January 24, 2020

These past  three weeks have been quite busy.  In literacy class we have focused on theme.  Students have learned that the theme is the “big idea” of a text and usually isn’t written out in words.  They have learned that you look for clues in the text and make inferences to determine the message or lesson that the author wants you to learn from the story.  In addition to identifying the theme, students are learning to support their opinion with evidence from the text.

We have reflected on our December reading goals and adjusted these for the month of January.   Transferable Skill 6.c. states that students can set Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely (SMART) goals and monitor progress.    To be proficient, students need to use self-assessment and feedback to modify goals or formulate new goals.  We will regularly reflect and adjust these goals for the remainder of the year.

We are also working on Japanese lantern poems.  These poems are similar in format to a haiku.  They have five lines and use a syllable structure. 

In fifth grade math we have been working with decimals.  Reading, writing, comparing, adding and subtracting decimals to the thousandths have been specific skills that we have been working on.  This week, we started reviewing multiplying larger whole numbers as a prerequisite for multiplying decimals.  We will also be working on rounding decimals.

In science class, we have been working on an informational piece of writing about a topic of interest that is connected to Vermont forests.  Topics range from the moose and white tail deer to the fox.  In addition to research skills and informational writing, students are exploring how to use a variety of features in Google docs.

Our current Social Studies focus is on rural Vermont in the early 1900s.  We are currently reading, A Little Girl’s Diary:  Life on a Farm in Rural Vermont.  This book is reproduction of a diary of a young girl from Strafford, Vermont.   It is a daily diary for a full year on what it was like to be a young child on a farm in a small Vermont town.  This week, we have been working on making diaries that are similar in size and students will begin recording daily entries on their life.  We will also begin a project in technology where we compare/contrast a topic, looking at what life was like in the early 1900s compared to today.  Students have selected topics such as occupations, travel, chores, electricity, sugaring, and more. 

I am attaching a message for families of band students about changes in the band schedule, as well as a message from David Powelson.

New 5/6 Band Schedule (For the remainder of Mrs. Mishkin's leave):

Monday:    5th band 11:00 - 11:40;       6th band 11:40 - 12:20

Thursday  6th band 11:00 - 11:40;       5th band 11:40 - 12:20

EMES Band Students and Families,

I am one of the music teachers at U-32, and I am so pleased to be spending some time teaching band classes at EMES while Ms. Mishkin is on her leave. In a previous job, I taught students in 5th and 6th grades as well as older students. I have missed working with elementary age students, and I am looking forward to this time!

I have tremendous respect for Ms. Mishkin and her work. She has given me a general outline of musical selections and skills to teach, and it is my goal that she will be able to pick up smoothly when she returns.

Please feel free to reach out if you have questions or concerns during the next months. You can reach me directly by email (dpowelson@u32.org) or by my U-32 phone (802-229-0321, ext 3047). 

It is my intent to maintain Ms. Mishkin's EMES band policies and procedures, and I have a few of my own expectations to highlight at this time. 

First, each student needs their instrument and all band materials for every band class. I would appreciate it if adults could support their children in developing a system to remember these items.

Second, each student must practice. We have only two short classes each week. I can teach new skills, but each student must take the time to reinforce their learning. Brains can learn quickly, but bodies often take more time. Music is a "whole self" learning experience. As a general guideline, I expect that elementary aged students will practice for 20 minutes a time, 5 days a week.

Third, each student must show up to class ready to enjoy themselves. Music is fun. It's also hard, valuable, and important. We are going to work hard, but we are also going to have a good time and leave class with smiles on our faces. 

I am looking forward to our time together. Please reach out if you have questions or concerns!

Thanks,

David Powelson

December 13, 2019

During the past couple of weeks students have been working on articles for the class blog.  Here are some of the articles that students have been working on.  Next week, I will post the rest of the articles.

Morning Meeting 

By Hazel and Maxwell

Good morn-… well, whatever time it is. The first thing we do is get our stuff, sign in, and head to the rug to do morning meeting. We usually start with a greeting like a ball greeting. This is where we get two-three balls and toss them to each other and greet the person with Hello, Buenos Dias, Bonjour, etc. 

