May 26th ~ 30th

Two weeks to go . . . hard to believe that this wonderful year is coming to a close. I hope you enjoyed the long weekend. We even got a taste of some summer weather!

Tuesday - We have wrapped up the novel, The Watson's Go To Birmingham-1963 and we will watch the movie on Wednesday and the kids will compare and contrast the two versions.
**The movie is rated PG, so send  me an email if you do not want 
your child to view the movie and I will provide an alternate 
activity for him or her. I have previewed the movie, but wanted 
you to be aware of the rating.**

The kids will participate in the "Greek Olympics" on Wednesday afternoon as we complete our study of ancient Greece. The 5th graders are joining the 6th graders for this Olympic event.

Orchestra Concert - Thursday at 10:20 in the gym.

Friday is Field Day and the kids should have tennis shoes at school for this event. It is our normal P.E. day, so this is generally not a problem . . but I just wanted to remind the kids.

Looking Ahead - 6th Grade parents . . . mark your calendars for the 6th grade awards and slide show on Friday June 6th from 10:30 to about 11:30 in the Library. We will take the kids back to the room after the program to prepare for our final "Graduation" walk up the intermediate hall. Bring your cameras and tissues. This is our normal Health/P.E. time, so 5th graders will be with Mrs. Reas.

Spelling: Unit 35 (Our last one - and the final spelling unit EVER for 6th graders) We will take a pretest on Tuesday, have a written assignment on Thursday, and take the final test on Friday.
5th - More words from other languages
6th - Words often confused
Language: The kids will have written assignments on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
5th - Synonyms and antonyms
6th - Etymology of words derived from the Hebrew and Irish languages
Reading: Will will complete our unit work for The Watson's Go To Birmingham-1963 and watch the movie on Wednesday.
Math: Both 5th and 6th graders will work with equal expressions, isolating variables, and inequalities.
Science: 6th graders will continue with physics and an egg drop dilemma & demonstration on Monday.
Social Studies: We will conduct the Greek Olympics on Tuesday and the 6th Graders will begin learning about ancient Rome.

Have a fantastic week!

May 19th ~ 23rd

Spring is trying to make an appearance and we had some nice weather last week. I'm glad it cooperated for our Bike to School - after school loops. It was great to ride with the kids and we had quite a group each day. One day - we had 20 kids and 2 parents riding! Way to go guys!!

Testing is complete and this week will be a bit more "back to normal". Four kids need to make up tests they missed and I will try to wrap those up this week.

Band Concert - Tuesday from 10:10-10:45 in the gym

Thursday: 5th Grade Hooked on Fishing field trip to Lake Elmo.

All Library book are due this Friday to allow Mrs. Delaney time to inventory the library.
If kids have personal e-readers, they may still check books out electronically.

Next Monday is a school holiday - I cannot believe that Memorial Day is here already!

Spelling: Unit 34 - We will take a pretest on Monday, work with our word list during the week and complete written assignments on Tuesday & Thursday, and take a final test on Friday.
5th ~ Latin Root Words
6th ~ Absorbed prefixes
Language: The kids will have written assignments on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
5th ~ Synonyms, and Root Word Extension
6th ~ Etymology of words derived from Spanish and French & Root Word Extension
Reading: We will finish reading The Watson's Go To Birmingham-1963 this week. We will discuss the reading each day and prepare to watch the movie next week. The kids will compare and contrast the book and movie versions.
Math: We are continuing with expressions and equations and the kids are working with variables, exponents, and equivalent expressions. Much of what we do this week will be with a partner as the kids solve various real-world problems using these math concepts. On Friday, the kids will use an online resource to balance mathematical expressions.
Social Studies - 6th
We will study the rise of Democracy in ancient Greece. They will work in groups to study the various forms of government, create skits to represent their research, and then perform the skits.
We will also learn about the Athenians and Spartans in preparation for our "Greek Olympics" in class.
Science - 6th
We will study Newton's 3rd Law of Physics and the kids will work with marbles to test Newton's Laws. On Friday, we will use Alka Seltzer and film canisters to explore how energy is transferred.

Have a fantastic week!