Hope Everyone Got a Good Grade on the Test

Tonight I am dancing at the basketball game. - Katie ( this time I'm not going to lose my pants) :)

We finally had a full week of school! - Abbey

We just took a social studies test today. - Haley M.

Tomorrow is Jaxon's birthday! :) - Lilly

Tonight I have to work for Mrs. Holten. Not Cool. My mom signed me up. - Spencer

We have two tests on Monday. - Haley S.

I broke my pen and it went all over my planner. - Jordan

My brother thought the aliens built the pyramids. - Mathew

I have to work at the Beat It Buzz night. - Austin

I'm reading New Moon. - Trevor

I'm reading a cool book called "Halo". - Dawson

My last day of school is Wednesday! - Mathew :(

A Blizzard on Tuesday!

It has been a long time since our last class post. Even though we are very close to our Christmas break from school, we are still very busy in class. From book clubs to publishing our second quarter writing pieces, to division to explorers - there is never a dull moment in fifth grade. Here are 5C's thoughts and comments about the last few weeks of school. The title of our post today was chosen by Jordan.

We are doing a poster for social studies. My explorer is Samuel de Champlain. - Austin

My mentee is from Mrs. Franzen's class. My explorer is Marco Polo. - Katie

I'm researching Louis Jolliet. Jordan's explorer is my partner. - Cameron

Leif Eriksson is awesome! Erik the Red is my explorer's father. - Dawson

Today there is a 3 hour early out because of the snow! My explorer is Julien Dubuque. - Logan

I'm researching Vasco Da Gama. My explorer is stern. - Dalton

My mentee is in Mrs. Easler's class. My explorer is Bartolomeu Dias. - Haley S.

My mentee is shy. I colored a beautiful picture in the lab. My explorer is Jacques Cartier - Nathan

My person is Vasco Nunez de Balboa. - Haley M.

My person is Meriweather Lewis. - Mathew

We might have a snow day tomorrow! - Chaise

My person is Erik the Red. Trevor's explorer was eaten by Indians. - Abbey

My explorer is Amerigo Vespucci. - Spencer

My person is Jacques Marquette. - Jordan

My person is Giovanni De Verrazzanno. - Trevor

Mrs. Kuhn rocks! - All of 5C

Back to School my 5C Turkeys!

Hello, 5C! I hope you all had a wonderful break from school, lots of yummy food and fun with family and friends. I ate so much great Thanksgiving food during our break that you might have to roll me around our room tomorrow! You won't mind, will you? It has been so long since my last post on our blog, I have lots to catch our families up on. Here is goes...

We have finished our ITBS testing! Yeah! 5C did a super job of staying focused and giving 100% effort on all tests! I think they were relieved when they finished their last test. I felt the same way because with our testing complete, we could finally get back to work in the classroom.

We had a wonderful turnout for our American Education Week celebration. Thank you to all families who attended. I hope you enjoyed returning to an elementary classroom and spending time with your 5C student!

We hit mid-quarter a couple of weeks ago! Wow! We only have about three and a half weeks of the quarter left and so much to do! Here is a little run-down of what has been happening in class this quarter. In reading we are finally getting into book clubs. The students seem to all enjoy the books they are reading and are constantly working on their ideas for their "Think Fights". Don't forget 5C - your next "Think Fight" will be a surprise - be prepared! In writing, students are working in various stages of the writing process on their second quarter writing piece, due before Christmas break. In word study, we have been studying various word endings and how they may or may not change the spelling of the base word. We have also been studying strategies that help us spell, such as visualizing the words we write. In math, we just finished Unit 3: Geometry and the American Tour. We will begin working on Unit 4: Division this week! In science, students are continuing their study of rocks and in social studies, they have been working on map skills.

Parents - Some of you have seen a blue "Character Counts Communique" come home with your student this quarter. Mrs. Halverson, Mrs. Sorenson and I have decided to use this form as a tool to let families know when their student has not completed an assignment on time. If your student receives one of these forms and you would like to discuss the problem with me, please feel free to contact me. It is my hope that as the year progresses, our responsibility will continue to grow and these blue forms will no longer be necessary. 

5C - as we get closer to the end of the second quarter and another report card, keep in mind that my expectations for your behavior, both in and out of class, increase. Responsibility has been a problem for some of you this quarter. It is your job to be the best student you can possibly be. Show me that you are continuing to work on this pillar of character.

Enjoy your last day of break! See you bright and early!

Busy Week Ahead...

Hello 5C students and families! I hope you all enjoyed your extra day off yesterday, especially since the weather was so wonderful! A little windy, but otherwise spectacular. Today promises to be beautiful as well, so get out there and enjoy it!!

