This morning, in place of our regular quotes, students read, line by line, the famous Robert Frost poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening."  I believe the students enjoyed it. Students will now choose a Robert Frost poem by this Friday, and memorize it. On Monday, January 9th they will recite it to the class, and possibly other guests.  I do hope that the choice will be driven by a connection to the poem and simply not because of its short length.

The 5/6 students have been doing a fine job with the bridge unit. They first created bridges that would span a 20 inch space between two desks. The bridges had to be 24 inches long by 8 inches wide made with one piece of oak tag paper. This first round was a real learning experience. Now the groups are applying their new knowledge by creating bridges with the same dimensions but by using two pieces of the oak tag. I believe that the students' bridges will perform better than their first designs.  This is all in preparation for the teams building wooden truss bridges. Specifications will ensure that the bridges are true truss bridges. The teams will be able to strategize by deciding to build a strong bridge out of the maximum available materials or spend less money on materials and hope that the design will result in the most efficient bridge when cost per pound held is calculated. This unit is a lot of fun. It's rewarding seeing such focus and creativity.

We had several students who were not prepared with completed reading for chapter eight of Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry. Tomorrow we will discuss chapters 8 and 9.  Many students have read ahead and the folks who are not keeping up are holding us back. Please make sure your child completes both chapters tonight. Students had the entire reading period to read since there was no discussion.

With a high rate of reading work completion, we had wonderful discussions of chapters 6 and 7 of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Tomorrow we will discuss chapter 8. Please make sure your child has it completed. Students worked well during our Egypt project time. I'm very impressed with their projects. Some have worked outside of school, and the effort shows. Fifth Grade Math: Students worked on visual representations of multiplying fractions to find common denominators. I provided written directions, but if your child is having difficulty that is ok. We will work on it more tomorrow.

We are now reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry as a class. Today, we had an outstanding discussion of chapter 1. Chapter 2 is due tomorrow, August 4th, along with the guiding questions. I hope that you are able to read the book and have discussions at home. The word problem, "Sleepy Time", is due Monday. Students have had time for the last couple of days to work on it in class.

We are working hard in history learning much about Ancient Egypt. It is amazing to think that the Ancient Egyptian civilization lasted for 3000 years. We are historical babies. The student groups are working together on topics of interest. I believe they are working hard on research. Today in writing students tried out two different ways to write introductions that were different than their "go to" intros. Students should be reading independently every night and on the weekends. In fifth grade math the class demonstrated good understanding of total surface area of rectangular prisms and

Reminder: Due Tuesday, October 11th: Book project (either a book cover / written book review / or oral presentation (not read off of a paper)           Quote response        5th grade: Terrific Twins.

Geography: 1/3 of the class has yet to begin taking the seven geography assessments. They must be completed by 10/24/16. After that date, there is no retaking them. Please check in with your child to see where he or she is in the process. A few students are almost done.

Egypt: Students are choosing topics to study in detail. I'm still waiting for decisions from a few students.

Literacy: Today students worked on perfecting punctuating dialogue, which will improve their post instruction personal narratives. Some students need some more practice.

Reading: Students had time to read silently today. Some of the students who completed reading their books worked on the related projects.

Fifth Grade Math: Today we reviewed area homework, and in class students worked on area of nine rectangles where the perimeter remained the same (36 feet) but by the time the rectangle became a square the area increased from 17 square feet to 81 square feet.  This should be helpful when students are designing a pen for Mr. Trottle's terriers with the 90 feet of fencing and the sides of the two buildings.

Today I passed back the students' quote response books. There was some good writing exhibited, yet no one fully related their experience to one of the quotes. This next one that is due October 11th is about technology. I am hoping that students will have a nice discussion with parents about technology and how it can be a double edged sword. Much technology is very positive and has altered human existence in many wonderful ways. I, for example, would not wish to live without electricity and all of the conveniences that it brings to our lives.  At the same time, the generating of electricity often produces greenhouse gasses which are detrimental to our planet.  Television and computers provide us instantaneous information about important events across the world, yet too much "watching" is harmful to our health. I am asking students to write in a new way, by first thinking and talking about a complex topic, and finally putting their thoughts into writing.

