Thursday, #75 2012 2013 (12/20/12)

Day 75
The day before the winter break.  Where children’s minds wander and they are thinking of their time off.    So it can take 10 minutes to get done what usually takes 5 minutes.

Here is what we were able to accomplish today:
Math review of multiplying and dividing fractions
We took a four question review of those two concepts and this would be a great winter break project for many of the students to practice on www.ixl.com;

On www.ixl.com there are the following headings in 5th grade:
Multiply fractions
Divide fractions
Fractions and mixed numbers
Here are our notes from today and for this chapter 12 on fractions.

This led into us doing our reading log check up.

We then had Mrs. Buchanan’s class come by and try out our Caine’s Arcade.   On January 11, 2013 we are going to formally set up our Arcade and invite grades to come in and play the games.

We then went to our Buddies class.  There we shared hot chocolate as we watched the first twenty minutes of the Polar Express.  Then we took time to enjoy homemade snowmen cookies and they read a holiday story to their little buddy.

After buddies they had their big science test on the water cycle.

After lunch they had another geometry lesson with the math/art rotation.

Finally we ended the day with a great class and video taught by Mrs. Phipps about modern day bullying.  It covered topics such as cyber bullying, in-school bullying, and mental or physical bullying.

We voted as a class that we would enjoy wearing our pajamas to tomorrow’s holiday party.  Rules:
1.  Entirely optional, you do not have to dress in PJs.
2.  Appropriate school shoes are still mandatory.
3.  Appropriate clothing and the school dress code still is enforced on a pajama day.

For the students that have chosen to start winter break a little early, they were informed that missing homework had to be completed PRIOR to participating in the holiday party.  They were told this beginning on Wednesday so this is not a shock to them.   I also gave them an explicit reminder before they left today.
Here is who and what is missing:
Math Pages 292 and 273  is missing by student #’s:  6 and 13
Math page 284 is missing by student #’s: 13 and 26
Math page 286 is missing by student #’s:  7, 17, 26, and 19

Homework tonight was to read for enjoyment for 50 minutes.  There is no other homework but to read anything that brings them enjoyment for 50 minutes.  

Happy holidays,
Mr. Hubbard

Homework for the week:
Math
Here are our notes from today and for this chapter 12 on fractions.

Read 50 minutes on Thursday night.   Social Studies reading acount towards the time.

Friday’s party note:
Hello Parents and children,

Below is the information we received regarding the Dublin El family in need, along with some gift suggestions. Please note that these are only suggestions and any gift in any amount would be greatly appreciated. In order to ensure that each child receives a gift, we have created a sign-up genius site at
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0D4AABAB2DA02-holiday

This is completely voluntary and understand if you cannot participate. However, if you do choose to participate, please involve your child in the gift decision. Gifts may be brought to school on the day of the party. If you choose to wrap your gift (optional), please put a sticky note with the age of the child you purchased for.

Thank you again for all you do for our class!

Family Information:

4 girls, ages 6,10, 11, & 15
2 Boys, ages 3 & 4

Gift Suggestions:
Girls: Novi Star dolls, ponies, and Barbie dolls.
Boys: Helicopters, airplanes - and
anything green
Teenage girl: clothes, nail polish, lip gloss, etc.

Clothing:
Girl: age 15: size 15 in juniors or 12 in misses.
Girl: age 11: size 4 in juniors or 18 in big kids.
Girl: age 10: size 14/16.
Girl: age 6: size 10.
Boy: age 4: size 6x.
Boy: age3: size 4t.

A Winter Read-a-thon!
Help raise money that will stay right in your child’s classroom!!!
Gather sponsors between December 13th through January 16th and read, read, read. This encourages students to enjoy reading and really helps improve their reading skills. Please help your child keep track of the number of minutes he or she has read!

Wednesday, #74 2012 2013 (12/19/12)

Day 74 of week 18

Today was an amazing day... I hope if you ask the kids about it they will tell you that it went “quick.”  

