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!

Inclement Weather Assignments

Hello students and parents!

It's a shame that we are out again for crummy weather, but I thank you for coming here to stay on top of your schoolwork.

Our task for the day will be to work on IXL assignments W.7 and W.8. Before you complete the assignment, watch this seven minute video.

Additionally, if you have extra time and have not finished E.1, E.2, or E.3, this would be a great time to get caught up.

Be sure to log in to your own account before you begin working.
If you can't recall your login, please email me promptly.

Additionally, Mrs. Bonifas asked me to point you towards her blog as well.

Thank you kindly,
Mr. Swinehart

Students,

I would like you to read this article and share your thoughts with me in the comment section below.

Happy Reading,
Mr. Swinehart

Snow Day 3

Greetings All!

I hope you stayed warm and played safely this weekend. I can't believe we are out for another day, but there is at least a day's worth of snow piled up in front of my place. 

Today we will continue our work with decimals.

First, I would like you to watch two short Khan academy videos on comparing place value in decimals. After that, please work through the short task that goes with it. You may need to watch the video again to complete the task. 

When that is finished, head on over to IXL and work on topics C.9 and C.10 for at least 15 minutes each. 

I know this is getting a little difficult for some of you, as we have been out for quite a few days and we are not getting the in class practice that is helpful for our work. Hopefully we will be back in class soon and I'll be able to catch you up face-to-face. In the meantime, if there is something that isn't making sense, please don't hesitate to email me.

Know that the other class blogs are up and ready for you to work, they can be found using the links below:

Language Arts: http://mrvgrade5.blogspot.com/ 
Science/Social Studies: http://acs5l.blogspot.com 
Technology (5L, 5S): https://ddajani.wordpress.com/ 
Art (5V): http://msshukri.blogspot.com/
PE (5S): http://pktofifthpeatacs.blogspot.com/
Arabic: 

•  Ms. Ramahi
•  Ms. Jacquellene
•  Ms. Rima

Snow Day 2...now with real snow!

Greetings, fifth graders. We are learning online once again; today I would like you to go a little further with decimals. Please watch this short video about expanded notation, and then spend at least 15 minutes on the associated IXL assignment.

For part two of your assignment, please go outside and measure the snow depth in front of your house. Please measure to the nearest centimeter. Once you have the data, please visit you class bulletin board and enter the information there.

Class boards:

5L

5S

5V

If you have any questions about the above assignments, please feel free to email me. I will be available all day and I am happy to help you if you need it.

Your assignment from Mrs. Liedtke can be found on her blog.

Your assignment from Mr. VanLare can be found on his blog.

Enjoy the snow and have a wonderful weekend-
Mr. Swinehart

Not in school, but still learning!

Greetings students and parents-

It seems that the storm will keep us out of school for a day or more. Although we won't be spending time together in the classroom, I will still expect you to keep up on your math. Better to keep learning now than stay late in June, right?

These assignments will be easiest on a computer; if you are using an iPad you will want to download the IXL app and find the two topics in the fifth grade section.

Today's assignment has two parts: IXL practice and a post a class bulletin board.

For your IXL practice, I would like you to spend at least 30 minutes working on the following two topics:
BE SURE TO LOG IN BEFORE YOU BEGIN WORKING!
Decimals as Words IXL C.3

Place Value IXL C.4

If you need a refresher on either topic, please check out the following Khan Academy videos:

Decimals as Words

Place Value



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

After you have completed that, please go to your class bulletin board and follow the instructions found there. If you are on an iPad or phone and can't complete see enough of the screen to complete this task, you may email your answer to me instead.

Class boards:

5L Math

5S Math

5V Math

Finish quickly and need an extension activity?
Try IXL C.12, Converting Fractions to Decimals

If you have any questions about the above assignment, please feel free to email me. I will be available all day and I am happy to help you if you need it.

Your assignment from Mrs. Liedtke can be found on her blog.

Your assignment from Mr. VanLare can be found on his blog.

Play safely, and stay warm and dry-
Mr. Swinehart