First of all, I want to say a big THANK YOU to all parents (and students) who attended conferences. It was great to see you all and have the chance to chat about your fifth grader. I truly enjoy working with each 5C student and I enjoyed sharing their accomplishments and progress with you! Thanks again for taking the time out of your busy schedules to meet with me!

With conference week behind us, we look ahead to next week and something many of my 5C students are not looking forward to...ITBS. But, the good news is that this year we have cut back on the number of tests we will be taking!! Mrs. Sorenson, Mrs. Halverson and I sat down last week and scheduled the fifth grade tests. We will be taking three tests this week and three tests next week. So, hopefully 5C, you won't feel like our testing schedule is too draining. When thinking of ITBS, please make sure your student gets a good nights sleep the night before our tests and eats a good breakfast, either at home or at school, the morning of the test. We will have some "brain food" before we take our tests, which is a nice treat from the school! Our first test will be a math test on Wednesday. We will take the science test on Thursday and a "tryout" test on Friday. 5C - I will explain the "tryout" test to you later this week.

In addition to taking ITBS, we will also have a Veterans Day assembly on Wednesday morning. This assembly is just for fifth grade students. We will be listening to local veterans share their stories and memories and you will also have the opportunity to ask questions, so start thinking about what you would like to ask! 

Finally, to top off the week, I will be gone on Thursday morning and all day Friday. On Thursday morning, I will be at a Building Leadership Team Meeting in the building from 8:00-11:30. On Friday, I will be out of town in Chicago. My brother-in-law is getting married on Saturday and we will be heading to Chicago on Friday for the festivities! 5C students are all aware of these days and know that I expect nothing but their absolute best for our substitutes! Right, 5C???

Well, that's it for now. I'm sure I will think of other things I forgot later and will end up making another post, but for now, enjoy the weekend! I now it sounds early, but we're going to hang Christmas lights! The weather is too good to pass up! 

Crazy Conference Week!

Take a look at what 5C had to say about our crazy conference week. The title of our post today was chosen by Trevor!

We had a meeting in Mrs. Halverson's room about the money. - Nathan

My conference is tonight. - Jordan

This is a long weekend! We're having a party on Friday. - Haley M.

Today is my birthday!!! I'm having a birthday party on Saturday. - Dawson :)

Tuesday and Thursday we had an early out. - Mathew

My grandma is having surgery. - Lilly

NO SCHOOL FRIDAY!!! I'm going to a Cyclone game with Amber. - Haley S.

This week was a short week. - Spencer

It's Buzz Day! - Austin And, Sesame Street is 40 years old and one day.

Tomorrow I'm going to Iowa City for the Hawkeye game. - Abbey

We're making flip books. I'm going to the ISU game, too. - Katie

Tomorrow I'm having a friend over. - Chaise

I'm having lots of friends over. - Trevor

Freaky Friday!

We had a busy week in 5C! Here are our thoughts and comments about another week of 5th grade! This week's blog title was chosen by Dalton.

I cracked my tooth yesterday. - Logan

Tomorrow night is Halloween! Boo! - Dawson

The spider was eghhhhhhh! - Haley S.

We did radical reading and shared our pig stories. We do costumes today for the Wizard of Oz! - Mathew

We saw a spider today. - Cameron

I'm going to the haunted house tonight. - Josh

Today is the day before Halloween. - Haley M.

Kindergartners walked through classrooms in their costumes. My cousin was spiderman (for  years now, I think). - Dalton

I'm going to a Halloween party tomorrow. - Lilly

The radical readers rocked! I was an alien. - Jordan

I was a radical reader and my name was Crazy Funky Random Dude. I yelled in Dalton's face. - Austin

I was a radical reader too and I was Little Red Riding Hood with some sweet up hair and a dress. - Spencer

I was embarrassed when I read my 3 little big story. - Nathan

In literacy Dawson almost peed himself. (Dawson says - "I drank all of my pop in like 3 seconds.") - Trevor

Halloween rocks! - Alexis

In my story the 3 little pigs the witness was a little cukoo! - Katie

I'm a zombie bride for Halloween. - Abbey

The radical reader's costumes were great! Have a safe and Happy Halloween 5C! - Mrs. Kuhn

Mrs. Kuhn is the best teacher there ever was. - All of 5C

It's Already the End of October?

Where has this month gone? It seems like just yesterday we were creating our goals for the month of October and now it's time to check our progress on those goals and press ahead with our year! This school year is going by so fast - I can hardly believe that in a few short weeks we will be preparing for Thanksgiving and a few short weeks past that, Christmas! Just think 5C, before you know it you will be half-way done with fifth grade!

