Carol Sing at Pleasantview

Both 5th grade classes will be walking to Pleasantview on Monday, December 10.  We will be doing a carol sing and spreading some holiday cheer!  Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately as we will be walking over that afternoon.

American Red Cross

Bob Kirschbaum, who works for the American Red Cross, came to talk with our class today about the importance of our donation.  He also explained where our money goes and what it is used for.  He even threw in a magic trick!

Math Facts in a Flash

Dont forget that your child can access Math Facts in a Flash from home!  Go to:

goo.gl/w4tjz

Your child has their login and password information (or you can see previous post).  What a quick and great way to practice!

Writing

We are wrapping up the Organization trait in writing.  We have also been focusing on our proofreading with some VERY detailed checklists to try to improve this skill!

Old Creamery Holiday Gift

We had a wonderful morning yesterday as we headed to see live theater at the Old Creamery Theater in Amana.  A good time was had by all!

Mysterious Powder

Our quest to identify the mysterious powder continues!

Yikes!  Accidents happen!

Red Cross Coin Drive

So proud of your kiddos!  They worked so hard to organize EVERY aspect of this coin drive!  Here are a few pictures to enjoy--we had a BEAUTIFUL day to walk to the bank!

Beef and Noodle Meal Fundraiser

Don't forget about the Beef and Noodle Meal Fundraiser being planned by our KE Boosters.  It is being held at the middle school this Saturday, December 8th.  See previous post for more details!

Title I Meeting

Parents of Title I Reading and Math Students -   don't forget. . .

 Title I Reading and Math Informational Meeting

Please come to the Middle School on Saturday, December 8th at 5:30 for our Title I Informational Meeting.  We will be sharing with you, what we do during our Title I times, talking about things you can do at home, and answering questions you might have.

We will post a sign inside the main doors of the Middle School, to let you know which room we are meeting in and directions to get there.  

That night the KE Parent Boosters are also having a fundraiser meal at the Middle School, so you can come early to eat, or stay after the meeting to enjoy Beef and Noodles.  

The Mysterious Powder

In science, we have been investigating a scenario/problem on a school playground that was brought to our attention.  There was a mysterious powder on the playground so we are putting our science skills to the test to see if we can figure out what it is.  We are currently examining 6 different powders that may be or be part of the mysterious powder.  Our science skills are getting sharpened as we get much more detailed in our observations.  For example, instead of just saying the powder is white we might call it a bright white or a yellowish white.  The students are doing a much better job with this and we are more easily coming to a class consensus!  We are also observing the smell, how it looks under a hand lens, how it sounds, how it behaves, and any other observations that they will help in their identification of the mysterious powder. 

Math Facts in a Flash

It is becoming a pattern that many students do not know their basic math facts.  Ideally, these would be more automatic so when they are working a division or other problem, they're not stuck thinking about simple multiplication problems.  Earlier this year, I learned that Wellman Elementary and Washington Township both use a program called Math Facts in a Flash so we thought we'd give it a try!  The program takes students through the four basic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) and goes on to other topics such as fractions, decimals, percents, etc.  Mr. Slabaugh came into our classroom today to show us how this worked.  The good news is that students can access this from home as well--what a quick and easy way to get in 5-10 minutes of fact practice each day!

To access Math Facts in a Flash, go to:

goo.gl/w4tjz

Username:  First name (capitalized) and then last initial (capitalized)  JohnD

Password:  Initials (both lowercase) jd

Fractions, Decimals, and Percents

Unit 5 focuses on fractions, decimals, and percents and their relationship to each other.  We have been working on:

*ordering and comparing fractions
*converting between fractions, decimals, and percents
*adding fractions using various tools, such as fraction sticks
 Our two learning targets for this unit are:
*converting between fractions and mixed numbers
*finding equivalent fractions

Here are a few easy ideas to try at home!
1.  Have your child help you double the recipe when baking a batch of cookies--lots of math!
2.  Have your child help you figure the tip the next time you eat out at a restaurant
3.  Play "Fraction War" using a deck of playing cards--use one card for the numerator and another card for the denominator.  Find the decimal equivalents of the fractions (we learned how to do that using a calculator this week) and whoever has the greater fraction gets to keep all four cards--kids LOVE learning through games; it doesn't seem like work to them!

