Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Tuesday #166 2012-2013


Day 166 of week 37
May 28, 2013


Tomorrow is the big field trip.  

To confirm here is who we are expecting to be a chaperone on the trip:
Guidi, Nolan, Ferguson, Wanzenried, Callaway, Lutz, Bolton, Boursier, and Gordon.



Be here at 7:30 a.m.  
That will give you time to park, use the restroom, and be ready to enter the bus.  The bus will leave promptly at 7:42:30 seconds.  Do NOT be late.  
  • No bathroom on the bus.  We will stop at a boat launch area in Half Moon Bay, use the restroom, before heading off to the tide pools.  
  • Once at the tide pools:  public beach -- 2 porta-potties about ½ mile away  and the entire group (chaperon and students all must stay together).  So really really try to use the Boat Launch bathrooms.


Bring a backpack:
Bring a  morning snack, especially if they eat one every day at 10:15
Bring a lunch.
Waterproof shoes  or not your nicest shoes --- because they will get wet
Extra socks  and/or shoes?
Layers for clothing is super important


We will be back by 2:50
We leave the beach by 1:15


Rules:
Everyone must stay with their group.
No jumping into the water and absolutely no swimming
It is against the law to collect or take anything home.  
Do not run
Do not leave area
Once again, do not swim
Chaperons need to stay with the kids -- try not to socialize unless you have two groups together.


Weather:


Want more information about where we are going:
Pillar Point, Half Moon Bay
Pillar Point Air Force Station


Wednesday night is also the Spring Singing Concert.
If your son/daughter can make it to the concert that would be great.


Tomorrow night's concert (Wednesday, May 29) starts at 6:30 and students should arrive between 6-6:15.
Dress is all black attire for 5th...they don't have to go and buy something, if they don't have all black, dark colors are fine.


A super busy day today:
Today we had a 5th grade Spring Singing practice.
We then had the counselor, Ms. Brown, and two former Dublin El. students come and answer questions about Wells Middle School.  
We then had an all school performance of the Spring Concert.  
The kids then did a rotation with Mrs. Cargo for science and a rotation with Mrs. Chin for Math/Art.  


Therefore the 3rd States and Capitals test will take place on Friday.  


Last Friday we had a our family-life discussion.  If you haven’t already you may want to touch base with your son/daughter about what was discussed.   During my boys only discussion on several occasions the boys asked reasonable questions and they were asked to speak with their parents about that subject since it went beyond the scope of our discussion at school.  So it wouldn’t hurt to follow up and see what questions or how they interpreted the information discussed that day.  


Kind Regards,
Mr. Hubbard
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.
  • Mark Twain


Homework for the week:

  1. Book project is due on Friday (an additional day was given to facilitate more Spring Concert attendance).
  2. 3rd States and Capitals test will be on Friday.
  3. Keep watching and taking the quizzes on Brainpop.  
  4. Students may still work w/ me to retake tests from earlier in the school year.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Thursday #164 2012-2013

Day 164 of week 37
May 23, 2013
Mr. Hubbard's Teacher Appreciation Gift Today!!
Big news -- Open House tonight is from 6:30-7:30
Big news #2 -- kids don’t need to pack a lunch tomorrow since the parents earned a pizza lunch and ice-cream social for the 5th graders (highest % of parents at the post auction night)

Next Wednesday is the big tide-pool field trip.  Students need to be here and ready to enter the bus at 7:30 a.m. SHARP.  The bus drives away at 7:42 and 30 seconds.  Therefore do NOT be late and use the restroom either here at school or at home.  We have the more cost-effective bus so it doesn’t have a restroom.  

We could use a few more chaperons for this field trip.  
So far we have confirmed:
Guidi, Nolan, Ferguson, Wanzenried, Callaway, Holmes, Lutz, and Maplesden.  
If you are interested and have met all of the pre-background check stuff, then please let me know ASAP.  We could use 2 to 3 more chaperons.  

More information to come on Tuesday..Everyone needs to pack a lunch & snack.  Wear shoes you don’t mind getting wet and/or ruined and how to dress.  

Today -- big 5th grade singing practice for next Wednesday night’s singing concert.  Please have your son/daughter show up and sing if it is at all feasible.

Students spent the day working on the following projects:
Famous American
Open House Presentation
More economics with Khan Academy and cupcakes.   
More CNN-Students
More Brainpops

They also spent some more time discussing the science behind the family life unit.  I believe the discussion is the changes that occur during puberty.  Feel free to ask your son/daughter questions and get their perspective on what they are learning.

Finally we spent the time after lunch getting ready for Open-House.  We cleaned, we organized, we put items into the “take home” or “stays here” folders, and helped our more “organizationally challenged” peers.  

