We had a successful first full week at school and are already busy with upcoming assignments and projects.
Last week in Friday Folders, students were sent home with a permission slip for the "Growing Up" video. The students will have the opportunity to watch this video in the next week or so. If you need another permission slip, please send me an e-mail and I'll get you a digital copy. In math, students are finishing up a graphing project which will be due on Tuesday. Students wrote a survey question and collected data from nearby fifth grade classes. Many groups are creating circle graphs or line plots to display their data. Reader's workshop will be combined with social studies again this quarter. Students are learning strategies to understand non-fiction texts about the American Revolutionary War. Students are also participating in literature circles and are reading historical fiction books about this topic. I have given students a few new options for showing their knowledge after completing a book. Students are required to submit one project each month and can choose from the following options: 1) 2 page detailed letter about the book 2) Build a burger book report (each layer of the burger asks for different knowledge/skills from the book) 3) A book box (students use a shoe box and collect at least 10 artifacts that represent the book and write a summary of how each object relates) Once a month, students will present these projects to the class. The students are already enthusiastic about these new projects and a few have even begun! DARE graduation is coming up (Thursday, January 24th). Graduation begins at 7:00pm and will be held at the Freshman Center. Our class is finishing up our DARE essays in writer's workshop in anticipation of this, and will be moving on to revising pieces of work. Also on January 24th is a half day. This is the day that has been rescheduled for our Winter Party. Clubs will resume after school next Tuesday. Have a great weekend! -Mrs. Morehead
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Welcome back to second semester and the third quarter at Mill Creek. Final grade cards for Quarter 2 were sent home today. Please look for them in the small manilla envelopes. Your students know that the envelope must be signed by a parent and returned to school on Monday.
Here is a link to a webpage that has a list of businesses that may participate in rewards for good report card grades. http://theprudentpatron.com/2010/06/report-card-rewards-free-stuff-for-good-grades.html Please keep in mind that not all stores participate, so it may be a good idea to call the local ones ahead of time. Enjoy! Also sent home was a white form about the "Growing Up" video that students watch in fifth grade. Please complete this form and return it to school with your child on Monda I hope you all had a relaxing time spent with family. I was thoroughly impressed by everyone coming back yesterday, ready to learn and follow our school expectations. I know we will continue to have a great year, and I'm looking forward to the learning your children will do in the next five months! Happy Friday! -Mrs. Morehead Until your student's fifth grade year is half way over! The students and I all remarked that this year has already flown by! We have so much to celebrate. A few highlights from our class so far this year: The colony project-Addison, Mya Hanging out with friends, and having a great class-Joshua Having the best teacher-Jasmine Band concert-Cooper Having awesome friends-Alisa Dodgeball-Hunter Eat lunch in the classroom-Gabby Writing the expository-Emily The first day of school-Azariah The first day of school, made new friends-Austin Hanging out with lots of friends-Darren Math-Brandon Drawing, and hanging out with friends-Chance Doing hard work-Darius Class meeting-Jasmine Feather on the Owl Party-Trinity Writing letters-Jasmine We are wrapping everything up this semester. Remember that our class reading counts party will be this Friday, December 21st. The students have chosen a pj/movie party and we will watch "Despicable Me." Students must have taken 5 Reading Counts quizzes (one for each month of school so far) on books they have read around their reading level. We will also be doing our book exchange this day. You may send in wrapped (or unwrapped) books with your students any day next week. So far, I've had 3 students bring in their books. If you have any questions about this, please let me know. Enjoy your weekend! -Mrs. Morehead Dear Parents and Friends,
We've made it through another week, and are quickly approaching the end of the first semester. As a part of the winter festivities, Mill Creek will have its annual winter party next Thursday on our early release day. This will be an exciting time for students to celebrate their first semester of fifth grade, and hopefully motivate them to work hard for next semester's spring party. I would like to thank everyone who donated canned foods or toiletries for the local shelter. With your help, we collected 179 items and will celebrate with a movie party before winter break! Thank you for your generosity, it benefits a great cause. In our own classroom, I would like to have a book exchange for the holidays. This has worked well in year's past. Please send a book that your student has already read and that would be appropriate for a fifth grader. If you are able to send it wrapped, please do so, otherwise I will wrap it. Each student will be able to donate a book they have read in exchange for a new-to-them book. Please contact me if you are unable to donate a book, and also contact me if you are able and willing to donate more than one. I would like every student to be able to participate, so let's work together to make sure this can happen! In math, the students have learned to add and subtract fractions with both alike and unlike denominators and are working on mastering this skill. We will finish out the semester with learning how to add and subtract decimals. In science, students are learning about the water cycle, and conducting experiments to create their own water cycle in a tupperware container. In reader's workshop, students are nearing the end of a colony research project which will be presented next week in class. I'm really impressed with the number of people turning in completed reading logs, and I hope this continues over the break. In writer's workshop, the students are working on a how-to story (expository writing piece) which will be published next week. The weather is quickly returning to cold, so please send your student with a jacket/coat as necessary. We will go outside for recess until the temperature feels like 20 degrees. Sincerely, -Mrs. Morehead Hello Parents and Friends,
Today our final progress report will be coming home before Quarter 2 grades. If your child has a 'D' or an 'F' in any subject, it will be highlighted. Please sign and return this progress report to school on Monday. This ensures that you are aware of your student's work this far. We are beginning a new writing project that will be due before Winter Break. The students will be creating an expository writing piece, which focuses on features of expository text and organization of thoughts. In Reader's Workshop, students have been assigned a Colony Research Project which utilizes reading skills in understanding non-fiction text while the students learn about the Colonies of the United States. The students have been working on mastering the skill of adding and subtracting fractions with alike denominators, and next week we will begin adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. Before the end of the semester, students will be given a test to check understanding of the math concepts taught this quarter. At Mill Creek, we are busy collecting toiletries and canned goods for an area shelter. NEHS is also selling hot chocolate for $0.50 every Friday through January to raise money for the Special Olympics Polar Plunge. I sponsor the Writing Club at Mill Creek, and we are doing a service learning project which culminates the week of December 17th. We are asking for donations for the HELP Humane animal shelter in Belton. Look for a flyer coming home with specific collection items listed in next weeks' Friday folder. Lastly, if you would like to order a yearbook, the cost is $15 through December 21st. Please let me know, or send a check to school and we'll get your child signed up for one. Have a great weekend! -Mrs. Morehead Although I just posted earlier this week, I wanted to make sure that everyone knows I am not assigning a homework contract for next week. Since we will only meet for two days, no homework contract will be due next week. However, I will be sending home a reading log with the students in today's Friday folder, as well as one on next Tuesday. Please continue to help your student get in the habit of reading for 20 minutes each night!