Another greeting is a handshake greeting where we go around and greet each other with different handshakes such as a fist bump, jellyfish, lumberjack, fireworks or thumbs up. Those two greetings are the most common that we use  

We then do an activity.  These activities include everyone, cover different parts of the curriculum and are a fun way to start the day.  Two of the class favorites are Caught Red Handed and Pass the Monkey.  You can ask your child for more details.

Morning Meeting is a fun way to start off our day. 

Student Leadership

 By: Lexi, Claire and Morgan

           

The six graders have the option to do student leadership. The sixth graders had to fill out an application to join student leadership. We have student leadership meetings every Thursday mornings. In student leadership we have to be a good role model  for the younger students.

 In student leadership we help with many school events. One of the events we have helped in is the Monster Mash. In the mornings we do the morning announcements for the school. We announce the weather, if recess is outside, birthdays, lunch, and events that are going to happen.

 We help clean the building before school. We also have a group of student leaders that help recycle, collect trash, and organize classrooms. The student leadership also does an event called school store and we sell things like pencils, erasers, and many other things. In school store there is a cashier and other leaders to help kids, School store helps the student leadership learn business. Student leaders also, help on Friday mornings in PBIS morning meetings. 

Writing and Poetry 

By: Claire

This year we have been doing writing and poetry in the morning block with both 5th and 6th grade. In the writing unit, we have been doing both fiction and true story narratives. We first did a narrative pre-assessment, on this one we got to choose if we did a fiction or a true story narrative. Next, we had to write a narrative on something that happened to us. We had a couple of brainstorm papers with sentence starters on them. For example,   I was in so much trouble when…..    I laughed so hard when….    My favorite vacation was...  After that, we picked our favorite one and did an oral narrative to a partner. Then the next day we wrote our rough drafts in our Chromebooks. Next, we got a checklist a did a revised narrative. The checklist had questions like, did you show no tell and did you use dead words or wow words? On Halloween, Mrs. Shedd gave us all a picture of a creepy-looking house and we had to complete an on command narrative using the picture and this prompt: There was always something creepy about that house… 

            In the poetry unit, we have done many different poems and made watercolors to go with them. So far we have done a rain poem, a fall poem, a hopes and dreams poem,  a November poem, and a Thanksgiving poem. We do a rough draft on paper and then conference with one of the teachers in the room. Then we get their initials so we can type it on our Chromebooks. We get to change the font and color if we want. We have also been working on figurative language. We have done onomatopoeia, metaphors, hyperboles, similes, alliteration, personification, and idioms. 

 5th Grade Math

By Abbe,Charlee and Delaney

One of the things that we have been working on is volume. We also   have been doing math games since the beginning of the year.  Another thing we have worked on is Math Menu and I-Ready. 

            One thing that we are doing in math is volume. The first thing that we did was learn what volume is and how to calculate volume. The next thing that we did was Mrs Shedd gave us print outs of boxes.  We cut them out, taped them together and filled them with cm cubes. The next thing we did was learn how to calculate the volume with repeated addition. That is when you pretend to peel the different layers of the rectangular prism and then add layers. Next, we learned how to calculate the base of the rectangular prism and  then multiply the base by the height. Finally, we learned the formula (l * w)*h which a lot of people do as a procedure. 

We have played a lot of math games in class. We usually play games in pairs. A couple of games we have played are Skunk, I Have Who Has, Trash Can and games with Math Menu. As you can see, we learn math through many games.  They are fun and we have learned a lot of math with these games.            

One of the other things we have done in math  is on the computer in I-Ready. There are lessons in I-Ready that are just right for you. We got all of this information from a test we took at the beginning of the year. In I-Ready there are lessons, quizzes and some learning games. You have to get above a certain % to pass each lesson.

We hope that you had a fun time learning about our 5th grade math class and maybe if you have the materials, you can play these games and  activities with your children.