KE Boosters Beef and Noodle Meal

Please join Kalona Elementary Parent Boosters for a

Beef and Noodle Meal

And

Homemade Dessert Auction

Fundraiser

Please mark your calendars and join us on Saturday, December 8th at M-P Middle School for a fun evening! Beef and noodles, green beans, bread and dessert will be served from 5pm-7pm in the cafeteria. Cost for the meal will be a free will donation. The live auction will begin at 7pm in the gym. All items being auctioned will be homemade and include cheesecakes, pies, specialty cakes and cinnamon rolls. Invite grandparents, neighbors and friends for a fun evening!

We need your help to make the fundraiser a success. If you are willing to donate supplies for the meal, please complete the form your child brought home today and return by Wednesday, November 21st! The committee will contact you with further directions for your donations. THANK YOU!

Please contact Bobbie Peiffer with questions at cherry@kctc.net.

American Education Week

American Education Week is November 11-17, 2012

The 2012 Motto is: Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility

Monday, Nov. 12 – Wear your favorite sweatshirt day
Wed., Nov. 14 – Wear red, white, and blue day
Fri., Nov. 16 – Black and Gold or School Logo shirt day

Science

We have started our new science unit, The Mysterious Powders.  We will also be exploring matter throughout the unit.  Near the end, the students will again have an opportunity to design and set up their own tests.  In the first couple of lessons, students were examining known and unknown objects and made a list of what science skills they will be using throughout this unit.  Some of those skills included asking questions, measuring, observing, estimating, experimenting, discussion, collaboration, and many more!

Fall Party

Miss Roettenbacher planned some fun games for us during our fall party. . .we learned to play Haunted House and Giants, Elves, and Wizards--the kids had a blast!!

Math

It has been a division marathon in 5th grade math!  We have practiced both the partial quotients algorithm, as well as, long division.  We will be taking the Unit 4 math test next week.  We have also explored tangrams and learned about their history.  Tangrams are a form of an ancient Chinese puzzle that includes 7 "tans" (2 large right triangles, 1 medium right triangle, 2 small right triangles, a medium square, and a parallelogram) to build and create different shapes.  Our first task was to create a square using all 7 tans--this was a task that was MUCH harder than it sounds!

Iowa Assessments

Iowa Assessments start on Monday, October 29th.  Please make sure that your child gets plenty of sleep at night and a good breakfast each morning.  We will be testing in the morning, usually between the times of 9:30 and 11:30, thought it will vary a little each day.  Just a reminder. . .there will be NO HOMEWORK and NO SPELLING during testing.  Each student is still expected to read for 15-20 minutes each night and get their planner signed.

Unit 4--Division

We started Unit 4 in math today. . .Division.  Based on the pretest scores we have a lot of review to do; I heard a lot of "I don't know how to do division" or "I don't remember how to do this!"  We will be using the partial quotients method from our Everyday Math series, as well as, the long division algorithm.  Both ways are taught and practiced and the student can choose whichever one works best for them.  If you would like to learn and/or review the partial quotients division algorithm go to:

https://www.everydaymathonline.com
(try typing the link into your browser instead of clicking on it)

1.  Click on Free Resources (bottom right hand corner)
2.  Click on ALGORITHMS IN EVERYDAY MATH
3.  Choose GRADE 5
4.  Choose DIVISION
5.  Choose PARTIAL QUOTIENTS DIVISION (FOCUS)
6.  Choose 3 DIGIT DIVIDEND BY 1 DIGIT AND 3 DIGIT DIVIDEND BY 2 DIGIT

You can also go to:

http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/parents

At this site, the algorithm tutorials are along the left hand side.  On this site you can also find games, the family letters, any time activities, etc. 

