Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Happy Tuesday!!

What has been going on the last two days?  

We are in thick of Red Ribbon week.  Tomorrow is crazy hair day.  Thursday is Neon day.  Friday is Halloween dress up day.  

Student Council:  Our class has many students eager to help out and join DES’ student council.  It has been 4 or 5 years since we last had student council and the excitement is immense.  Students that have successfully completed the first rounds of paperwork and creating posters, can begin hanging up posters tomorrow morning.  They must use painters tape only.  There are size and quantity limitations that were written up in their most recent handout.  Their 1 minute campaign video is due into us on Friday.   

Math:  We have been reviewing how to properly and most strategically solve multiplication problems with fractions.   We spent two days doing this and it is imperative that students use the new and improved style.  In this case it really is improved in that prime factoring the numerator and denominator before finding the product ensures students work with smaller products and their final answer is already simplified (provided it isn’t an improper fraction).  

Writing -- more work with narratives.  We continue to go over what goes into creating a well written narrative.  

The vocab this week is rather challenging.  They are all homographs therefore the words are spelled exactly the same however they have different pronunciations and unique definitions.  Extra time may need to be given to their studying this week since they are more challenging this week.

I discussed with the kids on Monday that the homework for this week is pretty similar to other weeks however I am requesting most of completed by Thursday.  Why?  Because Friday is the Halloween parade and party therefore their minds will be elsewhere.  That means asking students to learn a new lesson or testing them would be cruel and unusual punishment.  We talked about them having to then “suck it up” and have a tad bit more time dedicated to homework on Monday through Wednesday evening however Thursday would just be an evening to read for 30 minutes of enjoyment and focus on their Halloween costume.  

Book projects are coming along -- we are down to just 7 more students must present to the class.   The students have been somewhat creative in the sub projects (the six categories)  that they have chosen to complete regarding the project.  

Today’s math was all about making a number line and understanding where a number stood on a line in comparison to 0, ½ or 1.  Students were given 15 minutes to complete their homework therefore those committed to plugging away made significant progress.  

Kind regards and Go Giants!!

Mr. Hubbard

If circumstances had the power to bless or harm, they would bless and harm all men alike, but the fact that the same circumstances will be alike good and bad to different souls proves that the good or bad is not in the circumstance, but only in the mind of him that encounters it.     James Allen

Homework for the remainder of the week:
Math

210-211 (1-23 all) 9-4 due Wednesday

238-239 (1-22 all) 10-4 due Thursday

Graphiti -- due Thursday

*mini test on Thursday

Read 30 minutes every single night

Vocab -- page 25 due Wednesday

Page 26 due Thursday

Spelling and Vocab test is on Thursday this week

Non Fiction Reading Comprehension due on Thursday

Prime or Composite

Free-Write on Thursday

Describe how our costume this year happened….your thought process, inspiration, why that costume, how did you make it or acquire it, etc…  

Thursday, October 23, 2014

 We had some ghostly fun today as the students worked on creating their own little ghost that they can bring home on Friday.  

Today was a very important lesson on multiplying fractions.  There was a significant amount of time and examples dedicated towards the importance of breaking the composite numbers in the numerators and denominators into their “prime numbers.”  This allows the students to first use the “power of one” (in the olden days we called this cross canceling) to simplify the numerator and denominators PRIOR to doing the multiplication.   

It really makes the most sense because:

1. most students have enough multiplication sense to factor tree composite numbers down to their prime factors
2. simplifying BEFORE multiplying ensures that unless the product is an improper fractions then the final product will already be in its simplest form
3. logically and from observing 5th graders, it puts them into a great possibility to succeed when they deal with removing common factors and multiplying the smallest numbers possible than the 80’s way of just multiplying AND THEN look to cross cancel and simplify.    Why make the largest product possible only to have to then simplify the maximum product.  

We literally did 6 examples of this today and I walked around and ensured everyone was participating and practicing this important concept.  

As we have been doing throughout the week we also worked on our narrative writing skills.  Today we discussing transitional phrases, why we use them, how useful are they and and how to go back and add them into our narratives.  If curious ask your son or daughter to explain what one of their three narratives is all about.  

Kind regards,

Mr. Hubbard

Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy.”

• Author Unknown

Homework for the week:

Math:

260-262 (1-41 odds only) 11-4 due Friday

Vocab and Spelling Test tomorrow.

They can practice here  

Read 30 minutes every single night

Free write due on Friday:

My happiest Halloween memory was……..

Monday, October 20, 2014

Happy Monday!

I am so excited to have overcast skies and even a tad bit of rain today!!

We continue to have anywhere from 1 to 4 people out per school day with various illnesses.  If your son/daughter are complaining of not feeling too hot, they could be telling the truth.  As always I suggest lots of water, getting a minimum of 9-10 hours of sleep and exercising regularly.  

