Amazing WinterFest 2013

Big Lego car

This guy made a 500,000 piece Lego car that you can drive. It took him 20 months to make. Isn't that amazing!?

A Morning In Fifth Grade

This morning we worked on factoring and rounding numbers. We also worked on naming odd, even, and prime and composite numbers. The class is getting VERY good at all of these things! We

have definitely persevered! In math today we traded division story problems with another partnership, and we solved them by building and sketching a model. We've been practicing building and sketching models, and everyone is doing great! After that hard work, we did quick facts to test how we are doing with our multiplication facts.

A beautiful model to show a division problem!

Look at all of this great work!

In reading we dug deeper about theories about characters in the Tiger Rising and our own books. It has been a great day!

Best kids in TOWN!

Dear Families of students who respond with WONDERMENT ALL DAY LONG,
     The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of learning!  Our geography unit is off to a great start as we have been learning about the globe and the places that cover it!  Your children have studied hard and are confident in naming the oceans, continents, important rivers and mountain ranges and now 25 countries in the world!  Our research shares have been so informative and have left us wondering more about countries like Spain, Australia, Guatemala, Japan, France, Italy, Indonesia, Australia, Suriname.  By listening to understand when each student presents, we are also making connections between countries based on their language, culture, government, food, and climate!  The mapping and the project combined is building a strong foundation for the second part of our unit in January where we will be answering the question: How does where we live, impact how we live?
     During Math we have been focusing on finding efficient strategies for multiplication and division.  This week we have been tackling division problems that divide 3-digits by 2-digits!  We have pressed ourselves to make estimates that can be justified and even written story problems to match the equation.  These story problems help us deepen our understanding of division and the vocabulary of dividend, divisor, and quotient. They give us a context for what we are doing within these equations, imagining cookies, balloons being divided into equal groups!  Next week, we will wrap up this unit and take an end of unit test on Thursday! We will review on Wednesday and students will be able to see their growth with multiplication and division these past two months!  We have a number of students moving towards division in FASTT MATH!  Keep up the great work!
     On Monday we celebrated our Narratives with Mrs. Crowther's class!  We spent weeks with these pieces drafting, revising, editing and finally publishing.  We will spend next week building new entries in our Writer's Notebooks, trying out different techniques to generate ideas, and different styles of writing.  After vacation we will be writing another narratives!  During reading time we have been meeting new characters in our books, developing theories about the characters in THE Tiger Rising and having meaningful and thoughtful discussions with our partners about envisioning, predicting and developing theories about characters!  Next week we will continue to read and think about these important ways of connecting with text!  Please keep up with your nightly/daily reading!
   Ask you child about: Our Carrot Experiment, MAP Quiz, Hour of Code, Twitter, Danielle, YWP, and more!
Happy Weekend!
Vasanthi

Hour of Code

5th graders have spent time this week learning to code on code.org!

Country shares

We have had an amazing week of country shares!  We have learned about Spain, Indonesia, Iceland, Brazil, Belarus, China, Canada, Italy, France, and Antarctica!  Can't wait to learn more!

Our Classes Thanks

Our Classes Thanks

It was very heartwarming to hear what everyone is thankful for in our class.  It was powerful to hear so much thanks in just a small verbal share.

Laragh is thankful for her mom because she has always been there for her.

Derek is thankful for his family's companionship.

Matthew is thankful for his dad's job at Burton.

Ella is thankful for her 2 loving dogs Theodore and Drizzle.

Kate is thankful for our privileged community.

Ezra is thankful for all the experiments done that have lead to scientific discoveries.

Joyce is thankful for everything she owns that some people don't have. (Water, food, shelter...)

Lena A. Is thankful for her #1 companion, her dog Pixie.

Manfred is thankful for his dogs Ginger and Oscar. Oscar sadly passed away but he is still thankful for having him in his life.

Jack is thankful for his loving parents

Abby is thankful for a “roof over her head”

Colin is thankful for his families companionship

Katie is thankful for her family

Lucas ids thankful for being a human

Parrish is thankful for her fun sister Jazz

Lena K. is thankful for doctors and hospitals to help her with the medical help she may need

Charlotte is thankful for a education at a very privileged school

River is thankful for his family's wealth to take care of their needs

Ava is thankful for her parents.

Emilie is thankful for money and to be able to use it t get the things her family needs.

I hope at thanksgiving you will all gather together and discuss what you are thankful for.... it might get teary.. but it is worth it.

Love,

Lena Ashooh and

Laragh Scharf

We helped our Kindergarten Buddies create this community map of Shelburne!

Preparing for our Book Discussion on Characters in our Partner Reading Book Clubs

We were mining for evidence in the text to justify out thinking about characters.  We made a quick sketch of our character, determined a word that described them and then justified this by using evidence and quotes from the text!

