Another online learning day

Greetings students-

We are on to day two of online learning, so try not to spend the day staring at screens.

For me, I will try to do my part to keep your screen time under control. 

Read a book for at least 30 minutes and turn in your thinkmark to me via email. 
Remember, use your thinkmarks to:

• Make a Prediction
• Ask a Question or Get an Answer 
• Make a Connection
• Make an Inference 
• Visualize a Scene
• Jot an Important Fact 
• Note Your Favorite Part 
• Write New Vocabulary
• Jot Something to Share
• Note a Simile or Metaphor

In Math, complete another pair of IXL assignments to 90 or better. Please complete one assignment from K or L. The other can be from A or B as a review. If you work on IXL for 30 minutes and haven't finished, you may be done. I will be able to see how long you practice, so don't try to spend 10-15 minutes and call it done. Don't forget to log in before starting!

Here are a few optional assignments if you are bored at home, but these are not required.

For Technology, give this website a try: http://www.transum.org/software/Logo/

PE: Play for at least 30 minutes

Make a healthy snack and tell me about it!

Watch CNN Student News while you enjoy your healthy snack.

See you tomorrow!

Mr. Swinehart

Inclement Weather Assignment

Sorry this is coming out late, I've been out of the country and didn't plan for snow!

At some point today, please complete a short writing piece describing a character from The Giraffe, the Pelly, and Me. It can be your favorite character, your least favorite character, or whichever one you think might be the most fun to write about. Tell me why you chose that character, and how that character is different from the other characters in the book.

You can send that assignment to me via email if you'd prefer to do the work on the computer, or turn it in to me in the morning.

Need a break before you do the second task? Enjoy an interesting math video or two!

Login to IXL and complete a task in the K or L fraction section to a score of 90 or better. Be sure you log in, or it will not save your score. If you have other math work from another teacher, you may do that instead.

Spend at least 30 minutes reading a good book, and email me once you've finished your work.

Have an enjoyable day, and hopefully we will see you in the morning.

Mr. Swinehart

A few more photos from our classroom

Hi All-

I've sent out a few emails lately, but I also want to keep the blog updated with some fresh pictures for those of you who like to share with friends and family far away!

Our class enjoyed a visit from an author in November, Kev F came to visit from the UK and gave our students a bit of background on the art of cartooning. All of us enjoyed the window into his world, and also he zany sense of humor. When he isn't cartooning, he does stand-up comedy, and the laughs were many as he drew and joked with us.

This week we had a great science activity, the lesson focus was on measurement with precision and the kids loved working together to complete the task. Lots of great photo opportunities to be found, as they got up close and personal with their graduated cylinders. In the end, they created a rainbow of colors and everyone had a chance to measure and pour...with only a few spills!

Anyhow, I'll let the pictures do the talking from here on out. Have a lovely holiday season and enjoy the extra time with your children. Safe travels to all and we will see you in the new year.

Mr. Swinehart

Kev F showing his technique to Grade 5

Laughs all around!

One lucky fifth grader took home a portrait

Omar drops from above as Sunwoo and Emil keep an eye on the meniscus

Grant, Logan, and Qais keeping a steady hand

Tala pouring, Luciana and Mlak keeping their eye on the cylinder

Jad, Yazan, and Hugo coming to agreement on a measurement

Hana and Dina were quite precise

Faisal and Nick working side by side

Emil, Sunwoo and Omar finishing the final pour

Lots and lots of dates and pictures!

Greetings Parents-

My last update didn't get pushed out correctly, but I think I have things figured out now and shouldn't have trouble in the future. Lots of dates to remember are on the horizon:

October 23rd, 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM – THE ACS SPOOKTACULAR 

October 27th 1:00PM 5S Halloween Party

October 28th – Parent/Teacher Conferences – 12:30 pm until 7:00 pm (No School)

October 29th – Parent/Teacher Conferences – from 8:00 until 12:30 pm (No School)

November 26th – Thanksgiving Day (No School)

Students should be continuing with the 30 minutes of nightly reading, with occasional math homework to supplement what is learned in class. If you ever have trouble logging into IXL for math, please send me an email and I will send your child's login information as soon as I see the message. 

