Week of January 3-6, 2017

Happy new year to all of you!

I hope the time you had over the holidays energized you as much as it did for me! I enjoyed so much quality time with my children skiing at Sunday River, playing some new games, getting outside as well as visiting extended family!

We had A LOT going on in this first week of 2017!  Here goes...

• In math we started a very short unit reviewing fractions. We talked about fractions as division and how to figure out what is being divided and how that is the numerator.  We changed mixed numbers to fractions greater than one (aka improper fractions).  We found equivalent fractions as well as ones in simplest form.  As you can see, it was a busy week in math!

• In literacy we completed our first research report to then set our sights high at raising the level of our next one.  Each student created a Mission Statement about their next piece.  In this, all students talked about their topic, sub topics, intended audience, text structures they will want to use as well as an order of their sub topics.  From here, we talked about finding a way to organize all the research that makes sense to our unique way of learning.  We finished the week researching to our heart's content!  There are a lot of tools your child has that he/she will be using throughout the rest of this unit.

• In Words Their Way new groups were formed based on an assessment I did before vacation.  My para Mrs. Bastille and I worked with each group to understand they way the words in each sort work.  Knowing the base word and rules will help each student grow as a speller.  There's a lot of conversations between students that add to the power of spelling!

• Project: NEW YEAR, NEW YOU! To celebrate fresh beginnings, the  students worked with mixed media to paint something to represent 2017.  Then we brainstormed some ideas of what the digits 2, 0, 1, 7 might represent.  They will be proudly displayed in our classroom!

• Have you heard about "DeLello Bootcamp"?  The start of the new year is also a perfect time to recenter students on how to be ready, caring and motivated students!  As a class we discussed 5th grade expectations and how we need to start thinking about life as a 6th grader.  Make sure to ask your child all about it!

Enjoy the weekend! Until Monday...

Shannon