​I hope everyone enjoyed the snow day yesterday! I know my family and I did – playing games, taking naps, and watching episodes of The Kids Baking Championship. I was very grateful not to have to drive in the bad weather!

This week, we will be having our science test on Electricity on Friday. The students will have a review sheet coming home, and there are further resources (podcasts and videos) on the class website (http://zitoszainybrainies.weebly.com/science/ways-to-review-for-electricity-test). Also, if your child is moving on to the district competition for Science Fair, please make sure the paper work is returned before Thursday so we can get them signed up!

Parent Teacher conferences are Wednesday and Thursday. Most all of you are signed up – thank you! If you have not yet signed up, there are still spots left, and you can choose your time on Skyward. If this week doesn’t work for you, let me know and we’ll find another time to meet.

Lastly, we have only two volunteers for our field trip on February 13, and we need 8!! If you are available and have your background check complete, please consider coming with us. We are heading to Thanksgiving Point’s Museum of Ancient Life, and we will be there from 10-1.  You can either ride the bus with us, or just meet us there. If we don’t get enough chaperones, we may have to cancel the trip! Thanks so much!

Have a wonderful week, and I look forward to seeing you all either Wednesday or Thursday!

​Next Monday is our school Science Fair! We will be setting up in the gym this year, and judging will begin at 9:30. Students will need their tri-fold display board (an example can be seen at http://zitoszainybrainies.weebly.com/science-resources.html). They also need whatever they keep data on, either the blue booklet I gave them or their notebook etc. They should NOT bring any part of their project. Parents are welcome to come visit between 10-11, but please understand that the judges will be continuing to judge projects, and we ask you to allow them to do this without interference. I will be sending home a copy of the judging sheet with the students today so that they can be prepared for the judging.

We also have a field trip coming up on February 13. If you are interested in chaperoning our class, and have your background check, please let me know. There is still time to get your background check if you have not yet done it! Just let me know you are getting it done, and are interested in coming with us!

Parent teacher conferences are also coming up! They will be held Feb. 5 and 6. Please sign up through Skyward for a time. 

We won’t have vocab words this week or next, and we are hard at work with fractions in math, electricity in science, and the pre-Revolutionary War era in both reading and history. We are finishing up an opinion essay about homework on snow days (not that we’ll ever have it worry about snow days!) We are typing these on Utah Compose, and your student can access that at home to continue working on it if they would like.

Thanks so much, and please let me know if you have any further questions!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday break. My family and I enjoyed just hanging out at home, playing the in snow and the many board games we got for Christmas, and watching a lot of movies and football. Unfortunately, neither the Ohio State Buckeyes or the Utes had very good games in their respective bowl games, but at least one of my favorite teams, Notre Dame, won their game. 

Thank you all so much for the generous and thoughtful gifts. I am so blessed to work with all your students, and am looking forward to the next few months with them. We have lots planned!

Tuesday, students will bring home forms to fill out for their science fair project ideas. We will explore some websites in class that can help them with ideas they may choose to explore, but we are asking that they find a project that fits in one of the areas we study in fifth grade science: Earth’s surfaces, Chemistry, Genetics, Electricity or Magnetism.They may work alone or with one partner, who can be in any of the fifth grade classes. The forms with their proposals need to be turned in by Friday so that they will have time complete the project. The school science fair will be Monday, Jan. 27, and parents are welcome to come view the projects from 10-11 in the school gym.

Students will also be bringing home permission slips for Hope of America on Tuesday. We will be performing on Wednesday, May 6. If you plan to have your student participate, you will need to register then online at Hopeofamerica.org. 

We are beginning our work with fractions this week in math, and electricity in science. There is big excitement about the musical we are going to be working on to go along with history. Students got their parts and the scripts today, and I will be emailing them copies of their songs to practice at home. We will also be reading Sophia’s War by Avi to go along with our study of the American Revolution. Our vocabulary assignments are going to be a bit different going forward, with assignments due daily instead of on Friday, to ensure students are getting daily chances to actually work with using the words and understanding their meanings. Lastly, we are writing an opinion piece about whether teachers should assign homework on snow days. We are jumping right back into things this week!

Please let me know if you have any questions!
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​We had a great assembly yesterday to start off out week. Gretchen was recognized as our student showing great character, and we learned about how blood cancer works, and what doctors are doing to try to help cure it. The Student Council is selling candy canes this week to raise money to donate to help. We also had the kickoff pizza party for the Battle of the Books! The kids are ready and excited for the battles, so keep them reading!

We are working on multiplication of three digit numbers this week, and the students are doing well. We will have a quiz on Wednesday and then begin working on dividing by two digit divisors. We will have a quiz on that next week before we leave for the break.

We will also have a science test this Friday on our genetics unit. Students will bring home a study guide on Wednesday to use to prepare for the test. We will continue to work on growing our flowers and cross-breeding them, which will help to reinforce through the next few months the idea of passing of traits. After break, we will start our electricity unit.

