13 days remaining until EOGs!

 

We did a ton of small group work this morning, trying to remember what fractions are and how they work.  From this point on, we are really buckling down and reviewing the entire year’s worth of content.  This week we will touch on everything really, and find out where we still have gaps.

The students have two worksheets to do tonight.  One is a simple list of concepts they should understand and equation problems for each concept.  The other is a worksheet that is STRANGELY SIMILAR to the first worksheet, and just might have the same exact concepts expressed as word problems.  Odds that anyone comes in tomorrow having noticed this?  I’m hoping high!

ProblemInventory

WordProblems20-24

In Language Arts we continued to talk about figurative language, and we got to talk about the expression “reading between the lines”.  See if you can use that one in a conversation with your student sometime!

We also looked at our letters to Mr. Zoller about field trips, and did some peer and teacher review.  We are focusing most on “did what I write make sense?” just like in math!

Tonight students should finish up their revision and write their final letter to Mr. Zoller.  I’m hoping I can bundle these up and send them his way.

In Science, we talked about the water cycle (this should be essentially 3 years old review at this point) and we will start talking about how this influences the weather.  We also got to talk about sublimation (when something goes straight from solid to gas, without changing into a liquid).  This blew some of our students’ minds, as they thought this was impossible.  We got to watch some neat clips about dry ice, and even talk about microwaves!  We unfortunately didn’t get to the selection that included our science homework, so we will finish that up tomorrow.

 

So, the tldr;

two math worksheets

WordProblems20-24

ProblemInventory

Write their final letter to Mr. Zoller

 

Also a reminder!  The meeting to plan the reception (graduation) ceremony for our 5th graders is this Thursday, the 29th of May.  We will have the meeting in room 137 starting at 5:30 pm.  If you missed any of the notes, here they are:

5threceptionrequestltr

 

Hope to see you there, and have a great Tuesday!

 

-Mr. Potter

How in the world is it Thursday already?

 

We spent a good chunk of the morning finishing up our weather research.  Students should be ready to start writing at this point, and we will get into that next week.  We might do one more day of book research, but our time in the computer lab has come to an end.

In math we again beat that horse of making sure our answers make sense.  It’s not quite dead, but it’s definitely on life support at this point.

The students have 4 more word problems to finish tonight.  They have been instructed that their first and last steps should be to look at the actual question (that sentence in the problem with the question mark), and ensure that their final response actually answers that question.

DecimalWordProblems16-19

In language arts, we are still talking about the different types of figurative language.  I was much happier with the figurative language examples that they turned in today.  Remember that tomorrow is Friday, which means we have a story using their bio words, and that there is almost DEFINITELY a quiz or two to be had on the things we worked on this week.

In case you lost them, here are the words:

BioWordList

 

that was pretty short and sweet, but here’s the tldr;

4 math problems

DecimalWordProblems16-19

one short story using the bio words

BioWordList

as always, they should also read for 35 minutes and fill out their reading log.

 

See everyone tomorrow!

 

-Mr. Potter

 

Today was absolutely PACKED

 

And as such, we have a good amount of homework.

 

We continued our talks AT LENGTH about making sure that our answers make sense.  We are still struggling with using logic and common sense reasoning in order to see that if we have a problem like “how much is .2kg of apples if 1kg of apples is $0.85?” that an answer like $1.70 makes no reasonable sense.  We will continue to work on this until we all have that little voice in our head that at the end of each problem says “wait….does that make sense?”

The beatings will continue until morale improves!

The students have two pages of word problems to finish.  The first should have a good dent taken out of it as we worked some together and in groups.  They should always finish by checking their problems, and asking themselves “does that make sense?”.

DecimalWordProblems11-15

RealLifeProblemsMay21

 

In Language Arts we talked more about figurative language, and revisited the definitions of some of the more common types, as I was unimpressed with their homework from Monday night.  Many students simply picked 3 random sentences from their books and turned them in as figurative language.  This time they will be turning in five examples of figurative language from their current reading books, and they must must MUST label what each type of figurative language it is.  If they are struggling, here are some of the most common:

simile:Comparing two things using like or as

“He was as big as a house”

metaphor: Comparing two things without using like/as

“The guard was a walking wall of muscle”

hyperbole: Exaggeration

“If I don’t eat something, I’m going to die!”

personification: giving a NON-HUMAN object human qualities.

