Welcome to Grade 5! I love the variety of subjects I teach and think fifth graders are the best! I have been teaching at St. Mark's for many, many years and have started teaching the children of children I've taught! My undergraduate work was completed at the College of St. Catherine and I finished a Masters in Education in 2002 from Hamline University. I'm looking forward to another great year of teaching and learning. Interesting Websites for Fifth Graders Fifth Grade Updates Week of September 19, 2011 Permission slips for our first field trip on September 28 went home today. Please return by Friday. Look for the permission slip in your child's Take Home Folder. Please check your child's planner daily if possible, especially in the beginning of the year. Homework should include at least 20 minutes of independent reading each night. Our first spelling test will be on Friday. Look for some spelling homework each night this week. We will have another timed multiplication facts test on Wednesday. Children who passed last week's test are working on the 11's and 12's and will be tested on Wednesday also. Student Reference Books went home on Friday. Please encourage your child to use them to assist with math homework. Remember they are yours to keep at home until I call for them at the end of the year. As I mentioned at Back to School Night last week, I"ll be looking into fifth graders attending a performance of A Wrinkle in Time at Children's Theatre. I'll let you know as soon as possible if this will work for us. Last, but definitely not least, our larvae need fresh milkweed every day until they make a chrysalis! Week of September 26, 2011 CARE-a-thon pledge sheets were sent home on Friday. Whatever you can do with your child to gather pledges would be great. We will have a pep rally on Monday afternoon. Please continue to check planners frequently and encourage practicing x basic facts at home if your child has not yet mastered them. At least 20 minutes of reading is expected each night also. Please encourage this--it is so important! Our first field trip is on Wednesday. Children need to bring their own lunches on that day and dress for a day outside. Thank you to Pat Elliott, Heidi Balley, and Greg and Kay Bury for volunteering to spend the day with us! The weather is looking great for Wednesday! Children are welcome to bring birthday treats to school if they wish. Please keep in mind that Reina and Anders have peanut allergies. Thank you to Jennie Theisen for bringing both cupcakes and Oreos! Oreos are always a safe bet for kids with peanut allergies. I now have a box of Oreos on my desk if we're ever unsure of ingredients. I will try to resist them! Fifth graders have done a great job of bringing milkweed to school! Another week or so and the larvae should all have pupated. Week of October 10, 2011 Our monarchs have been emerging over the last week, although usually either before school or over the weekend. On Monday the entire class was able to see our first butterfly emerging from its chrysalis just as we came in early this morning. Perfect timing and an amazing sight! Ask your child about it! Fifth graders will have a spelling list to study this week. The test will be on Friday. Our first math unit test will be on Wednesday. Weekly math facts tests for those who need them will be on Thursday this week. We will review Monday and Tuesday in class and students should use their journals to review at home also. Fifth graders will also have a short science quiz on Thursday. We will review in class and children should also bring their science notes home to study. There has been steady improvement in handing in homework on time! Please continue to check your child's planner frequently. It has really helped! Just over a week to go before CARE-a-thon! So far the fifth grade leads grades 3-5 in money handed in. Way to go fifth graders! Week of October 17, 2011 CARE-a-thon is on Wednesday. Fifth graders are making great progress towards our classroom goal. Fifth and sixth graders will be attending a performance of A Wrinkle in Time at Children's Theatre on Wednesday, November 30. Permission slips will go home as we get closer to the date. Week of October 31, 2011 Fifth graders are working on projects for both social studies and science. Guide sheets were given to students for both projects. The first copy of the monarch book for science is due Wednesday, November 2. We have done research in class, but the bulk of the work will need to be accomplished as homework. The final copy is due Wednesday, November 9. Students will take a spelling pretest on Monday and the final test on Friday this week. Hard to believe, but Friday is the end of the first quarter! Congratulations to fifth graders, their families, and all their sponsors for this year's CARE-a-thon. Our grade level brought in more than 100% of our goal! Way to go, fifth graders! Week of December 5, 2011 Please look for a letter to come home on Monday with details about a fifth grade gift exchange. We'll draw names as soon as all the letters are returned signed! Our party and gift exchange will be on Monday, December 19. This week we'll be starting an environmental engineering unit in science. This unit was developed by the Science Museums of Minnesota and Boston. It has been a great addition to our science curriculum! In religion we are studying the beginning of the new church year with the arrival of Advent. Fifth graders are lighting an Advent wreath and listening to daily scripture reading. Many of our readings are from the book of Isaiah during this time of year. We'll also be learning about the feast of the Immaculate Conception and attending Mass on Thursday this week Week of January 4, 2012 Happy New Year! This week we will begin reading a novel, The Summer of Riley by Eve Bunting. Fifth graders will learn about writing responses to literature, writing chapter summaries, and persuasive writing. We will read some chapters together and some independently. There will be some assigned reading and writing each night for homework. Parents are welcome to read these chapters with their children. In math we will begin a study of geometry. Some fifth graders could benefit from periodic review of basic facts also. In religion fifth graders will be learning about the Feast of the Epiphany and the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of Ordinary Time once again. Week of January 23, 2012 Another busy week in fifth grade! We will be testing on the geometry unit on Wednesday this week. Your child should bring home a study sheet for geometry vocabulary on Monday. Please sign and encourage your child to study vocabulary each night before Wednesday's unit test. There is a lot of vocabulary in this unit! We will continue our study of the sacraments of initiation this week in religion. The plan is to review them on Thursday and test on Friday. Look for religion books to come home on Thursday. In language arts children will be introduced to a study of national monuments. Next week students will begin researching a national monument, taking notes, and writing a report. This unit will continue over several weeks. Fifth graders will be introduced to the pH scale in science this week and conduct tests of various samples of water and soil from a model city. They will work in groups to determine the source of any contaminated samples and suggest a plan for clean up. As always, please encourage twenty minutes or more of nightly reading. |
Ms. Lotzer Grade 5 |