Mrs. Eibes' Class

February

2010-02-24T07:38:00.000-08:00

The month of February has come and gone in no time. The students have been very busy and are looking forward to spring.

In social studies we have had a few areas of focus. The students have been following the Olympics and each picked a country to highlight and learn about. Ask your child what their country is. We also spent time with Galleon. The students have reached the New World and are ready to bring the gold back to Spain, except for those pesky English Privateers, they are set on taking the gold from the Spanish Galleon ships. The students are using latitude and longitude to navigate back across the ocean.

In Reading/Language Arts the students continue to build stamina in Read to Self, Read to Someone, Word Work, and Work on Writing. We have also started new strategy groups reading Suspense/Adventure books. Ask your child what their book is about.

In math students have been working on fractions, money, and geometry.

February 1-5

2010-02-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

We finally got outside for recess. Last week was tough when we did not get a chance to get some fresh air, but this week was great.

The students have been using social studies time to prepare for student led conferences. For those of you I saw on Thursday night thank you for coming. The kids did a tremendous job!! I am looking forward to seeing the rest of you on Tuesday.

During Writer's Workshop students are working on fictional writing. We talked about how authors take real life events and turn them into stories. We also discussed the different genres of writing.

At Language Arts time the students have been working on our Daily 4. We also have started to add the CAFE, this stands for comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and expand vocabulary. The students have a new strategy for comprehension and accuracy, ask your child about these.

Math continues to focus on fractions, decimals, greatest common factors, and least common multiplies.

Have a great weekend!!!!!

January 19-22

2010-01-22T08:36:00.000-08:00

Another busy week, there just doesn't seem to be enough time in a day to get everything done that we need to.

We have switched back to social studies this week. The students will go back to science with Ms. Schmidt at the end of 3rd quarter. We picked up where we left of with our Galleon unit. This unit is our explorers. The students are about halfway across the ocean to the New World. The completed Log Entry 3 this week, ask them to tell you about it.

In Writer's Workshop we have been spending the last few weeks working on conventions. The students had a grammar quiz last week.

In Reading we are continuing to build our stamina in Read to Self. We did not have spelling words this week because of the short week.

Conferences are coming up and these will be student lead. The kids will have a chance to practice the conference a few times with each other before the Main Event!! I look forward to seeing all of you.

Have a great weekend!!!

January 4-8

2010-01-08T08:36:00.000-08:00

It was a great week back to school. It took a little time for us to get back into our routines, but once we did it was like we never left.

The students took their NWEA Language Usage test this week. They worked very hard and took their time on the test. Ask your child how they did.

In Writer's Workshop the students worked on conventions. They had five to ten sentences each day that they needed to correct. The focus was on capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and grammar.

During Language Arts the students built stamina in Read to Self, Read to Someone, and Word Work. On Friday we meet with our Kindergarten Buddies. The students also worked with analogies, author's viewpoint, and making inferences this week.

Math the focus continued to be on multiplying and dividing decimals, measurement, and prime factorization.

We also had an all school Pakrat Celebration on Friday afternoon. If your child made the 400 minute club they will bring home a certificate and a SPRITE.

Stay war this weekend!!

December

2009-12-23T10:09:00.000-08:00

The month of December went by very quickly. I hope everyone has a safe, restful winter break.

During Writer's Workshop this month the students have been writing stories about Snowy Days, Favorite Vacation, An Important Person, or A Sad Moment. The focus was for students to have a beginning, a middle, and an ending.

In Language Arts we focused on syllables, linking verbs and direct objects, adjectives, and plural nouns. During Read to Someone students are either reading Summer of Riley or Girl Named Disaster (this group finished Elijah and started the new book).

In math the focus was decimals. The students added, subtracted, divided, multiplied, compared, and ordered decimals.

The students also took their NWEA tests for both reading and math. Students did really well and worked very hard. Report cards will be coming home around January 16th.

Have a great break!!!!

November 23-25

2009-11-25T08:04:00.001-08:00

This was a short week. We spent most of our time continuing work from last week.

In science the students learned about the plant and animal kingdoms.
In Writer's Workshop the focus continued to be on synonyms and antonyms.
During Language Arts students worked on the Daily 4.
In math students worked with decimals and graphs.

Have a great four day break!!!

November 16-20

2009-11-20T09:17:00.000-08:00

Last week got away from me and I forgot to update the blog, sorry about that. We had another week of many things going on.

In Science this week the students learned about animal and plant cells. They worked with vocabulary words and drew and labeled diagrams.

In Writer's Workshop this week the students were busy collecting synonyms using a thesaurus. They found synonyms for "talk/said", "hot", and "cold". We also talked about antonyms as well.