Kind Regards,
Mr. Hubbard
"You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world's happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime."
  • Dale Carnegie

Homework for the week:

Famous American Report was due today: May 23rd
  • Students have literally had 60+ minutes every school day in May to work on this project.  

Brainpop Science related quizzes
Students should look at their www.engrade.com and see which tests they are missing

States and Capitals test #3
Keep up the hard work and studying.  

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Wednesday #163 2012-2013

12 school days later...I return.
Now Day 163 of week 37

Since I last made an official posting we have gone off to camp for four days, we completed state testing and we have worked many in-class hours on our Famous American reports!!!

Biggest news:  Open House is tomorrow from 6:30-7:30

You may come and see all of the great technology projects we have been working on and also some of the great learning that has transpired during our time in Room C-5 this school year.  I also hope to have many photos from our Outdoor Education Adventure.  

Monday -- you can ask your students to show you what we worked on since I emailed them a copy of the sub plan.  I figured they would benefit from knowing first hand what was asked of them.

Tuesday-- the walk to Wells and the 2nd states and capitals test.  I believe their scores are on Engrade in the social studies section.  We had 25 of the 29 students score 85% or greater on test #2.  That is a reflection of hours of practice!!

Today -- more math, more CNN Students (its back now that testing is all over), more working on their Famous American report, and a finishing their self-presentation for Open House.

Thank you for the Teacher Appreciation gift today.  Everyone’s generosity is truly valued.  This year is a special collection of hard working achievers who most importantly have real big hearts.  So to earn the respect and approval from the parents that help create such well-rounded respectful students does mean a lot.  

Kind Regards,
Mr. Hubbard
"You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world's happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime."
  • Dale Carnegie

Homework for the week:

Famous American Report is due tomorrow, May 23rd
  • Students have literally had 60+ minutes every school day in May to work on this project.  

End of the Year reflection -- done on Google Presentation due May 23rd
  • Students were given 60 minutes on Monday and various time today to work on this project.  

CNN-Students Feedback
Students were given time today in class to complete this.  

Watch the movies on the metric system.
They were emailed to them today and they need to make sure they are signed into the Khan Academy PRIOR to watching the videos.

Brainpop Science related quizzes
Students should look at their www.engrade.com and see which tests they are missing

30 minutes of Scootpad.com
Students owe me 30 minutes of language arts practice.  This was assigned on Monday.

States and Capitals test #3
Keep up the hard work and studying.  



Monday, May 6, 2013

Monday #151 2012-2013



Day 151 of week 35

The final week of testing....

Today we spent making sure our science and our math skills are still going strong as we head into this  week’s math and science exams.  

So today they played baseball to start the day.  

Then we had 45 minutes of Johnny Tremain time.  Today he pays a final visit to the Lapham family.  With Johnny being away from them for a year he can see how much he has grown and learned so it helps him put closure to that part of his life.  Then the big drama in today’s reading revolved around the Lyte family.  They are treating Isannah as a show pony and making Cilla into their workerbee.  Unbeknownst to the family the Whigs have something in store for them when they move out into the countryside.  

We then worked 60 minutes on science review and how to find information using appropriate and viable websites.  

We then had 60+ minutes to work on their Famous American reports.  
To recap:  students were given 45,60,60,and 75 minutes last week to work on their Famous American reports.  So we have given:  240 minutes last week and 60 so far this week -- so they should be 5 hours into this journey.  They will be given significant time again the rest of this week.  
We are shooting for a complete report by May 23rd -- the night of our Open House.
There are some students that are using their time wisely and some that are choosing to not use their time wisely.  For those working diligently this will be primarily an in-class project for those that require constant reminders or only working when directly prompted this will be a significant “at home” project.   You should talk with your son/daughter and determine which group they think they are in.

We ended the day with 50 minutes of math review.  Students are watching Khan Academy, working on the various math websites and challenging me with their algebra questions (those that are working towards skipping 6th grade math).  

Here is the reminder about the snack list:

**Students brought home applications for GATE testing, if you are interested please return them ASAP.  
Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard
What is important is not that there are uncontrollable events in our lives, but how we respond to them.
  • Hyrum W. Smith

Homework for the week:

1.  Study those states and capitals.

2.  If you feel like practicing a little bit at night, here are some great resources:
Final Week:
Test Retakes
prepdog.org
khanacademy.com
ixl.com
scootpad.com
brainpop.com movies

3. Bring Famous American book and research to class every day.  

Reminder:
Here is the schedule:
April 30th Language Arts
May 1st Language Arts
May 2nd Math
May 7th Math
May 8th Science
May 9th Wells Math Placement test
All of them will happen from 10:30-12:30

The big points to remember for testing::

1. Exercise is important for brain function.


2.  Sleep Well In Order to Think Well


3.  Eat a healthy breakfast and limit the sugar intake.