Semester End

It's the end of the first semester of fifth grade and the end the second marking period. This means that it is report card time. Cards should have gone home today, however, due to the blizzard, we will send them on the next school day. I'm sure that everyone is enjoying the beautiful snow outside as much as I am.

We have lots of new things in store for the second semester. We will rework Homeworkopoly, which has been a huge hit with the kids. I am in the process of coming up with various fun challenges for the game so that when they land on a certain spot on the game board they will have something special to complete to get ahead.

We will also be doing a weekly focused writing every Friday where students will be writing on a specific topic and the fifth grade teachers will be reading and scoring it together the following Wednesday. We will be teaching into the traits of writing beginning with organization of the writing. Currently, we are working on leads and introductions. During sharing in our workshops we have heard some outstanding descriptive introductory paragraphs.

We have some excellent readers this year and we are learning more strategies to help kids dig deeper for meaning. In other words, using inferences to figure out just what the author is "Time for Kids" to teach students how to read for information and answer questions, along with the necessary strategies for test taking.

Lastly, we are in the beginning stages of planning the end of fifth grade party and we need your help. A list went home of the parents who atended the first meeting with email addresses so if you are interested in becoming part of the committee, please contact one of the parents listed. This is a great group of fifth graders, so planning fun activities and ending on a high note would be wonderful!

I apologize for the gap in the blog. We had a family illness resulting in the passing of my dear uncle after a difficult battle with ALS. I appreciate the good thoughts you have sent and the kids were so thoughtful when I returned. I am thankful for the all the great people at Cooley.