Sunday, December 16th, 2018

Happy Bears Victory Sunday!

Winter break is quickly approaching and students have been hard at work. As the calendar year comes to a close, I can't help but look back on all the wonderful things students have done so far this year! With winter MAP testing finished up, students have been doing some reflection on the work that they have done so far this year and the progress they have made towards meeting their goals. This reflection and goal setting is important for student growth and will continue as we move forward into the New Year. 

I hope that everyone has a wonderful winter break and that you are able to take time to rest and be surrounded by peace, love and joy!

Here are the targets we are focusing on as we continue to work through the second grading period:

Literacy
*Through our ReadyGen lessons students read a historical fiction piece titled "Operation Clean Sweep". This story was told from the point of view of a young boy living in Umatilla, Oregon in 1916. The story tells how the women in the town had recently earned the right to vote and had decided to run in the election for local political offices and surprised everyone when they won! After reading and analyzing this story, students spent time comparing and contrasting this story with our previous story "Road to Freedom" and looking at how the two stories approach similar themes of "people fighting for equality". We are now reading and analyzing a biography with a similar theme about Cesar Chavez, and we will proceed to compare that story to the previous two. Through all lessons we have been working on summarizing, comparing and contrasting, and point of view.

Writing
*We have finished our opinion papers based on our reading of The Road to Freedom, and are currently writing opinion papers on the effects of video games on kids. Students conducted research on the pros and cons of video games and are now writing opinion pieces using the evidence they discovered.

Math
*We have started our next unit on multiplying multi-digit whole numbers. In this unit students will learn a variety of strategies for multiplying multi-digit whole numbers, but ultimately will be responsible for knowing how to solve problems using the standard algorithm. As we work through this unit, students are also being exposed to and practicing multiplication involving decimals and division strategies.

Social Studies
*We are starting to dive into our new unit on government/civics in the upcoming weeks, and our students will begin to start digging deeper into the concepts of patriotism.

Science
*We are reaching the end of our unit on Earth Systems. The unit discussed the four main systems of Earth: the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere. In addition to learning about their attributes and characteristics, we also identified interactions that occur between the systems. We also looked at how humans impact the Earth's system, particularly the affects of farming and industry. Students conducted an investigation to model the effects of the mining industry on the geosphere by "mining" chocolate chips from chocolate chip (safe snack list approved-"Enjoy Life" brand) cookies!

Upcoming Events

December 21 (Friday): Winter Parties @ 1:45 PM 

December 22 - January 6: WINTER BREAK

January 8 - Feb 15: 5th Grade Parents don't forget to provide the office with your proof of residency. See Mr. Hanrahan's blog for more details: https://www.kcsd96.org/ih-principal/blog/1617015/december-7-2018 

February 19 - Ivy Hall Celebrates Diversity 

Friendly Reminders

**Please remember to send your child with a healthy snack.  Nothing feeds the brain better than something healthy!

**Please continue to have your child practice his or her multiplication facts up to 12.

**If students want to play in the snow outside, they must have the appropriate snow gear in order to do so. Students must be equipped with snow pants, snow boots, jacket, gloves, and hat. 

Sunday, December 1st, 2018

Happy Sunday Families!

It was great seeing everyone to discuss your students' academic progress during conferences last week. I loved that I was able to learn more about each student through the conversations we shared! Now that we're already into trimester 2, I am excited to see how much more the students will grow throughout the year. There is so much to teach and so much to learn, but so little time! 

I hope that everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving break and enjoyed spending time with love ones. As our snow day this week reminded us, winter has fully arrived, and we are quickly heading into the last month of 2018. With that being said, let the countdown to winter break commence! 

Here are the targets we will focus on as we work through the beginning of the second grading period:

Literacy
*Our students are wrapping up our shared text, The Road to Freedom. The story was narrated from the point of view of a young girl, Emma, who is traveling on the Underground Railroad with her mother in hopes of making it North to freedom. Our students were highly engaged throughout text and had many great discussions related to topics raised within the story. Our previous social studies unit covered slavery, and the students were able to make cross-curricular connections to help deepen their understanding of slavery and the Civil War era. Using this shared text, we worked on literacy skills such as summarizing and identifying narrator's point of view.

Writing
*We are currently using The Road to Freedom as a springboard for various writing samples. We have practiced writing short-constructed responses, and we are currently planning and writing an opinion paper based on topics/issues related to slavery from the book.

Math
*We are continuing our unit with decimals, which include writing, comparing, rounding, adding, and subtracting decimals. Recently, we started working on converting within powers of ten using the metric system and real life examples such as technology storage (gigabytes, megabytes, kilobytes). As the students explore powers of ten, they are also solidifying their conceptual understanding of shifting place values when multiplying and dividing by tens.

Social Studies
*Last trimester, we closed off our unit about slavery and how it affected the growth of Colonial America. We will be diving into government/civics in the upcoming weeks, and our students will start to dig deeper into the concepts of patriotism.

Science
*We recently started learning about earth systems in science. The unit discusses the four main systems of Earth: the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere. In addition to learning about their attributes and characteristics, we are also identifying interactions that occur between the systems. Our most recent investigation involved creating a clay model of the Earth, showing each Earth's system. 

Upcoming Events
December 4 (Tuesday): Math MAP

December 5 (Wednesday): Reading MAP

December 11  (Tuesday): Early Release @ 2:00 PM 

December 11  (Tuesday): Special Lunch

December 12 (Wednesday): Lewis and Clark Assembly

December 13 (Thursday): Student Council Field Trip to Belmont Village

December 21 (Friday): Winter Parties @ 1:45 PM 

December 22 - January 6: WINTER BREAK

Friendly Reminders

**Please remember to send your child with a healthy snack.  Nothing feeds the brain better than something healthy!

**Please continue to have your child practice his or her multiplication facts up to 12.

**If students want to play in the snow outside, they must have the appropriate snow gear in order to do so. Students must be equipped with snow pants, snow boots, jacket, gloves, and hat. 

Enjoy your Sunday!

Enzie Pangilinan