Learn it. Live it. EVERY DAY! Mrs. Gossett’s Fifth Grade South Shades Crest Elementary www.bgossett.wiki.hoover.k12.al.us
CLASS HAPPENINGS Dear Parents, Good afternoon! I want to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to meet with me last week at Parent Night. The first two weeks of school have flown by! I can already tell it’s going to be a WONDERFUL year! Weekly class news will be shared via email in addition to being posted on our class wiki. If you prefer a hard copy, please let me know and I will send a copy home in the weekly take home folder. Speaking of take home folders, these SILVER folders will be coming home every Monday with graded papers and other important information. These folders are to be returned on Tuesday unless I hear from you. Please sign the form inside indicating you have seen your child’s work. Some weeks these folders may be sent home more than once as they contain important information and other reminders from the office. Debbie Beckmann and Jodie Juneac have agreed to share Room Parent responsibilities for our class this year! Thank you Mrs. Beckmann and Mrs. Juneac!
August 26, 2010
Please know that the lines of communication are always open. You can email me at bgossett@hoover.k12.al.us . I try to check my email at least twice during the day…Once in the morning and once around lunch. I generally do not respond to emails in the middle of the day unless it is to confirm transportation changes, absences, etc. This allows me to focus on my passion...Teaching your children! Having said that, I do appreciate your emails and will respond to any questions or concerns you might have. In closing, I’d like to thank you again for sharing your children with me each day. Together, we form a partnership to provide the best learning environment possible for your child. I love what I do and want to see every child succeed! Again, I appreciate your continued help and support! I’m looking forward to a memorable 5th grade year!
General Reminders We celebrate treat day in the lunchroom every Monday and Thursday! We welcome visitors to join us for lunch after Labor Day. Our lunch time is 12:09 – 12:39 p.m. Any daily transportation changes must be sent in writing for approval.
Save the Date September 1st Fall Pictures September 6th Labor Day No school for students September 7th Digital Citizenship Meeting at Bumpus 7:00 p.m. September 7th Support our school! Deadline for turning in PTO Giftwrap Money! September 14th PTO Open House 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Thanks!
Mrs. Gossett bgossett@hoover.k12.al.us 205-439-3000
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Happy Birthday! Zachary - August 12 Sean - August 24 Sabrina – August 26 Sarah - August 30 Grant - September 1
Learn it. Live it. EVERY DAY! Mrs. Gossett’s Fifth Grade South Shades Crest Elementary www.bgossett.wiki.hoover.k12.al.us So what have we been up to the last two weeks... Math We are two weeks into the Investigations Math Unit, Number Puzzles and Multiple Towers. It began with a class discussion followed by group investigations of factors, multiples, prime numbers, composite numbers, and square numbers. Please see the attached letter for more information about the math in this unit. To ensure your child’s success in Math this year, I need your continued help in building automaticity with multiplication facts. All students were expected to have mastered the multiplication facts prior to the start of fifth grade. This means your child should know the answer to all facts up to 12x12 and should be able to give the answer in 3 seconds or less. Mastery of these facts will make solving larger multiplication problems easier and your child will be more accurate. Please encourage your child to practice their math facts at home. Visit our wiki for multiplication games that can be played online. Flash cards also provide a great method for practicing at home or on the go!
Reading
Spelling/Vocabulary
We kicked off the year in reading with a group assignment for our summer reading books. This included a review of key literary features such as character, setting, plot, and theme. Be sure to ask your child about the theme of his/her book and their opinion as to why the 5th grade teachers chose these particular books for students to read.
Spelling and Vocabulary units rotate every week. Spelling kicked off last week with a unit on how to spell the /s/ sound. Lots of words begin with the letter /s/, but sometimes they start with an s and sometimes they start with a c. Together, we worked to identify any patterns that would help us to know whether or not to spell with an s or a c.
We are also working to establish our reading community by sharing about our reading lives. We have shared about our favorite books, our favorite places to read, what reading means to us, strategies for reading when we don’t understand something, and what genre of books we want to read this year. Students have been engaged in independent reading as well as whole group discussion. I am beginning to administer reading assessments in order to determine your child’s reading level. I will share this information with you during parent conferences in October. Starting next week, your child will be expected to read a certain number of pages each day at school (usually 30) and can finish this assignment at home if heeded.
Writing/Language Arts Social Studies In Social Studies, we identified the five themes of geography and sharpened our map skills by working to identify the continents, the oceans, the equator, the prime meridian, and the hemispheres. We also learned how to map locations using coordinates of latitude and longitude.
Grammar Boot Camp is underway! We have been working to identify nouns. This includes common and proper nouns and singular and plural nouns. Our next lesson will cover pronouns. Students will be assessed on nouns and pronouns next Wednesday. Grammar practice will be posted to the wiki soon!
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For every Spelling test, your child is expected to spell the words correctly in cursive AND write the rule for the week’s pattern. Our Vocabulary unit this week focused on the prefix “pre” meaning “prior to, before, or in front of.” For vocabulary tests, students will have to match the vocabulary word with the correct definition. Spelling and Vocabulary tests will take place on Friday. Nightly homework will be administered Tuesday through Thursday. We utilize SpellingCity.com for both Spelling and Vocabulary assignments. This is a valuable resource, so be sure to check it out!
Don’t’ forget to check and sign agendas nightly!