Reader's Theaters

These are the stories the students have been working on for the past week and will be presenting to Mrs. Hucka's first grade on Monday.

Halloween Party Videos!

I know these are very out of date, but still fun to watch some clips from our party. The students pinned the head on a skeleton, had a candy corn race, colored pictures, and had snacks.

Southeast Tourism

Southeast Natural Wonders

Conferences!

Just a reminder that there is a one-hour early out on Tuesday and Thursday of this week because of Parent-teacher conferences. Thanks in advance to all the parents who were able to attend! Don't forget to visit the book fair!

Halloween Party!

The Halloween committee met last week and chose some activities for us. Our party will be this Friday, October 28 at 2:15, after our second recess. If you are on the committee, please remember what you have signed up to bring.

Also, conferences are coming up. Please return the bottom of the page so conferences can be rescheduled if necessary.

Picture Day!

Just a reminder that picture day is this coming Tuesday, October 11. Send in the picture envelopes if you are choosing to make an order.

Welcome Back!!

Welcome back to school!

I am excited for a new year to start! Look back to the blog for updates in the classroom and announcements. Some information is already posted under Important Documents. Make sure to answer the poll question each week.

Updates

Any pictures from the class pages from the 2010-2011 school year can be found on that page. I combined all classes onto that page to have last year's information all in one area and to save space for new things next year!

I also added a calendar tab. Important dates will be added to that calendar later, so check back often for updates.

5th Grade WWII Glogster posters

Here is the final project of the 5th grade class. The students had time and resources to use for their facts. I checked over their facts and made grammatical, spelling, and punctuation corrections. I discussed their research and gave the students opportunities to find stronger facts. The project was worth 50 points. The students had to complete five categories, worth 10 points each.

• Title: cleary relates to topic, is easy to read, and spelled correctly.
• Content/accuracy: At least seven accurate facts are displayed on the poster.
• Graphics/relevance: All graphics are related to the topic and make it easier to understand.
• Mechanics: Capitalization, spelling, grammar, and punctuation are correct throughout the poster.
• Sources: All borrowed graphics have a source citation. Facts have a citation. Citation is easily found and readable.

Click on the student's name to see their online poster (glogster) of their Social Studies research project. 

     5M                                  5S

Alexis C                            Alexis M
Anna                                Alyssa
Bailey                               Amber
Emma                              Brock
Grace                               Cameron
Christopher                       Cole
Jacob H                            Dezey
Jacob S                             Elizabeth
Jennifer                             Hannah
Jessica                              Christian
Joey                                 Kayla 
Jonathon                           Kim
Kenzie                             Marcus
Paige                               Mitchell
Tanner                            Priya
Tiffany                            Sam
           
     

Ancient India Play

Act 1: Daily Life
Act 2: Government
Act 3: Hinduism
Act 4: Buddhism

Ancient Rome Play

Ancient Rome Play

Act 1: Daily Life
Act 2: Daily Life
Act 3: Emporers
Act 4: Christianity
Act 5: Fall of Rome

Glogster!!!

5th Grade: Remember to finish and publish your glogster posters. We present on Monday no matter what! If it is not finished we will have to present as is. If you need to, I will be in the lab Monday morning. You may come in right after you unpack at your locker to quickly finish, but that is only for the very few students who told me the do not have access to a computer and internet.

Little Mustang Relays!

Thanks to all the family members for coming to watch the relays! The students did a great job participating! Congratulations to Ms. Matthews' class for winning the tug-of-war. Both classes tried their best. Congratulations also to Mr. Boerner's class for winning the 6th grade competition.

Happy Mother's Day!

A big thanks goes out to all the mothers of the fifth and sixth grade students! We all appreciate all you do!

One more day to vote on the poll before it closes Monday night.

Also, remember Little Mustang Relays is this Friday. We will be starting field events at the high school in Lake City at 12:00. Running events to follow and the class tug-of-war! Think happy thoughts so we have beautiful weather that day. If needed, the rain date is next Monday.

5th Grade Invention Projects

Updated Class pages!

I have updated the class pages with some pictures of the student projects. The students have been working very hard, and here is an opportunity to showcase their work.

The fifth grade presented their family trees and we graphed the different countries we came from. Ms. Matthews' class is colored solidly, Ms. Smith's class is shown with stripes.

