Welcome to 5th Grade

We had a great time at Open House last night.  If you didn't get a chance to come, here is our informational Powerpoint.  Please leave us a comment telling us what you think of 5th grade so far.

Today was the first day of our 2013-2014 school year.  It was a great day-our 5th graders had a visit from our new principal, Mrs. Perry.  She asked them to do 3 things for her.  Talk to your 5th grader and see if they remember what those 3 things are.  (hint: balls, bathrooms, adults)  Post a comment for us and tell us what your 5th grader is most excited about this year.

Practice for Vocabulary Test

We do weekly spelling and vocabulary using the Wordly Wise program. Here is a great site to practice this week's words.
http://quizlet.com/2584147/wordly-wise-book-5-lesson-15-flash-cards/

We do weekly spelling and vocabulary using the Wordly Wise program.  Here is a great site to practice this week's words.
http://quizlet.com/1101731/wordly-wise-3000-book5-lesson-2-flash-cards/

Books, Books, Books

Students received their first Scholastic Bookclub orders today. You can view and/or order online at https://orders.scholastic.com/HWPCL Our classroom code is HWPCL. We also went to the media center today-way cool

First Read Aloud

During open house I met many new 5th graders who told me their favorite book was The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Since I really want kids to connect with books and love reading, I decided to introduce them to a similar book by James Patterson called Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life. The main character is really having a hard time fitting into middle school. We are not going to read the entire book-just previewing it this week to spark discussion and interest. I think the students are really enjoying it-we are reading it via Kindle on our Promethean Board-how cool is that-the kids love getting to see the pictures on the big screen! We are working on the Comprehension strategies of Making Pictures in our Minds and Making Connections as well as Vocabulary strategies. We learned how to use context clues to understand meaning (ask your student about the words execution and rents)The first 20 chapters are available on Kindle as a free download preview if you are interested. Happy Reading

We have started reading the book Wonder by RJ Palacio. Here is a link to a website with lots of resources for discussions: mrwreads.blogspot.com/