“The wind walked through the trees”

alliteration:    repeated use of sounds for poetic effect

“Silly sammy slick, sipped six sodas and got sick, sick, sick”

onomatopoeia: A word that imitates or describes a sound

“boom”  “splash” “whack” “ping”

What they turn in should have five examples from their book with page numbers, and the type of figurative language used.

 

In science, we finished up a big chunk of review that we really ended up speeding through (we’ll have to go back to that), and the students have a vocabulary list to finish tonight.

ScienceVocabList

 

I know it’s a lot, but we’re getting ready for middle school now!

 

tldr;

2 math worksheets

DecimalWordProblems11-15

RealLifeProblemsMay21

5 examples of figurative language from their books with page numbers and label the type of language

vocab list for science

ScienceVocabList

 

Keep working!  It’s the only way to learn!

 

See everyone tomorrow

-Mr. Potter

T-minus 18 instructional days til EOGs!!!

 

can you believe it?

 

Today we continued our talks about what makes sense when doing word problems.  For instance one of our problems today was this:

A rock has a mass of 5kg.  The rock has twice the mass of a book.  The book has 5 times the mass of a ball.  What is the mass of the ball?

In this case, it is easy to see that the rock has the most mass, the book has the second most mass, and the ball the least mass.  Even though this is definitely the case, we had some students answer that the book had a mass of 10kg.  After these basic facts were pointed out, they realized their mistake, but we need to have the students get to the point where they can check their own work to see if it makes any sense.

 

Their Math homework is to finish the 5 word problems they started in their groups, and make sure that their answer makes sense.

WordProblemsMay20

In Language Arts we talked more about figurative language.  I just can’t believe how little exposure our students have had to expressions like “my ears are burning” or “cold feet”.  Not a single one knew these today!  Ask your students if they remember the figurative meaning of these expressions:

At the drop of a hat

Axe to grind

Burn the midnight oil

chew the fat

bed of roses

We also talked a bit about our trip, and how we would feel about next year’s 5th graders going to the same place.  Students were given an option to either argue for or against next year’s 5th graders taking the same trip.   The class was fairly split.  We therefore decided to write letters to Mr. Zoller trying to convince him one way or the other.

In their letter, they should come up with four paragraphs in this format to convince Mr. Zoller one way or the other:

paragraph 1: position – go or go somewhere else?

Paragraph 2: Why?  Why should they go , or why should they go somewhere else?

Paragraph 3: What is to be gained knowledge-wise from going or from doing something else?

Paragraph 4: Conclusion. Why they should or shouldn’t go and what would be gained.  Tell us it all again and wrap it up.

They should come in with a rough draft of their letter tomorrow.  This needs to be written in the format specified and on notebook paper.  It should *not* be typed.

 

In science we talked more about heat, temperature, and the transfer of kinetic energy as heat.  We also talked about conduction, convection, and radiation as the three possible ways for heat to be transferred.  Students had a worksheet to fill in asking questions about these three types of heat transfer, and that should also be done and turned in tomorrow.

ScienceMay20

so tldr;

One math worksheet that has 5 word problems

One letter to Mr. Zoller about next year’s 5th grade field trip

One science worksheet dealing with the three types of heat transfer

 

We had another very good day behavior wise, and besides a few gripes about the length of their letter, students were working hard.   This is exactly what it will take to succeed in Middle School and beyond, and I hope the students leave Lockhart with at least that simple understanding that hard work and practice are how we learn.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

 

-Mr. Potter

I’m sure you’ve already heard from the kids, but it was a fantastic field trip.  We got to catch crabs, collect seashells, touch sharks, and do all sorts of really fun stuff.

I wanted to again thank our chaperones for volunteering their time to come with us on what was a very long trip.  I got a pretty bad migraine on the bus ride back, but our wonderful chaperones kept things in line while I zoned out.  So if you came to pick up your student on Friday and I was barely able to ask you to initial the sign-out sheet, I apologize.

Also many thanks to our PTA who purchased our snacks and our lunch, and helped out with the trip itself quite a bit.

 

Today, we finally started moving on to our unit on word problems.  We will be examining word problems, and strategies for solving them.  Often students can be perfectly capable of doing the math on a given problem, but run into a reading comprehension snag when figuring out what the problem is actually asking them to do.  We talked about making sure that our answers make sense for what the question is asking, and to make sure that we don’t just pick an operation at random and just smash together numbers.

 

Students were given one worksheet to do in class in groups, and then another to do as homework.  Both are due tomorrow.

WordProblems1May19

WordProblems2May19

In Language Arts, we talked again about figurative language, and then about the difference between literal and figurative meanings.  Can you believe nobody knew what “bells and whistles” meant?!  We’ll be going over a few different idioms each day to fix this.

