Mrs. Corey's Room

Weekly Update

1/23/12

Reminders:

  Conference times came home on Friday reports last week for those who requested a time. There are still openings! If you would like to come in for a conference, please let me know. I can also conduct a phone conference, if needed!

  Students worked diligently last week on their Reading and Math DCAS. These scores were also included on Friday Reports. Please let me know if you have any questions. Students have been given time to reflect on their progress and will continue to set their personal goals for the last half of the year.

  Monday Folders and Friday Reports will both come home this week.

 Reading Logs: Remember to read at least 20 minutes!

January Logs are due 1/31!

There is no school on Friday due to a Staff Development day.

 Report Cards will be mailed home this weekend. Students will be made aware of their final marking period grades this week.

  If you have any questions, concerns, or anything at all, you can always email kcorey@colonial.k12.de.us or call the school at 323-2926!

Reading

Students will complete their STAR Reading Benchmark test this week during reading.

In addition, we will complete our work from “Stormalong” involving Cause and Effect.

Our new story is week is “Ultimate Field Trip 3: Wading Into Marine Biology.” Students will learn many interesting facts about Cobscook Bay, Maine and its tidal zones. In addition, they will review and apply the skill of compare and contrast on higher levels.

Robust Vocabulary: adjust, residents, pesky, specimens, debris, internal, recoil

Writing

We will begin our Tall Tale writing piece. Students will work on descriptive and narrative writing by telling the story of a Tall Tale hero of their creation.

Math

Our focuses in math this week include both comparing and ordering fractions using their percent equivalents. Students will continue to practice their equivalent chart through application. Look for homework asking students to “play” In Between where students will work on placing fractions in order using their knowledge of percents.

Science

Last week we defined mixtures and solutions. Students created three mixtures and developed methods for how to separate them successfully. This week we will focus on what makes a salt solution different and examine what remains of this solution when evaporation occurs!

Weekly Update

1/9/12

Reminders:

 The 2^nd Marking Period ends on Friday. Students will be made aware on class of anything they may be missing.

Conference forms will come home at the end of the week. These conferences are based on need. Not all parents need to attend. If you would like a conference, please return the form as soon as possible. If you are unsure of whether or not one is necessary, please let me know!

 We have no school next Monday, January 16^th.

  DCAS Testing will begin in 5^th grade next week following our day off. We will complete practice testing this week. The link for practice testing was available in our handbook at the beginning of the year. Practice tests may be taken at home!

http://de.portal.airast.org/user_students.html

Monday Folders and Friday Reports both come home this week.

Reading Logs: January Reading Logs will be coming home on Monday. Students should be making a conscious effort to read each night and fill in their log. I understand that things come up, and missing a night here and there is not a problem. They should try to read at least 20 minutes, but anything counts!

January Logs are due 1/31!

 If you have any questions, concerns, or anything at all, you can always email kcorey@colonial.k12.de.us or call the school at 323-2926!

Have a wonderful week!

Reading:

We will be finishing our work with “Sailing Home: A Childhood at Sea” tomorrow and moving on to “Stormalong!”

We will start our week with a genre study of Tall tales in order to make our reading of Stormalong more understandable. Tall tales are filled with exaggeration and have characters that possess extraordinary abilities.

This week’s skill is cause and effect.

Robust Vocabulary Words of the Week: bellowing, outcast, reputation, betrayed, yearning, withered, escapades, unfathomable

Writing

We will be completing our editing process this week and writing final copies. Look for information to come home this week about when students will present their skills!

Math:

We will be completing our fraction and percent equivalent chart in class using our explorations with fractions and percents so far! Students will bring home this chart to study and practice. We will also be working on word problems and putting fractions in order using percents this week!

Social Studies:

We will be taking our Unit 4 and 5 assessment this week, which will cover the Great Depression, WWII, and economic concepts covered in class. Students will complete an in-class study guide to aid their completion of this study.

Mixtures and Solutions will begin this week!

Weekly Update

1/3/12

Happy New Year!

Reminders:

  Monday Folders will begin again starting next week. With our break and short week prior, there is not much to fill them with this time around!

 Friday Reports will come home this week!

 Reading Logs: January Reading Logs will be coming home on Monday. Students should be making a conscious effort to read each night and fill in their log. I understand that things come up, and missing a night here and there is not a problem. They should try to read at least 20 minutes, but anything counts!

January Logs are due 1/31!

  If you have any questions, concerns, or anything at all, you can always email kcorey@colonial.k12.de.us or call the school at 323-2926!

Have a great week!

Reading:

We are beginning our new Theme this week. This Theme is entitled “Go with the Flow,” which focuses on growth and change. All of our stories will in some way connect to water. Genres range from historical fiction to tall tales! Our two main focus skills will be compare and contrast and cause and effect.