We started the day off with math review from last night and a preview of tonight’s lesson.  
As a friendly reminder all of our class notes can be found here:  https://www.box.com/s/3zxxvuf7eqsg0vaqh7rt
I asked the students to equally split doing the 10 problems using one of the two ways modeled in class (5 each way)
1.  multiplication after replacing the divisor with its reciprocal.
2.  make both fractions have a common denominator and then divide across

We then had 11 projects presented today.  Many of the students went over the “strongly recommended” 5 minute presentation time therefore we did not cover as many as I would have preferred in the 90+ minutes that we spent.  
One group created an amazing website with research, cross links within their own website, and visually pleasing.  It was amazing.  
We had a cinnamon smelling diorama presented; she used gingerbread dough for the rocks.  
We also had extensive powerpoint presentations and another website covering topics from Lewis, Clark, Colter, York, Newfoundland dogs, and other less famous members on the Corps of Discovery.   We also had an entertaining flipbook presentation on the Corp of Discovery with several funny foot jokes.  
We also had a Corp of Discovery board game where players try to acquire rewards found on their actual journey and get to either Fort Mandan or Bitterroot Mountains.
We also had someone bring in some typical cornmeal bites and beef jerky to go with her presentation on typical food the Corp would have eaten at that time.  She brought in beef jerky because she couldn't bring herself to bring deer or elk jerky.  
Finally we had a group that was seen not using their time wisely during their five hours given in class and then they submitted a presentation that clearly was a rough or first draft in need of more thought, order and research.  

Then we spent 90 minutes working on our Caine’s Arcade art and project work.   Some of the big things coming out of the fun but productive time -- seeing students persevere when their original idea(s) don’t work out like they plan, their natural curiosity and willingness to think differently and their ability to make amazing things out of limited resources.    









I’ve included some photos so you can see what we have accomplished so far.

Finally we ended the day with having their science and Battle of Trenton tests returned.  I also gave a pep speech about making sure to “study” & memorize the science study guide for tomorrow’s big test.  

Readathon -- students are to bring their daily reading log back and forth from home and school.  Students are encouraged to try and out read me.   I will be assigning reading instead of some homework assignments.  Therefore students will need to bring in daily verification that they are in fact reading.  Students that choose participate in the fund-raiser part will have lunch w/ me and decide in how the money is spent.  

See below about the adopt a family in need that we are doing for our Friday party.   Students seemed excited to shop for kids that are similar in age to them and help others during the holiday season.  

Kind regards,

Mr. Hubbard

Homework for the week:
Math
Here are our notes from today and for this chapter 12 on fractions.  
Page 286 10-1 all due Thursday

Science
Science Test is on Thursday

Social Studies
Read and complete pages 71-84

Read 45+ minutes on Wednesday night.   Social Studies reading and science studying/memorizing count towards the time.

Free-Write no free write this week, rather please read for enjoyment.

Friday’s party note:
Below is the information we received regarding the Dublin El family in need, along with some gift suggestions. Please note that these are only suggestions and any gift in any amount would be greatly appreciated. In order to ensure that each child receives a gift, we have created a sign-up genius site at
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0D4AABAB2DA02-holiday

This is completely voluntary and understand if you cannot participate. However, if you do choose to participate, please involve your child in the gift decision. Gifts may be brought to school on the day of the party. If you choose to wrap your gift (optional), please put a sticky note with the age of the child you purchased for.

Thank you again for all you do for our class!

Family Information:

4 girls, ages 6,10, 11, & 15
2 Boys, ages 3 & 4

Gift Suggestions:
Girls: Novi Star dolls, ponies, and Barbie dolls.
Boys: Helicopters, airplanes - and
anything green
Teenage girl: clothes, nail polish, lip gloss, etc.

Clothing:
Girl: age 15: size 15 in juniors or 12 in misses.
Girl: age 11: size 4 in juniors or 18 in big kids.
Girl: age 10: size 14/16.
Girl: age 6: size 10.
Boy: age 4: size 6x.
Boy: age3: size 4t.

A Winter Read-a-thon!
Help raise money that will stay right in your child’s classroom!!!
Gather sponsors between December 13th through January 16th and read, read, read. This encourages students to enjoy reading and really helps improve their reading skills. Please help your child keep track of the number of minutes he or she has read!

Chromebooks for room C-5?

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/hubbards-heroes-need-chromebooks/933286/

To have your donation matched dollar for dollar, enter the match code INSPIRE on the payment screen. This awesome match offer lasts through December 20.

Monday, #72 2012 2013 (12/17/12)

Day 72 of Week 18

How to describe today?  Students began with the usual P.E.   

When they returned I wanted to have a discussion about Friday’s events.  However I wanted to respect family’s right to choose how much they wanted to share-out with their son/daughter.    My main goal was to squash any false information or rumors that young kids can tend to spread which can cause anxiety or fears, discuss how we can make our classroom & school an even safer place, share that I would do anything to protect them while they are in my care and that school has been and continues to be a safe place.  