With some absences combined with some intense band practice (they have a performance coming up) we had a small class at times today.

Related to the two days of writing training that all teachers had to attend a few weeks back, we put in some time over the last week, working on the writing process and focusing on writing personal narratives.  Today we reviewed what types of openings could we use for our narratives.  We discussed examples and brainstormed how we could use the suggestions to improve our personal narrative or our narrative as a star.  

Math today is all about adding fractions that are mixed numbers and they unlike denominators.

All of the math work should first have their estimation shown prior to them working on their final answer.  This is a mandatory requirement.  

Also students were strongly encouraged to use the venn diagram method for finding the least common denominator.  

Related to math….do you want the “rough” outline of the math we will cover through January?  Click onto this link.   This may change based upon how well students are picking up information.  

This is how C-5 rolls

We did our preparations for the week.  Finally we ended our day with our circle time.  Students shared out what rain makes them think of, one thing they did this weekend and  how the toilet paper roll should “roll.”  One student was absolutely giddy over this final closing survey and said something about how he had been waiting for someone to delve into this subject for a long time.  In the end most people stated no preference or opinion on the matter while there was a sizable contingent of people who feel strongly that the roll of paper should face outward and roll down.   The only dissenting opinions were people either cats or young toddlers living in the house.  True story my sophomore year at college I had a housemate with strong opinions regarding this subject.  I didn’t realize that people could have opinions on the subject so sometimes I throw it out to see if kids/families do or not.  

Students will begin tomorrow presenting to the class their open ended book projects.

Make up photos or first time photos will be offered on Wednesday.   Students brought home the envelope today, if it didn’t make it home w/ you the website is order.inter-state.com and the order code is: 739604

Student Led Conferences look for the email that I sent you on Friday. Click onto the link to sign up or change.

Kind regards,

Mr. Hubbard

Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy.”

• Author Unknown

Homework for the week:

Math:

236-237 (1-21 all ) 10-3 due Tuesday

352-353 (1-21 all) 15-4 due Wednesday

374-375 (1-11 all) 16-4 due Thursday

260-262 (1-41 odds only) 11-4 due Friday

Graphit #8 due Thursday

Vocab Homophones

Page 21 due Tuesday

Page 22 due Wednesday

Page 23 due Thursday

Read 30 minutes every single night

Reading and Non-Fiction Comprehension:

Bartering for Basics due Thursday

Free write due on Friday:

My happiest Halloween memory was……..

Make up photos or first time photos will be offered on Wednesday.   Students brought home the envelope today, if it didn’t make it home w/ you the website is order.inter-state.com and the order code is: 739604

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Happy Tuesday!

Sorry no email until now...Monday had a long staff meeting and then a “mandatory” 49er game.  Then this afternoon I had to rush home to watch the SF Giants win their playoff game.

On Monday -- we had our circle time to catch up on how they spent their four day weekends.  Many students were able to make small trips to fun places and many soccer games were once again played.  We also “ended” the debate of a biscuit or white, wheat, or sourdough toast.  Being a good Bay Area class the sourdough toast won going away over the biscuit.  While neither white or wheat were chosen much.  

With math on Monday, students were given a protractor to borrow.  We studied various quadrilaterals and wrote down their definitions.

Here is a great video showing how to use a protractor.

We also completed another Liberty’s Kids and are further learning about the early conflicts with the American colonists and England.  

We also had short conversations regarding these two recent articles in Time Magazine:

http://time.com/3483888/the-truth-about-home-cooking/

and

http://time.com/3483905/the-paperless-classroom-is-coming/

Today -- I had one of four 5th grade collaboration days that the district organizes.  Provided there are ample enough substitute teachers, all of the 5th grade teachers in the district get together.  We either a) learn something relevant to recent curriculum changes or b) we can share-out ideas and resources that other 5th grade teachers are using.  

*FYI every grade will be doing this throughout the year therefore if you have other siblings, look for them to also have these all grade level meetings/trainings.  

On a related and heroic note, Ms. Mitchell was our class’ substitute teacher today.  She was rear-ended on here way to work however she inspirationally wanted to still teach today.  Myself and the students were all blown away by her dedication and perseverance.  

Camp meeting 6:30-7:30 on Thursday night.   We still need a few more dedicated chaperones who can quickly get their fingerprinting done and their TB tests completed.  

The first open-ended project of the year is due THURSDAY.  It is meant to be challenging and it should reflect the 6+ weeks that were given to complete this assignment.  I look forward to their presentations.  

Book orders -- I’ll close this book order on November 3rd.   The students should have brought home their catalogs on Monday.  That catalog has stapled to it the special purchase $10 and earn $5 off of an additional book!!!!