I began talking to students about science fair this week. Our school science fair will be held Jan. 27. It is still a ways off, but we are beginning to think about their projects now so they have plenty of time to work on them. We are asking that students pick a project that falls into one of our areas of focus for 5th grade science (Genetics, Electricity, Magnetism, Chemistry or Earth’s Surface) or engineering. We will take a look at some different websites in class to get students thinking about what question they will want to work to answer. They may work either on their own, or in pairs. Information sheets will be coming home soon.
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​I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! My in-laws who were visiting from North Carolina were reminded what snow is, and reminded why they didn’t like it! We had a lot of great family time, and now we are in for a busy three weeks before Christmas break!

In math, we are working on multiplying multi-digit numbers, using a variety of strategies. We are starting a big project in science that will look at how non-native species can effect the environment, and in history, we are finishing up our study of the original 13 American colonies before we start looking at how those colonies became states. We will also use this information to write an opinion essay on which of the 3 regions of colonies the students would have chosen to live. The Jamestown essay students have been working on is due by this Friday, and should be turned in through Google Classroom. We are working to finish up the novel “Blood on the River” next week. This is also our last week of tutoring, which we will celebrate with a pizza party Friday afternoon. 


I will be sending out information about Hope of America before break, so look for that. Also, please be sure to fill out the Intent to Continue form concerning A.L.L. class next year. Here is the link again if you have not yet filled it out: Intent to Continue form.

Let me know if you have any questions! Thanks so much, and have a wonderful week!

​Sorry for the lateness of the weekly news. It actually worked to my advantage, because I was just informed that Chik-fil-a will be bringing lunch to our class tomorrow as a reward for their success during the fundraiser! They will bring chicken nuggets, waffle cut potato chips, and a chocolate chip cookie, and the PTA will be bringing Kool-aid drinks. If that is not something your child would like for lunch, they are welcome to bring a lunch or get regular school lunch. 

We are working on the order of operations in math this week, and have shifted focus in science to studying animal adaptations. Any special visitors who come to Grandparents Day on Friday afternoon will get to do a fun activity that goes with our science unit, as well as see the tiny shoots that we have growing (we have 5 so far!!) In history, we have advanced to studying the original 13 colonies. Students will have a mapping test on this in a few weeks, but will be bringing home a giant map with which to study. The 8 sentence paragraph about Shackleton is due this Friday, and we are also finishing up an essay discussing why so many people died in the early Jamestown colony. And last but not least, it is Book Fair week! 

With the start of the new term, I’ve made some changes in our classroom management system. I’m rewarding students who are doing well, being respectful and showing good citizenship and character with classroom money. If I reward them three times in one day, they get a choice of either calling home to tell you how amazing and fabulous they are, or having me write a note to send home that says how amazing and fabulous they are. I’ve already written several notes this week! When they are misbehaving, or not showing good citizenship or character, they receive a warning in the form of a piece of blue tape that sits on their table for the rest of the day to remind them to think before they act or speak. If they continue to misbehave, they will fill out a Think Sheet, which they will discuss with me, we will sign, and then send home for the parents to sign and return to school. If there are more than two Think Sheets in one week, or several weeks in a row with two, I will schedule a meeting with the student and parents to discuss the problems. If the student continues to misbehave after their Think Sheet, they will call home from school to let their parents know that they are really struggling and making poor behavioral choices. This is to let you as parents know what is happening, as well as to give the student a chance to talk to someone who might be able to help them reset and make better choices going forward. If you have any questions about this new system, please let me know! 

Next week, we only have school on Monday and Tuesday. I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and safe travels if you are venturing away from home.

​Thanks to all those who helped with the Halloween party last week! Everyone had a wonderful time!

Next Monday is our Veteran’s Day performance. It will begin at 9:45, and will last about an hour. Invitations will be sent home Tuesday, so please feel free to hand them out to friends and family members who you think would like to attend, especially if they are veterans. Students brought home a yellow page last week to list any family members who are veterans so we can put a star in their honor in the hallway. If your student does not have that sheet, any piece of paper, or even an email would work too! For the performance next Monday, students are asked to wear black pants/skirt, and a white shirt. We will also perform on Tuesday morning for the school, but they will not need to wear any special clothing. 

Monday afternoon will be our first fifth grade store. The student will be able to spend their classroom money at the stores. They will work one or two partners and will fill out a business license to inform me of what they will be selling. They should prepare a poster sign explaining their product(s) and the prices. Some examples of items to sell are: homemade craft items, toys, candy, holiday decorations/crafts, books students no longer want, etc. Any food item needs to be store-bought and individually wrapped, following the district policy not allowing homemade food items. Food items bought at the store will not be able to be eaten during the store, so they need to be packaged to keep to take home. Items such as ice cream, soda poured from a 2L bottle, etc. will not be allowed because they need to be consumed immediately. The students will need to prepare for their store on their own time. In order to buy goods, students must have items of their own to sell. 