As the weather continues to become colder, please make sure your child comes to school with a coat. If you need assistance acquiring a coat for your child, you can either send me, or Mrs. Enright ([email protected]) an e-mail and we will get one for your child. If you are interested in purchasing a yearbook, the cost is only $15 if ordered before December 21st. PTA always does an amazing job with the yearbook! This year, we are trying to make it easier for people to purchase yearbooks who otherwise would be unable to, through donations from parents. If you are able, please consider adding an extra dollar to your order to help lower the cost of a yearbook for other students. I hope you all enjoy next week with your students, and I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! -Mrs. Morehead Progress reports for second quarter were sent home in Friday folders last week. Please remember that the first progress report has only a few grades on it since the quarter has only been going a few weeks. As the quarter continues, more assignments will be given, so grades will likely change a bit.
After talking with several of you at conferences and getting the students' feedback, many have requested a reading log. This went home with students on Friday along with some changes to the Homework Contract to reflect a minimum of 20 minutes of reading 4 or 5 days a week. My goal is to help build our students' reading stamina to read for 20 minutes or longer 6 or 7 days a week. In math we are learning the characteristics of numbers to prepare for adding and subtracting fractions. If the students do not finish their assignments in class, they will be expected to complete it that night for homework. This should be written down in students' agendas. In Writer's Workshop the students are creating descriptive writing pieces using interesting word choice. The final drafts of this project is due next Tuesday, November 21st. You may be seeing your student bring this home to work on it! In Reader's Workshop, students are learning about strategies to understand the text and work on analyzing and deeper thinking of text through these thinking strategies. We have focused mainly on fiction texts, but will be spending some time on non-fiction texts over the next few weeks. We are also incorporating texts about the Explorer's and Colonies into our reading time. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to let me know! -Mrs. Morehead I've added a new tab on the website's navigation bar to "Photos." It is updated with pictures of our field trip to BSSE today! Enjoy!
Our class had a great time on our field trips last week. We went to the high school auditorium to listen to a guest speaker about the importance of living a drug free life. This was a great way to kick off Red Ribbon Week, and for us to begin DARE this week. The KC Symphony was amazing! The theme took the audience through the parts of a story, including character, setting, theme and plot. The students definitely had their favorite songs picked out, and we had a lively discussion when we got back to school. Looking forward, the students are getting ready for conferences. We will do a student-led conference, which means the student is in charge of sharing his/her progress and some sample work items with parents. They will facilitate most of the conference and will be able to speak about their goals for the rest of fifth grade. (If you did not see the Student-Led Conference Information Sheet, I've attached it at the bottom of this blog post!) We are getting ready for our BSSE field trip on November 6th (there are still some parent volunteer spots available) by learning about supply/demand, opportunity cost and trade. The shop employees are busy planning their food/craft items and completing loan paperwork. In Reader's Workshop, our class is finishing up learning about context clues in reading, and will begin an in-depth study of main idea, supporting details, inferring and drawing conclusions. Writer's Workshop is wrapping up with a writing project on "Idea" and we will begin studying "Word Choice" next week. In Math, students are learning about decimals and fractions and their goal this quarter is to be proficient in reading, comparing, ordering and adding/subtracting fractions and decimals! It is quite an undertaking! The students have finished up learning about the Human Body and are growing plants to study plant life. We have another busy quarter as we journey closer to the end of this year! Looking forward to seeing all of you next week! -Mrs. Morehead
The end of first quarter is quickly approaching. All missing work must be turned in by next Tuesday, otherwise it will be counted as a zero. This also means that Parent/Teacher Conferences are right around the corner. In the Friday Folders, please look for a green sheet to choose a convenient conference time. I will do my best to meet your time constraints and send home a confirmation of the time your conference has been scheduled. We will be doing Student-Led Conferences, meaning that your child will be sharing his or her progress this year through examples of work and written reflections. More information will be coming home next week.
On Monday of this week, we will be kicking off Red Ribbon Week by attending an assembly on Monday. Tuesday of this week is our annual Symphony field trip where we will be going to the Kauffman Center! This means that two permission slips have been sent home and should have been returned to school. It is not too late to return them. If your child comes to school on Monday with a permission slip for the DARE Assembly at the High School, he/she will be able to attend. I also have everyone's DARE shirt-they will get them before the field trip on Monday. If you are interested in volunteering for our BSSE field trip on November 6th, we need many volunteers! This is a great time to spend with your child and others as they learn about economic concepts! You will even be able to "buy" lunch from your child! Please let me know if you would like to attend. -Mrs. Morehead |
AuthorI teach fifth grade at Mill Creek. I sponsor the Homework Club and the Swimming Club. This is my third year at Mill Creek and I'm looking forward to another exciting year! Archives
January 2014
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