Newsletter for November 19, 2010

November 19, 2010

News From Room 120

Greetings Families,

This has been a week of transition! Congratulations to Ms. Wotipka and her husband on their new arrival of baby Frances, who came last Friday evening. She is doing well as a new mom. Meanwhile, the 5th graders and I have been getting to know each other and accomplishing some hard work at the same time.

Reading:

We read Woodsong by Gary Paulsen, a Minnesota author. This story connected well to last weeks story about dogsled racing. We worked on paraphrasing, or writing the same message while using different words.

Spelling:

Students are encouraged to visit WWW.SPELLINGCITY.COM to take advantage of interactive spelling practice with the words of the week. Simply go to the site and do a teacher name search by typing in my name-Eric Johnson.

Writing: We have begun our personal narrative unit. This unit connects well with the students because they practice telling and eventually writing true stories from their lives.

Math: Our geometry unit has really challenged the students. They have been drawing congruent triangles using a compass, categorizing polygons according to their properties, and measuring angles with protractors.

PYP: We have started our studies on Human Development. Thus far we have discussed the development of babies and children from birth to 5 years. Next week we will dive into adolescence.

Reminders:

· Colder weather means students need to dress appropriately with a jacket, hat, and mittens/gloves being required.

· In your Friday mail look for a letter on our poinsettia fundraiser. This will go to fund the ski trip later in the winter.

· Don’t forget to visit Mr. EJ’s Classroom Blog for a number of interesting links. The web address is:

http://mrejsclassroomblog.blogspot.com/

Next weeks specialist schedule is: Mon-PE/Music Tues-Art Wed-PE Thu-Spanish Fri-Music

Have a great weekend!

Eric Johnson