5B News for the Week of 02/27/2012

Hello Parents:

Just a reminder that our in school field trip, a Harriet Tubman performance, will be this Monday afternoon.  This should be a great culminating event to what we have studied in class this past week and a half in social studies.  Also, there is no school this Friday, March 2nd, due to Teacher Institute Day. 

Here's what's happening in 5B this week:

Reading- During reading, we will continue to do some ISAT reading preparation.  We will also discuss some current events using Time For Kids.  We will do a timed practice ISAT either late this week or next Monday so that the students can get a better idea of how to pace themselves during the actual test.

Flex- We will continue working with the ISAT coach books this week during flex. Early in the week we will be discussing homonyms and multiple meaning words.  We will also continue to develop our vocabularies through a couple of different websites which include http://www.vocabulary.co.il/ and http://www.freerice.com/. 

Writing- There are just a handful of students who will be finishing up their wormhole projects on Monday.  We will then start a foldable project this week, in which the students write about a topic by writing information on a folder using paper in a creative way.  Since we know a lot about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, this will be our topic for the folder activity. 

Math Acceleration- These past three days, we have been using the laptops during math class to visit websites to help us prepare for the ISAT test and for the PA math test.  This week, we will continue with our journal work on lesson 7.3.  I pushed the quiz back since we didn't use our journals much this week.  Stay tuned for information regarding an upcoming quiz which should cover the first few lessons of Unit 7.

Social Studies- We have done a lot of activities regarding Harriet Tubman, the Civil War, and the Underground Railroad this past week and a half.  We will be introducing the Wardrobe Act on Tuesday of this week.  This should be a fun activity for all the students.  They will be taxed based on what they are wearing.  The students will all be given $200.00 to start and will be penalized for what they are or are not wearing.  This is a fun way to introduce taxing.  We will then continue to discuss the Revolutionary War, Boston Tea Party, etc. during social studies.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please email me.

Thank you and have a great week!

Mrs. Bennick