Lots of things have been happening in the fifth grade classrooms these past few weeks. In reading, all of 5C has been very excited for their turn to be the "Radical Reader". Students have been practicing reading fluently and changing their voice based on the book they are reading and the authors purpose. In writing, students have been busy working through the stages of the writing process - generating an idea, drafting their writing, editing for mistakes, conferencing with Mrs. Sorenson and publishing their piece. All students have a published piece of their writing due Friday! In math, we finished Unit 2, Estimation and Computation, last week. We will begin working on Unit 3, Geometry and the American Tour, this week! We will be exploring polygons, measuring angles, classifying triangles and creating tessellations during this unit! In science, students have been studying rocks and have been very excited about their pet rocks! This week they will be painting their rocks and conducting different experiments with those rocks and Early Americans continue to be the topic of our social studies classes.

Now that the first quarter is past us, my expectations for student behavior and responsibility increase.  I am trying a new behavior/responsibility incentive with 5C this quarter and hopefully it will be successful! Have your 5C student explain "Pay Day" to you!

I'm looking forward to another super week, 5C! This week we are going to be creating a special project for conferences. I'll know that you checked the blog tomorrow if you come to school tomorrow morning and you say, "Cheese". I'll tell you why you will be saying, "Cheese" tomorrow! See you then!

Nose Burning Friday

Wow 5C! Can you believe that another week of school is over? This year is going very fast and I even heard some 5C students say the same thing today, so I will take that has a sign that you are enjoying 5th grade? I hope so! The title of our blog today was chosen by Abbey. Apparently in science class today the students were investigating rocks and one of the activities was to smell them. Some of the rocks had a strong chemical smell and some 5C kiddos thought that it felt like their noses were burning after smelling them! Ya gotta love science!

I get to name the blog today. - Abbey

If we are bad we have to "pay" Mrs. Kuhn. - Nathan

Pay day is today! - Austin

I'm going to a party on Sunday for youth football. - Cameron

My brother is okay from his seizure. - Dalton

It was wacky tie and blue day today. - Mathew

We did an essay in social studies. - Josh

My birthday was Monday! - Alexis

We had a test this week for math. - Austin

The math test was hard. - Dawson

Spencer just fell off of his chair and it was funny. - Haley M.

Alexis didn't seem too enthusiastic that her birthday was Monday. - Dalton

Abbey, Logan, and Trevor didn't get to see the people who were coming. - Mathew

I'm going to my Dad's house tonight and I'm going to a party in Dunkerton. - Trevor

I know who pushed Spencer off of the chair - Fred the ghost. - Haley S.

The play is November 13, 14 and 15. - Katie

5C students are also very excited about their pet rocks for science...

We got to pick out pet rocks in science. - Jordan

I named my pet rock Frank. - Haley M.

I named my rock Louie. - Spencer

I named my rock Peanut. - Chaise

I named my rock Crystal. - Dawson

I named my rock Kchilli Socks. - Katie

I named my rock Sandy. - Logan

I named my rock Aaron. - Trevor

I named by rock Bubba. - Cameron

I named my rock Nosey. - Nathan

My rock's nickname is Stone. - Chaise

I named my rock Hatchet. - Jordan

I don't know what I'm naming my rock yet. - Haley S.

We get to paint our rocks on Monday. - Lilly

Thanks for a wonderful week 5C! Have a fantastic weekend and I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday!

5C Is About To Become A Lot "SMARTER"!!!!

Guess what 5C students and families...We have exciting news in our classroom. Today, after the kids left school an important package was delivered to our classroom!! It was in a very large box, lots of noise was made installing it and it hangs on our wall! Did you guess what it is yet? Yes, it's our SMARTBOARD!!!! I was SO excited - it was hard to stay focused on grades and report cards. However, just because our SMART board arrived today, doesn't mean that we will get to use it tomorrow. Our projector still needs to be mounted and Mrs. Westcott needs to come and install some information on my computer before we can begin using it. We will have to wait patiently. 

In other news - the rest of our week will be a normal schedule! Yeah! Tomorrow for Character Counts week, we will be celebrating the pillar of Responsibility! Remember to wear the color green and sunglasses TO SCHOOL and during RECESS. Let's remember the activity we did today and try to be kids of character at all times!

That's it for now! I hope you all studied for our math test tomorrow! Get a good nights sleep and I'll see you tomorrow!