Part of the students’ homework tonight is to find 3 examples of figurative language from the book they are currently reading.  These can be metaphors, similes, hyperbole, personification, idioms, onomatopoeia, any type of figurative language at all.  They should turn in a piece of paper with the name of their book, the 3 examples, the pages they found them on, and then identify the type of figurative language.

We also talked about our new vocabulary list, and the meanings of different prefixes, suffixes, and roots.  I was really impressed with everyone’s ability to take words like bio (life) logy (study) and to come up with their meanings before they even got their word lists.  We even went so far as to talk about words like microbiology and macrobiology.  It was great.

Students should take their 10 words, and make one sentence for each word.  This is also due tomorrow.

BioWordList

In Science we talked about heat, temperature, and the three different ways in which heat can be transferred: conduction, convection, and through radiation.  Ask your student if they remember which is which!

 

so, tldr;

Math:  2 word problems worksheets.  The majority of which should have been completed in class.

WordProblems1May19

WordProblems2May19

Language Arts:

3 examples of figurative language in the book they are currently reading

10 sentences using their bio words

BioWordList

The students were very well behaved and worked hard today.  I look forward to a full week of the same!

-Mr. Potter

 

Hello all,

Tomorrow is the field trip!

Our itinerary is here in case you need it:

FieldTripItinerary

fieldtripltr

The really important bits:

Please be outside the school gym at 5:15 to load the bus.  We will be pulling out at 5:30.  Due to our strict time schedule, we are unable to wait for late students.

Students may bring a towel and a change of clothes/shoes in case they get wet during some of the activities.  They may also use the towel as a small blanket on the bus.  Sunscreen is also recommended.

NO flipflops.

All food/snacks for the day will be provided.

We will be getting back to the school around 6pm.  Please make arrangements for your child to be picked up at this time.

 

The human growth and development informational meeting is tonight at 5:45 pm in the media center.  We will be talking about what is included in our unit at the end of the fourth quarter, and view some of the videos that we will show the students.  Please remember that this meeting is for adults only, and students will not be admitted.  We hope to see you there!

 

There is no homework tonight aside from please read and fill in your reading log.  Get a good night’s rest (You have to be up at 4am!), and come ready to learn and have a great time tomorrow!

 

Have a good day

 

-Mr. Potter

Two days until Field Trip!

Today we had our last day talking about multiplying decimals…..hopefully.  Tomorrow we will have a quiz on this, so if you are not certain about how this works, look back over your notes and the past posts.

Students should finish the last three rows of their multiplying decimals worksheet.  This will be turned in tomorrow for an ACCURACY grade.   Double check your work, and then triple-check it.  There’s no reason this should not be an easy 100%.

MultiplyingDecimalsMay13

 

In Language Arts we talked some more about figurative language and then talked about what the words tangible and intangible mean.  Some of our students had a hard time grasping the idea of something that is intangible, and we had quite the conversations about how ideas and concepts are intangible, but something like the sun, which we might not actually be able to touch with our hands realistically, is still a tangible object.

For homework tonight, students should do pages 202-204 in their motivation reading book.  This is also to be turned in tomorrow for a grade.

 

In science, we talked about our research project, and the students were handed note-cards on which to write their subtopics and to start organizing their information.  This was something new to many, but will make writing their research paper much easier.

We also finished up talking about electricity, and students have a page full of definitions to finish in their science journals.  Some finished in the classroom, but some still have this to finish before the end of the day tomorrow.

 

Tldr;

Finish the last three rows of decimal problems on the multiplying decimals worksheet.

MultiplyingDecimalsMay13

Do pages 202-204 in motivation reading

 

THE FIELD TRIP IS THIS FRIDAY!  Students took a letter home with a short list of items they should prepare.  Here it is, in case it was lost along the way:

fieldtripltr

The Human Growth and Development meeting is also tomorrow at 5:45 pm in the media center.  Please come out and hear about what’s going on in our classroom near the end of June!

 

 

Have a good one!

 

-Mr. Potter

 

And we’re back!

 

Very lite day today.  The students managed to do one of our games on Friday in less than a minute, so they won themselves a lite day of homework today!

Math is still rooted in our exploration of place value, and we are now talking about exponents, writing our numbers in exponential form, and how we can use this to tell what kind of numbers we will end up with when we are multiplying.

The students should do these three math problems for homework.  First they should write the numbers in exponential form, and then solve them in exponential form before converting back to a simple decimal.

