Happy New Year

I hope that everyone had a wonderful winter break. I enjoyed a “staycation” eating lots of sweets.

I want to thank the class as a whole for the wonderful gift card that I received for a special store that sells my favorite sweaters. I haven’t purchased anything yet but will let you know when I do. Thanks also for the itunes gift card. This has come in handy for music and apps.

I look forward to seeing the sea creature reports and learning about all the creatures that we may see at Pigeon Point.

I hope that you are all excited and getting ready for our Pigeon Point trip. We leave this Wednesday. It looks like we will have pretty good weather, but remember we are right on the coast so please follow the packing suggestions.

Essential Equipment                                                                                       Optional Equipment

**Bring a bag lunch for the first day**                                                             Camera (please label and send 

Waterproof rain gear                             Water bottle                                          batteries)

Sleeping bag OR sheet + blanket           Warm Hat (preferably wool)                  Gloves or mittens

Garbage bag for wet clothes                  Day pack or book bag                            Pillow

Winter quality coat                                Sunscreen                                             Binoculars

Warm sweater or sweatshirt                   Ball cap or hat with visor                       Slippers

2 long-sleeve shirts                                Lip Balm                                              Stationery and stamps

3 pairs long pants                                  Toothbrush and toothpaste                   Watch

Warm sleepwear                                   Washcloth, towel and soap                    Sunglasses

3 t-shirts                                               Shampoo, comb or brush                      Shower sandals

4 pairs of socks                                     Flashlight with new batteries

4 sets underwear                                                                                  

1 pair comfortable walking shoes (close-toed)

1 or 2 pairs of close-toed shoes that can get wet  (for beach/tidepools)  

Laundry bag                                                                                         

Pillowcase (if you are not sending a pillow, please provide 1 case)

                                                           

Please DO NOT SEND OR BRING:

Food (except first lunch)    

Gum    Candy

Matches   Curling Irons

Money   Knives  or toys

ANY electronic item (except camera, flashlight and watch)

What's Up 12/12

12/12/11

I apologize for the delay of several weeks with the blog. The holidays and report cards took up all of my time.

Your child should be working each night on their sea creature research project

Due to the Research project we will not have a December book project. The next book project will be due at the end of January

Winter reading program starts 12/12 all students are expected to participate and turn in forms each week. They can read their January book for this and kill 2 birds with one stone

Pigeon Point money and medical forms were due December 2. Please turn these in so I can send them off. We are still waiting for a few families to turn these in.

Our chaperones for Pigeon Point are

Anthony Saponara

Eric Figueroa

Jeff Phillips

Michael Fitting

Julia Cronin

Marianne Dilworth

Tony Breslin

Michelle Gonzales

I am very grateful that I did not need to draw names from a hat and that we are able to take all chaperones who expressed interest in joining us.

 Fieldtrip to NASA on December 16

If your child is in Reading Academy or Inside they now have access to a paid website to help them practice their reading skills (thanks Marianne for setting this up)

Raz-Kids

http://www.raz-kids.com/main/login

username: readlaba

Also...as math is getting difficult and I know it's been a long time since you all were in 5th grade go to You Tube and search for "Khan's Academy" for tutorials on math subjects (thanks Michelle)

Behavior –Some times 4’s and 5’s but we are also seeing 2’s and 3’s (sigh…)

Math -  We are working on division. Division with 2 digit divisors and we will be moving into dividing with decimals

English Language Arts – We have been practicing for and taking the ELA Benchmark test

Theme 4 is Person to Person (We will come back to Theme 3 as it deals with the American revolution)

Thanks,

Kirsten

NASA Fieldtrip

                                                      November 15, 2011

Dear Parents,

We have a field trip planned for December 16, 2011 to NASA Ames Aerospace Encounter in Mountain View. Our session is from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm. We will leave school at 8:40 and have lunch on the grounds at NASA. I estimate our arrival time for returning to school to be approximately 2:30pm.

Kirsten Julin

My child___________________________has my permission to attend the field trip to

NASA Ames Aerospace Encounter on December 16, 2011 from 8:40-2:30pm.

Parent Signature_________________________

Day time phone number_____________________

Phone number where I can be reached between

8:00-3:00___________________

I _______________________would like to chaperone on this trip. I can take_______students in my car.

What's Up 11/7

11/7

Book Project meeting after school November 18

November 15 there will be an information evening about Pigeon Point at 5:30-6:30. All are welcome to attend. The kids will have a presentation at 1pm that same day

November 18 is Special Person’s Day

Report cards come out December 9

Fieldtrip to NASA on December 16

Behavior –We got all 4’s and 5’s! The class is doing a great job this year.

Math -  We are working on reviewing for our Math benchmark and will take the test on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday we will look at multiplying decimals with 10’s, 100’s, etc

Please help your child by reviewing what we have learned.

English Language Arts - Theme 2 is Give It All You’ve Got

We are reading The Fear Place and practicing for our ELA Benchmark test which will be given the week of December 5

Strategy focus: predit/infer

Comprehension skill: predicting outcomes

Word work: suffixes –ous and –ward, homophones, Main verbs and helping verbs, and linking verbs

Thanks,

Kirsten

What's Up 10/31

10/31

Thank you to our room moms for throwing a great Halloween party!

I will be out Thursday attending a math workshop

Book Project meeting after school November 18

Behavior –We got all 4’s and 5’s!

Math -  We are working on rounding, adding and subtracting decimals and reviewing for our Math benchmark

Please help your child by reviewing what we have learned.

English Language Arts - Theme 2 is Give It All You’ve Got

We are reading La Bamba and practicing for our ELA Benchmark test which will be given the week of December 5

Strategy focus; summarize

Comprehension skill: story structure

Word work: multiple meaning words, action verbs and direct objects

Writing: Persuasive essay

Thanks,

Kirsten