Geography: Many students have tested out of several of the geography tests, yet 41% of the class has not taken even one of them. Please ask your child where they are in regards to the geography assessments.

History: We have begun to learn about Ancient Egypt. We have had some introductory discussions which involved some new vocabulary including civilization, monotheism, and polytheism. Students brainstormed in partners to fill out a Venn Diagram that compared Ancient Egypt to Modern Egypt.

Fifth Grade Math: Students did a very nice job on the, "Apple Anyone?" word problem. I saw much improvement in organization, labeling, and execution of the problem. We are now working on perimeter and area of rectangles. I gave students a challenging problem that requires them to design a pen for two hyper Jack Russell Terriers. After tomorrow's lesson, students will probably  give it another try to increase their design's area.

We completed discussion of The Cay. Students rated this book either 9 or 10 out of 10. Wow! It is gratifying when students respond so well to a book that I also rate really highly. Students are reading independently for the next 2.5 weeks. I have given three choices to show their understanding of this new book. 1. Oral book presentation  2. Book cover project  or 3. Written book review.  Students were given a rubric or a check off for each choice. I would like them to commit to their choice tomorrow. The project will be completed for 10/11/16.      

Students received their hike information today at the end of school.

Students may begin testing out of the different geography requirements starting tomorrow. I believe many are ready to take the latitude / longitude test, the hemispheres test, the continents and oceans test. A few have already studied the European and Middle Eastern countries. If you have internet available at home I highly recommend that your child use the site called Lizardpoint.com.  It is a wonderful interactive site that students may use to practice memorizing any of the requirements on our list. The students used the site today during class.

Tomorrow, we will have our final discussion of The Cay. It is imperative that your child complete reading and responding to the guiding questions tonight if it was not completed in school. We will begin  concentrating on writing for the next few weeks.  In my fifth grade math class students were given three versions of a new word problem called, "Apple Anyone"? There are mild, medium, and nice and spicy versions. Students should choose the one they feel is "right" for them. Students may choose to do more than one. It is due next Monday. There are multiplication problems tonight that are to be done by the partial products method. They will be reviewed in class tomorrow. Today in geography class I taught the "why" and the location of the Tropics of Cancer and the Tropics of Capricorn.  I quizzed the students on naming coordinates with latitude and longitude. Most did quite well. The requirements for the geography unit were given to the students last week. They must complete all of the testing by Monday, October 24th. The focus is to memorize the countries that formed the Ancient Middle East and Europe. I feel it is important for students to have an idea where these places are located since so many of them are in the news daily. Students may ask to take one portion at a time. Every student should be able to take the hemispheres and longitude and latitude assessments this week. Then that part will be out of the way. Next, they may choose to test out of the continents and oceans.  Etc. As with any large task, breaking it down  makes it much more manageable. This is a part of your child's learning that you could help with by quizzing him or her on a blank map that will be in your child's possession. Thanks much.

We had another busy day today. Students are going to be writing tomorrow. It is time for the pre narrative baseline writing piece. Therefore the chapters 15 and 16 will not be discussed until Monday. In math we continued with multiplication. There is a very nice site called Multiplication.com that I find quite good for students to practice multiplication skills.

We had a very busy day today. Our Cay discussion was quite good. Students are noticing that Phillip's attitude about Timothy is changing. He no longer feels Timothy is less of a person than he because he is black. This is one of the obvious themes of the book. In fifth grade math we reviewed the "All That Glitters" word problem. Students rated their efforts on this very first problem of the year by checking off columns on the rubric. There were many good efforts. I noticed some students did not label well enough. Students were given a new problem called, "The Crawler," which is based on factual information. The Crawler is the giant machine that moves the spacecraft from the hanger to the launch pad. It gets 34 feet per gallon. Students must calculate how many gallons of fuel are used on the 3 1/2 mile trip from the hanger to the launch pad. It is due next Monday. In geography students practiced finding latitude and longitude using a couple of games on line.