Here is the information:

website:  ​scholastic.com/readingclub

Class Activation Code: HH4V4

Kind regards,

Mr. Hubbard

"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in."

• Greek Proverb

Homework for the week:

Math

372-373 (1-10 all) Due Wednesday 16-3

258-259 (1-21 all) Due Thursday 11-3

208-209 (1-14 all) Due Friday 9-3

Handout with more (X,Y) coordinate practice  due Friday

Test on Friday regarding first 3 lessons of the chapter

Non-Fiction reading and writing due on Thursday

Active and Passive Transport

*may answer in complete sentences using https://www.chalkup.co/login

Read for 30 Minutes Every Night.

Please bring in your Reading Around the USA form this Friday!!

Thursday Night:

6:30-7:30  Outdoor Education Information and Questions/Answers night

Multipurpose Room -- I’ll be there!!

Spelling and Vocabulary Tests will be on Friday

Spelling City -- Activities must be completed prior to Friday

Vocabulary Work Page 19 due on Wednesday

Page 20 due on Thursday

Free-Write due on Friday:

Let me describe for you the scariest time in my life……..

Book Project -- due THURSDAY!!!

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Happy Tuesday.

For the students this is an extremely short week.  They only have Monday-Wednesday and yet it is also a collaboration week as well therefore all three days end at 2:00 p.m.  

What are we working on during such a short week?  

Math continues to plug forward.  Yesterday the students did factoring trees and worked on recognizing those prime numbers.  Today the students are adding and subtracting using fraction strips.  As a class we worked together on using the fraction strips, then decomposing the expression to solve and finally just converting the mixed numbers into improper fractions.  The focus tonight was using the fraction strips.  Students were given a very eye catching multi-color one and a black & white one that they can write on.  

Other math notes:

1. Students struggled during last Friday’s math test specifically with the concept of (X,Y) coordinates and graphing them.  

Therefore if your child is ahead of the game or bored on Thursday or Friday, challenge them to master these IXL concepts:

• Function tables (Fifth grade - Q.7)
• Convert graphs to input/output tables (Fifth grade - Q.8)
• Graph linear functions (Fifth grade - Q.10)
• Coordinate graphs review - whole numbers only (Fifth grade - R.1)

2. Students also continue to slightly struggle with rounding to the correct place value.  So they receive a math&art handout that has them practice with rounding to the correct place value.  

Once again if they are bored on Thursday or Friday, challenge them to master these IXL concepts:

• Round decimals (Fifth grade - C.6)
• Estimate sums and differences of decimals (Fifth grade - E.8)

Narrative -- Over the last four school days the students have been working with Ms. Mitchell on the concept of “main idea.”  On Monday they completed a lesson concerning main idea regarding the lifespan of a star.  

Also over the recent times we have been reading examples, watching short video examples and discussing narratives.  Therefore today we utilized our notes on the life cycle of a star and we are going to make a star narrative.  A star is going to share out their life via a narrative essay.  Ms. Mitchell found a great way to kill two birds with one lesson.  So look out and probe your young “star” about the story they are going to tell about their life.  

Circle time on Monday -- students shared their stories regarding their ancestors and students also explained where outside of the USA they would want to visit.  It was unique to have some students know deeply about their heritage while some students weren’t sure where their parents were from let alone further ancestors.   As far as places to visit many students are looking forward to visiting France or Australia.  

Vocab -- a second week of antonyms.  Students are working on words that have opposite meanings.  These words can also be found on https://www.spellingcity.com/TeacherHubbard/

Students will need access to a decent dictionary or online access in order to successfully complete these weekly vocabulary assignments.   I had two students that sit directly in front of me today miss many of the vocabulary challenges and they explained that they “guessed” what the words mean.   This nightly homework is intended to be slightly challenging in order for them to learn how to research and learn what the words mean.  

Ideally the homework will be light and I am not assigning any type of extra Thursday or Friday homework.  Rather students should use that time on Thursday and Friday to make significant progress on their Book Project.   We are extremely close to having it due.  

We are competing with schools in our district and in the trivalley tomorrow -- sanely and safely we are encouraging students to walk, scooter, bike, skateboard, inline skating, unicycle, horeseback, llama, carpool, etc  to school tomorrow.  

They would also really like your Jaws A Thon $$ returned tomorrow.  

Finally the book order arrived on Monday evening.  Some students thought it had arrived sooner than that.  I honestly have no incentive to hoard or hold onto the books.  I promise to diseminate them as soon as they arrive.  While listening to the L.A. Dodgers lose tonight, I organized and placed onto everyone’s desk their book orders.   Look for our November book order catalogs to come home soon they each will have a special:  “Purchase $10 in books and receive $5 off an additional book” coupon .   Thank you to everyone that purchased on this first order.  I was able to order $20 in books for the classroom and we qualified for a collection of scary creepy Halloweeney type books.  All in all we received over 12 free books to add to our classroom library!!!

