May 26, 2010: The class program scheduled for tomorrow at 5:30 has been moved up 30 minutes and will now be at 5:00.

Since I won’t have anyone around to help that evening, the doors will be open from 4:45 until 5:00 for safety reasons. If you think you might be late, please have a family member or friend who is coming that night wait by the door to let you in. The program lasts approximately 45 minutes and will be in the library kiva.

May 20, 2010: We are nearing the end of the year; just five more days and summer will be in full swing with all of the fun things it brings along with it.

We have an early out next week on Tuesday – which is also Field Day. Students will be released at 1:00.

On Thursday evening we will be having a year-end celebration of sorts. This is a night to celebrate the students and reminisce about this past school year. The program will begin at 5:30; up until that time the front doors will be open (from about 5:15 – 5:30). Since I won’t have anyone around to help that evening, the doors will be locked at 5:30 for safety reasons. If you think you might be late, please have a family member or friend who is coming that night wait by the door to let you in. The program lasts about 45 minutes.

May 28th will be our last day of school and the students will be released at 11:30.

May 20, 2010: Students' hero monolouges should be well known by today as tomorrow is our Wax Museum. Parents are welcome to attend. The students will be in the gym from 1:00 - 2:15.

May 14, 2010: We have had a busy week with testing, reviewing, teaching, reviewing, testing, and reviewing. Though our state tests are now completed, we will still be taking a few others during the next week of school. These will be for reading and math.

We do have a few items coming up, starting off with the school carnival—which is tonight. The kids all received a stamp card for the activities today; additional passports for family members may be purchased at the carnival for $1 each. There will be inflatable toys, a dunk tank, hair and face painting and many other activities. I hope that you are able to make it out and enjoy this get-together.

Monday the 17th is the deadline for both of the class awards, the Foot Hall of Fame and the Soaring Aviator award. Any student wishing to earn these awards must have all their documents turned in by the end of the school day.

Students’ American Heroes projects are due in less than a week. We will be taking some time in class to work on these next week; however, a majority of the work should have been/should be completed at home. If your child has lost their packet or book example, extra copies are available on the Useful PDF Forms page. Students should have all of their materials at the school on the 20th. The museum will take place on Friday afternoon (21st).

Other great things happening:

May 19th: High Flier Activity.
May 20th: Double’s Club Activity.
May 21st: Wax Museum (afternoon).
May 25th: 1:00 release (Field Day).
May 27th: Class Presentation (Kiva) 5:30.
May 28th: Last day of school (11:30 release).

May 4, 2010: Literature responses will be this next week. Your child is scheduled to go on the following day:

Important upcoming dates:

May 10th & 11th: State Math Test.
May 12th & 13th: State Science Test.
May 14th: School Carnival (4:00-7:00).
May 17th: Foot Hall of Fame and Soaring Aviator Award deadline.
May 19th: High Flier Activity.
May 20th: Double’s Club Activity.
May 21st: Wax Museum (afternoon).
May 25th: 1:00 release (Field Day).
May 27th: Class Presentation (Kiva) 5:30.
May 28th: Last day of school (11:30 release).

Students’ American Heroes projects are due in 2 weeks, they should be working on these projects at home by completing the research on their hero, gathering items for their costume, writing their mini-book, learning their monologue, and putting together the poster for the wax museum. Parents will be welcome to attend these presentations on the afternoon of May 21st.

Hope of America Reminder

Amelia Earhart students need to be dropped off at Portal U. They are sitting in Section 23, rows 1 and 2, as well as Section 24, row 2. This is the same place they sat when we did our dress rehearsal this morning.

Students should be at the Marriott Center by 6:15 even though the concert doesn’t start until 7:30.

All boys who are, or have been, in boy scouts (or cub scouts) should bring their neckerchief to wear for a few songs during the concert.

I will be bringing the t-shirts for our class to the concert. The school purchased the t-shirts for $10 last year. The shirts the students are using may be purchased for $7 if your child would like to keep it after the presentation.

Your student is responsible for bringing their sunglasses and flashlight to the concert. There will be no extra sunglasses or flashlights floating around for students to use.

Students should be wearing a light t-shirt that will fit comfortably under their concert shirt. They should also be wearing a belt that they can clip their sunglasses onto.

After the concert is over, all Amelia Earhart students will be escorted to the northwest patio outside the Marriott Center after our name is announced. Please do not arrange to meet your child anywhere else! There will be too many people there, and your student will be too difficult to find. If you have any other questions, please refer to the pink info sheet that was sent home earlier today.