If you'd like to talk to your students about what we are learning, talk to them about the book they are reading, and ask them to tell you what they've been sharing from their Thinkmarks. Math has been division and decimals, though the unit is drawing to a close and we should get to a test this week. Social studies has been great, our grade is looking at the migration of the first people into North America. Ask you child about the Coastal Route theory and the Land Bridge theory and see what evidence they can provide for the two. Writing is full of narratives, we are hearing some pretty funny and touching stories from our classmates...maybe they can share with you about their own topics? In November we should have a piece ready to share with our classmates and families, so look for more details about that at the upcoming conferences.

As always, if you have any questions about what we are up to in the classroom, please feel free to email and I will get back to you promptly.

Kind regards,

Mr. Swinehart

Spirit Week was enjoyable, plenty of jammies on Sunday and Twin Day was looking great for some of our 5S friends, Luciana and Charlotte went with the stripes...

 

...while Tala and Mlak went with the solid look.

(And now for some older photos, enjoy!)

The school year is racing by, we had a lovely trip to the Dead Sea and enjoyed getting to know our classmates. The weather cooperated, the kids were fantastic, and the water was wonderful. Many photos were taken, I hope you enjoy a few of the favorites! 

Quite different from the Dead Sea fun was our dust storm fire alarm...blech! 

Kids did a great job of making it outside quickly and quietly, and ACS staff figured out the cause and had us back inside the building promptly.

A wonderful year is underway!

Greetings families, and welcome to the digital home of 5S @ ACS. 

Here you will find our online class newsletters, images and information from the classroom, and links to other places of interest for your and your 5th grader.

We started off ready to learn on day one, happy to meet each other for the first time on the field!

We've finished up with the first full week of school, and everyone seems happy to be getting back into the routines of learning. We have a wonderful group of 18 students in 5S, and we are all enjoying our days. Students have dug into Dot Talks in math, genre studies in Language Arts, and we have a classroom economy up and running for social studies. Ask your child about Danny, Champion of the World...they are absolutely enjoying a chapter a day for our read aloud book.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me any time or schedule a time to meet with me at ACS.

Quite a few events are coming up:

Wednesday, September 2, 6-7:30pm

Back to School Parent Information Night at ACS

Thursday, September 3

Grade 5 Dead Sea Field Trip

Saturday, September 5, 4-6pm

Back to school social at ACS

Enjoying a bit of novel reading

5S took a trip upstairs to see the 4th Grade Arcade

NVSF Open House

Your children have been working hard over the past couple of months on their science fair projects, and you are invited to come celebrate in their achievements! Next Wednesday, April 15th, we will be holding both the NVSF5 science fair as well as an informational meeting regarding our upcoming trip to Wadi Rum. Please see the details below.

NVSF5
Date: Wednesday, April 15th

Format: Open house format

Time: Come anytime between 10:45 am and 12:10 pm

Where: Third floor of the elementary building

Wadi Rum Informational Meeting

Date: Wednesday, April 15th

Time: 12:15-12:45 pm

Where: MPR

We hope to see many of you there! For those unable to attend, we will be providing follow-up information regarding the field trip, including the itinerary, packing list, guidelines, emergency contacts, medical/permission forms, etc.

- The Grade 5 Team

(N) Ice Day Assignment

Hi Parents and students-

Let's hope this is the last disrupted day of the year, as I miss being in the classroom!

Today students will have a few choices for an assignment, so please choose any two tasks from the following list:

• Head over to IXL.com and work through J.4 (Yes, it's a break from decimals, but we need some classroom time before we go much further independently, and this assignment should be fun.)

• Play outside for 30 minutes and create a bar or pie graph of how you spend your time. When you finish, you can share the graph with me via email. If you would rather make the graph on paper and turn it in to me tomorrow, that will be fine!

• Try your hand at an online LOGO language challenge. This will be much easier on a computer than on a mobile device.

• Spend at least 20 minutes writing code, and draw the shape that you think will be produced by your coding. Write it down and try it out tomorrow, and see if your code produces the drawing you anticipated.

Have a great day, and we will see you tomorrow!