The countries are (starting from left):
Germany, Ireland, England, Native American, Sweden, Norway, Finland, France,  Bohemia (Eastern Europe, Czech) India, Denmark, Mexico, Scotland, Holland, Wales


5th grade band this week is Monday, Tuesday, Thursday.

A few important dates coming up to mark on calendars:

1. Concert May 10
2. Little Mustang Relays May 13
3. Field Trip to Iowa Hall of Pride May 20
4. Last day of School May 27

Also, here is a website for anyone wanting to learn more about farming. It has 12 interactive games, videos, quizzes, and other things to check out.

http://www.myamericanfarm.org/

Family Tree Project

Hello! Here are the requirements for the family tree project in case the student information paper is lost.

Each student will need to complete a family tree back at least four generations. The goal of the project is to find when and where the families emigrated from. The class will be making a graph comparing dates and nationalities. The students will begin presenting April 18, 19, and 21. I will add the list of when students are presenting later this week. **This project is to be completed at home with the help of family. Class time will be used on another project of inventions.

Requirements include:

1. Family Tree
    a. (15 pts) Four generations (names and years)
    b. (15 pts) One fact about each person told to us when presenting. Students may make notes or write them down to practice, but should tell them to us conversationally. Facts may include, but not limited to where born, where lived, occupation, nickname, etc.
    c. (5 pts) who and when the family immigrated to the USA
    d. (5 pts) the countries of emigration

2. Biography
    a. (10 pts) A short biography of one family member from the family tree, may also be an aunt, uncle, etc. The bio should be written in paragraph form as a short essay. Students amy interview a family member to get the information. Each fact filled sentence is worth one point. Possible questions include, but are not limited to:
- What is your full name? How was is selected for you?
- Where did you live? How did you come to live there?
- What was the house like? (description of home; i.e. telephone, plumbing)
-What is your earliest childhood memory? What is your fondest memory?
-What was school like?
-What did you do in your free time? What games did you play?
-Are there any physical characteristics that run in the family?

**There have been some concerns from students how have not been able to find dates for some family members or some of their names. I want to the students to ask, talk to family members, and research their history. I will keep in mind that some families just don't have those records, but the students still need to try their best to find them.

Conferences!

Just a reminder that conferences are this week on Monday and Tuesday from 4-7. Mr. Boerner will be available on Tuesday. Those days will also have a one-hour early-out. Friday, there will be no school.

Band will be a two day week, Monday and Wednesday.

Also, all of the biography presentations have been loaded. You may need to go to the bottom of the page and click on 'see older posts' if your student's video is not there. Overall, the students did a great job! I am not sure what happened to Priya's video. I can't find it anywhere! Sorry Priya!!!

Here are the Monday biography presentations by the the 5th grade students. I will try to load each night, but it does take some time. A thanks goes out to all students who made me cards for my birthday; I appreciate the thoughtfulness.

Just a little reminder there is no school on Wednesday because of teacher in-service.

Friday, the 4-6 grade students have the opportunity to go to Rockwell City to see an afternoon performance of their musical. If your student needs to leave early that day, please let the school know so you can make arrangements to get them at Rockwell City or we can allow your student to stay at Lohrville to be picked up. They will be back to Lohrville in time for the route buses, so alternate transportation is not needed. Alternate arrangements are only needed if your student needs to leave early for a doctor's appointment, for example.

Conferences are next week. We hope to see many parents there.

Happy March!

I can't believe the time to spring forward (which is this Saturday night) is here already! We are very busy with projects in both grades. Check out the class pages to see some of the projects. The TAG page was also updated with the finished Painted Ladies.

The schedule is getting busier, and I wanted to remind everyone of some things coming up. Friday, the fifth graders take their turn of visiting Rockwell City to have a question session and to tour their building for next year. Parents are invited as well, but please send your student to school on the bus. We will be taking attendance that morning and it will be much easier for everyone if students come to school as scheduled. Next Friday, March 18, the students are going back to Rockwell City to see a matinee performance of their High School's spring musical production of HMS Pinafore. The following week is conferences. Please remember Monday and Tuesday have a one hour early out so teachers can prepare for conferences.

Busy times call for hectic schedules, so please make sure your students are getting plenty of sleep. The germs are still going around and the second round of MAPS testing is coming soon, so we want to the students to be as healthy and well rested as they can be.

