Marchyokverse

Happy week to you all! It has been a pleasure working together with your kiddos. We have been getting to know each other, learning how to use the classroom, and solidifying community expectations. Thanks to everyone who has returned all paperwork for the school and student surveys, including volunteering opportunities. I will also solicit volunteer availability at Back to School Night. Speaking of which, I cannot wait to see you all at B2SN! I write these classroom notes every Sunday night, so if you want a preview of the week, please go to "Marchyokverse," at marchyok.blogspot.com. I also sent out our first classroom email. If you did not receive it, please let Tracy know of any email address changes. I sent information home regrading fifth grade camp this May 12-14. Please return the responses by the week of October 1st. It will be a huge fundraising responsibility for our entire fifth grade. We can do it! This week, we continue with our math Bridges program, in which we will work on prime factorization and number sense and number combinations. We also practice clarifying our language when explaining solutions. Speaking of being descriptive, students are finalizing their first writing of the year- "I Am From..." poems. These will be viewable and accompany a portrait of themselves at Back to School Night on Tuesday. In Social Studies, we will work on map skills and master the western states and capitals while discussing the characteristics of the region. Please speak to your child about the diversity of landforms, life, and climate in the west. Weekly, we will be familiarizing ourselves with all regions. The geography unit will take approximately four weeks. We will not do geography every day. We will also begin Reed Biology on Fridays and a unit of study on astronomy, primarily the movement of our solar system. This week would be a terrific time to talk about the moon phases at home. If you google, "moon phases calendar," you can track the various phases and see the nightly differences. Not every night will be clear, but I will be asking the students to skywatch every night starting this week (check online reference if cloudy). Next to their homework/events calendar in their binders, students will have a moon phases calendar for the month of September. We will keep track for an entire cycle, so October calendar will also be available. Aside from the moon phase calendar, students will have a home writing assignment. I encourage students and parents to discuss the writing process together (prewrite, first draft, revise means read it out loud and ask, "Does this sound right?" edit, and final draft.
Monday: Prewrite/Brainstrom/First draft
Tuesday: Revise and make changes
Wednesday: Edit/Final Draft
Thursday: Publish
Students should be working on it every night, so they are in a comfortable place by Thursday night to finish their final draft. Eventually, weekly essays will be five-paragraphs. This week, I am asking students to write as much as they wish. It can be one paragraph or five! I am more interested in knowing them as a writer and helping them build stamina. Now is the time to build stamina in all subjects, but especially writing. See you soon!

RECAP HOMEWORK: 1. Writing essay due Friday. The topic is: Choose from the following...
There are many different kinds of entertainment, such as music, games, books, or movies.
Explain your favorite type of entertainment and why you like it.
or
What is something you want to learn to do? Explain what you would like to learn and why?
2. Moon Phase calendar filled out every night but collected at the end of the month
3. Know your western states and capitals quiz on Friday
4. Math: Home Connections 5 and 6 and "Goldbach's Conjecture" in math student book due Friday.
Also, IXL accounts are up and running! I will be sending IXL homework in the near future.