December 2010

This is a short month with the winter break in just two weeks. Some of the highlights in academics include:

• Language Arts- We are having a challenging yet wonderful time this month writing Winter poetry. Poems include the use of similes, metaphors, personification, and other creative word use. After spending the first week of rewriting student are creating some fantastic cinquain poems and pushing themselves to go above and beyond average to excellent writing. GREAT JOB!!!
• Math- algebraic expresssions Chapter 5 will be our focus for the next two weeks. Check out the link for additional resources
• Social Studies- the 13 Colonies, important people, places and events will be leading up to pre Revolutionary War studies
• Reading- Students should plan on reading a book over the winter break

Classroom Supplies

We would appreciate any donations of Kleenex to our class.

Calendar Reminders

12/17/10 Half Day- early release

12/20/10 Winter Break

1/3/11 School Resumes

1/14/11 End of 2nd Quarter

Happy Holidays! Be safe in your travels and may your families be blessed this season with wonderful moments to remember. Let's hope that 2011 will bring everyone good fortune.

November News

November 11th - Holiday

Please REMEMBER to send in your

BOXTOPS FOR EDUCATION.

Dress Code
Thank you to all the parents who are making sure your child follows dress code every day by wearing appropriate fitting clothes and a belt. Also, thank you to the students who set a good example everyday by making sure their shirts are tucked in and their shoelaces are tied. One concern has arisen on the Dress Down days every Friday. Students do not need to wear their uniforms, but need to still dress appropriately for school. Please monitor your child's choice of clothing. Skinny strap and/or tight clingy shirts or skin tight pants which are very low on the hips are not age appropriate or allowed according to the school dress code. Thank you in advance for making sure your student is dressed for an academic learning environment.

Academic Focus for this Month
Writing - Persuasive Writing, Adverbs, Conjunctions
Reading - Understanding Expository Text, Graphs and Tables
Math - Multiplication and Division of whole numbers and decimals
Science - Matter - states and properties of matter, Periodic Table
Social Studies - Explorers and Colonization of the New World

Future Events
Our Biztown materials and field trip cost is $20 per student. We will be going on this trip April 20th. If you are on a tight budget please start saving up now so that your child will be able to attend. The experience is a bargain even though it sounds expensive. We will also need 10 parents to volunteer for this event. You will need to be able to meet us in Tempe at the Junior Achievement building, attend a short orientation, and then help the students by supervising in their business.

If you have any questions, please stop by and see me at school or call me. Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Nan Halpern

October Dates to Remember

10/15 Fall Break Day

10/18 SCIENCE FAIR PROJECTS DUE today

10/19-21 Parent Teacher Student Conferences- There will be afternoon and early morning times available for you to schedule your conference. We will not have translators, so please bring someone with you if you feel it will be necessary. STUDENTS ARE TO COME WITH YOU to this conference to discuss their goals for this year.

Thank you for supporting your student.

Mrs. Halpern

October 9, 2010

Our fieldtrip to the Desert Outdoor Center was soooo much fun. Students had the opportunity to experience similar activities the main character in the novel Hatchet experienced. They

• build a shelter and practice survival skills:
• build and set up signals for a rescuer to see
• worked with sparking sticks to light a fire

then they:

• examined pond water for living organisms and recorded their results
• learned map reading and went on a scavenger hunt to utilize their new skills
• tasted edibles from the desert (yummy and yucky)

All in all a great way to experience a wonderful book.

9/2/10 Reporter: Alonso

Today in the morning we wrote in our journals,our prompt was "Your friends dad is a scientist he took you in his time machine, and you went back in to time to..."

We were also practicing our nouns like Common and Proper nouns. We went around the room and answered the answers to the question in a English book.

At 10:00 we went to music,with our teacher Mr.Deyton and were practicing singing,"My Country Ti's of Thee"and"Fifty Nifty" by:Ray Charles everyone had a great time singing!

Later that afternoon, our classroom was finishing the globes that we made but we just had to label the globes. For example,"The Arctic Circle, The Tropic of Cancer, The Equator, Tropic of Capricorn, The Antarctic Circle,and the Prime Meridian.

A few minuets later everybody was done with there globes,they all looked each other, and each other's globes and thought that their globe was ugly. That same day we got to take our handmade globes home!

8/20/10 Reporter: Alexis

We were learning about pronouns and we also were writing in our journals. Our journal topic of the day: if you were walking with your brother or sister and the side walk just turned into grape soda what would you do? Then we had fun friday and it was really fun, but then it was time to go home and everybody said, "NO!!! We don't want to go home yet!"

8/18/10 Reporter: Jaime

Today we wrote in our journals. We also did an experiment with balloons , string , straw and two chairs. The procedures were:

1. we put the straw through the string
2. then we tied the string to two chairs pulling the string tightly
3. we blew the balloons up big and then taped the straw to the balloon
4. will tested out balloon rockets to see what we needed to do to have the balloon travel from one end to the other

8/16/10 Reporter Deven

• Today we looked at mini globes to learn about geography. We played Simon Says to learn our geography vocabulary.
• We studied common and proper nouns in Language Arts.
• In reading we read about Henry Hudson and learned about the things good readers do to understand what they read.
• It also was our first PE day where we practiced volleyball and got a homework assignment.
• In writing we began writing in our journals. Our topic was what we do in a bad storm when the lights go out.

First Days of School

We began school last Thursday and learned many of our procedures.