May 4, 2010: Your child will need to make sure they have their flashlight and sunglasses at school tomorrow. They also need to wear their Hope of America shirt (these are currently at the school) and either Levis or dark pants. They recommend wearing a belt and the shirt is NOT to be tucked in. We will be leaving the school at approximately 9:00 to head up for the practice.

Tomorrow night, please be sure to bring your child to the Marriott Center at 6:15. The kids need to be there early even though the program doesn't start until 7:30. The event planners need this time to organize last-minute steating of the kids and give final instructions. There will be a preshow while the chorus is getting ready, and the concession stands will be open.

Your child will learn where to come into the building and exit tomorrow afternoon. They are to enter through portal U.

After the performance, students will be released by school via the PA system. They have asked that we let you know that they'd like you to remain in your seats until your school's name is called. You will be able to pick up your child at the North/West patio at the conclusion of the presentation (the program lasts about an hour). This should help to limit the chaos somewhat.

A note will come home with your child tomorrow with this (and a bit more) information.

Students are to have been practicing one additional song that has been uploaded to the Audio Tracks page. They were given a copy of the lyrics at school today.

April 30, 2010: We’ve begun our unit on the nature of matter. We will be learning about matter’s three forms, particle energy, and heat over the next week or so. We’ll also be learning about landforms in the next few weeks.

We have commenced testing. We have completed the Language Arts section, and also one of the writing sessions. We still have well over half of our testing to complete and will be learning/reviewing all the way up to that point. Sorry that I mention this again, but it bears repeating; if your child is not in attendance, I do not have the time to go back and reteach concepts to just one student.

We do have a few items coming up:

May 5th: Hope of America Presentation (information will come home with your child).
May 10th – 13th: Choice Literature Responses.
May 14th: School Carnival (4:00-7:00).
May 17th: Foot Hall of Fame and Soaring Aviator Award deadline.
May 21st: Wax Museum (afternoon).
May 25th: 1:00 release (Field Day).
May 27th: Class Presentation (Kiva) 5:30.
May 28th: Last day of school (11:30 release).

Students’ American Heroes projects are due in 3 weeks, they should be working on these projects at home by completing the research on their hero, gathering items for their costume, writing their mini-book, learning their monologue, and putting together the poster for the wax museum. Parents will be welcome to attend these presentations on the afternoon of May 21st.

Students should be practicing the Hope of America songs and signs; many of them still do not know the words to the songs. They all have the words as well as access to video and music for the program. We only have 5 days until the program!

April 23, 2010: This week we’ve been learning about heredity and traits we inherit from our parents & grandparents. We also learned about several creatures that do not resemble their parents at birth but instead will come look more like the parent organism as they mature.

Students’ American Heroes projects are due in approximately 3 weeks, they should be working on these projects at home by completing the research on their hero, gathering items for their costume, writing their mini-book, learning their monologue, and putting together the poster for the wax museum. Parents will be welcome to attend these presentations on the afternoon of May 19th.

Students’ final literature responses will be due the week of May 10th. This means that students have just over 2 weeks to complete their books and create their projects. Since this is the final presentation, I would ask that they ‘break out of the mold’ and put together a project which is better than any other that they’ve done this year. One purpose of these presentations is to introduce new titles to the class and to persuade them to want to read the book. With many of the responses this year, the responses have not had this result.

I know that I mention testing and reviewing every week, and this time will be no exception. We will be hitting our end of level testing schedule in the next few weeks and all the learning we’re doing now (as well as review) will help your child do well on these tests. Missing a day of school means missing content.

Students should be practicing the Hope of America songs and signs. They all have the words as well as access to video and music for the program.

April 16, 2010: The local author literature response is due next week. Please make sure that your child is ready to go on the day they signed up for.

Though students’ American Heroes projects aren’t due until May 19th, they need to be doing research about their hero as well as starting their mini-books and posters.

The students have a journal entry topic. They are to read the Thought of the Month from the webpage and respond to it. Those students who do not have Internet access at home should have picked up a hard copy in the classroom before they left.

Tonight’s Super Activity will be from 5:00 until 8:30. If your child made it, please have them at the school on time. If you are late, you can bring them to Bicentennial Park in east Provo.

We have already started some of the district testing. We are reviewing and still learning content for these tests. Please make sure that your child is in attendance as much as humanly possible until the end of the school year. When they miss days they miss information, and I don’t have time to go back and teach individual concepts to students who’ve been absent on a one-on-one basis.

The students were given a copy of the words for the Hope of America program and audio CDs are available for them to check out in the classroom. They may also listen to or download these tracks from the class website.

April 14, 2010: The audio versions for the Hope of America songs are available HERE. Please make sure that your child is practicing these songs as well as the signs. They received a copy of the words today at school.