.000001 x 4000 =

300 x .00006 =

.000002 x .000004 =

Here is the first problem which we did together as an example if they need a hand.

MathHwk_May12

In Language Arts we took quite a bit of notes about figurative language, as we are having some problems with this vocabulary.

We then looked at our flect/flex stories from last week, shared them with each other, and finally took our vocabulary quiz.

As this is a fairly short week, we won’t be doing a vocabulary list this week.  We’ll be doing a new one starting next Monday.

 

Which brings me to Friday, and the Field trip!

Students took home some information about the field trip again today, as well as reminders about the Human Growth and Development meeting this Thursday at 5:45 in the media center.  Please make sure you take a look at this, and also note that the meeting is for adults only.

If you haven’t seen the itinerary yet, here it is:

FieldTripItinerary

tldr;

3 math problems – convert them to exponential form first, solve in exponential form, and then write them as a decimal

.000001 x 4000 =

300 x .00006 =

.000002 x .000004 =

Reading log as always!

Take a look over the field trip/human growth stuff in the Monday folder!

 

The homework is essentially to read and do three math problems….I expect 100% turn-in tomorrow!

Have a good one

-Mr. Potter

Field Day and Nap time tomorrow!

 

So today we had a pretty good day, and we therefore have a very lite night of homework!  I’ll keep this short and sweet…..

In Language Arts, students should finish their story using their vocabulary words.  They can skip using circumflex and reflex angle, but should do their best using the other eight words.

 

I sent home a letter that has our basic plan for tomorrow, but here are the important parts:

Tomorrow we’re having snack and a nap

students may bring in a snack to share with the class!

Students may bring in a pillow/stuffed animal and a small blanket/towel.  This is because yes, we have decided that we will have nap time tomorrow before our field day.  That is what we decided upon as our reward.  I can’t make this stuff up folks.

In case it was lost, here is the letter:

FieldDayLetters

so tldr;

vocab story

wear appropriate clothes for field day!

nap time!

 

Tomorrow should be fun!

-Mr. Potter

Place value, research, and electromagnets!

 

We are well on our way in this unit about place value, and multiplying decimals.  We took a good bit of notes, that are pretty much required for doing tonight’s homework:

PlaceValueNotes

 

There is an example at the bottom, which shows how students should do their homework tonight.  They have two multiplication problems to do.  As they do these problems, they should be thinking about the example, and how we know where our decimal point goes based on what we are multiplying.  For each ‘line’ in their problem, they should have an arrow and a sentence stating what decimal place they are beginning with.

The homework is these two problems:

MultiplyingDecimalsHwkMay7

 

In Language Arts we talked a great deal about our weather research, and how we should be organizing our notes.  This is very much uncharted territory for many of our students, as they are unused to taking notes and being in charge of what information they must find.  We talked about how making sure our notes are well organized will lead us to making better decisions about what kind of information we already have, and therefore what information we still need.  Again this is brand new to many of our kids, so it will take a while and some real experience until this sinks in.  When they must later organize their paper into sections, they will really see how organizing their notes and information will pay off.

We then watched a short video about how electromagnets are used in motors, and how almost any appliance in their house that spins in some fashion contains a motor, and therefore an electromagnet.  This will help them to answer the final two questions on pages 255 and 256 in their motivation reading books.  They must also answer the quick questions on pages 251-254.  These six pages will be turned in tomorrow and GRADED, so make sure they get done!

 

In Science, we played around with electricity, metal, magnets, and all sorts of cool stuff!  We saw how electricity traveling through a wire creates a magnetic field, and it made our compasses go crazy.  We then built our own electromagnets out of wire, nails, and batteries, and had some fun picking up different stuff.  I hope that good times were had by all!

 

so tldr;

Math homework is two multiplication problems, done using our strategies for determining place value

MultiplyingDecimalsHwkMay7

 

Language Arts homework is pages 251-254, and finish the last two pages on 255-256.  THIS WILL BE GRADED!  Do your best on it.

 

Have a good night, and I will see everyone tomorrow!

 

ALSO….

Friday is Field Day!  It so happens this also coincides with us earning our first jewel.  Therefore we will have a small celebration on Friday morning before Field Day.  Students are invited to bring in a snack to share with the class, and their pillows/blankets.  We are going to perhaps watch a movie and have nap time (No, seriously, this is what your fifth grade students decided to do….) before we go outside for the afternoon.  It should be quite a relaxing morning.

 

See everyone tomorrow!

 

-Mr. Potter