5B Activities for the Week of February 23, 2015

Hello Parents and Students:

Here are the reminders for this week: 

1.  Please return the 5th Grade Farewell permission form and $10 if your child plans to attend the farewell.  Thank you to all who have already returned it.

2.  Students have school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday only this week.  Thursday is Parent-Teacher Conferences and Friday is Teacher Institute Day.  If I need to speak with you regarding your child's progress in school, you have already been contacted.

3.  Please send in two food labels this week for a science activity.  Thank you.

Here's what's going on in the curricular areas: 

Word Study:  There is no word study this week due to the shortened week!  Instead, we will do some grammar practice in school.  :-)

Math Acceleration:  We will continue to work on Common Core State Standard 6.EE.B7 this week.  Our focus will continue to be on equations….specifically focusing on using algebra to solve multiplication and division equations.  This week we will involve fractions with equations.  Also, we will be participating in a lot of problem solving involving equations using models.  Expect a couple of exit slips this week to check for understanding.  Also, a permission form was sent home regarding Math Acceleration testing.  It was a pink form.  Please disregard this form.  It was sent home in error.  The correct form was sent home the following day regarding the PA math test.  ALL Math Acceleration students will participate in PA math testing the week of March 9th.  There is no permission form needed for this testing.  I apologize for the confusion.  Also, I will post a link on my blog of useful websites to visit to help prepare for the PA math testing.

ELA:  This week will be a continuation of many things.  We are about halfway through our anchor text, Red Kayak.  Students should be studying the vocabulary from chapters 10-12.  A quiz on these words will be given at a later date.  We also read and analyzed the poem, The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.  This week we will be discussing narrative writing…specifically narrative poems.  We will begin writing our own narrative poems (with illustrations) this week or next.  Students will also be introduced to a new book entitled, George Vs. George.  This books compares Britain's King George III with the Colonists' General George Washington.  This book/discussion will be our headway back into social studies.

Science:  In a couple of weeks or so, we will be finishing up our study of the Digestive System.  Currently, we are creating a digestive system medical brochure.  This will be ongoing for a while.  Students are doing research on a specific area/condition/disease of the digestive system.  They will then be formatting this information onto a brochure.  We will be learning about nutrition and reading food labels soon.  Please send two food labels in with your child sometime this week.  Thank you.

That's it for now!

Have a great week!

Mrs. Bennick :-)

Finally, Spring has arrived!

Hello Parents,

Even though Spring began in March, our warm weather decided not to arrive until now!  Many April showers have now brought us beautiful May flowers and warmer weather to enjoy.  I hope that you have been able to get outside and enjoy the beauty of nature!

Last week the entire school participated in CBM testing, which I administered to most of my ELL students.  There were no flex. groups last week for all grade levels due to CBM testing.

Here are the latest happenings in ELL:

Kindergarten has worked on Math (Number Sense and Quantity) along with Time and Routines. 

First Grade has been working on a long and interesting Life Cycle unit.

Second Grade recently finished up their unit on Life Cycles and are now working on Natural Resources.

Third Grade enjoyed learning about Times Long Ago and are currently practicing reciting a play.

Fourth Grade continues to increase their knowledge about the West Region of the U.S. 

Fifth Grade worked on elements of fiction/non-fiction and are now also working on plays.

Recently, I mailed home a letter asking parents to call and schedule an appointment to have your child screened if they will be starting Kindergarten this Fall (2011-2012) School Year.  If you have a child who will be starting Kindergarten, please call me to schedule an appointment to have your child screened.  This is a State requirement.  Thank you!  This way, ELL services can begin earlier next school year.  If you do not have a child who will be starting Kindergarten next year, but you have a friend that does, please have them call me.  This screening is only for families who speak another language besides English in their homes.  My direct line is 630.428.6725 or email me at delissa_bennick@ipsd.org.

5th Grade Presentations Were Awesome!