Next Thursday is our field trip to the Leonardo Museum. Many of you signed up to be chaperones, and I will be emailing you for a conformation, but if anyone else is interested and has had their background check, please send me an email. A permission slip will be coming home on Tuesday. This day, Thursday, Nov. 14 will be a COMMON DAY, meaning all students will come at 8:00 and leave at 2:15. We will be leaving the school by 9:00, so if your student is late, they may miss going on the trip with us.Thanks!

We are beginning multiplication of decimals this week. (Attached below is information that may help with homework) We are beginning our essay on Jamestown in writing, and talking about the Plymouth Colony and the Mayflower Compact in history. We are working on theme in reading as we continue reading “Blood on the River.”

Lastly, thank you so much for helping your student be on top of their late/missing work! I have had so many of them ask me for helping getting the materials. I always suggest for them to first look through their files, because a lot of them find their half finished work there. If they still do not find the assignment there, if they let me know exactly what assignment they need, I can get them copies. Next Friday is the end of the term, so next Monday will be the last day I will accept late/missing work so that I have time to get it graded and entered by the deadline. Thanks!

Sorry for the lengthly email; next week is a busy week! Hope you enjoy the nice weather while it lasts!

​Winter weather is here today! I hope you are staying warm at home, and safe out on the roads. Luckily, it is supposed to get a bit warmer this weekend. I’m already dreaming of a vacation where it is warm, and it is not even really winter yet!

We are back to vocabulary this week. Students should have brought their homework home yesterday. We are working on rounding decimals in math, which is always a tough topic. We’ll be spending some more time on it this week before taking a quiz on decimal place value, comparing, and rounding decimals either Thursday or Friday. We will not have math homework on Halloween, but their vocabulary assignment is still due Friday, as well as having their test that day.

The school Halloween parade is on Thursday, and we are the first class to travel through the gym for parents. We will leave our classroom at 9:30, and walk through all the halls of the school before entering the gym for the parents. Arrive early so you can get a seat! 

Students got on Skyward last week in class do that they could see their missing assignments and work to get them completed. We will do that every Thursday morning, but they are able to access it at home. Parents can sign up to receive weekly emails that notify them of missing assignments. If you are interested in doing that, here is the link to a video that will show you how:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CXZXPfNPrIugsKjfYaGbnyPdhGDvsd24/view?usp=sharing
I would encourage you to sign up for this notification, which can be send daily or weekly on Saturday. For just the little effort it takes to turn on the emails, you are able to stay caught up on how your child is doing staying caught up with their work. 

Thank you so much, and have a wonderful week! Have a happy Halloween!

​I want to send out congratulations to Mya, who was voted by her classmates to represent the character trait of Citizenship this month. Congratulations also go out to Alex, Aiden, Annecy and Ava Jensen who were among the top 3 boy and girl finishers for fifth grade at the Wolf Walk last week. Way to go!

Tomorrow will be our first science test. Students were given a written review sheet last Friday, and I have put links on our class website to several other multi-media sources that may be helpful to students for studying. Here is the direct link to the study aids: http://zitoszainybrainies.weebly.com/science/ways-to-review-for-earths-surface-test

I sent home a list of missing assignments with students today. Most of the assignments are almost complete, but will need to be finished in order to be turned in. The students have time most days during the week to work on late and missing work in the afternoon, but if they get behind on several assignments, it does become difficult to get caught up. If they find that they do not have the assignments to complete, they need to check the classroom folders that have extra copies of assignments, and then let me know if there are no extras. Students are also encouraged (as are parents) to log in to Skyward to check for their missing assignments. They use their same login and password that they use for their Google account to access Skyward.

We started our training for tutoring kindergarteners in reading with Mrs. Daniels this week. We will start working with the kindergarteners next week, and will tutor them Tuesday through Fridays in the afternoon. This is such an exciting and rewarding experience!


Don’t forget to sign up for Parent Teacher Conferences next week! I look forward to meeting with you all! 

Have a great week!

​This week, we are working on prime factorization in math. We will finish the math packet Wednesday night for homework, and turn it in on Thursday. Homework for Thursday night will just to do 15-20 minutes of ST Math.

We are finishing up our Earth’s Surface unit in science, and I plan to test next Wednesday. We will review on Friday, and students will need to study the notes in their science notebook before the test next week. 

In history, we are beginning to study about the early American colonies, and will begin studying about Roanoke and Jamestown. We will be reading the novel “Blood on the River” in class to connect our reading to this unit, and will also be writing an essay explaining why so many people died in the early Jamestown colony.

Students should be finished reading “Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World,” and we will begin organizing ideas to write our first opinion writing piece, explaining whether or not Shackleton was a good leader during his expedition to Antarctica. Before we begin that essay, we are writing an explanatory essay about how scientists predict and measure earthquakes. Students will be typing that next week.

Parent teacher conferences will be held on Oct. 9 and 10, so please be sure to sign up through Skyward. There has been information regarding how to sign up sent out through the Westfield Weekly newsletter, but if you still have questions, please let me know!