Tuesday...

Today we learned how to do double digit multiplication using arrays. We watched Davy Crockett, because we're learning about tall tales and Westward Expansion. We also learned about Lewis and Clark, and their companion Sacagawea. In the computer lab, we typed our personal writing and our tall tales that we've been working on.

Tonight's homework:

1. Read 20 minutes (make sure you're tracking it for Road to Success).
2. Play a game with your spelling words.
3. Multiplication arrays - 32 x 14 and 25 x 25 (it needs to be on graph paper)

The True Story of the Star Spangled Banner

Today we learned about the War of 1812, in which we fought against Great Britain for the second time in 30 years. During one of the battles, a young lawyer named Francis Scott Key was stuck on a British war ship as Fort McHenry in Baltimore was bombed. Based on his experience on September 13, 1814, he wrote a poem which later became our national anthem. Today we had the opportunity of listening to a retelling of this experience. Ask your student to tell you the details of the story and how they felt about it.

Monday

Just a heads up that I'll be gone on Tuesday and Thursday this week to teach some training courses for other teachers. Because of that, homework this week may seem less than usual. Please make sure your student reads and studies spelling words every night. Thanks!!

Tonight's HW:

Read 20 mins
Sort & Write spelling words

We Did It!

Thanks to all of you that came to parent teacher conferences. We had a great turnout. It was great to meet so many of you and discuss what's been going on in our classroom. I feel like we've been working really hard and getting a lot of good things done in our class the last few weeks since we've been on track.

I hope your students shared with you some of the things we learned about with the election this past week. Because U.S. history and government is the main topic of study in 5th grade social studies, we are lucky because we HAVE to study the elections and government! It was so fun to learn about the issues and candidates as we participated in this historic election. Regardless of which candidate you voted for, it was a great experience.

Make sure you're still reading 20 minutes every night, including on the weekend! Have a great weekend and we'll see you on Monday!!

Mrs. Sampson

Elections and Parent Teacher Conferences

What an exciting day! We talked a lot about the election today and even entered a voting booth ourselves to mark a ballot. Come see the results at Parent Teacher Conferences!

Speaking of which...have you signed up yet? I have 20 students signed up, which means we still have 8 more to go. I'm excited to see you all here and talk about the year so far.

PARENT Homework tonight:

1. GO VOTE!!! Do your duty as a citizen and cast your vote in this historic election that is bound to be a page turner! The polls are open until 8 pm. If you aren't sure which polling location you're assigned to, come see the poll workers here at Columbia (on the stage). You are most likely assigned to Columbia, Terra Linda, or another nearby school.

STUDENT Homework tonight:

1. Read 20 mins.
2. Watch the news (or find a way to follow the election).
Write down the voting percentages before you go to bed then when you wake up in the morning.
I am NOT asking students to stay up all night to watch the results. I think it will be interesting to see how percentages change as the night progresses.

Here's a link to CNN's homepage, which shows a poll counter:
www.cnn.com

Another Monday

Things were a bit crazy in our classroom today. I'm not sure if it was just Monday, or if it was leftover sugar-rush from Halloween. :) We discussed the electoral college and exactly how the presidential elections work.

Here's tonight's homework:

1. Read 20 mins.
2. Write a silly story with your spelling words (same words as last week)
3. Math - Diner word problem (due Weds)