September 30 Tuesday

Writing about the things we need to be writers.

Our guest writer, Edie's grandmother and Ms. Lamb's writing mentor for years, Mrs. Ann Watson. We wrote about and discussed what we need in our writing environment. We need things like sharp pencils, quiet spaces and inspiration. We can't wait to start writing tomorrow.

We end the day on Tuesdays now with spelling - resort your words and write a brief explanation for each category. We moved library time to Fridays. We will see if it works.

Today's homework:
LA journal: write about what you are reading. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your character.

Read for 20 minutes

No math today, apologies from Mr. Meadows. He knows how much you love math homework.

September 29 Monday

The Flying Seals Work in the Back Room





Today's blogger: Ms. Lamb
We put together the blogging team.

Today's Homework
LA - write from the point of view of a leaf
or free choice writing
Read for 20 minutes - come on, you can do it.
Math pp 12-13

September 26 Friday

Group work in Social Studies - building a hunting and gathering society in Schlunkland.

This is a huge triumph - nothing on the floor! Everything is hung up! We now have labeled hooks. Time will tell if we can keep orderly.

Today's bloggers: Ms. Lamb

On Fridays we end with All Team Meeting. This week's Shout outs went to Edie, Jack, Thatcher and Haily - Hurrah!

Today we finished our first week of word study and now know the routine. Next week we start in our groups.
We read another chapter of No Talking and did some picture word note taking.

In science we continued with what floats?

and in social studies groups are still working on the descriptions of their hunting/gathering socieites.

Remember, no homework on the weekend - but some kids still owe their journals to Ms. Lamb. Don't forget them on Monday. If you were absent during the week, use your weekends to finish homework and classwork from the week past.

Enjoy the sunny weather.

September 25, 2014

Today was busy for Ms. Lamb, so sorry, no photos.

SS Schlunkland is on its way to developing hunting and gathering societies.

We wrote our sentences in word study.

Today's homework

LA journal current events read, summarize opinion cite source

Read for 20

Math p 3 and 4

Problem from yesterday

Get parent signature on math menu letter

September 24, 2014

We got reddy for a rocket math test

Writing in our Asinment books

At l.a we talked about spelling

September 23, 2014 Tuesday

Mr. Meadow's iblock. Pick me, pick me.

Rachel reads in iblock.


Wyatt makes a beautiful plot mountain in iblock.

Today was pretty busy, so not getting to blog until 5:30. I hope everyone remembers tonight is Open House at BRMS. It starts at 7:00 for specials visiting. Visit our classroom between 7:30 and 8. There's no special presentation, just visiting.

We started word study today.

Today's homework:
LA prompt for every Tuesday. Write about what you are reading.
Today comment on what you would do in that situation.

Read for 20 minutes

No math today

Awesome social studies - finish Research Task

LA all finish first sort for word study

September 22, 2014

A lot happened today, but it was so busy I can't write now.
CPR started the day
LA/Math - we started reseach with Mrs. Babbitt and learned about the catalog.
I think we are multiplying in math (not actually, but practing with numbers)
In social studies we started our research tasks for Schlunkland. I don't know what went on in science.
That is shoddy blogging by Ms. Lamb. Tomorrow's another day. I'll be better tomorrow.

Homework today
LA Monday creative YPW - haunted...you enter a spooky, haunted house...or choose your own ywp prompt or your own idea

Read 20 minutes

Math Multiplication worksheet

Return permission to walk to park

Open House tomorrow 7-730 specials, 7:30 -8 Energy classroom

September 19, 2014

Sorry, no great pictures today.
Ms. Lamb is the blogger

This morning in LA we learned a technique for coming up with ideas for writing our personal narratives. It's called turning points  or the first time I did something or the last time I did something. We will be completing an personal narrative in the next 4-6 weeks.

We met for Iblock today.

In social studies we watched a little more of The Gods Must Be Crazy and thought about anthropology and hunting and gathering societies alongside post industrial societies and agricultural societies. We also observed the vegetation and animal life.