This week we are reading “Sailing Home: A Story of a Childhood at Sea.” The focus skill this week is compare and contrast, which will be used in fine-tuning our summarizing skills and applied to everyday situations.

Robust Vocabulary: conducted, rowdy, dignified, shatter, inflammable, seldom, broached

Writing

We will complete the rough copies of our “How to” writing piece this week. Students will have a chance to review their steps and check for sequential order with transitions! Our goal is to have our final copies ready to share by the end of next week!

Math:

Fractions and percents are our focus in math for the next several weeks. This week we will be working on percent and fraction equivalents using various visual and hands on methods. Students will be creating an equivalent chart this week, which will be used both in class and at home to practice.

Social Studies:

 Be sure to take a walk down our hall and check out the Great Depression Newspapers! Students did an awesome job researching, sharing, and creating their final pieces!

This week we will be learning about World War II, as well as discussing life at home during the war.

Weekly Update

12/12/11

Reminders:

Interim Reports came home over the weekend. These grades reflect student work up to the midpoint of this marking period. If you have any questions, concerns, or anything at all, you can always email kcorey@colonial.k12.de.us or call the school at 323-2926!

RIF (Reading is Fundamental) will take place this Friday. Students will participate in a brief reading activity with the reading specialists and volunteers from Sallie Mae. They will be given a chance to choose a book of their interest to take home and read!

Monday Folders came home today. Remember to review the papers with your child and return the signed folder!

Friday Reports will come home this week!

 Reading Logs: Students should be reading 20 minutes or for as long as possible each night. December reading logs are due Wednesday, 12/21.

Have an awesome week!

Reading:

We are into our Theme Review this week. The skills we are reviewing include theme and sequence. We have also been rehearsing our new Reader’s Theater “The Secret Ingredient” to work on fluency and expression. We will also practice using punctuation for emphasis and changing tones a voice. Students should practice their lines at home. We will perform “The Secret Ingredient” at the end of this week!

Robust Vocabulary: eminent, charity, modest, disgruntled, inadequate, aghast, dismayed, amends, absentminded, concoction

Writing

Students have chosen the topics for their writing pieces. Now, their challenge is to successfully organize the steps of their topic and tell us “how to” complete the task! We will be using a flow chart to compile our steps into sequential order this week. Students will also challenge a partner to test out the “rough copy” of their steps and look for any missing pieces!

Math:

We have finished our work in class on subtraction. Students took both a final classroom assessments and a district assessment. Any students still in need to practice will be given that practice through homework, morning work, small group remediation, and math intervention.

A new flashback came home today with a volume and subtraction question added. Flashbacks are meant to help review and fine-tune skills!

We are beginning our study of Fractions and Percents this week. Students will be given a pretest to see what they know at this point. Look for homework to come home with fractions and percents, in addition to charts to study and practice!

We plan on having lots of fraction and percent fun as we learn!

Social Studies:

 We are studying history during the period of the Great Depression. Students have been assigned key topics from the Great Depression to research in class. They will be writing a news article highlighting the most important details of their topic. We will then create a group of “Great Depression” newspapers to present to the class. Students will be given the chance to truly express their creativity with this class project!

Students are doing a great job on this project and will complete their papers this week!

Weekly Update

12/5/11

Reminders:

 The Winter Carnival is Thursday, December 8^th from 6:30-8:30. The Book Fair will also be open at school this week. Fliers have come home outlining how these events work!

  Monday Folders will come home today. Remember to review the papers with your child and return the signed folder!

 Friday Reports will come home this week!

  Reading Logs: Students should be reading 20 minutes or for as long as possible each night. December reading logs are due Wednesday, 12/21.

December Book Orders: December book orders are due on Friday, December 9^th. The order will be put in that day!

 Remember that if you have questions, concerns, or anything at all, you can always email kcorey@colonial.k12.de.us or call the school at 323-2926!

Have a wonderful week!

Reading:

 We will be completing our study of sequence this week and our rotations from “Leonardo’s Horse.”

At the end of this week we will begin out Theme Review. The skills we will review include theme and sequence. Students will also begin a new Reader’s Theater “The Secret Ingredient” to work on fluency and expression. We will also practice using punctuation for emphasis and changing tones a voice.

Robust Vocabulary: eminent, charity, modest, disgruntled, inadequate, aghast, dismayed, amends, absentminded, concoction

*Our Theme Test will not take place until next week.

Writing

This week we will begin our “How-To” writing piece. Students will learn “How to Pass a Volleyball,” comparing a “simple, quick” version to a “complete, specific” version. We will talk about why sequence is important in writing this type of piece.

Homework will come home this week asking students to narrow down their topic choice to one they will successfully be able to present in class. We will have brainstormed a last prior to this homework. Students should discuss their topic with you at home and make sure it is a topic they will be able to show the class once the final stages of writing are complete!