To protect what was and wasn’t shared out, students were given five+ minutes to write out what they knew already and share any questions or concerns that they may still have.  There will be no CNN Students this week so these events can play themselves out as we take a 2 week break from CNN Students.

It was clear from the responses that many of the kids had already broached this issue at home.  I would say about 90% of the class already knew about basic information regarding the # of  children and teachers/admin that had been taken from us.   Since most seemed to have a strong sense of basic information and I didn’t want to delve into more specific details we discussed are we safe, how to make ourselves safer and the need to spread kindness out into the world.     

I will point out that many of the kids want to know why this person did what he did and what was his motive.   I shared that trying to explain events is a very human need.  As a people we strive to explain things through a narrative that has a an antagonist & a protagonist.   I said in my experience that this need to have a clear narrative and a clear antagonist has lead us to sometimes rush to find closure or explanation.  I asked them to talk with you more about this issue since because depending on your spiritual bent or your perspective you will have a different explanation.  

Many students also wanted to know what can we do to ensure this doesn’t happen again.  I told them some people want further gun regulation, some people blame our inability as a society to adequately pay for care for our mentally challenged while others say it is our increasingly violent popular culture.   I don’t have answers to this.  I know something needs to change but what mix of legislation and cultural changes is the secret, I do not know.  So they were told to talk with you regarding this.  

Miss Sandy was worried about their spiritual well being after our conversation therefore she brought in some cookies for us to share and enjoy and get back into the holiday/winter spirit.  

Math:
We reviewed how to multiply and divide fractions.  Tonight’s lesson will be a review of concepts covered last week.   
Here are our notes from today and for this chapter 12 on fractions.  

Lewis and Clark -- students are putting their final touches on them.  They will work tomorrow in the computer lab and then present to the class on Wednesday.   Today they signed up for their specific order.  

Caine’s Arcade -- students spent the last part of the day creating their arcades.  It is funny to see the future engineers that have rough drawings made out before they start cutting and creating.  While a group of others start cutting and planning as they organically create their arcade game.  

Readathon -- students are to bring their daily reading log back and forth from home and school.  Students are encouraged to try and out read me.   I will be assigning reading instead of some homework assignments.  Therefore students will need to bring in daily verification that they are infact reading.  Students that choose participate in the fund-raiser part will have lunch w/ me and decide in how the money is spent.  

See below about the adopt a family in need that we are doing for our Friday party.   Students seemed excited to shop for kids that are similar in age to them and help others during the holiday season.  

Mr. Hubbard

Homework for the week:
Math
Here are our notes from today and for this chapter 12 on fractions.  
Page 273 8-16 even due Tuesday
Page 292 1-8 all due Tuesday
Page 284 11-22 all due Wednesday
Page 286 10-1 all due Thursday

Science
Study guide is due on Tuesday
Science Test is on Thursday

Social Studies due on Tuesday  
Read and complete pages 71-84

Read 30+ minutes on Monday night.   Social Studies reading and science work count towards the reading.

Free-Write no free write this week, rather please read for enjoyment.

Hello Parents and children,

Below is the information we received regarding the Dublin El family in need, along with some gift suggestions. Please note that these are only suggestions and any gift in any amount would be greatly appreciated. In order to ensure that each child receives a gift, we have created a sign-up genius site at
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0D4AABAB2DA02-holiday

This is completely voluntary and understand if you cannot participate. However, if you do choose to participate, please involve your child in the gift decision. Gifts may be brought to school on the day of the party. If you choose to wrap your gift (optional), please put a sticky note with the age of the child you purchased for.

Thank you again for all you do for our class!

Family Information:

4 girls, ages 6,10, 11, & 15
2 Boys, ages 3 & 4

Gift Suggestions:
Girls: Novi Star dolls, ponies, and Barbie dolls.
Boys: Helicopters, airplanes - and
anything green
Teenage girl: clothes, nail polish, lip gloss, etc.

Clothing:
Girl: age 15: size 15 in juniors or 12 in misses.
Girl: age 11: size 4 in juniors or 18 in big kids.
Girl: age 10: size 14/16.
Girl: age 6: size 10.
Boy: age 4: size 6x.
Boy: age3: size 4t.

A Winter Read-a-thon!
Help raise money that will stay right in your child’s classroom!!!
Gather sponsors between December 13th through January 16th and read, read, read. This encourages students to enjoy reading and really helps improve their reading skills. Please help your child keep track of the number of minutes he or she has read!

Chromebooks for room C-5?