IMPORTANT BAND ANNOUNCEMENT

Saxes and trumpets are closed, but please consider flute, clarinet and trombone.
Also, if you ordered an instrument, you may email Ms. Frank (berta.frank@cesuvt.org) to see if it is in. Students must have a first lesson before they take the instrument home.  This is to prevent damage and learn instrument care.

Lessons start Tuesday 9-23.

We ended with All Team Meeting. We wrote our week in reivew, celebrated some people like Marinda, Mason, Trevor, Jayme, Kailey and Finn.
We brought home permission slips to walk to Mills River Park and finally dumped a bucket of ice water onto Mr. Meadows for the ice bucket challenge.

No Homework BUT
some kids were absent (sorry, please catch up over the weekend) and your YWP first post should be ready to be graded this weekend.
Ms, Lamb will be posting first grades and letting you know how to check them next week.

September 18, 2014 Thursday

In LA we read more of No Talking. Today we read with the Kindle App on the computer and listened to the professional narrator from audible read to us.

In science, Emma demostrates her brain to the group.

Sometimes Ms. Lamb posts the agenda for the class to keep us organizined and on track. We chose the location for our hunting and gathering socieities on the continent of Schlunkland and named it.

Today's blogger: Ms. Lamb and Mary

Homework:

Thursday

LA: Current Events. Find out something that is happening in the world. Say where you got your information. Summarize what is happening and say what you think about it.

Read your novel for 20 minutes at least

Math: Pages 3 and 4

LA - if not finished with YWP entry  - finish it and make comments to three others and revise your piece based on the comments

September 17, 2014 Wednesday

I completely forgot to post yesterday. Here is the recap.

We tried to finish up our ywp work in la. Now it is homework to finish by Friday.

We had our first math menu class. We learned mindful breathing as breathing is very important during math as is mindfulness.

Homework

I silt in science I learned that or in social studies I learned that... Or we did this..in other words you can't write I learned nothing because I already know everything

Math finish multiplication chart

Awesome finish atlas worksheet

All finish ywp work by Friday

September 16, 2014

Here we are at home away from home computer lab posting our writing on Y W P. We also work on edutyping.com.

We watched Myth Busters about yawning in science.               

Fun at wallball,  Wow Maggie!  Nice catch

  We made brains about ourselves. 

                At the end of the day Mr.Medows c.p.r had library.

Eric, Brianna and Ms. Lamb are bloggers. Most of this was done by Eric. Ms. Lamb added the homework.

Homework today

La journal: write about the book you are reading. Do you like it? Why or why not? Write about the character.

Read for 20 minutes

No math today

Team awesome only -  finish atlas worksheet by Thursday for social studies 

September 15, 2014 Monday

TETHER! Everyone come out to play  and burn of there excitement and restlessness with a good game of tether or wall ball but there is a price...

tired and sweaty!

Today's bloggers: Marinda and Ms. Lamb

We worked more on our YWP first post. We post, comment and revise. This will be our third grade.

Ms. Lamb has not posted grades yet on Schoology, but will soon and post directions for accessing. It will take a bit of training and figuring out on her part.

We started Iblock today. It is either math or reading with Mr. Sullivan, Ms. Lamb, Mr. Meadows, Ms. Erickson, Mrs. Babbitt, Ms. Lipsitt or Mrs. McDevitt.

Homework today:

Journal for LA : Mondays will be YWP prompt day. Any student who wishes to send in work to get published in the newspaper or on line must return a parent permission form. They can be found on Ms. Lamb's desk or on the YWP page.

Today 

An Alien visits Vermont.....

Read for at least 20 minutes in your novel.

Math: Subtraction worksheet (A good 20 minutes or until finished)

September 12, 2014 Friday

Somehow this entry got extinguished. Here is my best memory of last Friday.
We had a huge welcome assembly this morning. We ended the day with All Team Meeting.
There is no homework on Friday.
Ms. Lamb collected journals to assess today. Some kids forgot them and need to hand in on Monday.

September 11, 2014 Thursday

Here is the flag I mention below.

Ms. Lamb is the blogger today. I forgot to take pictures except for this one, We had indoor recess so we all did Just Dance using youtube and the bright link. 

