Monday, February 28th

Happy Glorious Beautiful Monday!

Monday morning assembly regarding the March attribute that is “Cooperation”

Spelling Pretest:
CLICK HERE for this week's spelling test

Short-Story and Famous American work time...
We reviewed and discussed how to proofread the short stories.  Students need to proofread 5 short stories per day by Friday.  
CLICK HERE for all of the instructions and how to access every one's short-story

We also looked at and reviewed more Famous American examples so they can see what is expected for the March 18th deadline.
Famous American Report:
CLICK HERE for the Famous American instructions

Math:
Finding a percentage of a number....
per-cent
per = for
cent = 100
So when we find 54% we are saying 54 for every 100
We took many notes and we did many examples using the response devices on Friday and Monday.
Here are all of our notes from Friday and Monday:
CLICK HERE for all our math notes
CLICK HERE for the Kahn Academy video on percentages

Theme 4 review and Grammar review
We discussed the expectations for Wednesday’s test and the grammar packet tomorrow.  
If the study guide has been lost,  CLICK HERE FOR THE DOCUMENT
Students should spend time studying the concepts outlined on the study-guide and memorizing words, grammar rules or syllabication prior to next Wednesday’s theme test.

Read-In-Week
We are celebrating the gift that is reading throughout this week.  On Friday we are allowing the students to bring their favorite books, their comfortable clothes and blankets/pillows while we enjoying reading the entire day.
CLICK HERE for the power of reading 20 to 30 minutes per night

Talent Show Applications
Due on Tuesday.  Turn them into the office and if your son/daughter lost their original sheet, they need to go see the ladies in the office for new paperwork.  

Kind Regards,
Mr. Hubbard

Homework for the week:

Grammar Packet is due Tuesday

Math
Page 392-393 all due Tuesday (students had 25+ minutes to work on math homework)
Page 396-397 all due Wednesday
Chapter 17 Version A all due on Thursday     
CLICK HERE for version A and version A answers
Chapter 17 test is on Thursday
342-343 all due on Friday

Social Studies
Read pages 121-136 by Wednesday

Famous American Report:
http://www.box.net/shared/4idhdcrbhs
Here are the high level due dates:
Rough Draft due                                                                                   Friday, March 18,  2011
Final copy due                                                                                           Friday, April 15, 2011

Graph Project in Mrs. Cargo’s class due Thursday

Theme 4 Test is on Wednesday
Theme 4 Study Guide      CLICK HERE FOR THE DOCUMENT
Students should spend time studying the concepts outlined on the study-guide and memorizing words, grammar rules or syllabication prior to next Wednesday’s theme test.

Spelling Test in on Thursday
CLICK HERE for this week's spelling test

Short Story
Read 5 stories per day
CLICK HERE for all of the instructions and how to access every one's short-story

Keep on reading!!

Why reading is so important....

Why Your Child Should Read for 20 minutes Every Day

"WHY CAN'T I SKIP MY 20 MINUTES OF READING TONIGHT?"

LET'S FIGURE IT OUT --- MATHEMATICALLY!

Student A reads 20 minutes five nights of every week;

Student B reads only 4 minutes a night...or not at all!

Step 1: Multiply minutes a night x 5 times each week.

Student A reads 20 min. x 5 times a week = 100 mins./week

Student B reads 4 minutes x 5 times a week = 20 minutes

Step 2: Multiply minutes a week x 4 weeks each month.

Student A reads 400 minutes a month.

Student B reads 80 minutes a month.

Step 3: Multiply minutes a month x 9 months/school year

Student A reads 3600 min. in a school year.

Student B reads 720 min. in a school year.

Student A practices reading the equivalent of ten whole school days a year.

Student B gets the equivalent of only two school days of reading practice.

By the end of 6th grade if Student A and Student B maintain
these same reading habits,
Student A will have read the equivalent of 60 whole school days
Student B will have read the equivalent of only 12 school days.

One would expect the gap of information retained will have widened considerably and so, undoubtedly, will school performance. How do you think Student B will feel about him/herself as a student?

Some questions to ponder:

Which student would you expect to read better?

Which student would you expect to know more?

Which student would you expect to write better?

Which student would you expect to have a better vocabulary?

Which student would you expect to be more successful in school....and in life?

WHY READ 30 MINUTES A DAY?

*If daily reading begins in infancy, by the time the child is five years old, he or she has been fed roughly 900 hours of brain food!

*Reduce that experience to just 30 minutes a week, and the child's hungry mind lose 770 hours of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and stories.

*A kindergarten student who has not been read aloud to could enter school with less than 60 hours of literacy nutrition. No teacher, no matter how talented, can make up for those lost hours of mental nourishment.