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/hubbards-heroes-need-chromebooks/933286/

To have your donation matched dollar for dollar, enter the match code INSPIRE on the payment screen. This awesome match offer lasts through December 20.

Video showing how to divide with fractions (all three ways)

Video showing how to multiply fractions

Tuesday, #68 2012 2013 (12/11/12)

Day 68 of Week 17

It was technology Tuesday and it was the heart of our Lewis and Clark project work so we spent a great deal of time researching and creating our projects.

The website is a private website that only dublinusd.net users can view however ask your son/daughter to show what they are working on or look at how they are giving project updates explaining what they are doing.    It is all exciting stuff.

Math
We had our chapter 10 test.  Most students had not finished therefore we will complete it first thing tomorrow morning.  

We then began work on our next level of fractions and that is multiplying fractions.  


Click here to watch the video on how to multiply fractions.

Click here to watch the video on how to divide fractions.

Here are our notes from today and for this chapter.  

Science

Math/Art -- geometry

Please also return the movie permission slip.  

The school also a growing “lost and found” area in the multipurpose room.  If you are missing jackets, etc.. please check that out.  We may donate these items shortly after the new year.  

See below for information about the book swap, holiday boutique and the readathon.  

Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard

Homework for the week:
Math
Click here to see our notes for the entire chapter 10
Here are our notes from today and for this chapter 12 on fractions.  
Page 270 7-25 odds due Wed
Page 273 7-25 odds due Wed
Page 276-277 8-25 all due Thursday
Page 279-280 12-23 all due Friday
Starry Hexagon due Thursday

Reading/Comprehension:
Education Article due on Wednesday.
Python Article due on Thursday
Doing the Right Thing article due on Friday.  I copy was emailed to every student email account.

For every article, select three challenging words -- write them down and their definition.  The with a clear topic sentence, write a 4 to 8 sentence paragraph in support of your topic sentence.  

Free-Write due Friday
What is the best thing about reading?

Science due Thursday
112-113 and expand on class notes.

Math/Art
page 96 all

On Thursday night, read for 30+ minutes and have your readathon sheet signed off by your parents.  The current event’s article counts towards the 30 minutes.  

Misc.
Holiday BOOK SWAP
On December 14th and 17th, classrooms are collecting gently used or new books (no more than $5) for a school book exchange. Children will be given tickets for their donations (one ticket for 1-3 books, two tickets for 4-6 books, and 3 tickets for 7-10 books) and each ticket can be redeemed for a book of your child’s choosing (swap runs from December 18th-20th during lunch recess). Leftover books will be donated to classrooms.

A Winter Read-a-thon!
Help raise money that will stay right in your child’s classroom!!!
Gather sponsors between December 13th through January 16th and read, read, read. This encourages students to enjoy reading and really helps improve their reading skills. Please help your child keep track of the number of minutes he or she has read!

Friday morning Holiday Boutique
Our 5th grade students will have an opportunity from 9:30-10:00 a.m. to shop and also help their kindergarten buddy shop in the annual Holiday Boutique.  Students do not have to participate or bring money however students that do have money will have an opportunity to purchase items from local artisans and local shops.    Our 5th graders will have two responsibilities: 1. help the kindergartners manage and hold onto their money and 2. provided they brought money from home shop for family members or for themselves.  From 10:00-10:15’ish the 5th graders can also have their purchases wrapped for free by parent volunteers.    

Monday, #67 2012 2013 (12/10/12)

Day 67 of Week 16

So we began our project work on Lewis & Clark and Seaman in earnest today.   Students are fired up with ideas and working energetically acquiring their initial information.  

CNN-Students  
Today we took notes and this discussed what is a DUI and why do NFL players struggle with this issue.  We quickly learned about the American job numbers and how it is hard to tell if numbers are improving or not since there are people being dropped out of the statistical data.  Flu shot?  Is it good or bad?  Then we wrote about some of the worst areas that acquire germs in our classroom and in our houses.  As the doctor recommended on today’s show, remember to wash those door handles every day.  Finally we talked about the python snake overtaking the Florida Everglades.  This lead to a long conversation about if it was ok to kill off the pythons, how were they destroying the environment and what do you do once you kill them (skin for shoes? eat the meat?)

Reading Comprehension:
We read about the invisibility cloak.  
We practiced with what we will be using all week as a baseline.
Students are to highlight words that they come across that they do not know.  Then they are to choose three of those words, write down the word and then write down the words definition.
After reading, they are to create a topic sentence about what they read and write a paragraph about that article.  The topic sentence will basically either let the reader, me, know if they are going to do a summary of the story, expand on an idea discussed in the article, or state an opinion regarding the main point of the article.  
There will be homework on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night using this format.  

