Week of September 30

We survived the busy week of Iowa testing and will be back to a normal schedule this week!  

MATH 

Fourth Grade Math

Students received a graded homework assignment last Thursday. The assignment is due on Tuesday.  We resume the GoMath lessons this week covering Estimating Products, and Multiplication using the Distributive Property, Expanded Notation and Partial Products (Lessons 2.4 - 2.7). Bringing home Student Edition (colorful larger workbooks) will be especially helpful this week as these are very new concepts. There will be a Quiz Friday. Additionally, students will receive a project mid-week that will be due Wednesday, Oct. 9th. I will post instructions for the project on a new "Math Project" Tab on the blog. We continue weekly Multiplication Facts timed practice drills. The expectation is 80 problems in a 3 minute drill. 

Fifth Grade Math 

Students received a graded assignment last Thursday that is due on Tuesday. This week we begin Chapter 2 Division, covering Estimating Quotients, reviewing Division with 1-digit divisors, and learning Division with 2-digit divisors using a method called Partial Quotients (Lessons 2.1 - 2.4).  There will be a Quiz on Friday.  Additionally, students will receive a project midweek due on Wed. October 9th. I will post instructions for the project on a new "Math Project" Tab on the blog. We continue weekly Multiplication Facts timed practice drills.  The expectation is 90 problems in a 3 minute drill.  

Math Help - Office Hours 

Beginning This Week 

Tuesday and Thursday:  7:15am - 7:45

4th Grade Monday:  2:25 - 3:15 

5th Grade Wednesday: 2:25 - 3:15

SCIENCE

Fourth Grade 

Fourth graders will be finding out the difference between mass and density.  We will have a quiz on Lesson 3 on Tuesday, October 1st. 

Fifth Grade  

5th graders are beginning Lesson 3 and learning about weathering, erosion and deposition. 

Reading, Spelling & Vocab Highlights

Reading: We began reading Frindle last week.  We plan to have a Quiz on 

            Chapters 1-4 on Thursday this week, and proceed with Chapters 5-9.

            For each set of Chapters, students are summarizing and learning new

            vocabulary.  The list of vocabulary can be found on the "Reading 

            Websites" Tab above.  Students will read the book in class as both Fifth

            Grade classes are sharing the books.

            We learned we will be seeing the Frindle Play at Tivoli in October, so 

            it's perfect timing! 

     

          

Spelling: Lesson 6 

           Mrs. Hall's students correct workbooks on Thursdays. 

           Mrs. Stillo's students correct workbooks on Fridays.

           The workbooks should be written in cursive. 

           Spelling Test Friday

           Each Friday, students hand in a 5x each assignment written in cursive 

           Reminders:  

               - bonus words are treated as extra points on the test,

               - Pretests signed by parents worth 3 quarterly extra credit points, 

               - "Spelling Expectations" card is taped inside student workbooks 

Vocabulary:   

           Unit 3 Vocabulary test will be Monday, September 30th. 

           Unit 4 - Vocabulary Cards are due Friday. 

 Religion

We begin Chapter 2 this week. This chapter covers communicating with God, stewardship for God's creation and thankfulness.   

Other Fifth Grade News

Remember to Read ---> 4 book reports due October 25th

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to email Mrs. Hall at dhall@stjosephdg.org, or, Mrs. Stillo at dstillo@stjosephdg.org.

Week of September 23

5th Graders will be taking the Iowa Basic Skills Test Monday through Wednesday this week.  They should get plenty of rest and eat a good breakfast to help with the tests.  We will resume our regular class schedule on Thursday. 

MATH 

Fourth Grade Math

Students will receive a multiplication and rounding assignment to work on throughout the week. The graded assignment will be due on Friday. We will work on Problem Solving steps and skills on Thursday and continue with the GoMath Chapter 2, Lesson 4 Multiplication Lesson on Friday. We continue weekly Multiplication Facts timed practice drills. The expectation is 80 problems in a 3 minute drill. 

Fifth Grade Math 

Students will receive a graded assignment this week, due on Friday.  We will work on Problem Solving steps and skills when classes resume on Thursday.  We begin Chapter 2 on Friday.  We continue weekly Multiplication Facts timed practice drills.  The expectation is 90 problems in a 3 minute drill.  

Math Help - Office Hours 

Beginning This Week 

Tuesday and Thursday:  7:15am - 7:45

4th Grade Monday:  2:25 - 3:15 

5th Grade Wednesday: 2:25 - 3:15

SCIENCE

Fourth Grade 

We will begin Lesson 3 on Thursday when the 5th grade finishes the Iowa Tests, and learn about mass and density. 

