Basketball clinics started this week.Fox 5th graders took the Gallup Poll this week.

Our room mothers were in last Friday. The children colored Halloween pictures and made little construction paper t-shirts with them. They also brought in cookies and drinks for the class. Thanks, Ms. Sandy and Ms. Chelsey!Educational games and books have been added to your child’s iPads.

Parent –teacher conferences will be held the afternoon and evening of Thursday, October 25th as well as all day on Friday, October 26th. You will find a conference request form in this folder. Please sign up for your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice of a conference date and time and return to me as soon as possible.

Students of the weekOur student of the week last week was Kayla. This week it is Trish. Both girls have positive attitudes, show respect in following rules in the classroom and around the building and always bring in their homework. Keep up the great job, girls!

Student of the monthLast month, Mrs. Brown selected Denver as student of the month. Mrs. Rhodes selected Shamar. They were students of the month for September in addition to Blayton (chosen by Mr. Hayes) and Grace (chosen by Mrs. Fox and Ms. Harness. Let’s go Fox 5th graders!

Dates to remember!

Harvard Park Newsletter

Fox 5th Grade

NEWS

Basketball Clinics10-10, 10-11, 10-12 4:00-5:15

HP Fall Festival

October 18th

Picture Retakes

O C T O B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 2

Teacher’s Note !

Basketball Tryouts

10-15-12 4:00-6:00

2:00 Dismissal 1st

quarter endsOctober 19th

October 22nd

October 25th October 26th

2:00 Dismissal- Parent

No School- Parent Teacher

Conferences

Reading Students are learning about summarizing (as to fiction books and non-fiction books that move through time). In order to summarize, students need to think about important story elements. A graphic organizer (“Somebody…….Wanted…….But……..So…….Then……..) sometimes helps students to write a summary. Eventually, students should be able to summarize a passage or book in paragraph form. With non-fiction books, students are learning to determine the main idea as a way of summarizing. Your child continues reading in guided reading groups. They are also reading grade-level text by reading the stories in their Anthology. One of the guided reading groups is presenting the keynote presentations they created about Al Capone, autism, or Alcatraz.These were important concepts in their guided reading book, “Al Capone Does My Shirts.”Writing The Fox 5th graders continue their timed writing prompts three times a week. The goal is to increase the number of words written per minute as well as to edit writing for proper capitalization and punctuation. Students are also doing a narrative genre study. They will be writing a narrative essay as their end-of-first-quarter writing. Elements of narrative writing that have been studied to date are: ~moving in sequential order ~telling the “inside story” (including feelings) ~doing a “show-don’t-tell” (letting the reader know how a character feels without saying it explicitly) and moving through time. In the near future, Fox 5th graders will publish a piece of writing by making an epub book on their iPads.Math Your child has taken the Topic test on Topic 3 (Multiplication). You should have seen Topic 3 test returned in your child’s yellow folder. If you have not yet seen Topic 3, ask your child if their test is hanging on our classroom Exemplar/Proficient board. If that is the case, the Topic 3 test will be returned in your child’s Wednesday folder when it is removed from the board. Your child will be taking the test on Topic 4 (Division) on Monday, October 14. Each day, we work with our Math calendar and your child practices the basic facts that are “just right” for them.Science The students have learned about erosion and weathering. Pictured is an activity in which we were able to see the weathering and erosion effects on a gobstopper. We have also been learning about minerals and rocks. We have been able to physically examine some minerals and will continue to look into the different types of rocks. *Our TEACH volunteers have taught Fox 5th graders about adaptations of animals and the dangers of DDT and how it affected animals.

SpellingThere is not a spelling list this week.  Instead, students will be studying word parts and how knowing their definition will help students understand the meaning of new words that contain those word parts.

*dict: say or speak*human: of man*vis/vid:  to see

Vocabulary Words

There is not a vocabulary list this week, either. Students are taking the Theme Test for Theme 1 in their Reading Anthology.

What we are learning!HARVARD PARK FOX 5TH GRADE OCTOBER 12, 2012

Check us out on my website to see news, homework assignments, photos and much more! www.sps186.org/teachers/kfox