April 12, 2010: Hopefully your child made you aware that tomorrow is a 1:00 release. Also, please make sure that they are practicing the signs and songs for Hope of America.

March 26, 2010: Spring break will be next week; please do not send your child to school, as there will not be anyone here. The only homework I am assigning is 2 journal entries about their break, or emails (students may do one of each if they wish). I’m also asking that you have your child practice the Hope of America videos which I have added to the class website. The program will be in May; it is imperative that your child practices the songs/signs for the performance.

Since we have literature responses coming up, I would recommend that your child start reading their local author book—this book needs to be written by an author who lives (or has lived) in Utah. The public library has many more titles than the school (or my) library does.

Students were given a packet today for their American Heroes Presentation. Over the break they are encouraged to pick a hero and do a little bit of research about them. Students will ‘become’ this person at our Wax Museum on the afternoon of May 21st. Pop icons, as well as current movie stars, are not considered ‘American Heroes’ and will not permitted. If your child loses their packet, another can be found on the “Useful PDF Forms” page.

On April Fool’s Day, I played a little joke on the class. I’d like to upload the video to YouTube for your enjoyment; however, in order to post videos of students, I need to have parental consent from the entire class in order to post it. Please sign at the bottom of the Weekly Evaluation if you have given permission to put this video online. If you’d like to see it beforehand, please come into the classroom so that you may view it. No student is shown individually. You probably already heard what the joke was from your child. If you haven’t, you might want to ask them about it.

March 26, 2010: Mr. Cox received a call last night alerting him to a situation that occurred before school on Thursday of this week. Your child should have brought home a blue note with this information after school today. They were informed of what the note said, and were instructed to deliver it to you. The following is a description of events from the Provo Police Department:

At apparently 7:20 A.M. an eleven year-old male was approached by an adult Hispanic male who asked him if he wanted a ride. This occurred at approximately 280 S. 2450 W. The suspect then told the boy that his mother had asked him to come give him a ride. The eleven year-old asked the suspect for the pass code. Not long after, another vehicle approached the area and the suspect drove away. The eleven year-old stated that the suspect had candy in the vehicle. The boy also recognized the suspect from having been in the neighborhood two weeks ago.

The suspect is described as a Hispanic male with a thin mustache. He had short receding black hair and was wearing a brown collard shirt. The vehicle was described as a dark brown pickup, possible a Ford F150.

Extra police patrols will be provided for our neighborhood and faculty members have been made aware of this information and will be on the lookout for any suspicious activity.

Thanks for coming in to SEP conferences yesterday. If you didn’t have a chance to come in, the information is being sent home with your child. Please contact me if you have any questions regarding their progress.

The Hope of America presentation is rapidly approaching. Students are to practice the songs, as well as the signs for them, with the video files I've added to the class website. These files may be accessed by clicking the photo of the boy with the flag just above the web site survey.

Spring Break will be in another week; our Super Activity will be the Friday after we return.

The next literature response will be a book written by a local author. I do have several titles available in the classroom, and the local library has a good selection as well.

We’ve been working on expression this week, writing with descriptive words, and a bit more on comparatives and superlatives. We are also nearly finished with our electrical unit.

Need a good book to read with your child? Could I recommend the following?

The Great Brain – John D. Fitzgerald
The Dead Man in Indian Creek – Mary Downing-Hahn Tarantula Shoes – Tom Birdseye
Zach’s Lie – Roland Smith
Crossroads – Paul Pitts
The Kid in the Red Jacket – Barbara Park

March 19, 2010: Literature responses are due next week. Your child should already have read their book and be working on their projects. The schedule is as follows:

On Thursday, March 25th, we’ll have a 1:00 release in order for SEP conferences. The schedule is avaiable on the message below this one. If you do need to reschedule to another time, please consult the open slots and then email me with the time you'd prefer.

The Super Activity has been moved to April 16th. More information will come home as the 16th draws closer.

Once-again, Mr. Cox has asked that we remind parents that the end of the year is rapidly approaching. We will be learning many new concepts—as well as reviewing the items we’ve already learned through the year. It is imperative that your child is in attendance every day. Though the actual testing window is April 12 – May 14th, during this time we’ll still be learning. When your child is absent, they miss out on elements of the core curriculum that I don’t have time to go back and teach individually. Please try to schedule Dr. appointments and other events before or after school hours.

March 12, 2010: On Thursday, March 25th, we’ll have a 1:00 release in order for SEP conferences. The time you were assigned is the same as the one at the start of the school year. Your child is bringing home a pink page with this information; however, just as an extra precaution, this time is also available on the class website and on this form.

If you need to change your time for any reason, please refer to the schedule below for open slots, and then email me with any needed changes at jasonz@provo.edu.