Fifth Grade 

We will begin Lesson 3 after we finish our Iowa Tests and learn about weathering, erosion and deposition. 

Reading, Spelling & Vocab Highlights

Reading: We will still have Reading each day this week. We begin reading 

             Frindle, a realistic fiction novel, written by Andrew Clements.  

             Students will work on vocabulary, questioning and summarizing skills 

             throughout the novel.  We hope to read Chapters 1 -4 this week.

             Students will receive a creative writing assignment due the week of 

             September 30 related to the story. 

     

          

Spelling: Lesson 5 

           Mrs. Hall's students correct workbooks on Thursdays. 

           Mrs. Stillo's students correct workbooks on Fridays.

           The workbooks should be written in cursive. 

           Spelling Test Friday

           Each Friday, students hand in a 5x each assignment written in cursive 

           Reminders:  

               - bonus words are treated as extra points on the test,

               - Pretests signed by parents worth 3 quarterly extra credit points, 

               - "Spelling Expectations" card is taped inside student workbooks 

Vocabulary:   Unit 3 - Vocabulary workbook is Due Friday. 

           Unit 3 Vocabulary test will be Monday, September 30th. 

 Religion

We wrap up Liturgical Calendars, Chapter 1 and complete a crossword puzzle

           by looking up readings in the Bible.   

Other Fifth Grade News

Remember to Read ---> 4 book reports due October 25th

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to email Mrs. Hall at dhall@stjosephdg.org, or, Mrs. Stillo at dstillo@stjosephdg.org.

Week of September 16

MATH 

Fourth Grade Math

We begin Chapter 2: Multiplying by 1-Digit Numbers. Students will cover Lessons 1 - 3 this week while learning several strategies for multiplication. They will receive a handout to complete notes on the strategies for use through the entire chapter.  There will be a short quiz on Friday, mainly covering multiplying by powers of 10 (10s, 100s and 1,000s).  We continue weekly Multiplication Facts timed practice drills.  The expectation is 30 problems per minute. 

Fifth Grade Math 

We wrap up Chapter 1 with algebraic Lessons 10, 11, and 12:  writing numeric expressions and solving expressions using orders of operations. Thursday will be a review day, covering chapter 1 skills.  Students will also review some geometry skills this week. Friday is the Chapter 1 Test.    

Math Help - Office Hours 

Beginning This Week 

Tuesday and Thursday:  7:15am - 7:45

4th Grade Monday:  2:25 - 3:15 

5th Grade Wednesday: 2:25 - 3:15

SCIENCE

Fourth Grade 

4th grade is learning more about measuring length and volume. (Lesson 2)  We will be writing science vocabulary cards for metric terms.  I will demonstrate how to measure a the volume of a regular and irregular object.  We should be ready for a quiz on Lesson 2 by Friday.

 

Fifth Grade 

5th grade is learning about the plates in our Earth and plate tectonics. (Lesson 2)  They will be learning how earthquakes, volcanoes and mountain formations are caused by plate movements. 

Reading, Spelling & Vocab Highlights

Reading:  Storytown Lesson 4: Biography, The Daring Nellie Bly

           Comprehension strategies: Monitor Comprehension by rereading, and,

              summarizing skills in Woolly Mammoth essays

           Focus on skills:  character motives, summarizing, author point of view

           Writing: students become literary critics while peer editing Woolly  

              Mammoth essays 

           Comprehension Test: Friday

           Genre: Identify characteristics of biography - compare to autobiography     

           

Spelling: Lesson 4 

           Mrs. Hall's students correct workbooks on Thursdays. 

           Mrs. Stillo's students correct workbooks on Fridays.

           The workbooks should be written in cursive. 

           Spelling Test Friday

           Each Friday, students hand in a 5x each assignment written in cursive 

           Reminders:  

               - bonus words are treated as extra points on the test,

               - Pretests signed by parents worth 3 quarterly extra credit points, 

               - "Spelling Expectations" card is taped inside student workbooks 

Vocabulary:  Unit 2 Vocab Test is Monday, September 16. 

           Unit 3 - Vocabulary index cards containing definition, part of speech,

                pronunciation, synonyms and antonyms are due on Friday. 

 Religion

We continue with Chapter 1 discussing our need to communicate, and God's gifts of Faith and Grace, and communicating with prayer.   

Other Fifth Grade News

Remember to Read ---> 4 book reports due October 25th

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to email Mrs. Hall at dhall@stjosephdg.org, or, Mrs. Stillo at dstillo@stjosephdg.org.