During Language Arts time the students have the routine of the Daily 3/4 down pat. Students built stamina in Read to Self, Read to Someone, Word Work, and Work on Writing. During Read to Someone students have been meeting in small groups and reading either Summer of Riley or Elijah. Ask your child what book they are reading and what is happening in the book. On Friday we went to our Kindergarten Buddies classroom to read to them.

In math the focus is on graphing and decimals. The students continue to work hard on learning new concepts.

Have a great weekend!!

Science November 10

2009-11-10T07:35:00.000-08:00

You just started science this week, write one new thing you have learned.

November 2-6

2009-11-06T06:33:00.000-08:00

Fall seems to have returned this week, the students welcomed being able to be outside.

This week we combined our social studies and writer's workshop, the focus was on Galleon. The students have been making their way to the New World. This week the wind died down and they are stuck at sea with their food spoiling and their water supply dwindling. Ask them about Log Entry 2.

During Language Arts this week, the students continued to focus on the Daily 4. We also took part 1 of an assessment, we will take part 2 next week and then it will come home for you to see. The students also learned about common and proper nouns.

In math the focus continues to be on basic facts and measurement.

Next week we will start going to Ms. Schmidt's class for science, the kids are really looking forward to starting this class.

Enjoy the warm weather this weekend.

October 26-30

2009-10-30T07:33:00.000-07:00

Another week has passed. The students were very active this week due to the weekend festivities. I hope they have fun on Saturday!!

In Social students are continuing to work on Galleon. The students wrote Log Entry 1 which was about how they felt leaving their home for a year, what the ship and crewmates were like, the route they were taking, and any fears they had. Ask your child to tell you about the entry and where they are on the map.

In Writer's Workshop students had free writing this week, they were able to write about anything they wanted.

In Language Arts the Daily 4 was the focus. Students worked on Read to Self, Word Work, Work on Writing, and Read to Someone. We went to Ms. Neyssen's Kindergarten Buddies on Friday. We also worked on combining sentences, singular and plural possessive nouns, and making inferences.

In Math this week we continued to work on Number Sense.

Have a great weekend!!

October 19-23

2009-10-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

You may have heard about how sick our class has been the last few weeks, but we are finally on the mend!!

During Social Studies we are continuing to work on our Explorers unit Galleon. The students have formed their groups, chose what route they are going to take to the new world, and one group has volunteered to be the English Privateer. We discussed how they needed to take a ocean route that had as many stops as possible so they can resupply their ships.

During Writer's Workshop we read the book The Mysterious Disapperance of Harris Burdick and the students chose one of the pictures/captions to write a story about. Ask your child what story they wrote.

During Language Arts we have our Daily 4 down. The students worked on Read to Self, Word Work, Work on Writing, and Read to Someone. On Friday we went to read to our Kindergarten Buddies and Ms. Martini came to our class to give book talks on the Maud Hart Loveless books for this year.

In math students are continuing to work on Number Sense. Some classes are working on collecting data and completing graphs. Ask your child what they have been working on this week.

Have a restful weekend!!

October 12-14

2009-10-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

This short week went faster than expected. It was great seeing all the parents during conferences, thank you for coming in.

In social studies we started Galleon. Students have chosen their groups and are figuring out which route to take to the New World. Ask your child to tell you some of the advantages and disadvantages to certain sea routes.

In Writer's Workshop students are beginning to write a second personal narrative. During Language Arts we learned about homophones and homonyms. We worked with our Daily 4 this week. Ask your child which of the Daily 4 is their favorite. The students took their spelling test on Wednesday. We also went to Ms. Neyssen's class and read to our book buddies.

In math students have been working on whole number operations, whole number estimation, order of operations, and variables and expressions.

Pakrat books should be coming home Monday-Thursday. Some students are choosing to read their own independent book instead of the pakrat book, this is fine. You should be seeing their green folder home every night so that you can sign their reading calendar as to how many minutes they read each night. The students are trying to get into the school wide 400 minute Read Club. If you have not seen the green folder please ask your child about it.

Have a great weekend!!

October 5-9

2009-10-08T17:57:00.000-07:00

Yet another busy week in 5th grade. We had the opportunity to read to our Kindergarten Buddies (Ms. Neyssen's class) on Thursday. It was great, the students read with such expression and asked their buddies great questions. This is something we will do every Friday. We have also been asked to be Book Buddies with Ms. Schleper's 1st grade class, this will start next week. Ask your child about the books they read to their buddies.

In social this week we began an Explorers unit. The students will be acting as if they are Spanish Galleon ships voyaging to the New World in search of gold. One group of students will be the English Privateer ship trying to steal the gold. This is a fun unit, ask your child to tell you about what we have done so far.

In Writing we have finished our first final draft. Look for these to come home in the next week or so. We will begin writing another personal narrative next week.