Technology 

By Nate and Owen 

            In technology, we have been learning how to use Tinkercad, as well as Book Creator. The fifth-graders had done Monarch Book Creator and green screen and they had the choice of Book Creator or a Green Screen with WeVideo. The 6th-grade class  made books about what we were researching ancient history in Mr. Willard’s class.      

Tinkercad    

Tinkercad is where you can make 3-D model designs and more. Mrs. Shedd’s class made special personalized name tags.  Students had to put at least one hole or empty spot in it.  

Book Creator  

Book Creator is an app where you can make books.  These books are either  a comic or regular layout.  Comic had more choices for the layout. 

Green Screen 

            Green Screen is where there is a green screen behind the speaker.  You can edit the background so that has any image you want.  You use Wevideo with the green screen.  Through this app  you can add music and images to create your own video.   

Ancient history 

With Mr. Willard, sixth graders studied ancient history. We had to pick something that was ancient history and research it.  After we were done, we  had to make a book. We had to use google docs and the slide docs. I did ancient Egypt. We had to research on the internet. 

Book Club

By Rilynn & Maddie 

            At book club we talk about Dorothy Canfield Fisher (DCF) books. We have 4th graders through 6th graders that go.You have to read the book to be able to go. The teachers who are in charge are  Mrs. Shedd, Ms. Gallagher, and Mrs Arlin.   

         We have completed three  book club sessions and the ones that we did so far are Bob ,Small Spaces and The Truth Story As Told By Mason Buttle. We had a special guest -  author Katherine Arden who wrote the book Small Spaces. The next book club will be about Lifeboat 12.

We get snacks, drinks and a special treats. Then we eat, talk about the book, and make a craft about the book. Mrs. Shedd make many of the special treats.     

          The final book club for the books this year we will have a party. To go, you need to read 5 or more DCF books. There will be games, snacks, drinks, special treats, and voting on the book that we enjoyed the best.

Sketchnoting

Mollie\Taylin 

In Mrs. Shedd's class we have been focusing on sketchnoting. Mr. Willard’s 

class has been doing this too in the afternoon.

 Here are directions to sketchnoting tips so you can get started. 

• Record your thinking 
• Be creative
• Make a visual of your notes
• Combine your ideas
• Sketchnotes are not meant to be an art project
• Mistakes allow thinking to happen
  
  
  

If you want to get started, go to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po0IEYeLlq4  and watch the video on sketchnoting. By the way, you’re going to have a great time. It’s just as easy as drawing! 

Why do we sketchnote?  One reason is to be creative.  Another is  to combine ideas together.  Also, we sketchnote to make a visual of our notes.

What materials do we need to get started?

1. Markers or drawing utensils of your choice 
2. Plain white paper 
3. No erasers   
4. A topic on what you are going to take notes on

We will be using sketchnotes throughout the year during Science and Global Citizenship.  This is a fun and creative way to take notes.

October 18, 2019

Over the past few weeks everyone completed the district reading assessment, the Benchmark Assessment System 2.  There are three parts to this assessment.  The first one involves oral reading.  This section assesses accuracy, self-correction and fluency.  Part two measures reading comprehension.  The final part is on writing about reading. I will be sharing the results of this assessment at the November Parent/Teacher conferences.

We continue our work on writing narratives.  This past week we practiced oral narratives, spent time on writing inspirations and continued to learn about a variety of narrative leads.  Next week, our focus will be on elaboration.

Students have finished creating SMART goals in all academic areas.  Transferable Skill 6 expects students to set Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely goals.  They are now creating list poems of their goals.

On Thursday this week students in Chorus and 6^th grade Band traveled to U32 for the day to participate in a day of music.  From the conversations when they returned, everyone clearly had a great day!

5^th Grade News

Our unit on the Vermont state butterfly, the monarch, is coming to the end.  We tagged our last butterfly a little over a week ago.  On Tuesday afternoon, we put finishing touches on our Book Creator projects and Green Screen projects.