Screaming Teacher...(Not Mrs. Kuhn)

It has been an interesting week in 5C...a normal schedule for a change, but more chatting that usual, screaming teachers and lots of work to complete for the end of the quarter! The title of our post today was chosen by Austin.

My birthday is Monday!! - Alexis

Today in science and social studies we had a good day. - Haley M.

We had a good day in science and in all subjects today! - Jordan (Mrs. Kuhn says YEAH!)

Trevor started calling me crouton. - Katie

I'm sick of math. - Dawson (Mrs. Kuhn says AHHHHHHH!)

Sunday is the last day of youth football. - Cameron

We had a screaming teacher in social studies today! (But it wasn't mad screaming) - Nathan

Mrs. Halverson is going to Green Bay for a Packers game. - Spencer

Today is the end of the first quarter! Yeah! - Chaise

Math test on Tuesday! - Trevor

We have a social studies test on Monday. - Lilly

On Monday it's the beginning of the second quarter. And I forgot what I was going to say. - Haley S.

Mrs. Twetten and all of the 5th grade teachers rock! - Katie

On Saturday is my dad's Halloween party at his work. - Chaise

Nobody seems enthused about what they are saying right now. - Haley M.

Um... Mrs. Kuhn rocks no matter what anyone else says. - Spencer

I have two ghostbusters. - Abbey

My favorite subject is social studies. - Dawson

In P.E. I hope I get 2 min. and 45 seconds for the mile. - Nathan

Chatty Tuesday

I don't know if it is the change in the weather or the end of the quarter that has some 5C students feeling the need to chat during class! For some reason, some of us had a very hard time paying attention and listening during class today and others had a hard time controlling their talking in the hallway. Most of 5C had another fantastic day, but a few of us need to work on our classroom and hallway behavior. Those of you who had a rough day - I want to see some improvement tomorrow! For the rest of you - keep up the awesome work!

Just a quick reminder - tomorrow the school fundraising packets are due. I have already received a few packets from 5C students, but there are many more that need to be turned in. Thank you, thank you, thank you to those students and families who sold items or donated money. Thanks to you, our school's piggy bank will be filled and we will get to enjoy some awesome field trips during the year!

Have a great night! See you tomorrow!

Super Day in 5C!

Wow! We had a fantastic day! It feels so nice to have a great start to our first normal week in a long time! We were very respectful and great listeners today! I could tell that many 5C students were working on "ghost busting" today! Keep up the great work!

A couple of quick notes - book orders went home today and they are due back next Monday. Also, next week is Character Counts week and students have the opportunity to participate in special dress up days. A note came home about this today, but check out the sidebar for more information!

Not much to report today - I just wanted to let 5C students and families know how awesome our day was! Let's do it again tomorrow 5C! Have a great night!

Wacky Week

We had some crazy days with crazy schedules. - Haley S.

I'm radical reading on October 30th! - Austin (this crate I am sitting on is very uncomfy)

Josh is very violent at recess. - Haley M.

We made mobiles in science. - Lilly

I got the hang on the bar that the "Strength Team" people bent. - Chaise

We finished our mobile. - Dawson

Hat day was on Wednesday. - Mathew

We got free water today after the pep rally. - Nathan

Radical readers is going to be fun! - Jordan

We got Mrs. Kuhn good! She screamed! - Katie

I got to be a volunteer at the "Strength Team" assembly. I got to try to break the bat. - Spencer

In literacy we enjoyed Mr. Sickles Radical Reading! - Trevor

Trevor, Logan and I Radical Read on the 23rd! (two weeks) - Abbey

Mr. Sickles wore a funny outfit when he was the Radical Reader. - Cameron

People got scared when Mr. Sickles shouted! - Nathan

For Radical Reading I didn't get the date that I wanted, but I'm okay with the date that I have. - Haley M.

Mrs. Kuhn is the bestest! DUH! - 5C Students

Homecoming Blue and White Friday!

I twisted my ankle today. - Abbey

I'm going to the Homecoming game tonight. - Chaise

The Cresco Majors are going to whoop Decorah. (Game starts at 12:00, on Sunday) - Cameron

We are playing the Bobcats tonight for football. - Austin

"Chase the Kitties" - Haley M.

It's finally Homecoming! - Alexis

I've had the hiccups all day. - Nathan

Let's Go Cadets! - Jordan

It's fun getting my hair dyed. - Trevor

Run those cats over! - Dawson

MEOW!!!! - Spencer

The Homecoming Queen is Emily Novatny and the King is Adam Praska. - Katie

I'm going to be in the parade today. C.H.S.! - Cameron

ADRRRRRRRRRRRR - Nathan

This is a good Homecoming year. It was a good pep rally. - Haley S.