In LA we got caught up with Dave and Lindsay and their no talking plans. We have a plan to try it, maybe tomorrow.  We started working with the laptops again. At least we got them out, logged on, checked email and shut down and put back. Sounds simple....but not so much.

We made our team flag. I'll post a picture of that in a minute.

We all went to chorus today. Students will sign up for chorus to commit starting October 1st. Remember to get the band instrument papers in as soon as you can.

We started social studies for the Awesome group and science for the Fantastic group. In five weeks we will switch. 

In social studies we colored some geographic terms.

Homework today:

LA

Joural: What do you do when you are stressed? Remember 1/2 to whole page, 10 minutes

Read your novel 20 minutes

No math today

Ms. Lamb will collect journals tomorrow. I expect to find 10 entries (I think two were at school and 8 were homework.)

September 10, 2014 Wednesday

In LA we did some partner reading aloud from No Talking by Andrew Clements. 

Ms. Lamb's homeroom practiced study hall. It is a very quiet work time for students not taking band or chorus.



Mr. Meadows class visited band. Anyone who wishes to sign up for band (a band instrument) should get a packet from Ms.Frank (Ms. Lamb has some extras) and fill out the forms.

Ms. Lamb is the blogger today. Someone else took the pictures. I think it was Finn and I fogot the other person. It has been a busy day.

Homework today.
LA Journal: Write about an animal. Maybe you are that animal. Maybe you love that animal. Maybe it is a story about an animal. 10 minutes 1/2 to whole page.

Read your novel 10-20 minutes

Math: worksheet of addition problems. Started in class. There is a lot. Do you best 20 minute shot.

September 9, 2014 Tuesday

We have become Team Energy!!! Hurray. We shall all now embrace our new name.

In PE, we got locks for our lockers. Only the Super team had PE today. The Terrific team will again on Friday.

Posing by the lockers

Every day we have closing meeting. It is important to have your red assignment book every day.

Ms. Lamb is the blogger. Two students took photos, but the blogger has forgotten who they were.
We did some work on learning inventories this afternoon to learn about ourselves as learners.
In LA, we all posted (or started to) on our YWP site.
Mr. Meadows started math homework today. Yay!

Homework:
Journal: Write about an object. 10 minutes 1/2 to whole page
Read for 20 minutes
Math worksheet on addition - a good 20 minute effort

Monday September 8, 2014

Today, Ms. Lamb is the blogger.

I forgot to give anyone the ipad, so sadly we have no pictures today. I shall have to paint a picture with my words.

We started with CPR on our first Monday of the school year. In Ms. Lamb's CPR we got through all the announcements, shared about our weekend and played 4 corners. It was pretty fun.

Next, we were off to math or LA. We work in two class groups called Awesome and Fantastic. In LA, we went to the computer lab and finished our reading assessment and started edutyping. Typing skills will be very important all the way through school, so we are getting them down now. Ms. Lamb can type with her eyes closed, if she doesn't get off home base.

After LA and math we finished our end of the week "week in rap." They were so great, Mr. Meadows and Ms. Lamb decided we will recreate something like them to show at open house. You can look forward to that on September 23rd in our classroom.

We have a new team name, but I don't know what it is yet. I will sort the ballots tonight.

After PE (Lamb CPR - Terrific) or Music (Meadows CPR - Super) we had a big social studies block. We finished our presentations on the week in rap, voted for our team name and began our learning inventories or learning styles. Many students were able to use the lap top computers to finish the inventory and print the results. Others had computers that disagreed with that entire procedure, but we will finish tomorrow if need be.

We all filled out our homework assignment books and headed to EXP (technology, art or health) for the end of the day.

Homework today:

LA  journal: What do you hope to accomplish in fifth grade? What are your hopes, dreams and desires?

10 minutes - one page (or half page if you are working up to it)

Read your novel for 10-20 minutes (also working up to it)

September 5, 2014 Friday

It looks like Ms. Lamb is directing an orchestra, but she is really getting the class to settle on our class ground rules. Here they are:

Be kind and respectful to self, others and environment.