Term 3 ends on March 19th. We will plan to have our Super Activity on March 26th for those students who’ve had no more than 4 late assignments for the term. More information will come home in regard to this as the event comes closer.

Mr. Cox has asked that we remind parents that the end of the year is rapidly approaching. We will be learning many new concepts—as well as reviewing the items we’ve already learned through the year. It is imperative that your child is in attendance every day. When they are absent they miss out on elements of the core curriculum that I don’t have time to go back and teach individually to each student. Please try to schedule Dr. appointments and other events before or after school hours. This will be vital during the weeks of year-end testing.

February 26, 2010: Wee learned about demonstrative adjectives this weak as well as reviewing homophones. You’re child should bee able two find all of the mistakes inn this note too yew. Wheel bee working with homophones next week quite a bit, and these will be our spelling words. Next week we will also review the use of colons and we’ll be learning about articles, words like: a, an, and the.

You’ve probably noticed that we’re working with fractions in math now. This week we learned two ad fractions with the same and different denominators; it won’t be long before we’re adding mixed numbers.

In social studies we learned about explorer, Ernest Shackleton and his expedition too the North Pole. We learned about the hardships he and his men had too endure during their trip.

Our next literature response will be the week of the 22nd in March. It would be a good idea to have your child select a book now and start reading sew that they are knot trying to finish it write before the dew date.

February 19, 2010: The Late-Nighter will be tonight from 4:00 – 8:30. Make sure that you consult your information sheet for times/schedule. This information can also be viewed on the class webpage calendar.

Biography literature responses will be next week. The time your child signed up is listed on their Weekly Evaluation. Please remember, if a student has already done a particular project, they cannot ‘redo’ the same type of project again.

We finished up our magnetism unit and will now move on to electricity in Science. Be sure to ask your child what they learned about domains, electromagnets, the Maglev Train, magnetic fields, and the Northern Lights. They should be able to tell you a veritable treasure trove of information on these topics.

We have been working on persuasive writing as well as reading with good expression and fluency. Please have your child read aloud to you so that you have an idea of where their fluency level is. Fifth grade students are expected to read between 120-150 words per minute and pay attention to punctuation marks. One of the easiest ways to ‘test’ their fluency is to use the yellow piece of cardstock in their planners—this is the fluency rubric we use in class.

The PTA will be having a cookie dough fundraiser in the month of March. Students will bring home information on March 8th. The funds earned will be used to support field trips and school equipment.

February 5, 2010: With Valentine’s Day falling on President’s Day weekend, we’ll be celebrating with a class party on the afternoon of the 11th. Students are more than welcome to bring homemade card ‘receptacles’ for that day. We will also have no school on Friday the 12th or Monday the 15th in honor of President’s Day. If you signed up to be a part of the Valentine's Day party, Mrs. Black (our room mom) will be contacting you soon. If you would like to be a part of it (and didn’t sign up at the start of the year) send a note with your child and I’ll pass that information along to Mrs. Black.

Students should have brought home their packets for the Late-Nighter on the 19th. This needs to be signed and returned ASAP so that we know about how many students will be attending. Parents are more than welcome to come for part—or all—of the event. The packet outlines the tentative schedule and times.

Students have just over two weeks before we will be presenting our biography literature responses. They should already have picked their book (which may also be an autobiography). Presentations will be the week of February 22nd.

The PTA will be having a cookie dough fundraiser in the month of March. Students will bring home information on March 8th. The funds earned will be used to support field trips and school equipment.

February 2, 2010: Don’t forget that Tuesday, February 2nd we’ll be having a 1:00 release for teacher inservice meetings. Also, on Friday of that week, January’s reading hours are due.

With Valentine’s Day falling on President’s Day weekend, we’ll be celebrating with a class party on the afternoon of the 11th. Students are more than welcome to bring homemade card ‘receptacles’ for that day. We will also have no school on Friday the 12th or Monday the 15th in honor of President’s Day.

January 19th is the day for the Science Fair for any of the students who chose to participate. Also, that night will be the fifth grade Late-Nighter. A packet will come home outlining the activity as well as having a permission form for students to attend.

The week of February 22nd we’ll be having our biography literature responses. Students should have already selected their books and commenced reading. Finally, we’ve also continued our study on the properties of magnets and magnetism. Hopefully, your child wrote about this in the space above under ‘what I learned.’

January 28, 2010:Don't forget that today is pajama day.

January 22, 2010: The Science Fair is drawing nearer. The fifth grade is not mandating that students take part, but instead allowing them to choose. Those who wish to take part in it were given a packet with directions and criteria. The fair will be on February 19th.