I didn't care for the Homecoming dress up days this year. - Haley M.

We're going to beat the Bobcats. - Chaise

Hit 'em hard - Trevor

Let your dogs loose! - Spencer

Busy, Busy, Busy Week!

Well, as the title of this post suggests, we have had a very busy Homecoming week! 5C students have been participating in the dress up days and the special activities for Homecoming week. We have also been busy in our classes - getting all of our end of the quarter work completed! I can't believe that next Friday is already the end of the first quarter! Parent teacher conferences will be here before we know it!

We were fortunate to have our regular schedule back this week...almost!! On Wednesday, we had an elementary assembly with the "Strength Team". They were very impressive - breaking baseball bats over their knees, bending steel bars and crushing full cans of pop! But, in addition to impressing us with their strength, they also had a great message: We are not born winners or losers, we are born choosers and the choices we make can make us champions! Great message! Tomorrow we will be participating in Fall Fitness Day and a pep rally to pump us up for the football game! Go Cadets!

We have also been busy this week working on personal goals that we set last week. Our goals for this month are centered on our behaviors in and out of the classroom. Many of 5C students decided that they need to work on controlling their talking during class and in the hallway or raising a hand before they share and idea or question. Some students are working on paying attention in class and others are working on being better listeners. We are also working on some class goals - working on our blurting, talking during class time and using our time wisely -  just to name a few. Ask your 5C student what his/her goal is for the month of October. 

Remember 5C - Who ya gonna call?....Ghostbusters!

Thanks for a wonderful week 5C! I'm looking forward to our day together tomorrow! It's going to be a crazy one, but a fun one!

5C Thoughts About Last Week

We were having such a good time reading and eating with our families on Friday, that we didn't have time to blog!! So, today we took a few minutes out of our day to record our thoughts about our school week last week. 

We learned about partial differences in math. - Trevor

We had our parents come to read with us. We had breadsticks and they were really good. - Chaise

Abbey's mom cooked our breadsticks. - Nathan

Abbey's mom is a good cook. - Spencer

We had guidance again. - Haley M.

There was a paper thing in social studies where we had to draw pictures of winter counts. - Mathew

Some of us got in trouble in Mrs. Halverson's class. - Haley S.

We asked "Would you Rather" questions. - Katie

All of the non-noisy kids in social studies and science got free homework passes. - Dawson

I was only here on Friday because I was sick. - Jordan

We learned many ways to add and subtract in math. - Trevor

Katie tried to change her name to Kation. - Mrs. Kuhn

We had to have our parents sign our tests. - Chaise

We had chicken nuggets for lunch. - Abbey

Math rocked! - Alexis

Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters! - Mrs. Kuhn

Mrs. Kuhn rocks - from all of 5C

Normal Schedule, Here We Come!

As you can see from the title of our class posting on Friday, we are all very excited for what tomorrow has in store for us - a normal schedule!! Not only was I feeling that last week was very hectic, but from the title 5C chose for our posting on Friday, the students were evidently feeling the same thing - that we had a very busy and disrupted week. Hopefully the fog will not be a factor this week and MISIC testing is behind us until spring, so bring on the normal schedule!

In the little bit of regular class time we had this week, we pressed on in all subject areas. In reading class, students continued to work on building their "Read to Self" stamina and were introduced to "Read with Someone". We are also continuing to work on making connections while we read. In writing, students continued working on writing their stories, paying close attention to their voice as a writer. In math, we took our unit 1 test and finished up odds and ends with the unit. This week, students will be bringing home "Unit 1 Notes to Parents". This will include a little note from me about how your student is doing in math and their mid-quarter grade. We will begin working on unit 2 in math tomorrow. In social studies, students spent time learning about Dr. Norman Borlaug and are also continuing a unit on Patriotism. In science, students are still working with erosion and from what I hear from 5C students and Mrs. Halverson, it sounds like science class gets pretty messy some days! 

Our field trip on Friday was a great learning experience for all of us. Despite the weather, we made the best of our day and huddled under each others umbrellas to try and stay dry. The day was very informative and a nice change to get out of the classroom for a day of learning. I hope some of you saw the video clip of all Crestwood Elementary 5th graders singing the Norman Borlaug rap on the news Friday night. For those of you who missed it, I happened to check You Tube this evening to see if by chance someone posted it to the site, and I found it!! I tried to include the video below, so hopefully it works! Check it out!

Don't forget, Friday is our Book-It kick-off jamboree! I am excited to have our 5C families join us for an afternoon of books and breadsticks!

Crammed and Crazy

After a crammed and crazy week, here are the thoughts of some of 5C students about our week of school...

