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)

Thursday Homework

Tonight's homework:

1. Read 20 mins.
2. Study for spelling test
3. Comparing Decimals paper
4. Finish Ice Cream problem

Today we spent some time talking about the effects of using tobacco products as part of Red Ribbon Week. Ask your child what they learned about it.

Poems, Poems Everywhere

We just started a poetry unit that we'll be working on the next couple weeks. As part of the unit, each student has chosen a poem to work on and memorize. They will either recite it to me (required) or to the class (extra credit) by the end of next week.

Tonight's Homework:

1. Read 20 mins.
2. Write a short story (about 2-3 paragraphs) using at least 8 spelling words.
3. Work on memorizing your poem. Read it out loud to at least 2 different people.
4. Finish the Ice Cream math problem from yesterday.

**PARENTS: Notice that my email has changed with my new last name. My old one will still work, but please make note of the change! Thanks!!

Mrs. Sampson

WELCOME BACK!!

Welcome back on track! Things have been a bit crazy the past couple days since I just barely got back from my honeymoon. But, we're all excited to be here and are back in the swing of things. We're finishing up the Revolutionary War and starting talking about the Constitution. We'll be discussing the federal government and voting, just in time for the election in 2 weeks. In Math, we're working on some beginning algebra concepts.

Tonight's Homework:

1. Read 20 mins
2. Spelling - sort and write
3. Math problem - due Friday
**If an ice cream shop sells thirty-one different flavors of ice cream, how many different double-scoop cones can they make?


Parents, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns as we approach parent teacher conferences in a couple weeks.

Mrs. Sampson

PTA

We had a PTA rep come in today to remind us to have parents sign up for the PTA. If our class has the most parents signed up, we'll receive $50 worth of books for our classroom! So far we only have 5 parents signed up in our class. D Track has at least double that! We need to catch up!

If you haven't really considered PTA before, or if you don't think you have time, consider these points:

1. It only costs $5 for the whole year.
2. That $5 is a direct donation to your child's school.
3. You don't have to do anything for PTA, just the $5 donation is plenty to help out.
4. You get 10% off at the book fairs throughout the year.
5. You'll be helping your child's school and specifically our classroom if we win!

If you're interested, please send $5 to school with your child TOMORROW (or when we come back on track) and we'll get all the paperwork taken care of. Thanks!

REMINDER: Tomorrow is the last day to turn in fundraisers.

Almost Off Track

Just 2 more days until we go off track!! It's been a crazy week and we're getting things packed up so we can go off track. For those of you that aren't aware, in 5th grade we have to rotate classrooms each time we track off and on. So, this week we'll be packing up our classroom and moving our stuff into storage until we come back in a few weeks. When we come back, we'll be in Room 125 (where Mrs. Engh's class currently is).

Parents, sorry for the smaller amounts of homework this week. I've been sick with a nasty cold, plus all the copy machines at school are broken. Combine that with trying to get the room ready for the next class to come on track, and homework has kind of fallen by the way side. I promise once we're back on track homework will resume it's normal pattern. :)

For tonight, make sure you read 20 minutes for the Road to Success (and mark your chart!).

Also, study those vocab words. We'll have a test on Friday.