Here we are having our book discussion with Mrs. crowther's class!  These book clubs were so productive.  The conversations were so mature and driven by evidence!  Way to go 5 th Graders!

Half way to 100 days of Fifth Grade!

Dear Families,
     It has been a truly incredible week here in 5th Grade!  The thoughtfulness in listening and learning has been tremendous!  We each have persevered and accomplished so much this week!  We handed in some of the best homework I have ever seen!  We justified our thinking in math with multiple pathways and detailed mathematical representations!  We are generalizing about 2 digit multiplication!  You would not believe the conversation your children are having with one another as they praise the efforts of their peers and compliment the work their peers are doing and how diligent they are in making sure it meets expectations! They are setting the bar high for themselves and working towards accomplishing their goals!  They are reflecting on their weaknesses and using a growth mindset in planning next steps for their reading and their writing!  In between all this class work they are managing chorus and band and we even found time to visit the imagination playground twice!  We had an active Snack Shack today, with a healthy snack from Ella, as we discussed Malala and her message of Education for All!

Another visit to the imagination playground!

Thoughtful and meaningful commenting on our Space Letters

Red Ribbon Week

Drop the Drama and wear PAJAMAS!  Way to go Endeavor 5th Grade!

From the hearts of Charlotte, Lena A. and Kate

Endeavor Families-
This week was a great week! We completed a lot of things. We finished our read aloud, Out Of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper. Now, we are reading The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo. In math we finished the first unit, and are moving on to unit two. This unit will be about measuring liquids, and using arrays to find the answer to double digit multiplication. In reading we started reading partners, where the partnerships read the same book and write responses to each other. Also, it's a new month, so everyone is trying to get back on track and be reading 30 minutes a night. (Or more!) Please talk to your child about how they are feeling about reading. In our class, we are skyping to children around the world who also are reading Out  Of My Mind it has been a mystery of where they are from, so we think of 10 clues for them to guess where we are from, and they give us 10 clues for us to find out where they are from. Soon you may be getting a persuasive letter from your young astronomer trying to convince you to travel to a planet of their choice. They have done a lot of research and hope to make you want to go. Lastly, we have a new share theme. This theme is what you are thankful for. The handout will be coming in your child's homework folder. We hope everyone has a great weekend!

Love,
Charlotte, Lena A., and Kate

Solar Eclipse Tomorrow Morning

Click here to get information on when and how to view tomorrow morning's solar eclipse! Thanks for reminding me Charlotte!

Why Can't I skip my Reading Homework?

We are in a new  month, A little reminder as to why we need to be reading daily!

Why Can't I Skip My
Twenty Minutes of Reading Tonight?
(Source Unknown)

Let's figure it out -- mathematically!

Student A reads 20 minutes five nights of every week;
Student B reads only 4 minutes a night...or not at all!

Step 1: Multiply minutes a night x 5 times each week.
Student A reads 20 min. x 5 times a week = 100 mins./week
Student B reads 4 minutes x 5 times a week = 20 minutes

Step 2: Multiply minutes a week x 4 weeks each month.
Student A reads 400 minutes a month.
Student B reads 80 minutes a month.

Step 3: Multiply minutes a month x 9 months/school year
Student A reads 3600 min. in a school year.
Student B reads 720 min. in a school year.

Student A practices reading the equivalent of ten whole school days a year. Student B gets the equivalent of only two school days of reading practice.

By the end of 6th grade if Student A and Student B maintain
these same reading habits,  Student A will have read the equivalent of 60 whole school days Student B will have read the equivalent of only 12 school days.

One would expect the gap of information retained will have widened considerably and so, undoubtedly, will school performance. How do you think Student B will feel about him/herself as a student?

Some questions to ponder: 

Which student would you expect to read better?
Which student would you expect to know more?
Which student would you expect to write better?
Which student would you expect to have a better vocabulary?
Which student would you expect to be more successful in school....and in life?

Endeavor 5th Grade Missions

This past week we had a lot of active and exciting things happen! Katie, Joyce, and Charlotte got their writing published in the YWP {Young Writers Project.} in the Burlington Free Press and the online YWP newspaper. Also, we had people run for student council. Some kids had their conferences throughout the week and others still have to have them. We have studying Astronomy, mostly gravity and mass. During number corner we have been studying the patterns of the calendar. Also in Number Corner we have been doing quick facts. These will help us with our facts, and also get us farther in Fastt Math when we get on. A few days ago, some older kids came in to talk to us about UNICEF. They told us what UNICEF stands for and asked us questions about UNICEF. If we got the answer right, then we got a piece of candy. UNICEF is an organization that helps children who need medicine, food and water. Now on to the PE class Fitness Gram. The Fitness Gram is a program that has a bunch of different mini programs in one, for example the pacer, curl ups, modified pull-ups, head ups, sit and reach, mile, and height and weight. Altogether, this week has been a busy and active week. Please read our next blog! ~Katie and Derek

Thanks Katie and Derek for getting this week's blog post started.  As they have stated it has been an incredibly busy and active week!  I always love hearing about it from their perspectives!  FIrst of all, thank you for taking the time to visit with me and have our fall conferences.  I felt so proud of each student as they shared their learning with you!  I was impressed with their honesty about their strengths and the areas where they would like to continue working!  It was also exciting for me to share what I am impressed by when it comes to each child!  Looking forward to next time and please email or call me when you have something to celebrate or something you are wondering about!