Be positive, have an open mind, try new things, dare - challenge yourself

Kids who want to, have guitar lessons Fridays during recess at 10:30.

Today was loaded with assessments. We did a math assessment in the morning, a spelling assessment, also in the mornng and after lunch, we all got onto the computers again for a reading assessment. It was pretty impressive. We are not 100% finished, but really close. We will finish everything Monday.

We have two specials Friday afrernoon. Ms. Lamb's CPR had Phys Ed. and Mr. Meadow's had music.

At the end of the day we brainstormed ideas for our team name. We will try to decide on Monday.

All in all, a pretty great day.
No homework. Read you book if you can.
Ms. Lamb is the blogger. Mary and Maggie helped with the pictures.

September 4, 2014 Thursday

We all organized our social studies, science, language arts binders today. There are three tabs, a schedule and some paper. Kids are bringing them home to share with parents and bringing them back tomorrow. These will not come home very often.

Later in the day we all had chorus with Mr. Tisdell.


Mr. Meadows introduced the laptops in math today. We are getting ready to take a math assessment. We have a lot of assessments to take in September.

This is Ms. Lamb's homework board. At the end of the day we all write down our assignments in our red assignment books. This week, we have enough time to do our homework at school. Next week we will just have a few minutes to get started.

Today's blogger: Ms. Lamb

We had a great day. We played a crazy game of kickballl called "Over Under Kickball." We got pretty hot and we talked about doing weird things and being a good sport about it.

The computers were cranky as they sometimes are, so the introduction did not go 100% smoothly, but we had another chance to be good sports when things don't go the way we planned.

In LA, we got to read our own books for a bit, finish up our assessment from yesterday if we needed to and read three more chapters in No Talking.

Today's homework
Journal: Write about a person you admire. They can be real or fictional. Describe them. Why do you admire them. Try for at least a half page, but a whole page is the ultimate goal.

Read your novel for at least 10-20 minutes. We are working up to 30 minutes a night, but may need to build stamina.

September 3, 2014

In band we saw some brass demonstrations

Ms. Lamb's CPR group had library today (Meadows' had it yesterday.)

Today's welcome board.

Today's bloggers. Emma, Edie and Ms. Lamb

We divided into three groups. One went to band, one to study hall and one to chorus (but that was not us today). Tomorrow we will rotate. We had band and study hall.

We had many many specials today, band, chorus, PE/World Language, library and COG (Community, Organization or Guidance.) Some days are just like that.

We took our writing assessment. Everyone wrote a true story about themselves. 

Everyone now has a choice novel to read.

In LA we started reading No Talking by Andrew Clements as a whole fifth grade. 

Today's homework (same as yesterday) except all bring home to share.

Journal: about the novel you chose, what are you expecting?

Read your novel

Read the Poem On Being 10 and write your own poem.

September 2 2014

Snack!

Our first math class with our Awesome and Fantastic groups.

Tada. Schedule. We followed the schedule mostly today. Our social studies and iblock times are used for team building, rule agreeing and general begin a group together activities.

Today’s bloggers: Piper, Finn and Ms. Lamb

I noticed at recess kids were sharing tether balls, swings and taking turns playing handball. It was a really nice recess.

I sat in the shade and played a game called kitten.

We had our first official homework assignment.

We finally followed our schedule.

We got our new red assignment books and read them.

Parents make sure assignment books come home with children every day. Today, is the exception because our end of the day was super rushed.

One class had PE and one class had World Languages.

We worked on our class rules and in teams tried to create the longest continuous line of paper out of one flat 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper. It was challenging.

Homework: (NOTE: this homework is not due until Thursday. One class (Super) had library and did not have time to finish. We will finish in class tomorrow. The end of the day ran out on us, so assignment books and folders may not come home today.

Library group:
Read new novel

In journal : Why did I choose this novel and what do I expect?

Non library group:

Read the poem “On Turning 10” by Billy Collins

Write your own poem in your journal about turning 10 or being in 5th grade. You may just write a paragraph if you prefer.

Again, this is an extended assignment due Thursday, so it may not come home until tomorrow.