Today, my three 5th grade students, gave presentations about their native countries' flags to my group of 3rd grade students.  The 5th graders have been researching their flags for the past couple of weeks.  They then compiled the information and typed up a report of the most interesting facts.  The 3rd graders were excellent listeners.  They enjoyed watching the older students present.  CONGRATULATIONS to my 5th graders for a JOB WELL DONE!  I am so proud of you!

~Mrs. Bennick :-)

ELL Update

Hello Parents,

I apologize for the delay in updating my blog.  The weeks are just passing by so quickly, I can hardly keep up with everything!  We have definitely been very busy these past two weeks in ELL class!  Here is a snapshot of what's been going on.

Kindergarten:  Transportation (last week) and Feelings (this week)

First Grade:  Families (last week) and Schedules/Routines (this week)

Second Grade:  Celebrations & Customs (last week) and Maps & Globes (this week)

Third Grade:  Celebrations in Nature (last week) and Moon & Space (this week)

Fourth Grade:  Tall Tales; Facts and Opinions (last week and this week)

Fifth Grade:  Researching our Native Countries' flags (We will be presenting our projects next week to a group of third graders.)

There are always lots of things to keep us busy in ELL class.  As always, if you have any questions or concerns,  please call me. 

~Mrs. Bennick :-)

ELL Activities for the Week of 3/21/11

Hello Parents,

Here is a snapshot of what each grade level worked on this week during ELL class.  As always, the students worked very hard and accomplished a great deal again this week.

Kindergarten:  Different types of weather/Seasons/National Geographic weather materials

First Grade:  Rooms in a house and their purpose/Label outside of house/Harcourt Book, Take a Tour of My House

Second Grade:  Musical Instruments/Categorizing instruments as Wind-String-Percussion/Writing activity...What instrument do you  play or would you like to play and why? (Journal)

Third Grade:  Cocoa Ice vocabulary and geography lesson...Where is Santo Domingo?  Where is Maine?/
Writing activity--Which place would you prefer to live and why? Stand and share

Fourth Grade:  Elements of non-fiction/One Grain of Rice vocabulary/How do we use math in our everyday lives? Semantic web/ I-Chart extended response writing in journals

Fifth Grade:  Revolutionary War/Northern battles chart/ I-Chart extended response writing--What events helped Washington force the British to leave Boston?/ Map activity

Wishing you all a fun-filled and relaxing Spring Break!

~Mrs. Bennick

ELL Activities for the Week of 3/14/11

Hello Parents,

Here is a list of the lessons and activities that were presented in ELL class this week.  Many students asked very insightful questions about our topics this week and were very eager to participate in class.

Kindergarten-Neighborhoods/What is a community?/Where can we shop?/Different kinds of homes we live in

First Grade-Maps and Globes-What country do we live in?/What is the name of our state?/What city do we live in?

Second Grade-Economy/Money-What are goods?/Are goods grown or made?/How do goods get to the store?/How do we pay for goods?

Third Grade-Government and Leaders-What is our capital city in the U.S.?/Who is our current President and Vice President?/What are symbols?/Name symbols that represent freedom in this country.

Fourth Grade-SouthWest Region-Identify the four states that make up the SW region./Design a foldable about the SW region including specific details about that region./Saguaro Cactus timeline and semantic web

Fifth Grade-American Revolution/Taxing/Declaration of Independence-Discuss taxing and why it became a problem with the British/Timeline of events leading up to the Revolutionary War/What was significant about the Declaration of Independence?

It was a great week in ELL class!  Let's keep it up!

~Mrs. Bennick

All ELL classes have resumed!

Hello Parents,

ISAT testing has now been completed, therefore, all ELL classes have resumed as of today!  We are all so happy to be back to our normal routine.  I'd like to just give you a brief overview of what all grade levels will be working on this week in ELL class.

K-Magnets, Push/Pull, and Force
1- What are leisure activities?, Play, Storywriting
2-Sounds we hear, Story vocabulary, Matching
3-Gardening needs, Story vocabulary, Graphic organizer
4-Southwest Region (National Geographic books)
5-What are taxes?, Foldables story

Another busy week ahead!  As always, please contact me with any questions.

Thank you!
~Mrs. Bennick