Some of our most exciting learning has been around our read aloud Out Of My Mind by Sharon Draper.  We are intrigued by the world Melody lives in and the frustration she deals with due to her inability to move and speak!  We are impressed by her intelligence and wish that all the characters in the book new just how amazing she really is!  We participated in a Skype session with 6th graders in Ottawa, Ontario and watched a video about Rick and Dick Hoyt, a son and father team that has completed 30 Boston Marathons, numerous road races and even multiple iron man competitions.  The remarkable part of the story is that Rick has cerebral palsy, like Melody in OOMM, and cannot speak or move himself, but thanks to his dedicated father together they have persevered to overcome the challenges of his disability!  The children were very moved by this story and are really gaining empathy for children with disabilities.  On MOnday we will Skype again with our friends in Ontario and this week we will make connections between Melody and Stephen Hawking and children in our school who have disabilities.  We will also visit the blog of students in Australia and read their posts on OOMM, we will leave comments for them, thinking about being kind, safe and responsible.    We may also try using our communication boards, can you imagine only having a few words on index cards glued to the tray of your wheelchair?

Friday afternoon we took a few minutes to share all the writing we have been working on!  We are living the writerly life as we write in our mini notebooks and in our Writer's Notebooks!

Do you recognize these brave girls?  Thanks Abby, Katie, Parrish, Lena K., Joyce, Lena A. and Charlotte for preparing amazing speeches about why each of them would be the best choice for 5th Grade Leadership Council!  Their speeches were unique and inspiring.  Using the democratic process we voted for who we felt would best represent us at this time!  Congratulations to Lena A. and Charlotte.  As a class we had a meaningful discussion about the voting process and how to be an informed voter and to vote from the heart for the candidate whose beliefs fall in line with your own.  We also talked about excepting the results of an election with a Growth Mindset.  Acknowledging our disappointment and thinking about our next steps and being proud of ourselves for taking a risk!  I loved hearing the speeches, the effort our candidates talked of, and also hearing the encouragement of our voters, we were all part of the process and I think our community is stronger because of it!

We visited our Kindergarten Book Buddies and once again read to them but also listened to them read to us!  Check out the smiles and the nurturing 5th grade buddies!

Your child brought home a UNICEF box this week!  We are encouraging all Endeavor students to participate in this community service event in some way or another!  So search for coins under cushions or in the car, empty those piggy banks or simply trick or treat with your box in hand!  Every little bit helps and continues to support us as we learn to show empathy for others all over the globe!

Yeah NECAPS are done!

Dear Families,
Once again thanks for supporting your children the past two weeks as they persevered through 8 days of NECAP testing!  They justified their thinking, wrote clearly and believed in one another as they accomplished this giant task!  Your healthy snacks were much appreciated and helped me make sure that we had the stamina to work for over 2 hours a day!

Each and every space vocabulary share that has come into the classroom has been amazing!  The effort each student has put in is so apparent in the information that they have found out and the visual display of the information!  I can't wait for all of you to see these posters when you come in for conferences!  During Team Time this week we explored the phases of the moon!  We used BrainPop and an article to gain knowledge about the moon phases and that put our knowledge to the test by creating the moon phases with Oreos!  We also spent time in the library this week using eBooks to learn about The Night Sky.  We read with a purpose by searching for the answers to 3 questions.  We took notes using digital sticky notes and now have evidence to answer the questions!  These notes will be used to create a constructed response in our Science Journals!  Your child can access these eBooks through Destiny Quest on the Library Website!

We finally finished reading WONDER by R.J. Palacio.  We celebrated this by having a Book Discussion with Miss Natalie's class!  It was so fun to get together with another 5th Grade class!  We prepared ourselves well to have thoughtful small group discussions about the story, the characters, the authors and the lessons we learned from reading this book!  We also started reading Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper this week.  We are participating in the Global Read Aloud by reading this book!  Not only will we connect with classes here at SCS, but we will be connecting with other classes in the US and around the world!  Stay tuned to hear more about this!

Have an enjoyable weekend!  Play outside, get some sunshine and rest!  Don't forget to observe the moon!
~Vasanthi

PS.   Here are some photos from Kindergarten Book Buddies last week.