We started our unit on magnetism and have already learned a lot of great things about it. Your child should have already completed their magnet scavenger hunt and discovered some of the items in your home that have magnets in them.

We learned about pronouns this week and made it a point to not use any pronouns the entire school day on Wednesday. It was quite the challenge and I think the class has a better appreciation of just how valuable pronouns really are. I know that I have an appreciation!

Since we accomplished one of our goals in December with the food drive, the school will be celebrating with our school-wide pajama day on the 28th of this month.

Those who ordered class photos should be getting those by the end of next week. I had a few late orders come in so have not printed them yet.

The biography literature response will be the week of February 22nd.

January 11, 2010: Your child should have brought home an order form for our class composite photos. Order forms are due by Friday. If you'd like to see the colored versions, they are on display in our classroom.

January 8, 2010: Your child's literature response will be next week. You can see the time they signed up on the table below.

Also, your child's journal entry for this weekend is the "Thought of the Month." Students were asked if they needed a hard copy. Those students who needed them should have picked them up before they left the school. Additionally students were taught this week the appropriate way to write journal entries (indenting, margins, topic and supporting sentences, etc.). Each child has an example and a non-example of what these journal entries should (and should not) look like from this point on.

Term 2 ends on Friday of next week; you will be getting a summary of their online grades the following week. If you'd like to see just what they've been getting scores on individual assignments, please log into their online scores via the 'grades' link above.

Next week we will be having our second Market Day (Thursday). If your child would like to be a vendor, they will need to return the vendor's license with a parent signature. Please remember that homemade food cannot be sold at Market Day according to district policy.

Have a nice weekend.

January 5, 2010: Don't forget that students are released at 1:00 today. Classroom events/dates can be found by clicking the 'Calendar' link at the top of each webpage.

January 1, 2010: Don't forget that there are two journal entries (or emails) due on Monday. If a student used their 'homework voucher' before the break, this only exempts them from one of the entries. Also, entries are now required to be one full page (whether or not you have a web); emails should have approximately 15 sentences.

Literature responses are due one week after we return from Christmas break. Please make sure that your child has been reading and begins on their project so they are not scrambling at the last minute as several of them tend to do each month. Response forms are available on the 'Useful PDFs Forms' page.

Enjoy the rest of your break and I'll see you on Monday.

December 11, 2009: Choice literature responses will be due next week. Your child signed up to go according to the following schedule:

On the 18th we’ll be having an early release at 12:30 for Christmas Break. Our Christmas party will be on the same day. Christmas break will go until January 3rd. Students will return to school on the 4th of January.

January 11th – 15th will be our next literature responses. Hopefully, your child will use some of their break time to get their book finished as well as their project.

I’ve added a link on the class webpage for the lunch menu each month. It is at the top of this page near the link for ‘Archived Messages.’

Your child’s journal entry for this weekend is on the “Thought of the Month” page on this site. Students were asked if they needed a hard copy. Those students who needed them should have picked them up before they left school.

Have a nice weekend!

December 7, 2009: We would just like to remind students to make sure that they are dressed for the snow. PLEASE make sure you have jackets, gloves, and boots! Also, we just want to refresh ourselves on the outside rules when it is snowy. There is ABSOLUTELY NO throwing snowballs (at people, buildings, or cars) while on school grounds. Be sure to walk on the concrete because of ice, and dress warm! If we can follow these rules, we will enjoy this snowy season.

Parents, we have been having some issues with students bullying other students. This includes physical bullying as well as verbal. We DO NOT tolerate bullying at Amelia Earhart. All incidents will be referred to the principal and will result in an in-school suspension. If the problems persist, the school police officer will be involved. School should be a safe, fun, and happy place. PLEASE encourage your child to be respectful and kind to everyone in and out of school.

This week is our school’s canned food drive. The 5th grade has set a goal to donate 300 cans between all 3 classes. That is 100 cans per class. If each student brings in 5 cans, we will have no problems at reaching our goal! We encourage everyone to participate in this opportunity to serve the community. What a great way to celebrate this holiday season. Together we can make this a great holiday for all.

A few students are still falling behind when it comes to homework. Generally, homework does not change up too much week to week. As a general rule:

Occasionally, the schedule will change up a bit when we have extra projects such as literature responses, but this is a safe bet week to week.

December 4, 2009:Choice literature responses will be due in a week week. Your child should have already read their book by this time, and should be working on their project.

On the 18th we’ll be having an early release at 12:30 for Christmas Break.

We’ve learned quite a bit week about suffrages and women getting equal rights with men. Please ask your child about what they’ve learned.

Don’t forget that you can check your child’s grades (as well as missing assignments) online. The link for this is at the top of every page on this website. Their login ID is their lunch number and their password is their birthday with slashes (mm/dd/yy).