Science Journals

Mr. Slabaugh, MP Learning Design Coach, came into our classroom today to help us create our science journals electronically using Evernote.  Evernote can be accessed from a computer, iPad, or smartphone.  Some of the kiddos asked if they could access this from home; I told them it is fine with me as long as it is fine with you.  They each have been given a username and password that gives them access to their information only.  Students learned how to log in, make a new note, take pictures and add captions, and much more--it's amazing what they discover on their own! We are excited about this opportunity for our students!

A Memorable Day

We had beautiful weather for our field trip to Des Moines.  We want to thank all of our parent volunteers that went along with us; we really couldn't make the trip without you.  Also, thank you to Mrs. Hochstetler for planning such a fun, learning experience for our kiddos and having them so prepared for all of the tour guides' questions!  All of our students were so glad to be there, made the most of our trip, and were very well behaved throughout our tours.  We are working on a way to get all of the pictures "published" for everyone to see, but for now enjoy this one of our 5th graders standing in front of their capitol building!

Geometry Explorations

This unit is all things geometry.  Our five learning targets for this unit are. . .

I can draw and identify types of angles (acute, obtuse, right, straight, adjacent, vertical)
I can draw and identify types of triangles (equilateral, isosceles, right, scalene)
I can identify place value in numbers from the billions to the hundredths
I can create and define tessellations
I can classify polygons and identify their properties

I also included the link to a site that has resources for each lesson of our Everyday Math curriculum.  I just spent some time playing Banana Hunt (a link from the site), which is a great game for thinking about measures of different angles.

http://www1.center.k12.mo.us/edtech/edm/5.htm

And, below is a link to the Everyday Math For Parents Site. . .this is an abundance of information from suggested resources to videos on algorithms (lattice multiplication, partial quotients division, etc.) to PDFs of the homework pages.

http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/parents/

And. . .a few pics of the kiddos using math tools to meet these learning targets:

As always, please let me know if you have questions or concerns about your child's progress in math.

A Chat with our Governor

Governor Branstad took time out of his day on Friday to skype with our 5th grade classes.  The students had prepared questions and then we drew names to see who would get to ask them.  We have been studying government and the election, so this opportunity fit in perfectly.  It was also a meaningful addition to our preparation for the trip to the capitol!  The governor's communications director sent us a nice email afterwards saying, "Your class was fantastic!! They had some great questions. I hope they learned a lot from the governor and enjoyed the experience. I know the governor did."

Jaselyn stepping up to ask the governor one of our questions.

  

A Visit from the MS Band

It has become a tradition to have the MPMS band visit us at KE on their way back from Fall Festival.  It was a beautiful afternoon to enjoy their music!

Homecoming Week

Next week is Mid-Prairie Homecoming!  Here is how KE is celebrating.  We will also have a Pep Rally on Friday afternoon and will hear from the captains of the volleyball, football, and cross country teams!
Monday--Twin Day OR Dot Shirt
Tuesday--Neon Day (Bright Colors)
Wednesday--Hat Day
Thursday--Class Distinction Day--5th grade is to wear yellow
Friday--Black and Gold Day

Ecosystems

We started devising tests in science this week that focus around the question "What factors affect ecosystems?"  We will continue to work on this next week.  The students are creating materials lists and a procedure; they are also thinking about how they will measure and collect their data. 

Unit 2 Learning Targets

Our learning targets for Unit 2:  Estimation and Computation are as follows:

We are working hard to meet these targets on a daily basis and they have really given the kids (and myself) a real focus for our work.  After any quiz or assignment, they always ask, "Did we meet another target?"  Here is some of the work we did this week that focused on our current learning targets:

                             Practicing our subtraction skills through a game called 1000 and out (Learning Target #2)

                          Practicing addition and subtraction through a game called First to 1000 (learning targets #1 and #2)

                                                         Reading and writing numbers to different place values

         Finding the product of multi-digit numbers and decimals through creating a cross-number puzzle for a friend to solve