Math:

We will complete our study of subtraction this week. Students will be learning how to show the U.S. Algorithm of Subtraction in expanded (place value) form. We will take a test on subtraction later this week.

Social Studies:

 We are studying history during the period of the Great Depression. Students have been assigned key topics from the Great Depression to research in class. They will be writing a news article highlighting the most important details of their topic. We will then create a group of “Great Depression” newspapers to present to the class. Students will be given the chance to truly express their creativity with this class project!

Weekly Update

11/28/11

Reminders:

 No Monday Folders came home today. All papers came home prior to break. Folders will resume next Monday!

  Friday Reports will come home this week!

Reading Logs: Students should be reading 20 minutes or for as long as possible each night. December reading logs are due Wednesday, 12/21.

Remember that if you have questions, concerns, or anything at all, you can always email kcorey@colonial.k12.de.us or call the school at 323-2926!

Have a wonderful week!

Reading:

Skill of the week: Sequence

Our story this week is “Leonardo’s Horse.” Students will be focusing on how nonfiction is often written in chronological order to help readers understand the order of events and how they are connected. We will be sequencing the events of “Leonardo’s Horse” and “painting” his horse. We will also be working on writing by creating a replica of a Leonardo da Vinci Sketch page. In addition, students will be completing a “Word of the Day” booklet using our words of the week!

Robust Vocabulary:  scholars, specialized, proportion, gesture, envisioned, resisted

Writing

We are finishing the final copy of our “Favorite Time of Year” writing piece. Students have worked very hard on developing their ideas and learning how to edit with me, partners, and on their own!

They will be creating a “house” to put their completed piece in, which creatively depicts their season.

Up next: How To Writing (Sequence and Informative Writing)

Math:

We are reviewing place value this week and using this conversation to guide our study of subtraction strategies. Students will be working on subtracting using clear, concise notation and a strategy they are most comfortable using. We will also look closely at the algorithm for subtraction and how “borrowing” truly works!

Some strategies include adding up and subtracting back (with and without a number line), subtracting by place value, and the algorithm.

Social Studies:

 We are studying history during the period of the Great Depression. Students will be learning about the changes in our country during this time period.

Weekly Update

11/21/11

This week’s update will be brief due to our two day week!!!

Reminders:

 There were no Friday reports last week due to a printer glitch. I apologize for any inconvenience or confusion. Students will not receive a report this week.

  Monday Folders will come home on Monday as usual. Remember to remove all papers. Papers needing correction may be corrected and returned. All other papers should stay at home.

v  Reading Logs: November logs are due Tuesday, 11/22.*

*Previous updates said Tuesday, 11/21! As long as Reading Logs are in by Tuesday, then they are on time!

Important events this week:

11/22- Harvest Festival: Students will participate in fall activities all day.

11/23-11/25: No School- Thanksgiving Break

I hope that everyone has a safe and happy break.

I am thankful for my wonderful class. They are working very hard and I am proud of the progress all of them have made. Thank you as always for your support.

Mrs. Corey

Weekly Update

11/14/11

Reminders:

It was wonderful seeing and speaking to parents during conferences last week. There will be another formal conference opportunity later this week! If you ever have questions or concerns, remember that there are many ways on reach me. Monday folders and Friday reports will continue to come home with updates and progress samples!

Friday Reports and Monday Folders- Students should be bringing these items home each week to be signed and returned. Monday folder papers should stay at home unless there is a paper to be signed and returned or students are bringing in corrected work!

Reading Logs: Students should be reading 20 minutes or for as long as possible each night. November logs are due Tuesday, 11/21.

Important events this week:

11/17- Picture Makeups: A few students did not receive their pictures last week and these will come home on Monday!

11/17- PTA BINGO 6:30-8PM

11/18- ABC and Honor Roll Assembly 1:30PM

Have a great week!

Reading:

Skill of the week: Sequencing

 This week we will be reading “When Washington Crossed the Delaware. Students will use the events in the story to work on sequence. We will talk about what key words help us to determine the order of events and what we can do if those key words are not available. In addition, they will use historical videos viewed on the laptops to complete various sequence activities interactively.

We will also begin our focus on reference sources. Students will look at various sources (ex. encyclopedia) and determine each source’s use and how to locate information within the source!

Robust Vocabulary: crucial, crisis, maneuvered, perseverance, encountered, persuading, appealed, destiny

Writing

We are continuing to develop our three key reasons for choosing our favorite season this week. Students will write their three body paragraphs on three separate papers to work on keeping these paragraph focused by topic. We will work on adding transitions to help our ideas flow!

Math:

Volume

Using knowledge of how to determine the volume of 3D figures, students will be working on doubling and halving dimensions to look at changes in volume.