We went to the Norman Borlaug farm. We saw scorpions. - Chaise

We saw Charlotte (Dr. Borlaug's sister) at the farm. - Spencer

Our week was just like the title of this post! We saw a tarantula. - Cameron

We held insects at the Borlaug farm. - Austin

We visited the Borlaug farm and it was fun. We saw a dog named Rusty. - Jordan

Totally insane week. Mrs. Kuhn cannot spell today. - Katie

Hissing cockroaches are cool! - Dawson

We had MISIC this week. We had fun at the Borlaug farm. - Haley S.

We had a math test this week. - Alexis

We got to be on TV at the Norman Borlaug farm for singing the rap. When we were eating lunch a dog came on our bus - Haley M.

It was a fun Friday! - Dalton

It was the best Friday in the whole wide world! - Nathan

We learned about Norman Borlaug at the farm. - Lilly

We didn't have to eat the lasagna for lunch. - Abbey

We got to view the inside of Norman Borlaug's house. We got to see a replica of Dr. Borlaug's congressional medal of honor. - Trevor

We saw Norman Borlaug's childhood bedroom. - Mathew 

Mrs. Kuhn is the best teacher ever, and she rocks. - All of 5C

Here is a link for the "Norman Borlaug Rap" we sang at the farm today that was recorded for TV!! :)

http://www.agbioworld.org/biotech-info/Borlaug_Rap160.mp3

Get Your Umbrellas Ready

Well, we are halfway through another crazy week and I am happy to say that the craziness is coming to an end! We take our final MISIC test tomorrow and then our schedule can return to normal! I am VERY ready for things to return to normal and I think the students are, too. We were discussing our schedule for the day this morning and several students commented that they thought the days feel long when we have different schedules than normal, although a few thought that the days feel shorter! Either way, we are ready for normalcy!! 

I hope you all had a chance to read the note that came home with 5C students on Monday. If you haven't, please make sure you read it before Friday, as there is some information about our field trip that 5C students and families need to know. As the letter stated, we are going rain or shine! I'm not sure if anyone has seen a weather report for Friday, but the last time I checked it showed high temperatures in the 60s and a 70% chance of rain. So.... please make sure your student is dressed for the weather. As the title of this post suggests - bring an umbrella!! 

The second part of the note talked about Book-It, the reading program sponsored by Pizza Hut. We have having our kick-off jamboree on Friday, October 2 from 2:45-3:15. We've invited only one guest per student because we simply don't have space in our classroom for more. There will be more events throughout the year where our families will be encouraged to join us. 

Check out our new wordle that I posted to our blog this morning. Kids...please tell your families what a wordle is and how we created it. I will explain more about our wordle in my post on Friday. Have a great evening and I'll see you all tomorrow for yet another crazy day!

Classroom Wish List

Every year I have parents ask if there are any items that I need in our classroom. So, if you are at all interested in donating items to our classroom, here are some suggested items:

• crayons, colored pencils, markers
• scissors
• Clorox Wipes
• Glue sticks/glue bottles/rubber cement
• Hand sanitizer - pump bottles
• Books (old or new) for our classroom library
• Large erasers or small pencil top erasers
• Wide ruled notebooks
• 2 pocket folders

Thank you in advance! We are not picky - if you have any of these items taking up space around your house and you want to get rid of them, we'll take them! Thanks!!

Fantastic Week

Wow! What a busy week. Our week was full of changes to our schedule between our early dismissal on Wednesday, bus evacuation drills and MISIC testing. And, just as I predicted, the change in our schedule threw a few students for a loop and we had a few "off" moments of chatty behavior, but overall we had a fantastic week! Here is our weekly update about what we did in school last week.

This week in reading, students worked on increasing their stamina in "Read to Self" and they also worked on making connections while reading. In writing, Mrs. Sorenson introduced the writing trait of voice and students began working on writing stories. In social studies, students have been working on parallel timelines and are still studying erosion in science. This week during word study, we studied the sound of "long e" and the different letter combinations or spelling patters that make that sound. In math, we learned about square numbers, square roots, factor strings and prime factorization.

In addition, we also started our MISIC testing on Thursday. So far, we have taken our tests for math and language. Tomorrow we will take our science test and on Thursday we will take our final test in reading. 5C students have been doing an outstanding job of taking their time and doing their best on these tests. They have also done a super job of being respectful when they finish and others are still testing. This was awesome to see, 5C! Thanks for being so thoughtful of your classmates!

