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January 24, 2010

 

 

Carlisle's Hotshots Robotics Teams
 will be recognized at the school board meeting on January 25th.
They are bound for Ohio's FLL State Championships on February 6th and 7th.

 

News Briefs

Countdown to the 2010 5th Grade Ohio Achievement Tests

 

  • Ohio Achievement Test countdown has officially begun!  This countdown shows ALL the days (including weekends and spring break), so it looks like a LOT more time than it is. From the date of this newsletter there are only 11 school weeks until the test! Students will be bringing home weekly math, reading, and science test practice items, due each Friday. They have decided to call it their "Funky Friday" work. We started with math, this week we have math and reading, and the next week we will begin to have all three. It will be important for students not to put this work off until the night before it is due. Students will receive a grade for their work on these practice items. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions!

  • Reading Project. The students' next reading project is due this Friday, January 29th.

  • LEGO Robotics Teams - Both of our Hotshots Robotics teams (grades 5-6-7) our working hard to be ready for their state competition at the 2010 Ohio FLL Championships. They will be recognized at the Monday, January 25th, school board meeting. The team members should meet at the high school commons at 5:45 Monday evening.

  • Scholastic Book Orders. If you are interested in ordering from the January or February Arrow Book Club, you can do so by visiting our class's online site. To order, click on this link, click the button indicating that you are a parent, and login using the username and password I gave you by email!    http://www.scholastic.com/bookclubs .

Ohio Achievement Tests. We are all in this together, with everyone having a stake in the results! I have planned focused lessons, intervention, and fun activities for the next 11 school weeks as we prepare for our Ohio Math, Reading, and Science Achievement Tests. We will continue to practice using "QIA", which requires students to start their short and extended answers by using words from the question (Question In Answer). This strategy helps students write "on-topic" responses. I will continue to update everyone about how we are preparing for the tests, and how parents can help at home.

 

I have also worked to make it painless by gathering links to interactive websites where practice can be fun and game-like. Practice makes perfect! Students would benefit greatly by enjoying some time online with Mrs. Nettling's OAT Study Tables.


 reducing (simplifying) fractions to lowest terms

Math.
New concepts.  After taking an exam on Unit 6 (using data, statistics, graphing, fractions, common denominators, and addition/subtraction of fractions), we jumped into Unit 7, which covers more skills on exponents, scientific notation, order of operations, and operations with negative numbers. Students are doing a great job of asking questions, which gives us all an opportunity to learn! I am really excited by the increase in the number of questions -- evidence that students are taking responsibility for their own learning and for success on the test. This week we will take the second quarter common assessment. These quarterly assessments provide important OAT-like practice and benchmarks for the test.

Math Facts. Last week we did a checkup on our math facts and found that some of us have slipped back a little -- a common occurrence when there have been so many days out of school. I have once again assigned math calendars to those students who need the extra practice. There were some students who maintained their fluency! Congratulations to all our math facts champions who are able to complete 100 facts in under three minutes. This ability helps cut homework time, reduce frustration on complex problems, and sets students up for success and math happiness! What a great life-skill students are showing when they keep working towards a goal until they reach it! Thanks, parents, for continuing to help your child memorize basic math facts.

A Successful Strategy: "Show your work!". By showing their work, students are able to go back to check what they did. It also enables me to see where I need to help them. Students may need help with this. In order to please the teacher, many students first try to satisfy this request by just writing a lot of things down, but still not showing each step -- the trail -- of how they did their computations. I want to thank parents in advance for reinforcing the importance of showing your work in math. Together, we can help them do their very best work by being organized in problem-solving!

Reading and Science.  Before our break, we began to study earth science topics. We reviewed the rock cycle and geology we had learned about in 3rd and 4th grade. Since returning, we have ventured further out beyond the atmosphere to study space. We enjoyed a novel titled The Green Book, by Jill Paton Walsh. Reading novels in science gives us a more personal interaction with our topics, and expands our use of science vocabulary terms. We will pick up on some of the science topics that were part of the story, including gravity, the cause for seasons, and the motion of the earth, planets, solar system, and galaxies of the universe. Social Studies ties into this theme. We are reading two picture books, Blast Off to Earth and My Place in Space. Learning about something as vast as the universe, we also discussed math's great numbers of millions, billions, trillions, and how they can be expressed using scientific notation. We enjoyed watching the very powerful video, "Powers of Ten".

Related Links:

Math and Science.  We finished our Science Courts about Statistics and Gravity. They were so much fun that we are excited that we are going to do another one! This time it will be about seasons. What causes seasons? Is it the distance? The earth has an elliptical orbit around the sun, and sometimes the earth is farther away from the sun, so is that was causes seasons? No! When earth is farthest away from the sun, it is June -- our hot season. That can't be what causes seasons! Stay tuned, the next Science Court may reveal the evidence we need to figure out the reasons for the seasons! (It's the tilt -- the indirect rays of the sun...)

Reading and Social Studies. We began reading one of 5th Grade's favorite novels, Sign of the Beaver, a Newbery Honor Book by Elizabeth George Speare. As we have read this novel, we have been especially focused on the changing relationship between the main characters, Matt and Attean. Each of them had a lot to learn about the other's culture. Our focused reading skills will include plot sequence, theme, character analysis, predictions, and decision-making. We will also write a new ending to the book.

This novel also provides us with some personal experience to relate to the colonial time period we are studying in social studies, as the settlers continue to move into the lands inhabited by Indians. The French and Indian War and the American Revolution will soon be our major focus.

  
 

Thanks for all you do to send your child to school ready to learn!

Mrs. Nettling

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