3/7/17

Hello, Parents!

I just wanted to post some important due dates and information- On Friday, March 17th, all 5th-grade elective forms are due to homeroom teachers! We will turn them into West Jefferson Middle School that afternoon- Please get those back in as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I do not have any extra copies, and if you are in need of another form you will need to pick one up from WJMS. I apologize for any inconvenience there! 

Additionally, all 5th graders have a field trip to the Museum of Nature and Science on Thursday, March 23rd, please get those permission slips back into Mr. McGuire if you have not done so already.

Also, Mr. McGuire's homeroom 4/5 students will take their CMAS- ELA assessments during the week of March 20-24th. If you have any plans to leave early for Spring Break- please let me know as soon as possible in order to work around this. These tests are in the morning during our Reading rotation- 8:45-10:15. In addition, all 5th-grade Ponderosas will have their CMAS- Math Sessions in the afternoon- from 1:00 - 2:15. Again, please let me know ASAP if you see a conflict with any of your children. Thank you!!

Next, in reading, we continue to dig "deeper in our exploration of main idea. We continue to determine what a text is "mostly about," by incorporating our understanding of text structures, text features, author's purpose and intention, and how author's use illustrations/pictures to help with our understanding. In math, students just completed the unit working with multiplication and division of decimals and understanding shift patterns. Prodigy homework- continues to have some work around this and our next unit of learning. Unit 6 works with word problems in all contexts- addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of whole numbers, decimals, and fractions. This unit also focuses on developing strategies for determining "reasonableness" of an answer as a means of checking our work.

In writing, we continue working on our research projects using a variety of sources for our explanatory pieces- 4th-grade, dinosaurs, and 5th grade, a body system- tying in with science. We are having discussions about resources and their reliability, checking our information over multiple sources, determining our VIP's- or very important points, using flowcharts to organize our sequence, incorporating the use of strong verbs, varying our sentence lengths for readability.

Thanks for all of your support! 

Mr. M

2/17/17

Hello, Parents!

First, I'd like to take a moment to thank all of the parents that helped with our Valentine's Day Party and also sent items in for all students to enjoy. Thank you! Students had a great time. I am grateful for your assistance!

Second, congratulations to all the members of BOB- what a great performance. Your hard work during the year paid off- with a wonderful performance!

Next, in reading, we are returning to a "deeper" exploration of the main idea. We are now returning to determine what a text was "mostly about," by incorporating our new learning of text structures. In math, students are working on division with whole numbers with two digit divisors, and now, we are beginning to explore division with decimals and shift patterns. Prodigy homework- has several problems linked to this work.

In writing, we are working on research using a variety of sources- explanatory pieces, 4th grade is tying in work from science with Dinosaurs by selecting a dinosaur to research and explain about. Students will discuss the dinosaurs environment, physical features, and food types. 5th-grade students, additionally, will work on science research about a human body system. Students will interleave learning from reading and science to use sequence, compare and contrast to write their explanatory pieces.

Thank you for all of your support, and I hope you all enjoy a long weekend together. It is a privilege to work with your children!

Mr. M