What a great day for us to be studying about clouds!

 

Our morning was unfortunately kind of a wash.  We had to take some assessments for our motivation reading and math.  The 5th grade team is participating in a large scale survey (Hooray grant money!), so we spent the majority of our morning time on that.

We did have a little bit of time to talk about area and multiplying fractions, and we got to beat on Roger (that’s our horse!) about how you can’t do a problem like 6 and 1/4 multiplied by 6 and 3/4 by multiplying just the whole numbers and then just the fractional parts.

In the hopes this sinks in, students have two more review pages in their motivation math workbooks to do tonight.  They should do the entirety of pages 89 and 90.

We only got to do a little bit of figurative language (they knew what let the cat out of the bag meant!), and then talk only briefly about our assignment in language arts tonight.  The students should answer the questions about our Monarch Butterfly selection on pages 44-46 of their motivation reading workbooks.  They will turn in both of these books (math and reading) for me to grade tomorrow.  They should do the best they can on these, as they will be graded for accuracy, and not simply completion.

In Science, we talked about the different types of clouds, and their naming conventions.  Ask your students if they remember which types of clouds bring precipitation (clouds with nimbo in their names!) and then ask them if they remember which ones bring more than just rain, but thunderstorms and severe weather (cumulonimbus clouds).  I believe the majority of the class finished our worksheet while we were talking about it together, but if they did not, they should finish their cloud types worksheet tonight to turn in.  Tomorrow if we have time, we’re going to see if we can make our own clouds in the classroom!

 

ok, so tldr;

2 pages in motivation math – pages 89 and 90

3 pages in motivation reading – pages 44-46

One types of clouds worksheet if it wasn’t already done

 

Also please remember that tonight is our meeting to discuss the end of year 5th grade recognition program.  If you are interested in helping out, or just want to find out what’s happening, please come to room 137 (that’s Mrs. Seawell’s room, right next door to our room) at 5:30 pm.  Even if you can’t come, don’t worry we will be sending home plenty of information about this in the upcoming weeks.

 

Have a good one!

 

-Mr. Potter

 

 

Fractions, Fractions, Fractions!

 

Review…..alllll of the review.

VERY few of our students realized that the two worksheets we did for homework were the exact same.  This shakes the foundation of my being, and will probably give me nightmares until the end of the school year.

Today we started talking about fractions as if we were back at day one.  We reviewed what fractions are, and the basic operations we perform with them.  Their homework is two review sheets in their motivation math workbook, pages 86 and 87.

 

In Language Arts, we actually had a good group of students that knew our daily figurative language.  Apparently ‘spill the beans’ is something everyone is familiar with!

We also talked about strategies for figuring out main ideas and answering ‘right there’ questions.  The homework here is also review, and students should answer the questions on page 49 and 50 of their motivation reading workbooks.

This reading selection led to a discussion about the insects that prey upon butterflies and their eggs, and to the discovery of parasitic wasps.  I tried to warn the students, but they insisted they do some more exploration of parasitic wasps.  This ended with us watching this video.  The students then regretted their decision.

In science, we talked about temperatures around the world, and ended up on a tirade about the Earth, it’s rotation, and how seasons and the solar system work.   The homework for science is to finish their water cycle worksheet from yesterday.

 

ok so tldr;

Pages in motivation math

pages in motivation reading

water cycle worksheet

 

Have a good one!

 

-Mr. Potter

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