Last night several fifth graders represented our class at the school board meeting.  They shared much of our learning, including poetry/watercolors, our technology projects, samples of our journals and scientific sketching and photos of us tagging/releasing our butterflies.  They did an amazing job and I was so proud of them.  Everyone has done a tremendous job in this unit and I think the board members were impressed with their learning. Our work will be on display during the Open House next Wednesday.

In math class we continue our work with volume of a rectangular prism.  Volume is the amount of space inside a solid figure. Earlier in the unit students learned to find the volume of a solid figure by filling it with unit cubes.  We then learned another way to find volume.  We counted the cubes in the base layer and then added. For example, if there were 6 unit cubes in the base, and three layers you could add 6 + 6 + 6 to get the volume.  Next, we looked at multiplication to find volume.  We are now creating 3-d robots from cardboard rectangular prisms and then calculating each body part’s volume.  Hopefully, these will be finished by Open House.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Newsletter Sept. 20, 2019

It has been another busy week!  In writing workshop, students started learning about writing engaging leads for their narratives.  The lead is an important element of the narrative.  Grabbing and holding the reader’s attention is what makes or breaks a story.   Students will continue to explore a variety of leads next week. 

We also began a second list poem and watercolor on “what we love about autumn.” Students learned that this simple poetry form can be a list or inventory of places, items or ideas.  It is usually not a random list, but a well thought out and frequently descriptive list.

Several students have completed the fall Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark  Reading Assessment this week.  This district assessment provides information on the student’s processing strategies, fluency and comprehension.  Within the next couple of weeks, everyone will have completed this. 

They were introduced to Biblionasium.  This is a free, protected social network for children.   Students will use the virtual bookshelves to help them keep track of what they’ve read, what they like, and what books they plan to read in the future.

In fifth grade math we have been reviewing and exploring perimeter and area of a rectangle.  This is in preparation for the first unit of study in our new math program, Ready Math.  Next week, we will begin work on volume of the rectangular prism.  We have also been learning more about our Math Menu routines. This routine provides opportunity for students to strengthen skills and concepts through a variety of activities.  Students also have some choice and are engaged in cooperative work as well as independent time. On Thursday, we explored the “My Path” technology portion of I-Ready.  Based on the results of the diagnostic given a week ago, students are automatically placed at a level customized to each student.  These online lessons and practice will be a regular part of Math Menu each week.

We continue our work with Monarchs.  In technology, students are working in groups on either a Book Creator project (a tool to create ebooks) or working on a Green Screen video.  At the end of the week we worked on watercolors and an acrostic poem about Monarchs.  We have tagged and released twenty-five butterflies at this point.  Unfortunately, we have also learned about one of the most common predators of the Monarch, the Tachinid fly.  Be sure to ask your fifth grader about our work with these amazing butterflies.

Last week I sent home two book order forms in the Friday folder.  If you wish to order, you can either send the form in to me or order directly online.  I will be sending home the Scholastic book clubs most months. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Below is a note from Christine about 6th grade math:

This week the sixth-graders have been finishing up their second Math Menu.  They continued to work independently and collaboratively to strengthen skills and concepts. As students work on their Math Menus, I meet with small groups.  Over the last couple of weeks, the focus of the small groups has been revisiting rounding numbers/place value (in the millions) and multi-digit multiplication.  We will continue to work on skills and concepts that need to be revisited and that are prerequisites for 6th-grade learning.  This week we also worked to find the volume of various rectangular prisms (boxes!) as a whole group.  

Fifth Grade Science

Last week our class received a package in the mail.  Inside the box were eight small containers.  Each container held four to five baby Monarch caterpillars.  These creatures were not bigger than a pencil lead.  Students have daily observed and recorded information about these tiny creatures.

 

Our class also has many wild caterpillars that we have been watching.  As of Thursday afternoon, we have tagged, identified whether the butterflies are male or female, and have released twelve butterflies!  What a wonderful experience this has been.

Here are a few examples of the scientific sketches from student journals.