You also may have noticed our class "Wordle" that I posted to our blog. A wordle is a tool used to generate "word clouds" from a text that you provide. The clouds give prominence to words that appear more frequently in the text. So, on Friday, I asked 5C students to reflect on the school year so far and how they are feeling about 5th grade. Some students wrote a single word, some students wrote a sentence and some students wrote multiple sentences. As you can see from our wordle, most of us are feeling pretty "awesome" about 5th grade and that is "awesome" to hear!

Have a great rest of the weekend! I'm looking forward to another awesome week of school!

Fun Friday!

Here are the thoughts and comments from 5C students about our week of school...

We are learning about mentoring. - Haley S.

Mr. Sickles started Guidance class with us today. - Dawson

There have been many injuries during this week. - Trevor

Many people want to be mentors. - Spencer

We are doing parallel timelines during social studies. - Alexis

We learned the "Big Booty" game in literacy. - Katie

We played a soccer game in P.E. - Austin

We were asked to be munchkins in the high school musical the "Wizard of Oz". - Haley M.

The teachers rock! - Jordan

We played zip-zap-zop in literacy. - Mathew

I think I broke my finger at recess. - Chaise

We learned about square roots. - Lilly

We had a fun science experiment. - Nathan

We were VERY noisy in science and social studies class today. - Cameron

Yesterday at lunch a grape popped in Josh's face. - Haley M.

We started MISIC. - 5C

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday. - Dalton - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DALTON'S MOM!!!

As always - Mrs. Kuhn rocks - from all of 5C

TERRIFIC TUESDAY!!

Wow! What a fantastic day! I just wanted to put a quick post on our blog to let our families and friends know what an awesome day we had! We received complements from both Mrs. Sorenson and Mrs. Halverson that we were the "best we have ever been" today! Math class was fabulous as well. So 5C...give yourselves a large pat on the back! You proved to me once again today what fantastic young adults you all are! Thanks for being such great learners! I'm looking forward to tomorrow...let's have another super day!!

Hang on 5C...it's going to be a crazy week!!

Awesome start to the week 5C! We had a fantastic day!  5C students were much more respectful today for both Mrs. Halverson and Mrs. Sorenson, and that was very nice to hear! I told you guys you were capable of being fabulous!! Today you proved it to me once again!! Super job, 5C!

I wanted to post just a little note tonight to let you know that we are in for a CRAZY week!! (Actually, a crazy couple of weeks!) We have a 3 hour early dismissal on Wednesday for teacher inservice and bus evacuation drills that morning. On Thursday, 5C begins MISIC testing. MISIC testing continues next week. This will not only interrupt our class schedule, but the schedules of 5A and 5B as well. So, 5C, prepare yourselves for a few crazy days!

As with any time our schedule changes, students have a tendency to get a little confused and all out of whack. But, their not the only ones - it happens to the teachers too!! We will have to work together and help each other stay focused. I will need 5C to be at their best - both for their testing and behaviors and attitude! 

Thanks for a great day 5C! I'm excited to see you all tomorrow for another outstanding day!

Foggy Friday...Crazy Friday

We officially have another week of school under our belts and even though it was a shorter week than normal, it proved to be challenging week - trying to adjust to the first day of the week being a Tuesday and then the late start Friday morning for fog. Any interruption to our schedule not only affects our classroom, but 5A and 5B as well. So, yesterday morning was a little stressful for 5th grade teachers!! 

I have made many comments on how great our year as started and how the students of 5C have proved many times to be very respectful and responsible. But, as with any new situation, we have set-backs - kind of like the saying, "two steps forward, one step back". And I'm sad to say that yesterday, some of my 5C students took a large step in the wrong direction. During literacy class yesterday, some of my 5C students were being SO disrespectful to Mrs. Sorenson that she had to step out into the hallway to take a little break. Students were blurting answers and ideas, interrupting Mrs. Sorenson while she was talking and giving directions, carrying on their own conversations instead of listening to Mrs. Sorenson, and worst of all making jokes and laughing during an activity Mrs. Sorenson was having the students complete about 9/11. Now, I know that not all of my kiddos would act this way and I now that only a handful were making these poor behavior choices - as some of my students were not even in the classroom at the time, but I was so disappointed by those who chose to act in this way. It's disappointing to me that we aren't showing our best and being respectful at all times. 

Yesterday was not a terrible day - we had some great moments and some not-so-great moments. We will take today as a learning experience and move on. I know that 5C is capable of being a fantastic group!! 

It's Finally Friday!

