Mrs. Mitchell’s Newsletter – September 15, 2014

Well, I lucked out again. I have the cutest class ever. It’s been fun getting to know the students, their personalities, and their academic levels. They have all been very respectful and fun to teach.

Last Friday we had professors from BYU and superintendents from around the state visit our classroom to see what digital learning looks like in the elementary setting. You should be proud of the way your child conducted themselves during these visits. Ask your child to share with you the 3 States of Matter project they were working on while we had visitors.

I’ve noticed that students are having difficulty quickly recalling add and subtract facts and/or still counting on their fingers. Please practice every night with flash cards and help your child learn these well. Computer programs are not as good as an actual parent drilling the child. In addition to add/subtract facts, keep drilling multiplication tables too.

We are working on being good listeners and following directions. This is always a difficult lesson to learn for new 5th graders. They want to come up to me every 5 seconds and say, “What do I do now?” Almost everything has been reviewed verbally, modeled, and written on the board. I kindly ask them to stop and think about their question and remind them that they already know the answer. We are working on becoming more independent learners.

Academics this Week

Math: Rounding, Estimating, Adding and Subtracting with decimals

Reading: U1_W4 Satchel Paige – Fact & Opinion

Spelling: Unit 1_Week 4

Grammar: Nouns: Possessive Nouns & review

Science: Matter: physical and chemical

History: Explorers

Looking Ahead

Sept. 17 – Midterm Activity – Fill out the homework slips, get them signed and turned in.

Sept. 1-2 – SEP conferences

Sept. 26 – Midterm grades sent home

Oct. 16-17 – Fall Break

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Qualifiers for Midterm and End of Term Activities

  1. No unfinished work
  2. No “D’s” or “F’s” – I let students redo assignments and then average the 2 grades.
  3. No more than two “3’s” or Think Times on Behavior Chart, or office referrals – Students will do a Think Time if I catch them playing games on their netbooks during class time. Very seldom do I let them play games at school.
  4. Must have an “S” or “H” in citizenship. The Behavior Card system affects your citizenship as well as not turning in your homework/newsletter.