginning of year.

 Checkpoint Testing

This week we will be taking a brief test, just 15 questions, in Language Arts (Mon.), Math (Tues.) and Science (Thurs). 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.

Math:  

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.

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

 

Writers Workshop

 We are going to be writing an information report.  The students are choosing their topics and beginning the brainstorming piece of the writing process.  Your student will have the choice of how they would like to publish their writing: brochure, poster, report, powerpoint.  Ask them what their topic is and how they have decided to publish their report.

 

Readers Workshop

We are still exploring informational text and how to use formatting features to help us comprehend the text.  Remember that your child is required to take 2 AR tests: one fiction and one non-fiction. 

 Grammar and Spelling

 We will not be taking a spelling test this week.  We are holding classroom Spelling Bees to see who will represent our class in the Nicholson Spelling Bee that will be held on December 20.  We will pick 3 students and then have one alternate.

 In Grammar we will be discussing compound and complex sentences.

 Social Studies:

 We will be discussing the Great Depression and the New Deal.  These two lesson will conclude our social studies unit so be on the lookout for the study guide and the Interactive Notebook checklist.  We will have the test the week of the 12th.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.             

Week of November 14

Character Word: Service to Others

 

The Book Fair is all this week!  Come and check it out.

 

Tuesday, Nov. 15: Terrific Kid Ceremony:  Congratulations Katy!!

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)  Our VIP lunctime is 12:30

4 1/2 week progress reports and academic alerts will come home in Thursday papers.

Friday, November 18 –Thursday Rotation for Specials

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

We are continuing to work on equivalent and simplifying fractions this week. Please encourage your child to practice these skills using IXL.  We will take a quiz on this on Wednesday.

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

Writing Workshop

We will be working on our Expert Page for our class book.  We have started on our rough draft.  We will be revising and editing our page this week also.

Spelling: Sort 8

  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.

Reading

 

  We are finishing up our Formatting Features Book and will apply what we learned about text features to increase our comprehension of informational text. 

Social Studies

Science Interactive notebooks will come home for a parent signature.

We will continue exploring the effects of WWI.  Please make sure your student is keeping up with their interactive notebook. 

Week of November 7

Character Education Word of the Week: Democracy-Individual, responsible participation in decision making; government by the people.

Important Dates & Announcements for This Week:

Please don't forget to send in your decorated figure for International Night. They are due on Monday!

Monday-Our Thanksgiving food drive begins: Fifth grade brings mashed potatoes/gravy

Tuesday-NO SCHOOL/Stevie B's night

Wednesday–Mighty Mentors

Thursday-5^th grade Veteran's Performance 7 p.m.

Friday-Veterans' Day

Wish Miles a Happy Birthday. His birthday is on Tuesday.

Wish Lydia a Happy Birthday on Friday!!

 

Math:

On Monday, students will have a short assessment on analyzing graphs, which will include finding the mean, mode, range and median for a set of data. On Wednesday, we will begin our unit on fraction sense, beginning with equivalent fractions. Students are still not bringing home their math journal every night to review each day's concepts. Please remind them of the importance of doing that.

Writer's Workshop:

We will begin our informational unit by creating an expert page for a class book. Students will learn about the different ways of writing informational text, beginning with understanding that some information we know in our heads and don't need to research.

 

 

 

Reader's Workshop:

Students will begin to make a Fantastic Formatting Features reference book to further their understanding of the different features used to provide information in informational texts.

Grammar:

We will use what we learned about helping and linking verbs to find the subject and predicate of a sentence. There will be no spelling this week.

 Social Studies:

We will begin our study of WWI. We will be discussing the causes and effects of WWI.

That's it for this week. Have a good one!