Welcome 2010-11 Fifth Grades to Room 14

In 2010-11 I am excited to be teaching 5th grade again. One of your first quarter assignments will be to select an explorer to do a project on. Fifth grade is full of hands-on projects that will allow you to express your understanding in creative and fun ways.

Bored and want something to do? See if you can name all the states in the United States or read a great book like the Lightning Thief (book 1).The library also has some terrific books and movies for kids. So get out of the heat, pop some popcorn, and watch a movie that will make you an expert on 5th grade subjects.

I look forward to meeting all of you this fall. If you have any questions continue to watch postings here and on my wikispaces page. Here you will find websites to practice math or just take a peek at a few websites we will be using during the year. I will be on campus during part of the summer and the office can reach me by phone also.

Enjoy your summer. See you in August!

Mrs. Halpern

May Events and News

What a great year and WOW did the time fly by quickly. So much to learn, so little time! This week we celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week and all the teachers were spoiled. On Friday, we enjoyed a drawing for some prizes and each of us were given a yearbook that our class had signed. What a wonderful surprise! Events coming up in the next few weeks include the staff vs. students volleyball game, the talent show and our last field trip to the movie Oceans, the 13th. This is perfect timing for our end of the year science study on Water.

As the year comes to an end, I would like to thank all the parents for having your children attend Liberty. Since I have had many of the students for two years as their 5th and 6th grade teacher, it has been wonderful to get to know all of you so well. We have laughed together, cried together, and the students have grown up soooo much. I hope to see all students back next year for 7th grade. If you are moving remember to come back and visit. I love to hear how everyone is doing. Some of my best days have been the days when students who are in high school now come back to share their dreams for the future. I am always so impressed with how smart they have become.

Have a wonderful summer and remember to play safe.

April Events

The last quarter is a busy time of year. This week begins AIMS testing. Please make sure your student is rested and has a healthy snack for the morning break. Writing will be the tested subject on Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will be testing over Math and Reading.

On Thursday afternoon, 5th and 6th grade classes will be meeting together for our joint trip to BizTown. Student should have their permission slips and their field trip money turned in. We will be passing out the books and materials on 4/15 for students to begin their business preparations. Our trip is 4/26 and we have a lot to do. Parents we still are looking for volunteers to go with us. Anyone interested please be sure to fill out the volunteer form that is included with the permission slip packet.

Let's have a great month!

4th Quarter - It's Here!!!

As we begin parent/teacher/student conferences this week, I hope that all of you will take this opportunity to come to our classroom. Your student should be present to show you personally the work they have done this quarter. They have prepared a folder and have their hero stories to share with you.

AIMS testing begins in two weeks. The first day of testing on Monday, April 12 and continues through Thursday. Please make sure each student has plenty of rest and eats healthy foods especially during the next few weeks and testing week. They may bring protein or healthy snacks during testing week for breaks, but please not candy or junk foods.

Also, as the weather becomes warmer, students get very thirsty during the day. We have a large bottle of drinking water that is kept in our classroom for your children. Take advantage of this cool, purified water by sending a cup or container to fill from this cooler.

Any parents interested in helping out our class please take a moment to review the following:

• Volunteers for our fieldtrip the last Monday of April- please see the office regarding fingerprint cards


• Kleenex we need a few more boxes- the case I purchased just ran out


• Sanitizing wipes for the desk tops


• Sanitizer for hands

Thank you for your continued support and I look forward to meeting with each of you this coming week.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Halpern

March is Here!

March is here, the days are getting longer and spring is coming! Along with AIMS testing being just around the corner (4 1/2 weeks) . With that said, it is so important for your students to have excellent attendance. We are very busy learning the skills that will be tested in April and it is very difficult to master these skills when you are not in class. If your absence it totally unavoidable, please call for the make-up work and plan to have your students stay afterschool for tutoring to receive the extra help they need to experience the greatest success possible.

If you have missed class, please review your lessons by reviewing your Buckle Down workbooks. These books are loaded with basic skills practice and review from class lessons. There will also be tutoring opportunities if your student is willing to attend.

Shortly after AIMS I will be scheduling parent teacher conferences with parents/guardians to discuss the progress your child has made this year. Please watch for the notice and plan to attend.

Classroom supplies are running low. We have gone through an entire case of tissues and we have not yet gotten half way through third quarter. Any donations are appreciated.

Important Dates to Remember

Last week of February Progress Report Cards
March 15-19 Spring Break w/optional student tutoring opportunities
tutoring for struggling students
excelling student workshop
March 26/31/4-1 Early Release Days
APRIL 12-16 AIMS TESTING WEEK

PLEASE REMEMBER TO CHECK OUR WIKI Go to http://nhclassnotes.wikispaces.com/
You will find our recent assignments posted, spelling lists, and great links to information related to 6th grade.

End of January/February Projects

Are you having an exciting 2010? We are in 6th grade!

Ancient History Assignments
As we come to the end of our unit on Mesopotamia, students are responsible for their end of the unit projects. The project includes creating a city-state and clearly labeling all the areas. The details will demonstate their knowledge of the economic trade, religion, social classes, and the scientific and cultural advancements.

Science Group Projects
Student have the task of taking on the future energy crisis issues. Pres. Obama has asked people to become more energy savy. Student teams will be choosing a location, creating a model of the geographic features, and then developing three renewable energy power supplies to make their town/city self-sustaining. The have study packets and other resources to assist them in creating their design.

As you can see, we have a busy month before us.

Remember to read the school and class newsletters for updates on dressdown days, schoolwide events, and special awards.