November 30, 2009: Remember that tomorrow is early out due to teacher inservice.

November 13, 2009: Nonfiction literature responses are due next week. Since your child has had a week with a lot of extra (hopefully) time, they should have put a little more effort into it than perhaps they’ve done in the past. I’ve noticed a general decline in the quality of literature responses as a whole class – not as individuals.

The 25th will start our Thanksgiving Break and this will go until the 29th. On the 31st we will be having 1:00 release for teacher inservice meetings.

Remember that the ‘Turn off the TV and Get a Life Week’ will end at the same time on Monday that your child started. Our fifth grade celebration activity will take place on Tuesday the 17th at 11:30. If you, as a parent, would like to attend, please feel free to join us. Your child is welcome to bring their favorite box of cereal to share, pillows, blankets, and any other ‘breakfasty’ type snacks they’d like. Please either send a note indicating they completed the challenge successfully or sign the bottom of the Weekly Evaluation

The students signed up for thier literature responses next week; their schedule is listed below.

November 9, 2009:

November 7, 2009:We will be having our Reflections Awards Assembly at 1:30 on Friday, November 13th. Parents are invited to attend if they wish.

November 6, 2009:

Turn Off the TV and Get a Life Week

To encourage more interaction with the family and practice of important skills like reading and interaction with others, the students in my class are being challenged to turn off their TV sets for the period of one week. This includes movies, video games, Gameboy systems, Internet games & videos, etc. The 9th annual “Turn off the TV and Get a Life Challenge” will begin on the morning of Monday, November 9th when your child gets up and will end on following Monday (November 16th) at the same time. Students who are successful in this challenge will be invited to take part in an afternoon party on Tuesday the 17th, where students who are successful will be permitted to wear their pajamas to school, bring pillows or blankets, bring their favorite box of cereal, and take part in a breakfast & Saturday morning cartoons fest—all afternoon.

Since this activity requires self-discipline and self-checking, students will be expected to be on the honor system for reporting their success or failure in this challenge. If you have any questions or concerns, please call me at the school 370-4630 or email at jasonz@provo.edu

Literature Responses Due the Week of the 16th

We do have our nonfiction literature responses on the week of the 16th. However, since we have our Turn off the TV Challenge the week before, students should have no problem in completing their responses on time. Lately we’ve averaged 1/5 – ¼ of the class not being prepared for these responses. Response sheets are available at school as well as on the 'Useful PDF Forms' page.

Online Grades/Missing Work

Nearly each day your child is given a printout of assignments they are missing. In addition, you can check your child’s grades anytime on the district website located at http://ps1.provo.edu/public/. There is also a link from the top of every page on this site.

Thanksgiving Break

There will be no school on November 25th – November 29th for the Thanksgiving break. Also, on Tuesday, December 1st there will be early out for students for teacher in-service meetings.

Fluency & Comprehension

We are still working on reading with fluency and expression. To help facilitate this, please have your child read aloud as often as possible at home. Let them read to you so you can help them on not only fluency, but on comprehension of texts they choose to read. They can read picture books to younger siblings as well.

By discussing the story as well as having them make connections to the text, will help them become a better reader. Simply reading a story without checking for comprehension does not necessarily help your child with their reading. If they are reading a text which is too difficult, have them pick a text which is appropriate for their ability. If you have any questions about the level of books your child would have no difficulty in reading, please contact me at the school or via email.

Veteran’s Day Assembly

There will be a Veteran’s Day assembly on the 11th at 9:00 for anyone wishing to attend.

SEP Conferences

On Thursday the 12th we will be having SEP Conferences and will have a 1:00 release for students. Your child should have brought home a pink form with your scheduled time. This schedule may also be seen at the class webpage. If you need to make any changes, please call the office or contact me via email.

Newsletters?

How come there aren’t newsletters each month? This is mostly because we have Weekly Evaluations each week with continual updates of information at the bottom of each one. Additionally, the class webpage is always being updated.

November 3, 2009: A note is coming home with your SEP time listed on it. You can find that information listed here:

November 1, 2009: Your child signed up for their literature response, the schedule will be as follows:

October 24, 2009: This week we’ve started to learn the steps of writing a summary. We also learned about plagiarism and the dangers of it.

The Maturation Program will be at 12:30 on Wednesday of next week. Please make sure that your child brings back the blue permission form which was mailed to your home.

We had originally planned on having literature responses next week; however, with the busy week we will be having with activities—as well as Maturation—we will be moving them to the following week. This will mean that your child will have a response on the week of the 2nd – 6th (student choice) and then their response for the month of November the week of the 16th (nonfiction).

