Week of September 16, 2013
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Happy Monday, again! I hope you enjoyed the beautiful, fall-like weekend weather!!
Language Arts
This week, we will begin Unit 1, Week 2 in our new Reading Wonders
language arts series. Each weekly unit contains and central focus idea
called an Essential Question. This week’s Essential Question will focus
on people who have achieved great things through trial and error.
Learning from our mistakes isn't always easy, but sometimes it can be
an adventure! The reading strategy we will focus on continues to be
rereading for understanding. The story genre is realistic fiction.
Grammar work will include subjects and predicates.
This Week’s Vocabulary Words:
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accomplish, anxious, assemble, decipher, distracted, navigate, options, and retrace
This Week’s Vocabulary Strategy:
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Context Clues/Words in Context
How can you help at home?
Below (and attached) are some activities you can do at home with your child to help reinforce the skills we’ll be
practicing:
Word Workout (See page 9 attached):
 Word to Know: idioms
Have your child define each word. Then, help your child use each word in a story about how kids solved a
problem using a new idea.
Spelling/Phonics: Long vowels
Write spelling words from the list on both sides of notecards. Choose a card, read the words, and have your
child spell the words. Then switch roles until all the words are spelled.
Comprehension: problem and solution (See page 10 attached)
Your child will read sentences about a solution for a problem. Then he or she will write a sentence to describe
what the problem was.
These activity pages are not to be brought back to school. They are intended for extra practice at home.
Reading Assessment:
At the end of each week, students will take a reading assessment. Each weekly assessment is
comprised of the following:
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2 “Cold Read” selections
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10 multiple –choice items assessing Comprehension Skills
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10 multiple-choice items assessing Vocabulary Strategies
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1 constructed response item assessing Comprehension
Each weekly assessment features two selections on which the assessment items are based. The
selections reflect the unit theme and/or weekly Essential Question to support the focus of the
classroom instruction.
The first two assessments will be completed in a whole group setting to support the students in
getting used to the new assessment format. We will complete the reading test together in class. Next
week, students will take the reading test on their own and it will be graded.
This Friday, and every Friday, students will also have a spelling test and grammar quiz.
Spelling
Every Monday will begin with a spelling preview test. After the preview test, your child will bring home
his/her differentiated spelling list, based on their performance on the preview test. Some of the
students might need to correct their errors on the preview by writing the misspelled words ten (10)
times each and using the word in 1 sentence using correct context clues in the sentence.
Corrections, if necessary, will be due on Wednesday. The weekly spelling test will be on Fridays,
unless otherwise indicated on the assignment notebook board.
Homework and Assignment Alerts
The fifth grade teachers have had to give out quite a few Assignments Alerts in the past few weeks.
We understand that the students are still getting back into the swing of things, but it is time for them to
focus on being organized and prepared for class. On an average night, your child will have about
20+ minutes of reading for his/her reading log, a math study link and/or math boxes (15 minutes), a
grammar worksheet (5-10 minutes), two or three nights of spelling homework (10 minutes/night), and
a reading practice book pg. (5-10 minutes). So...that is about 50-60 minutes/night. If your child
continues to receive Assignment Alerts, please check the website for each night’s homework, and
assist your child on being prepared for class. We appreciate your help in making this a successful
learning year for your child.
Social Studies
On Tuesday, we will begin Chapter 4 - How and Why Europeans Came to the Americas. Students will
learn how and why explorers set out for the New World in the late 1400s and 1500s. In the teachTCI
online Preview, students list tools they would use to plan and take a family trip and the problems they
might experience without these tools. In the Social Studies Skill Builder section, student pairs take on
the role of underwater archaeologists to examine objects from an explorer’s ship. After reading about
the objects, students will categorize the objects as navigation tools, motives for exploration, or new
products from the Americas. In Reading Further, students improvise act-it-outs to bring to life four key
events of that time. In the Processing activity, students write an entry in an exploration log.
Passwords for students to login to the learntci.com social studies website were sent home on Friday,
September 6.
Other Important Stuff:
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Monday, September 16, (today) is Palos West Picture Day.
There will be a Board of Education meeting here at Palos West on Tuesday, September 16, at
7:00 PM.
PFA Spirit Day is this Friday, September 20. Students are encouraged to wear their school
colors.
September 27 is an Institute Day. There will be no school for students.
On Friday, September 13, our classroom had the honor
of leading the rest of the school around the course for the annual
Laps for Literature book fundraising event!