This has been a short but full week. Students continue to read The Cay and respond to guiding questions which form the basis of our discussions. The dialect, which was challenging for students at first, is now fun for most of them. Chapters 8 -9 are due Monday. We have also been working on geography. We took a "field trip" to the giant map near the bathrooms on our wing. Students made observations including the fact that the land mass is greater in the Northern Hemisphere. A student pointed out that that must mean that the population is greater there than in the Southern Hemisphere. We spent a half hour working on longitude and latitude. There are good practice sites on the internet that you may wish to have your child visit to become more comfortable with locations skills. In fifth grade math we are working on different strategies of multiplication. The word problem, All That Glitters, is due Monday. Have a great weekend.

Friday, September 2, 2016

Dear Parents,

We are off to a great start in our 5/6 classroom.  Like all of the other teachers at EMES, I wonder how I got so lucky to have the best group of students.

Academically, we have gotten into some purposeful learning. 

Literacy: In literacy we have been working on inference, which will be part of our discussions all year long. We are also reading our first class book, The Cay by Theodore Taylor. Our discussions have been quite rich. Chapter 3 will be discussed on Tuesday. It is important that your child complete the guiding question responses in order to be ready to participate.

The quote response about beginnings is due Tuesday, September 6, 2016.

Geography: We had a quick assessment on the  states. Many students had forgotten them since last year. Students will have the opportunity to retake it next week. Today students learned about geographical terms such as equator, latitude, longitude, etc. EMES will take part in the Geo Bee. If your child is interested in geography he or she might want to take part in it. We will have an initial meeting soon.

Math: 5th Grade: Students had timed tests in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. For many students there is much work to be done as having instant recall of the facts is crucial for performing well in fifth grade math.  Students also played some math games and worked on a challenge activity that helped them understand that 292 million is a huge number and that when thought of as a line of one inch segments would stretch from New York City to....... Well, ask your fifth grader. The word problem, “All That Glitters” is due Monday, September 12th.  Students may choose between the mild or medium versions. They are expected to choose for their ability, not for ease of completion. Students have received directions for solving a word problem, a sample word problem, and a rubric. It is expected that these resources will be employed when solving word problems throughout the year. Students have received a challenge problem, The Railroad Problem. You may work on it with your child. It is expected that he or she work on it for at least 30 minutes. The steps should be written down, as it is very easy to forget what was done to solve it.

6th Grade: In 6th grade math, students worked on multiplication and division timed tests, as well as a math skills review assessment. 6th graders have a Problem of the Week, called the Railroad Problem. This assignment requires students to write step by step directions to show how they solved the problem. Ask your student if they solved the problem.

Here are some important dates to remember:

Picture day is Tuesday, September 6th.

Parent Information Night is Tuesday, September 6th from 6PM to 7:30 PM. There will be two information sessions in our classroom. The first will be from 6:00 - 6:25 and the second from 6:30 to 6:50. I will be speaking about the 5th and 6th grade academic program and expectations for students. This evening is not the usual open house. It is directed towards parents to inform you of what is going on in your child’s classroom.

The 5/6 team building  trip to the Wrightsville Dam is on Friday, September 9th. Please return the permission form by Tuesday, September 6th.

The all school hike form is also enclosed. Please sign it and return it by Friday, September 9th.

Boy, that is a lot of information. I hope that you have a great weekend, and I look forward to seeing you Tuesday evening.

Sincerely,

Mr. Quackenbush

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Today we discussed inference in literature. Students were given time to work on an activity in class in which they read three passages and responded to related questions to help them practice looking for and understanding inference. Passages 1 - 3 and related questions will be discussed tomorrow morning.

In addition, we began our first class book, The Cay by Theodore Taylor. For tomorrow, students are to read chapter 1 (just 9 pages) and respond to the guiding questions. The setting is in the Caribbean during World War II. I will be able to extend instruction beyond the book as my dad, who is still living, is a World War II veteran. I grew up hearing many stories about his experiences. Again, students had time in class for this work, but if it was not completed the expectation is that it will be done for tomorrow morning.

If at any time your child is unable to complete an assignment just send a note in. No worries.

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