*Therefore...30 minutes daily = 900 hours

30 minutes weekly = 130 hours

Less than 30 minutes weekly = 60 hours

Source

1. U.S. Dept. of Education, America Reads Challenge. (1999) "Start Early, Finish Strong: How to Help Every Child Become a Reader." Washington, D.C. 
2. http://www.tooter4kids.com/classroom/why_read_for_20_minutes_every_da.htm

An email for Wednesday and Thursday -- 2/23 and 2/24

Sorry for the super late email....

It has been two days of extracurricular technology based activities after school.  On Wednesday we had our first district mandated collaboration day followed by me teaching Microsoft Word to about 15 district employees over at the Nielsen Computer Lab.  Today we had a 2.5 hour monthly technology meeting to begin planning our March and August Staff Development days.  

The last two days......
We participated in a district and city writing exercises about our monthly attributes.  Many of the students wrote about family members or friends that they felt best personified the ten various attributes.  

Division with decimals -- most students have completed their test.  Some students due to a truncated Wednesday, the big band rehearsal and their less than fast ways are still completing the test.  

We also reviewed the Theme 4 Study Guide.
If it has been lost,  CLICK HERE FOR THE DOCUMENT
Students should spend time studying the concepts outlined on the study-guide and memorizing words, grammar rules or syllabication prior to next Wednesday’s theme test.
 
The large grammar packets were handed out on Wednesday.  Students were strongly encouraged to  try and complete 4 pages per school day and/or night time.

We also discussed and took notes on ratios and converting fractions into percentages.  
Brainpop.com has great videos explaining these concepts.
Also you can CLICK HERE  in order to have your child watch great descriptive videos about ratio and percentages.

Also school site council has asked me to create and produce some www.pearsonsuccessnet.com tutorials for parents and students.  I offered to have the students write up the script and they can have their voices and script used.  

The rough draft of the short story is due tomorrow.

Students should be working nightly for at least 15 minutes on their Famous American reports.  

Next Friday is Read-In-Day.  Students should bring their books or magazines, comfortable and appropriate clothing, and pillow, blanket, or whatever.  We will literally try to read the entire time, except for when Wells Administrators show up to read a story and answer their questions regarding next year.    

Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard

Math:
Page 388-389 all due on Friday

Grammar:
Getting ready for the Theme 4 test next Wednesday
Due on 3/1

Theme 4 Study Guide:
The test will be on 3/2

Free-Write due Friday:
Complete your short story (near 1,000 words)

Famous American -- rough draft due on March 18th.
I strongly recommend that students put forward about 15 to 20 minutes every Monday-Thursday evening so this will not become a huge nightmare circa March 16h.  (15 evenings x 20 minutes = 300 minutes).  

Famous American Report:
http://www.box.net/shared/4idhdcrbhs
Here are the high level due dates:
Rough Draft due                                                                Friday, March 18,  2011
Final copy due                                                                    Friday, April 15, 2011

Tuesday, February 22nd

Tomorrow --- the students’ day end at 1:50.
I’m not allowed to make small talk and I need to be ready to roll by 1:55, so if you need to see me, please email, call or come back at 2:55.  Thank you for your understanding.

Today:
We followed up on our Friday talk about heritage, traditions, customs and other family/community related issues.    
This was tied into the story about Yang the Second and Her Secret Admirer.  
We then read as a class the much discussed and controversial, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior.
CLICK HERE FOR THE ARTICLE

it was an interesting discussion about cultural expectations, cultural norms, compare/contrasting and we tied it back into the Yang the 2nd....
If you haven’t had a chance to read the article, try to make some time and then discuss it with your son/daughter.  There was definitely a ton of energy in the room as we discussed these different style of parenting techniques.  

Technology Tuesday:
We did 20 minutes of typing, we did a follow up exercise on the Tiger Mom and Yang the 2nd, shared out about our short story and we practiced for our chapter 7 math test.
CLICK HERE for the links for today's computer lab work

Math:
Getting ready for this “quick” and “short” chapter test.  
Students put in 30+ minutes in the computer lab.
We then discussed the chapter 7 version A test.
I encouraged them to watch lessons on www.pearsonsuccessnet.com or CLICK HERE FOR the Khan Academy Videos on dividing decimals (3 in total)
Here are where all the chapter 7 A answer guide is and the open ended test are:
CLICK HERE for all my math handouts for the year

Get ready for the week.

P.E.

Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard

Math:
Version A of Chapter 7  due Wednesday
Chapter 7 test is on Wednesday
Page 386-387 all due on Thursday
Page 388-389 all due on Friday

Grammar:
Getting ready for the Theme 4 test next Wednesday
Packet to be given out on 2/23 and due on 3/1

Theme 4 Study Guide:
Will be given out on 2/23 and the test will be on 3/2

Free-Write due Friday:
Complete your short story (near 1,000 words)

Famous American -- rough draft due on March 18th.
I strongly recommend that students put forward about 15 to 20 minutes every Monday-Thursday evening so this will not become a huge nightmare circa March 16h.  (15 evenings x 20 minutes = 300 minutes).  

Science --- study guide and test is tomorrow

Technology Day -- February 22, 2011

20 minutes of typing

Language Arts follow up:
Please complete these questions based on our readings and class discussions (click here)

Short Story follow up:
Please complete these questions regarding your short story (please click here for the survey)

www.pearsonsuccessnet.com
Take the chapter 7 test, this is mandatory

Give Us An Update on your short story

Fill out your ideas about your short story (click here)

Dear Mr. Henshaw's Vocabulary Test

Here is the link for today's test:

click right here to take the vocabulary test (click here)

Wacky Wet Wednesday 2/16/11

Rain combined with hail is going to play havoc on the mind and attitudes of a 10 or 11 year old.   The fact that they will go all day without a nice recess to run around and burn off their adrenaline will lead them to become pretty goofy.  

Then you combine an unplanned photo shoot that more or less stops all learning in 4th and 5th grade for about 30 to 45 minutes.   Furthermore,  you combine a rather intense writing exercise into the mix; well, you are going to have one wild day.  

Today:
Library time --- many used this time wisely to work on their short story, Famous American report or study for the social studies test.  

Writing --
Responding to Literature combined with yearbook photos

What was going to be 90 minute exercise of conversation, rough draft and then writing about a story of a young lad who moves from Trinidad to the U.S.  became a 60 minutes adventure.  

Math:
Dividing numbers when the divisor is a decimal.
Step 1 -- write the division problem in a fraction form
234.6 / 0.23
Step 2 -- multiply by 1 using 10/10 ; 100/100 ; or 1000/1000 to get rid of that darn decimal in the denominator’s place
ex   234.6/0.23  X  100/100 =   23,460 /  23
Step 3 -- divide normally

Video with the classic decimal division
All in class math notes and math handouts found here

Homework change:  162-163 (1-21 odds) due tomorrow

Cargo-  complete your figurative language books

Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard

Homework for the week:   
Math:
Page 162-163 1-21 odds due Thursday
Page 168-169  All due Friday
All in class math notes and math handouts found here

Reading Comprehension due Friday
Read pages 417--432
Complete 2 masterpieces on page 432
P.B. 248 and 249
Take the AR test on Dear Mr. Henshaw

Grammar due Thursday
P.B. 257,258 and 259

Free-Write due Friday:
Complete ½ of the Short Story
Click here for all of the Short-Story details and Advice

Social Studies Test on Thursday
Study Guide and Helpful links (click here)

Technology Tuesday (2/15/11)

Technology lab --

20 minutes of typing
60 minutes to work on their choice of the following projects:

1. Famous American Notes/Research {due Friday}
2. Short Story {1/2 rough draft is due on Friday}
3. Study/Research the study guide for Thursday’s American Revolution test

Math:
More work with division + decimals
Today’s lesson was the important discussion regarding estimating PRIOR to working out the actual answer.  
We did 6 of today’s homework assignments during class time.  They were also given 20 minutes to begin working on today’s homework.
Homework:  page 160-161 All due Wednesday
Notes from today’s notes:
Click here for all math notes and documents

Social Studies:
We watched and talked about a video related to our Thursday test.  
We covered how Benjamin Franklin came to become pro-partriot.
How George Washington was selected over John Hancock
The conflicting life of Benedict Arnold
Bunker Hill

P.E. -- yeah, the Rain Gods played nice and the rain stayed away until after the end of the school day so the kids could enjoy their recesses and their PE

Homework for the week:   
Math:
Page 160-161  All due Wednesday
Page 162-163 1-31 odds due Thursday
Page 168-169  All due Friday
All in class math notes and math handouts found here

Reading Comprehension due Friday
Read pages 417--432
Complete 2 masterpieces on page 432
P.B. 248 and 249
Take the AR test on Dear Mr. Henshaw

Grammar due Thursday
P.B. 257,258 and 259

Vocabulary due Wednesday
5 sentences and definitions
P.B. 247,252,256

Free-Write due Friday:
Complete ½ of the Short Story
Click here for all of the Short-Story details and Advice

Social Studies Test on Thursday
Study Guide and Helpful links (click here)