Our first Super Activity will be on Friday the 30th. This will be a trip to ComedySportz, Utah’s improv comedy troupe. Students who’ve missed no more than 4 assignments for term 1 will be eligible to attend. Those students who’ve made it will be given an invitation next week with the information about the activity.

Our ‘Turn off the TV and Get a Life Week’ will be the week of the 9th. More information will come home next week explaining that challenge.

October 14, 2009: Since this was a two-day week, there was no Weekly Evaluation. Also, there was no Spelling, however, students are required to do TWO journal entries over the five-day weekend.

I look forward to seeing your child again on Monday. Please remind your child that next week is Red Ribbon Week and the schedule of events will be:

Monday: Wear Your PJs Day
Tuesday: Wacky Hair Day
Wednesday: Wacky Socks Day
Thursday: Wear Red Day
Friday: Wear Your Favorite Team Day

Friday will also be our school’s annual Fun Run at 9:30. Students should have returned their packets by TUESDAY. The award assembly will be taking place right afterwards in the gym (approximately 10:30). Parents are more than welcome to come to the Fun Run or the assembly.

A form also came home for the After-School Enrichment Classes. If you are interested in having your child take part in this program, please fill out and return the forms to school - remember that space is limited though. Also, there is a before-school homework remediation group available for students who'd like to take advantage of it.

Have a great weekend!

October 9, 2009: This week we’ve learned about changing singular nouns into plural nouns. The students learned the four different circumstances when you would use these. Have your child tell you about the times when you’d use each of them.

Your child should have brought home a packet for the fun run, the school newsletter (which is yellow), as well as a WHITE note from the health department about the flu. Please make sure you look over these three documents.

We will only be having a two day week next week.—Monday and Tuesday.

Literature responses will be in approximately three weeks; please make sure that your child has a book selected and has begun to read so that when the time comes they are ready. Other important dates should be listed on your child’s calendar in their planner as well as on this website.

October 2, 2009: This week we’ve learned about idioms. Your child should be able to tell you what an idiom is; they should be able to tell you the meanings of each of these (among several other) idioms:

Born with a silver spoon in your mouth.
Can’t cut the mustard.
Given the gate.
Put on the dog.
He really put his foot in his mouth.
They went through a lot of red tape.
She got on her high horse.
I heard it through the grapevine.

We also learned about variables and multiplying with decimals in math.

Literature responses will be in approximately four weeks; please make sure that your child has a book selected and has begun to read so that when the time comes they are ready. Other important dates should be listed on your child’s calendar in their planner as well as on the website.

Have a nice weekend!

September 25, 2009: This week we’ve learned about different genres including fantasy and realistic fiction. We also went over how to fix run-on sentences again. Your child should be able to tell you the three different ways to fix this run on:

We went to the store Becky bought a lot of stuff.

We also talked again about fragmented sentences like these:

Went to the store. Steven the street.

In the first, the sentence is missing a subject. In the second, it is missing a verb, or the action of the sentence.

We also learned about synonyms which are words which mean the same as another as another word

September 18, 2009: The Newbery Literature Responses are due next week; the schedule is listed below.

This week we learned about informational texts as well as the four purposes for writing; the four reasons authors write are to inform, persuade, entertain, & educate.

Each week we take a language test based on what we’ve learned during the week, as well as comprehension of a text students are to read independently. Your child’s test scores for the past three weeks are recorded on their Weekly Evaluation. This week’s tests have not yet been scored.

School photos will take place on October 2nd.

September 11, 2009:

• Tonight is the free skating night at the school from 5:00 – 8:00.

• The Newbery Literature Responses are due the week of the 21st – 25th; students should have already selected their books and commenced reading at this point.

• The “Thought of the Month” on the class webpage is the topic for this weekend’s journal entry.

• Remember that you can access your child’s grades from the class website (as well as see what assignments they’ve still not handed in). Their username is their lunch number and their password is their birthday separated by slashes (birth year is the last two digits only…ex: 1/7/98). If you can seem to log in, add a zero to the front of their lunch number. I give students a “missing assignment’ slip several times a week, but I have a feeling that these do not always make it home. Grades are found under the classes of “Fifth Grade” and “Math.” The “Fifth Grade” class includes a category breakdown which is every subject area in our regular classroom.

Our Aviator of the Week was Savanna - she is a wonderfully dependable student!

The "Useful PDS Forms" page has been cleaned up and organized. The forms you need are still there, they've just been given a facelift - don't panic if it looks a bit different.

September 4, 2009: We started to identify the rules of when to use commas this week and so far have completed 2 of 13; we would have completed more, but with shortened days all week and other things pulling on our time (including the Storytelling Festival) we simply could not. We will continue this next week.

