3rd-5th Grade Newsletter 12-07-09

Last Week
Ø Thank you to Miła and Ela for teaching how to make paper!
Ø Ground Truth Trekkers Presentation

Upcoming Events
Ø Bear Bucks Store December 17th--Thanks to those who have donated items!
Ø Winter Mug Exchange--December 18th
Ø Good River Trip This Wednesday! (12/9/09) We will be leaving at 12:10 to go to the Good River to collect data for our year-long watershed study.
Ø Holiday Program December 16th
Ø Holiday Story Hour December 16th 10:30-11:30

Paragraph a Week
The assignment this week is A Great Discovery!

Word of the Week: mycologist

Field Report from Dec. 2

On December 2nd we went to Glen’s Ditch and collected data. The depth of the water was 13 inches. It was very cold, wet, and rainy. There were a lot of clouds! We had lots of fun.

The water at Glen’s Ditch was higher then usual. Most of the snow at Glen’s Ditch had disappeared. At Glen’s Ditch we found a weird type of fungus. Don’t forget to look at our pictures of it! That was the weirdest things we saw. Thank you for looking at our blog! Our next trip will be at Good River on Wednesday Dec. 9. Don’t forget to take a look at our blog after our trip to Good River!

Water Quality Project

Velocity

Taking the velocity!

Mystery Fungus!

Please! We need to know what kind of fungus this is! If you have any ideas, please comment!

“Paragraph a Week” Homework Assignment (Due 12/4/09)

“Paragraph a Week” Homework Assignment

Due: December 4, 2009 (Rough Draft Only!)

Assignment: Letters About LiteratureYour assignment this week will be to write a letter to an author of a book that you have read recently. Only the rough draft of this letter is due on Friday, December 4th! (Please bring the book to school too.) During class next week you will edit and revise your letters and write a final draft. The final draft of the letter (4th and 5th grade) will be submitted to a national contest, Letters About Literature. A copy of the letter will also be sent to the author. We did this last year and had great results! Several students received letters back from the authors that they wrote.

Attached to this assignment sheet is a rubric/format guide for the letter. Letters should be at least three paragraphs long. They should have an opening paragraph, at least one body paragraph, and a closing paragraph. Today in class we read and discussed the example letter.

These letters should not be fan letters! Instead of complimenting the author you should be telling the author how the book affected you and changed your view of the world or self. The letter should not summarize the book either—the author already knows what happened in their book!

This week and next week there will be lessons and activities in class to help students to complete this assignment. We will be covering letter writing and responding to a book (versus complimenting an author and/or summarizing a book).

3rd, 4th and 5th Grade Newsletter

Bear Bucks Store
The Bear Bucks Store will be open on Thursday, December 17th! This will be a great opportunity for students to shop for Christmas gifts. We have several items for the store, but any donations of small items would be greatly appreciated.

After School Tutoring and Homework Help
Emma Johnson has offered to help students will homework after school, 3:30-4:30, on Mondays. This homework help will start next Monday, December 7th. I have talked to several of the students about this and many are interested. This is a great chance for students to complete math assignments, re-do work (from Red Folders), and to get started on the Paragraph of the Week Assignment.

Winter Mug Exchange
Attached is information about this fun activity!

Glen’s Ditch
We have a Glen’s Ditch trip scheduled for Wednesday, December 2nd. Are you interested in joining us?

Holiday Program and Holiday Story Hour
The Holiday Story Hour at the library is scheduled for December 16th, from 10:30-11:30. The annual School Holiday Program is the evening of December 16th. Save the date on your calendar!

Paragraph a Week
The assignment this week is Letters About Literature. Only the rough draft of this assignment is due on Friday. We will be revising and editing these letters next week in class.

Word of the Week: thalweg