Mrs. Nakamura’s 5th Grade Classroom Newsletter

September 18, 2015

Thank you everyone for taking the time out of your busy schedules to come to Curriculum Night last week. It is great to see parents supporting their children’s education. If you have any further questions about the material I covered, please don’t hesitate to contact me. The powerpoint from curriculum night is posted under files on the class website.

I greatly appreciate the input forms you have taken the time to fill out. You know your children best so your insight is extremely valuable to me.

We are well into our curriculum now. In this newsletter you will find updates about what we have been working on and what is coming up. A huge thank you to the parents who are came with us to Camp Terry yesterday. (Mari Stevens and Hollie Smith).If you haven’t had a chance to pay for this trip please go online and do so asap. Don’t forget to join PTSA. There is an optional book order in the Friday Folder this week. The directions for how to purchase online are attached. This is due 9/30. Have a great weekend.

Dorry Nakamura

Volunteers

Thank you to everyone who has offered to volunteer. I will contact anyone who offered to help in the classroom. We have a room mom to get our parties all organized and moms to be our PTSA rep. We are so fortunate to have all of the offers to help.

Conference Sign Ups

All conference sign-ups will be done through Skyward starting in Oct some time. I will keep you posted on how to do this but for now make sure you can log into Skyward so you can sign up for a conference once it is set up. Conferences will be during the day on Dec 7th8th . Studentswill not have school those two days so I can meet with you.

Important Up Coming Dates

Sept 26th Vision and hearing screening

Sept 30th 6-8 PTSA Welcome back BBQ at school

Sept 30th-book orders due

Oct 5th Book Talk Due

Oct 6th Pure Foods Workshop

Oct 10th Teacher In-Service no school for students

Book Talk

By now your child should be well into their Realistic Fiction book. In order to allow enough time to get the activity done that has been assigned with this book they should have it read by Sept 30th. This should allow enough time to get their book talk written and poster made. They will be presenting these in class and need to practice presenting them. Next week in class we will practice writing a retelling using picture books. I have also modeled a presentation for them and shown them a sample poster and written book talk. The poster paper is available for them in class. Students should refer to the write up they were given to make sure they have all of the requirements. It is also posted on the website. The due date for this is Oct 5th.

Math

This week our focus has been on rounding. We are doing this through place value awareness and finding the midpoint. We are half way through the first module and took a mid-module test. As I work through the scoring process of these new assessments I will share with you how your student did. This info will be in next Friday’s folder.

Extra Math Help

Starting Wed 9/28 I will be holding a help session every week from 8:30-9:00. Anyone who wants a little extra help with the current concepts and skills we are working on is welcome. You do not need to rsvp just show up.

Math Enrichment

The district is working on providing some materials for Math enrichment for students who need a little more challenge. As soon as I get these materials I will be starting an enrichment group. I will keep you posted as to when that happens. Please have your child work on the grade above in IXL for additional challenge as needed. It is helpful if they do the corresponding topic we are currently working on. I give these in class when IXL is assigned.

Writing

Personal Narratives are the first form of writing students have been working on. We started with lessons about how to generate ideas about what to write about. In addition we did a writing assessment the district requires. Students had to write an opinion piece based on several articles they read.

Science

Learning how to conduct a meaningful investigation is the focus for Science. We are working in groups to carry out an experiment using Wisconsin Fast Plants. The class is testing one variable to see how changing it affects the growth of their plant. Ask your student if their planthas sprouted yet.This experience in class will be a good preparation for students for the Science Fair.In 5th grade the MSP tests the students in the area of Science and having a strong understanding of how to conduct an investigation is crucial.

Social Studies Vocab

This week we startedour SS curriculum. We will be learning basic geographic locations for the world as well as specific landforms here in the US. To help with this learning, students got a vocab list with the key words from the chapter. They were given some time to work on this in class but need to complete the tasks at home by next Wed. Studying these terms will help them be successful on the chapter test.

Pure Foods Workshop

Oct 6th we will be having a special Nutrition Workshop put on by the Beecher Foundation. It will be a hands on experience learning all about healthy eating. The class will work together to make chili. Our Nutrition workshop will be Thursday, 10/6 from9:15-11:35. This should be a very fun way to learn about healthy eating and reading of food labels. We will be doing some health lessons in the next few weeks on nutrition to enhance this workshop.

Birthdays

Students with September or August Birthdays will have a celebration on Wed 9/28. All 5th graders with b-days in these months will come to have lunch in the classroom. The 5th grade teachers will provide a treat to celebrate for dessert.

Specialists Schedule

Mon: Music

Tues: PE

Wed:Library

Thurs: Music

Fri: PE

Contact Info

Email:

Class Website

(425)837-4057

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