Coming Events!

It's hard to believe how fast the months are flying! February is here, and some exciting events are in the works. Our school-wide spelling bee will take place on Monday at 1:15pm. D.A.R.E. classes for 6th graders are starting on Friday and will continue through the spring with a graduation event at the Ice-o-plex. We have a special Pittsburgh CLO Gallery of Heroes program, brought to us through CISPO, called Round the World with Nellie Bly coming on February 13th. The Book Fair is right around the corner on the 14th and 15th, and the Jump-a-thon is on the 21st. In addition, students from 5th and 6th grades are working on a musical called Dig It that will be performed on March 29th. Don't blink, or you'll miss something!

During Language Arts today, Macey and Marah shared pictures of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Their father had been a part of clean up efforts in the area after the spill, and the pictures they shared showed the progression of events from the time the rig caught fire to when it sunk in the water. What a devastating event! Thank you to Macey and Marah for narrating the slides and to their parents for adding to our understanding.

Homework:
Reading - Spelling practice and reading December in The Wednesday Wars. Completed role is due Thursday.
Wellness - Tooth poem and packet work due Monday.
Foreign Lang. - French phrases (study)

Thinking About Friendship

The winter is usually a time for turning to comfort foods. Many of us like soups, stews, mac & cheese, and rich desserts. They make us feel good! Today, during our class meeting, we thought about our recent topics of discussion and how they apply to recognizing and keeping good friends. We shared the qualities we look for in friends and why those qualities are important to us. In fact, we took our favorite recipes and friendship qualities and put them together to create Recipes for Friendship. There were so many great ingredients, such as trust, smiles, humor, adventure, and honor. We put these into recipes varying from chocolate desserts to shish ke-babs! It was a great creative effort! If you're looking for a great recipe, check the hallway. Ours will be on display!

Cafe went so well today that we were awarded two Surprise Scramble letters! Discussions were great, and we're enjoying the story more with each month (chapter) we read. Today, we discussed November. Holling is liking Shakespeare and his teacher more and more. We laughed at how much he loved using the curses that Shakespeare wrote on his friends and family. The new assignment is December, and we're looking forward to moving on.

Homework:
Reading - Continue The Wednesday Wars (December) and complete your new role for Thursday.
Spelling - Study
Science - Atom packet - stop at 31
Wellness - Tooth poem and health packet due Monday
Foreign Language - Study French phrases

Environmental Story

Today we applied our new words relating to the environment in a story called Saving the Sound by Terry Carr who witnessed the cleanup effort and spoke with people who worked on the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The spill caught many people off guard and clean up did not begin immediately. The spill was massive and devastating. Our story showed us the effects of an oil spill on the environment.

Our new Social Studies books for Europe and Russia were distributed today. We began our study with a map exploration activity with partners. The activity was designed for everyone to take a closer look at the areas we will study using political, climate, population, and other types of maps.

New Exploratory classes will begin on Monday! We had sign-ups today for the following choices: So You Think You Can Dance?, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, Ipod Origami, Extreme Dot-to-Dot, and Brain Games. Some students are also participating in Kids of Steel, which is a fixed exploratory ending in a run at the Pittsburgh Marathon! Others are helping with Mac Mart, Yearbook, and TV Morning Announcements. There's so much to enjoy!

Homework:
Reading - Please be ready with your reading and role for tomorrow's cafe.
Math - Study for your Ch. 4 Test
Spelling - Spelling practice book pages 39-40
Science - Atom packet due on Friday
Wellness - Tooth poem and health packet for Monday
Foreign Lang. - French Phrases due next Tuesday

Loaded Words

This week and next, we will be paying close attention to the way authors use persuasive devices. When authors want to convince or persuade us, they use special techniques. They want to appeal to us in a logical, but also emotional way. Today we looked at how they use "loaded words." These words bring the emotional connection they'd like us to have. The example that we studied today portrayed humans as bullies of the environment. The writing used many logical examples and because of the loaded words, we were left with a guilty feeling.

In our groups, we practiced using persuasive devices by writing a letter to Mr. Chambers in an effort to convince him that a four day school week could be beneficial to students' learning. Everyone had a chance to present their points in front of the class, and we discussed how convincing we sounded. Loaded words and how they made us feel were discussed. We will apply the skill throughout the week in relation to our new story, Saving the Sound. Check out the link on our blog that shares more about persuasive devices!

Our new words are related to our environment. Today, we tried to figure out how they are related. The words are cleanup, contaminated, environment, fragile, muck, toll, and widespread. We created a web of relationships to think about how the words will be used in the story. We're looking forward to this nonfiction writing about a huge oil spill.

Homework:
Reading - Share Family Times paper. Read November in The Wednesday Wars and complete your assigned role for this Thursday's cafe.
Math - Math worksheet A-D and I-J. Chapter 4 test on Thursday.
Spelling - Trace +2 and practice on the blog (Spelling City)
Wellness - Packet and rough draft for tooth poem are due on Monday.
Foreign Language - French Phrases test next Tuesday

Benefits of Mistakes

Although we don't set out to make mistakes, they happen, and they help us to improve. Today, we reviewed our Language Arts Benchmark exam as a group. Using an item analysis report, we worked through the test, discussing best answers while proving them to be correct. We enjoy reading, and our mistakes will help us to learn to become better readers.

In Social Studies, we wrapped up Latin America with our final test and sent our books on to Mrs. Lavallee. We are moving on to Europe and Russia!

Homework:
Reading - Please read November in The Wednesday Wars. Complete your role for Thursday.
Math - Complete practice sheet. Chapter 4 Test is Thursday.
Health - D.A.R.E. form due tomorrow. Packet due Monday.