Congratulations Brunner Family!

A big congratulations to the Brunner family! They welcomed home baby Simon over the holiday weekend. Mom and baby are doing well. It looks like Tristan is excited to have a baby brother at home- so proud! And, a shout out to the Northwestern Wildcats for their win over our Wisconsin Badgers...I'm going to have to find some purple to wear.

Happy Thanksgiving

We day is quickly coming to an end. I hope you all enjoy your long week off. Have a safe and relaxing Thanksgiving.

• For the 25 smiling faces that greet me each morning


• For the smooth transition to a new grade level


• For a good job, a warm house, and food to eat


• For the support that I have received from parents and staff


• For the student teacher that works EXTREMELY hard & puts forth amazing effort


• For the excitement that children bring each day


• For my family and friends


• For the motivation I receive from those little spirits in class


• For the giggles I hear that brighten my day


• For the hugs and high fives


• For the quiet times during independent work time


• For the students that are having difficulty with something and just keep trying and trying until they get it


• For the intriguing minds that click during classroom discussions


• For the notes of encouragement that help me through my days


• For the safe environment we have created in our classroom


• For the silly times we share during the day


• For the serious times we share during the day…
  
  For all of these things and many, many more,
  I am thankful.

the BFG

We finished our classroom read aloud, The BFG by Roald Dahl. We all LOVED the story, especially the ending. After a long week of testing we thought we'd enjoy watching the animated movie of The BFG. The class filled their "bucket" last week so we had a popcorn party coming up- we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to enjoy popcorn and a movie. After comparing the book with the movie and discussing similarities and differences between the two, we all decided the movie was okay, but the book was outstanding!

The day is quickly coming to a close- enjoy your weekend and your long week off!

Our Mayflower Journey

The Mayflower, a 90 foot long ship, held 102 passengers and left Plymouth, England in 1620. The Pilgrims on board were leaving their homeland for religious reasons and they were hoping for a better life in the New World.

On their journey the Pilgrims faced many challenges and hoped that their new life would be worth the heartache. Despite these hardships, the Pilgrims had some joyful, fun moments too. The children had limited space and few toys, but they found creative ways to amuse themselves. Two games they played were Chuck-a-Farthing and Odd-Even. Our 5th graders actually had quite a bit of fun playing these games too!

Our Mayflower Journey has been an exciting one. As we've learned more about this difficult journey, our kids have been writing a journal of their experiences, from a passenger's perspective. I have been very impressed with the quality of writing that the student have had throughout this Social Studies unit.

WKCE testing is complete!

This sign became a classroom staple and hung on our door the last three days. I am happy to state that today was last day of WKCE testing! The students worked really hard these past three days and put forth their best effort. We (teachers included) are all ready to get back to our normal routines.

Although state testing is complete, the students do have end of unit assessments for math and science scheduled for Thursday and Friday. We have been reviewing in class and hopefully the study guides have been helpful at home.

Just think, after this week of testing you have a nice long week off...deep breaths 5th graders.

Kerpoof!

Visit Kerpoof to build your own art, stories, and movies. Not only is it a great creativity tool, you may save your work and send it to friends.

Speakaboos...

Speakaboos.com is a great new site that lets you listen to classic and new stories. Speakaboos is in the process of making it so you can write, publish, and record your own stories.Enjoy Speakaboos by clicking here.

Thank You Veterans...

Today is Veteran's Day...a national holiday to honor and praise those that have served the United States of America. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, we want to acknowledge all of those brave soldiers and say THANK YOU! You truly are our heroes!

Veterans day tribute @ Yahoo! Video

Flipping Out...

As we wrap up our study of Variables, we are exploring a flipper system similar to a catapult. The students are enjoying actually being told to throw things in school! We started this investigation by building flipsticks and testing their "flipping" abilities. We have practiced flipping corks and rubber corkers and we even created aluminum foil balls of differing mass. We tried adjusting different variables to come up with ways to get our balls to flip the highest and the longest. We have had a blast through it all! We'll continue flipping through this week and our science assessment will be next week.

Did you know catapults are used in a lot of ways...?

• Jets take off from aircraft carriers using explosives or hydraulics to catapult them off the flight decks.


• Catapults have been used in warpfare since the medieval times.
  
• Catapults are used for sport, i.e. pole vaults flipping over the bar, spingboard to launch gymnasts.

Where Did the Quarter Go?

This week we will be finishing our first quarter of fifth grade! It is hard to believe how quickly the year is going. I hope you all rested up over our 4-day weekend. As we tie up loose ends this week, we will be wrapping up our math unit and our social studies unit on Exploreres. We're just about finished with our science unit on Variables too.

Next week Monday, Mrs. Splitberger, our student teacher, will be joining us. She will be working in our classroom throughout 2nd quarter. Her and I are looking forward to the exciting topics ahead...new math chapters, Mayflower studies, mixtures and solutions, personal jounaling, and much, much more. Expectations will be rising, but I know you are all ready for it! I can't wait for another very exciting and educational quarter.

I am also looking forward to sharing your report cards with you and your parents. It is always a pleasure to report progress and set goals.