Welcome back and Happy New Year!
Why is it that the holidays seem to go by so fast? I spent my vacation visiting family in Canada where I ate way too much chocolate and Christmas baking. I guess I needed the extra food to keep me warm as it was -58 degrees celcius. I actually missed the -58 weather by a few days and was lucky enough to be there when it was only -30!!!!!
Here are the updates for this week:
1). Please welcome Michelle and her family (parents are Larry and Christine) to 5TM. Michelle joined us this week from SAS Pudong and is already settling into the 5TM routines. She makes a great addition to our class.
2). Literature Circles – We are starting our third round of literature circles today. This time we are reading biographies (my favorite genre) which ties in nicely to Invention Convention as we are studying different inventors. Please remind your child to work neatly, proofread, and add as much detail to their work as possible.
3). Invention Convention – Students will be taking their inventor notes and begin writing their 5 Paragraph essays next week. We will work on writing catchy leads, thesis statements, transition words, topic sentences, supporting details, and conclusions. These essays will become their speeches that they will give to the class the week of January 25th. Students should also begin collecting materials to make a model of the invention that their inventor is known for.
4). Reading Olympics – Starting on Tuesday, January 12th, fifth graders will begin the Reading Olympics. Thisis a fun competition between all fifth grade classes that requires students to read books at their levels and complete a variety of activities to earn bronze, silver, and gold medals. Students can choose from a variety of books for each genre. Gold medals are earned for projects that are completed with excellence. For report card purposes, gold medals earn students a 4, silver medals = 3, and bronze = 2.
4). The next few months will be very BUSY for 5th graders. It is important that students work on projects each night and do not leave the majority of their work for the night before it is due. I will help students organize themselves to avoid stress and becoming overwhelmed.
5). An updated Emergency Phone Tree will be sent home today in the Friday Folder.