Today I told 5C students that they will be helping me blog every Friday about our week in school. This will be their opportunity to share highlights from the week - something they enjoyed, something they are learning about - really, anything they would like to share. As you can tell by the comments left today, some of us were more interested in what we were eating for lunch or what our plans are for the weekend, than sharing about school. But, that's okay! It was our first blogging experience and 5C students were VERY enthusiastic about sharing their ideas! :)

We've had a lot of fun in math this week and in literacy we got to play with clay! - Jordan

It's finally Friday! - Haley M. 

I got all sweaty today playing football today. - Austin

Let's hope the Cadets win tonight! - Abbey

It was a fun week! - Dalton

Today we are having chicken alfredo. - Dawson

I like chicken alfredo. - Chaise

All the 5th grade football players are getting ready for a good week of football. - Trevor

In reading class our stamina is up to 18 minutes! - Katie

I didn't care for the chili yesterday because of the chunky tomatoes. - Spencer 

It has been a good year so far! - Haley S.

It's going to be a good weekend. - Josh

5th grade Cadets are going to win on Sunday! - Cameron

P.S. - Mrs. Kuhn Rocks - from all of 5C

5C Remembers September 11th...

This morning we spent some time talking about the tragic day of September 11, 2001. Here are some of 5C's thoughts and comments about that day...

Today is the 8th year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. - Dawson

Today is a sad day because the twin towers went down. - Chaise

A lot of people are really sad today. - Trevor

In memory of the people who died. - Spencer

America did not sit still for the attacking of the twin towers. - Cameron

We were not divided. - Katie

Never ride on an airplane on 9/11. - Nathan

2,819 people lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks. - Austin

Instead of the attack splitting us apart, we got stronger. - Haley M.

Don't joke around about being a terrorist. - Abbey

9/11 was a sad day. - Dalton

We talked about 9/11 today. - Jordan

Every year September 11th is a sad day. - Haley S.

Here is a link to the song "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood. 5C students do not know that I added this link to our post from this morning, but I thought it was very fitting to listen to this song on the anniversary of 9/11.

http://www.brownielocks.com/godblesstheusaWAVE.html

What's Happening in 5C?

I can hardly believe that we have already been in school for almost three weeks! We have been very busy getting into our routine and learning about what 5th grade is all about! We are also trying to get comfortable with our schedule - and the kids are the only ones struggling with this! Wednesdays throw ALL of us for a loop!! Hang in there 5C, we'll figure it out eventually!

I'm sure many of you are wondering what we have been doing in class these first few weeks we have been together. So, here is a little rundown of what we have been learning about in all of our classes.

In literacy, students have been working with Mrs. Sorenson on building stamina for independent reading and choosing "good fit books". They also learned about what writing is and completed a writing activity using the computer program Kidspiration. In math, we took a pretest over Unit 1: Number Theory. I used the results of these tests to put the students into math groups, where they will receive their math instruction in a small group setting. These groups will change for each unit. Some of the topics we have been covering in math include rectangular arrays, factors and divisibility rules. We also started word study (spelling) and so far have reviewed the sounds of the short vowels and are currently working on reviewing the sound of long a. In science, the students have been learning about erosion and from the looks of Mrs. Halverson's classroom, completing some science experiments about erosion. We had our first science quiz today over erosion vocabulary words...I hope everyone studied!! In social studies, students have been talking about patriotism and created some really neat posters about patriotism. 

Students in 5th grade have also been introduced to band during these first few weeks of school. Just a reminder - please return the band paper whether you are planning on joining band or not, so Mrs. Jones can start scheduling "try-outs".

Thanks to everyone who has checked out our blog! I know some of my 5C kiddos are interested in becoming followers with their families, so if anyone has trouble joining our site, please let me know!

Have a great night!!

A Successful Start

We have officially completed two full weeks of school and our year is off to a great start! We are getting into a routine and becoming more familiar with our schedule - which can be a bit tricky on Tuesdays and Wednesdays! Switching classes has been going fairly smoothly, with only a few forgotten planners here and a few forgotten notebooks there. The biggest problem seems to be hanging onto all of our stuff as we move to other classrooms. Some of us are keeping track of who drops their pencil box the most and last I knew, Abbey was winning with a total of 11. But, to be fair to Abbey, she has also been carrying twice the amount of materials, as she has graciously been helping Logan with his things until he is off of his crutches! Thanks for being so helpful, Abbey! And, she isn't the only one. I have a classroom full of respectful, responsible and helpful students! Thanks for a great start to the year 5C!!

Welcome to the 5C blog!!

Hello! Welcome students, parents and family members to our 5C classroom blog! I am very excited to use this blog as our main form of communication between school and home. Please check back frequently for posts and information about what is happening in the wonderful world of 5C!