 We will also be comparing the volume of a rectangular prism to various other 3D models. These comparisons will be made both on paper and using a volume application on our school laptops!

Science:

This week we will be creating and presenting pollution posters and how it affects various ecosystems. We will be finishing out study of Ecosystems this week!

Weekly Update

11/7/11

Reminders:

  Conferences will take place this week. I look forward to going over your child’s progress with you!

  Monday through Thursday students will have half days. They will have lunch before dismissal. Dismissal will take place at 12:42.

v  There is no school on Friday 11/11.

  Friday Reports and Monday Folders- Students should be bringing these items home each week to be signed and returned. Monday folder papers should stay at home unless there is a paper to be signed and returned or students are bringing in corrected work!

  Reading Logs: Students should be reading 20 minutes or for as long as possible each night. November logs are due Tuesday, 11/21.

Have a great week!

Reading:

Skill of the week: Theme

Room 104 has paired up with Mrs. Marsh’s class to work on theme using fables written in the form of plays. Students are working in small teams to read, determine the theme, perform, and create a theme project for their assigned fable. Students will perform these short plays to their peers this week. As students watch each play, they will be using character’s qualities/traits, actions, and motive in order to guess each team’s theme!

Robust Vocabulary: fret, assured, nudged, outlandish, ruckus, proclaimed

We will also continue working on vocabulary in context and asking questions!

Writing

We have focused on details and writing a solid, “perfect paragraph” so far this year. We are currently in the planning stages of our writing for “My Favorite Time of Year.” Students have chosen their favorite season, creating a team idea poster, season word splash, and a web with three key reasons.

Students were given an example of a 5 paragraph essay that I wrote using fall to help guide their writing. We will be working on developing our three key ideas into three creative and detailed body paragraphs this week!

Math:

Volume

We are comparing and contrasting the various attributes of 2D and 3D figures. Students are learning how to determine the volume of 3D objects using their knowledge of multiplication and division, in addition to cubes and video examples!

Science:

Our key topics as Ecosystems draws to a close are interdependence/dependence and pollution. Students will be examining how their terrariums and aquariums depend of each other and we will apply this study to outside environments.

This week we will also look at pollution and how it affects various ecosystems.

Weekly Update

10/31/11

Can you believe it has already snowed?!

Reminders:

 Conference times came home with Friday Reports last week. If you have any questions, please let me know!

  Look for report cards to be coming home after the end of this week. They will be mailed on Friday. We will review these grades and student progress during conferences!

  Friday Reports and Monday Folders- Students should be bringing these items home each week to be signed and returned. Monday folder papers should stay at home unless there is a paper to be signed and returned or students are bringing in corrected work!

  Reading Logs: Our November Log will come home on Tuesday. This log will be due Tuesday, November 22^nd.

  DCAS Goal forms came home last week. Students were asked to set goals for our Mid-Year testing. They will review these goals individually with me and we will talk about their ideas for progress!

  Students in room 104 are working very hard to master each new topic learned and access “old” knowledge from previous years. Homework assignments are reviews of these topics. Students can always ask for help in the morning if they had trouble. Please do not hesitate to write a quick note letting me know if there was any major trouble!

Thank you, as always, for your support at home!

Have a wonderful week!

Reading:

This week we will finish our story work for The Night of San Juan. Students are working hard on vocabulary word stars, writing a story summary, practicing reading fluency, and determining the theme of our story through story pieces. We will finish our centers and small group activities in the next few days.

Theme Study: Students will be assigned to small groups and given a fable (a short story where animals are the main characters and which often teaches a lesson). These fables are written in play format. Students will work as a team to determine the theme of their assigned play. Students will then act out their play and ask their classmates to determine the theme, or lesson of the story!

Look for lines to come home for practice this week!!!

Writing:

Students have completed their “My Special Person” writing piece. These pieces will be shared with you during conferences. Students will receive their grade this week.

Our next writing piece will focus on a favorite time of year. We will be working on proofreading and editing strategies, as well as adding descriptive words to our writing!

Students are continuing to work on their cursive skills each week.

Math:

Our current study of multiplication, division, and properties of numbers is drawing to a close this week. That being said, these topics will not simply disappear! Look for practice work to continue coming home. Also, I will continue to work with students, as often as possible, to fine-tune their skills where needed!

Our next unit focuses on volume, area, and perimeter!

Science:

Students successfully recorded their first video diaries last week. They worked hard to put their observations into creative format to share with their classmates. We added isopods, crickets, snails, and mosquito fish to our terrariums and aquariums; in addition, duckweed, elodea, and algae were placed in our aquariums.

Students will be tracking changes in both their terrariums and aquariums this week. We will also be discussing dependence and interdependence!