Band Concert

Great job tonight 5th and 6th grade! Everyone sounded and looked great. I always enjoy going to the all band concert remember the times I had in band and to look forward to the progress of my students as they grow.

Remember this Friday is Jump Rope for Heart. Please remember to bring permission slips and donations if you haven't already turned those in to Mr. Hanson.

Project Examples

Here are some examples of the students' projects in 5th grade Social Studies. Projects are due Friday, March 4. The students have begun their research, now is the time to start work on the projects.

Research sites for 5th Grade

Here are some sites the students may find useful in their research projects. Please wait until Tuesday before actually beginning the creation of the project. I will be handing out the rubric and grading requirements and expectations then.

Western Expansion:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award99/icuhtml/fawsp/fawsp.html
http://www.historicoregoncity.org/HOC/index.php/end-of-the-oregon-trail-history/70-oregon-trail-history

Lewis and Clark:
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/

Washington, Jefferson, Adams:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents
http://www.mountvernon.org/learn/meet_george/index.cfm/
http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson
http://www.nps.gov/adam/historyculture/places.htm

Old Ironsides:
http://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/

Alamo:
http://www.thealamo.org/main/index.php

Panning for gold:
http://museumca.org/goldrush/

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks to all my students who remembered me this Valentine's Day. I appreciate your thoughts.

Halfway through February already, and the weather is warming up nicely. Please remember to continue to bring your winter gear to school. As long as there is snow on the playground, boots will be required to participate at recess.

Remember, Monday the 21, is a no school day because of teacher in-service.

Band Update

We will have band on Friday, so please remember instruments!

What a Game!

I'm sure the talk of the week will be the Super Bowl game from the weekend. I was able to see the last half of the fourth quarter so I can keep up with the students. The poll response from last week was in favorite of the Steelers, 3-2, but the Packers were able to squeeze out a win.

I do have an announcement. This week, the students will have band on Monday and Wednesday. Mr. Plummer will not be available Friday because of a jazz competition.

Good Job!

I am very proud of my class for trying hard on the ITBS! We had a successful week and will get the reports back for the tests in about six weeks. Overall, we had great attendance and only have a few make ups. Remember Friday is the Rockin' Lockin. What a great way to start getting to know our new classmates from the north!

http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/served/ages.html
    (lists and gives bios of officers at Valley Forge)

http://www.earlyamerica.com/lives/
    (bios of Franklin, Washington, Boone, Jefferson, Revere)

http://www.theamericanrevolution.org/people.aspx
    (a list of important people of the revolution)

http://www.nps.gov/revwar/about_the_revolution/revolutionary_people.html
    (a list of important people of the revolution)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Native_Americans_in_the_American_Revolution
    (wikipedia list of Native Americans during the revolution)

http://ehistory.osu.edu/uscw/features/people/list.cfm?letter=B&Era_ID=1
    (people of the civil war, search alphabetically)

http://www.civilwarhome.com/biograph.htm 
    (civil war biography list)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_associated_with_the_American_Civil_War
    (wikipedia list of civil war leaders)

Congratulations!!

Congratulations 5th Grade! A big thank you goes out to all family and friends who made it to the graduation ceremony. What a perfect way to end the DARE class. Thanks again to Sheriff Davis for teaching us all about DARE! If you were not able to attend graduation, I will be giving your DARE things to you at school.

This week is a two day band week: Tuesday and Thursday.

Also, remember the Biome presentations are on Friday.

DARE News

Hello! This is a two day band week: Tuesday and Thursday. *Remember there is no school on Friday.

Remember DARE practice is Thursday. Students will be needing band instruments for group band practice, then will be going to the high school at 2:00 to practice for DARE graduation. Students will get on their regular route buses at the high school after the practice.

Graduation is Sunday at 1:30. Please have students to the high school by 1:15 to line up. Students may wear their DARE t-shirts.

See you then!

Happy New Year!

Wow! We were just getting used to writing 2010 on our papers and now we need to write 2011. I hope everyone had a great break and is ready to jump in and learn. January is a busy month. The fifth grade will be having a DARE practice and graduation in a few weeks. A note will be coming home when all the details are worked out. Also, at the end of the month is the ITBS tests. Make sure your students is getting lots of rest so they are ready to do their best on the tests.

This week is a three day band week, so 5th grade students need instruments on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.