In Language Arts we have our Daily 4 down pat. The students have built their stamina in Read to Self to 30 minutes each day. During Word Work students have the opportunity to study their spelling words, they are doing amazing. Work on Writing is phenomenal, we have a class full of authors. The students get a chance to practice their Reading Buddy book during Read to Someone, their fluency is really improving.

In math students are continuing to work with order of operations and/or basic facts. Please check your child's math homework every night.

We have the field trip on Friday. Students will be learning about environmental changes and get a chance to hear the St. John's Boys Choir Boys on Broadway concert.

It was exciting to see all of you at conferences on Thursday evening and I look forward to seeing some of you on Tuesday. Have a great weekend and try to stay warm and dry.

September 28-October 2

2009-10-06T08:01:00.000-07:00

Another week has speed by. The students are getting into our fifth grade routines and we have been getting a lot accomplished.

In social studies we learned about the Ice Age and the impact it had on people and animals during that time.

In Writers Workshop students began the process of taking a piece of writing and making a final draft. Hopefully I will be able to share these at conferences.

In Language Arts our Daily 5/4 is up and running in the classroom. We added spelling words to our Word Work. You should see a copy of the spelling words coming home on Monday or Tuesday each week. The students also learned about Kinds of Sentences, Base Words and Endings, and Subjects and Predicates.

In math class the students have been working on a variety of skills. Multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, and exponents to name a few. Please ask your child what they are working on right now.

Conferences are coming up and I look forward to seeing all of you. Have a great weekend.

September 21-21

2009-09-25T07:12:00.000-07:00

The fifth graders have been busy this week, some days I wish we had school longer so that we could get through everything.

In Social we have started learning about the Ice Age. Ask your child to tell you about some of the animals that lived during that time and what a nomad is.

In Writers Workshop this week the students picked one seed story to publish. They have been learning about retellings and strong leads.

In Language Arts we have 4 of our Daily 5 up and running. The students have build stamina to 30 minutes for Read to Self, 20 minutes for Work on Writing, 10 minutes for Read to Someone, and 10 minutes for Word Work. Ask your child to explain each of the Daily 4/5 to you.

In Math this week we began switching. Students are in either Mr. Christie's, Ms. Schmidt's, Ms. Ebent's, or my class. Ask your child who their math teacher is. All of the fifth grade is using the same math program, we are just learning at different paces.

We are now asking that the planners (agendas) get signed daily, your children should be showing you the agenda every night and asking for a signature, thank you for helping with this. I am going to be gone next week on Monday and Tuesday for a conference in Rochester. Have a great weekend!!

Sept. 14-18

2009-09-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

We have had another busy week in fifth grade. The students are getting into the routine of school and have been working very hard.

In social studies this week the focus was on timelines. The students have been making a Personal Timeline, these are due on Monday. We will be sharing these in class.

In Writers Workshop the focus has been on little seed ideas, not giant watermelon ideas. Ask your child to explain the difference. The students have been writing personal narratives with this idea in mind.

In Language Arts we have been continuing our work on the Daily 5. The students have been building stamina in Read to Self, we are up to 25 minutes!!! We have added the second component of the Daily 5, Work on Writing. We are building stamina in Work on Writing and are up to 9 minutes. Ask your child to tell you about Work on Writing.

In math we took our NWEA test on Tuesday. They did a terrific job. Ask your child to tell you about the test. We also continued to talk about funny numbers.

The planners should be signed this weekend. I will look for parent/guardian signatures on Monday morning. Have a great weekend!!!

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie

2009-09-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

Please write who your favorite character from the book is and why.
Steven, Jeffrey, Annette, Mom, Dad, Renee

September 8-11th

2009-09-11T08:37:00.000-07:00

The first week of school went by amazingly fast. We spent most of the week getting to know each other and building classroom community. Ask your child if they can name everyone in the class.

In social studies this week we began making classroom rules, worked on our Hopes and Dreams, and started work on our bus safety curriculum.

In writing this week we began Writers Workshop. Students wrote about various topics and we learned about two strategies for generating personal narrative writing ideas. Ask your child to tell you about the two strategies.

In language arts we began working on our Daily 5. The first component of the Daily 5 is Read to Self. We have been building our stamina and are up to nine minutes of Read to Self. Have your child describe what if looks like in the classroom during Read to Self.

In math we were able to play a couple of math games: Kryptos and Funny Numbers. Ask your child to play these games with you, they have gotten really good!!

The planners should be signed this weekend and brought back on Monday. Have a great weekend. I have really enjoyed the class this week and am looking forward to a GREAT year.

Fifth Grade

2009-08-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Fifth Grade. I hope you had a restful and enjoyable summer. This blog will be used this year in a variety of ways. Parents and students will be able to access the blog to see what is going on in our classroom. Students will also be asked to post to the blog for assignments during the school year. I also have links to websites that I have found to be valuable for the students. I am very excited to get to know each family and am looking forward to a outstanding year.