We started to discover the importance of tone and expression while reading this week and began our first practicing in the classroom. It would be advantageous for your child to practice reading aloud with expression as often as possible so that their fluency will increase because though we will be doing this in the classroom, the more time your child spends doing this in the home, the better their fluency will become.

There is no school on Monday due to Memorial Day.

On Friday, September 11th there will be a free skating night at Amelia Earhart from 5:00 – 8:00.

Our student of the week this week was Brooke for such a great job in class of offering up answers as well as comments during discussions, and last week was Elijah for being courteous to all members of the class - all the time. These are two fantastic students!

August 28, 2009: SEP Conferences will be on August 31st to September 2nd; your times are listed below; if you need to switch up your time for any reason, please consult chart below for the slots still available and contact me via email to make a change. Because of conferences, we will be having 1:00 release all next week—please plan accordingly. Your child should have brought home a blue newsletter from the school office today outlining many dates and events.

This week we have done quite a few activities in the classroom; included in this was separating into Math groups; because of this your child might have a different teacher other than myself. You will need to contact this teacher for concerns with your child’s progress in this area. This week we also went over fragment and run-on sentences, topic sentences, supporting sentences, importance of commas and punctuation, as well as different genres. We plan to start identifying the thirteen different situations where commas are used next week.

Next week (Friday) we will be attending the Mt. Timpanogos Storytelling Festival. This is a great opportunity for the kids to be exposed to culture, drama, and a whole other world right in their backyard. We are excited again for this fantastic opportunity.

August 24, 2009: Your child will be starting on their Spelling homework tomorrow; since we are a classroom which strives to utilize technology whenever possible, your child will need to go to the Spelling City Website (the link is on the "Grammar and Reading" page) to complete the tasks. We have gone over how to do this in class, but here is a brief summary for you, as a parent:

On day one your child is required to:

1. Write down all 20 of their words on the Spelling Contract.
2. Take both online pretests (Part A and B) and record their scores.
3. Choose and complete two activities (with the exception of ‘Sentence Unscramble’ which is required on Wednesday).
4. Write down the scores for their pretests as well as for the activities they chose to do.

Once your child has completed these tasks on the first day you will need to initial or sign the Spelling Contract to indicate that these were actually completed; this helps to ensure that some students didn’t just write down numbers.

On day two your child will choose two activities they have not yet done PLUS ‘Spelling Unscramble.’ When they’ve completed these three tasks they will write down their scores. You will need to initial or sign the Spelling Contract on day 2 to indicate that they completed the work.

On day three your child will choose two NEW activities (they cannot pick any of the five they’ve already done this week) and complete them. In addition, they will need to take the posttest and write down the scores for each of these items. When finished, you will need to sign or initial the contract indicating that they completed the work.

Spelling Contracts are due usually due on Friday mornings when the students arrive at school.

If you do not have Internet access, your child is welcome to work on their assignment before or after school in the classroom or during recesses. At this point, we are spending recess together as a class, but as of next week the students will have recess time to do what they will.

If you have any questions in regard to their spelling, please let me know via email, send a note with your child, or call and leave a message at the school

August 21, 2009: Your child signed up for their literature response next week. Though their day should be listed on their Weekly Evaluation (as well as calendar) I have also listed it here as well. Not only should they have their response form completely filled out, they should also have an original, quality project to accompany it.

Please feel free to email if you have any questions.

August 18, 2009: Don't forget Back to School Night starting off in the gym at 5:00 and running until 6:30. This is a good opportunity to get any questions answered that you may have.

If you are planning on driving to the school, there is some contruction on the street directly west of the building. You may want to park on a side street and walk across the construction or enter into the church parking lot north entrance and park there.

Hopefully you've had a chance to read over the Survival Manual; I look forward to seeing you all tonight.

July 28, 2009: Welcome to our class website! I am so glad that you’re here. Take a few minutes to poke around and have a little fun. There are some great links and sites which will help you out throughout the year. If have educational webpages you use which could be added, don’t hesitate to let me know! Send me an email so that others can enjoy these educational beauties as well.

The reason you are here is probably because you have already received your scavenger hunt…don’t wait until the last minute to work on it; a few of the items have stumped students in the past. If you find yourself stuck and can’t find something, please send me an email for a hint. Also, during the course of the year I am available for homework help via instant messenger. However, it is only with the permission of your parents that you are allowed add me as a contact. If they’ve given their permission, send me an email and I will you get you my instant messaging ID.

But wait, where’s my email address? If I told you here it’d make item #1 on the scavenger hunt far too easy…look around; it’s on this site someplace.

I look forward to seeing you in the next few weeks.

Mr. Z

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