Math
Review the test-prep that we worked on during Friday’s review.  
Students did amazingly well on the test-prep.  On many of the questions we would have 80 to 90% of the getting the question correct.   
Most mistakes were by students that became confused on how to convert an improper fraction to a mixed number and how to make a mixed number into an improper fraction.   
For a few students they have proven mastery during our homework time and class discussions when it is focusing on one concept at a time, however they need to practice tonight when all six lessons are jumbled together.  
Click here to see our notes from the chapter.  

Project Time, silent reading time, homework time, writing homework down for the week and working 1 on 1 with students.
Today due to time constraints, every person or team was given 30 minutes to work on their project.
We rotate computer so everyone gets time to work on projects or the other responsibilities that we covered.

See below for information about the book swap, holiday boutique and the readathon.  
Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard

Homework for the week:
Math
Click here to see our notes for this entire chapter.  
Chapter 10 test on Tuesday
Page 270 7-25 odds due Wed
Page 273 7-25 odds due Wed
Page 276-277 8-25 all due Thursday
Page 279-280 12-23 all due Friday
Starry Hexagon due Thursday

Reading/Comprehension:
Education Article due on Wednesday.
Python Article due on Thursday
Current event article tbd due on Friday
For every article, select three challenging words -- write them down and their definition.  The with a clear topic sentence, write a 4 to 8 sentence paragraph in support of your topic sentence.  

Free-Write due Friday
What is the best thing about reading?

Science due Tuesday
108-111 read and answer
vocab cards
complete both sides of precipitation worksheet

On Thursday night, read for 30+ minutes and have your readathon sheet signed off by your parents.  The current event’s article counts towards the 30 minutes.  

Misc.
Holiday BOOK SWAP
On December 14th and 17th, classrooms are collecting gently used or new books (no more than $5) for a school book exchange. Children will be given tickets for their donations (one ticket for 1-3 books, two tickets for 4-6 books, and 3 tickets for 7-10 books) and each ticket can be redeemed for a book of your child’s choosing (swap runs from December 18th-20th during lunch recess). Leftover books will be donated to classrooms.

A Winter Read-a-thon!
Help raise money that will stay right in your child’s classroom!!!
Gather sponsors between December 13th through January 16th and read, read, read. This encourages students to enjoy reading and really helps improve their reading skills. Please help your child keep track of the number of minutes he or she has read!

Friday morning Holiday Boutique
Our 5th grade students will have an opportunity from 9:30-10:00 a.m. to shop and also help their kindergarten buddy shop in the annual Holiday Boutique.  Students do not have to participate or bring money however students that do have money will have an opportunity to purchase items from local artisans and local shops.    Our 5th graders will have two responsibilities: 1. help the kindergartners manage and hold onto their money and 2. provided they brought money from home shop for family members or for themselves.  From 10:00-10:15’ish the 5th graders can also have their purchases wrapped for free by parent volunteers.   

Thursday, #65 2012 2013 (12/06/12)

Day 65
Lewis and Clark & Seaman...we finished both today.  It has been a great adventure.  I look forward to seeing the presentations that students are going to work on over the next few weeks that will allow them to research further a related topic about their journey west.  
If you get a chance ask your son or daughter to share with you some of the interesting facts that they learned about this epic journey into the great unknown.

Math:
We corrected last night’s homework and the kids did a great job on their number lines.  
Tonight’s homework is a review of the chapter.  
Click here to see our notes.  

Library -- we read this great book.  

Science -- precipitation and the water cycle

Math-Art -- How to use a protractor.  

We discussed quickly “Manifest Destiny,” President Polk and the first signs that the USA may be headed to a civil war.   

Finally we ended the day with our CNN-Students  
Topics discussed:  high unemployment for 16-25 year olds, Arne Duncan starting some test schools with longer school days and school years and finally a real life “invisibility cloak” is just about invented.  
Most of the talk was around the amazing invisibility cloak -- read about it here.
Then we had a spirited discussion about Arne Duncan and his longer school days/years.  Here is the article about the test schools.  

Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard

Homework for the week:
Math
Click here to see our notes.  
page 240-241 1-14 all due Friday
Test will be on Tuesday 12/11
Mosaic Star due on Friday

Science due Tuesday
108-111 read and answer
vocab cards
complete both sides of precipitation worksheet

Free -Write due on Friday
The life of a denominator......