Kind regards,

Mr. Hubbard

“My name is gossip…I maim without killing.  I break hearts and ruin lives.”

• Jerry West - Hall of Fame basketball player, logo of the NBA, and  GM of the Lakers

Homework:

Math:

232-234 1-25 all due Wednesday

“Blazing Arrows”  math & art with rounding due Wednesday

Vocabulary

Page 16 and 17 (w/ the writing part) due Wednesday

Vocab. test is on Wednesday

https://www.spellingcity.com/TeacherHubbard/   vocabulary activities STRONGLY recomended

Free-write  “A free topic”

Write about whatever your heart and mind desires.

one full page or 20 minutes whatever comes first

hand written or turned in on https://www.chalkup.co/dash

Walk and Roll to school on Wednesday

Jaws A Thon -- donation money due on Wednesday

Book Project due on the 16th

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Thursday!!

The last of our 5th grade amigos made it to Lawrence Livermore Lab.   Like the others they had a great time.  

For those left back we had a circle time where we fleshed out what is going on in 5th grade this year.  Students were able to share out their concerns and give suggestions for improvements.  Our circle time also covered tattoos, being judged by your appearance or how you speak and what the future has in store in regards to Mars travel, robotic workers and 3D printers.  

We of course Scootpaded and we  tried out the assigned Spelling City activities.

We also took notes while listening to a rap about Idioms.  We then tried our best to share out what the idioms figuratively mean.  

At the end of the day we all reviewed the math today.   It is a “new” point of emphasis with Common Core and one that allegedly was emphasized and assessed during last year’s practice tests.

Here is the concept behind tonight’s lesson:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NF.B.5

Interpret multiplication as scaling (resizing), by:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NF.B.5.A

Comparing the size of a product to the size of one factor on the basis of the size of the other factor, without performing the indicated multiplication.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NF.B.5.B

Explaining why multiplying a given number by a fraction greater than 1 results in a product greater than the given number (recognizing multiplication by whole numbers greater than 1 as a familiar case); explaining why multiplying a given number by a fraction less than 1 results in a product smaller than the given number; and relating the principle of fraction equivalence a/b = (n × a)/(n × b) to the effect of multiplying a/b by 1.

In “real” usable language?    When you multiply 5 * 1 = 1   Now when you multiply 5*¾  the produce will be less than 5.  

We then ended the day practicing our Geese  maneuvers in preparation for tomorrow’s big Jaw-A-Thon.  Please have the kids wear  a white shirt.   We run tomorrow  from Noon-12:30.  

We also could still use some volunteers to mark runners.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0c4da4aa2faa8-third  password jaws

Camp Money is technically due tomorrow.  We need some sort of payment.  We are willing to work something out with you regarding payment plans or researching for scholarships.     See earlier in the week’s postings for the camp paperwork that we want to be completed.

Kind regards,

Mr. Hubbard

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”

Stephen Covey

Homework for the week:

Math:

254-256 (1-25 all) due Friday

If lessons are increasingly quick, students are strongly encouraged to work on www.khanacademy.com or www.ixl.com

Free-Write for the week due on Friday:

“Describe the “ultimate” Halloween Candy or Candies

It can be a made up candy, a collection of their favorite candies, or even a completely out the box type of Halloween candy --whatever their mind can think up.

Reading for 30 minutes every night.

Vocab

page 14 due on Thursday

**a nightly vocab practice was also assigned on https://www.spellingcity.com/TeacherHubbard/

Test is on Friday

Our Living Constitution

Four questions and one short essay question.  Due on Friday

The assignment is given on https://www.chalkup.co/dash

Camp -- (December 15th-18th)

We need these forms completed by Friday please:

http://www.ymcaeastbay.org//views/branches/arroyo/docs/Parent-Handbook-2014_2015.pdf

*This packet came with the Back to School Night packet

Also the school needs to confirm your child will be attending camp.  The cost/donation for this year is $200.  You do not need to pay the entire amount all at one time.  We will set up a payment plan (200/8 months = $25 per month).  There is also scholarship money however you will need to contact Ms. McGovern or myself at your earliest convenience.  We want every child to attend since it is such an amazing learning experience however you do need to communicate with us if you need payment assistance or scholarship.  

10/16 5th Grade Camp Info Night for Parent/Guardians, Multi-use Room at 6:30 PM

Do you want to chaperone and help out during camp?  Here is a packet that tells you what it is all about.    If you are interested in helping there is a lengthy process involved regarding fingerprints and background checks therefore you need to see Mrs. Bastida ASAP to get the paperwork rolling.