May News Letter

Thank You

Thank you to 24 and 9 for creating our Good-Bye 5th Grade bulletin board using languages from around the world.
Thank you to 2, 23, 4, and 16 for creating our Mysterious Cave bulletin board.
Thank you to 19 and 3 for the Summer fun bulletin.
Thank you to Ms. Buntin, 11’s grandparents and 18’s father for joining us on our cave adventure.

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, May 16th Field Day
Thursday, May 17th 5th Grade Reward/Field Day and Wacky Awards
Friday, May 18th Awards Day
Last Day of School
Monday, May 28th Memorial Day
Monday, June 4-Friday, June 29 Summer School: Dinosaurs

Good-Bye

I have enjoyed my first year teaching at Exeter, but it has been hard being so far from my family. I will be moving back to Iowa to teach kindergarten this upcoming fall. Thank you for all your support. You all have children to be proud of. ~M.s. Gray

Summer

Reading is important to keep up through the whole summer. On average a student will drop down a little bit unless they are constantly reading and refreshing those skills everyday.

April Newsletter

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

~Thomas Edison

MAP Testing

We will begin our MAP testing on Monday morning April 2nd. Our class will be taking tests on reading and math in the mornings and science and social studies in the afternoons.
Snacks will be provided during the tests each day. If your child chooses to bring them from home that is fine. I will not be allowing candy or sugar filled drinks during the testing times.
Our class goal is to have 100% attendance during the testing period and 100% effort being made on the test. If they work hard everyday their name will go in a drawing with other elementary students for a portable DVD player. I realize that testing time is stressful for some students, I feel they are as prepared as they can be and will have great success on MAP this year.

Testing TIPS

•Good night sleep
8 hours for the average 5th grader
•Nutritious food
Good food helps our brains function like fruits and vegetables.
Breakfast is key to a good performance on a morning test!
•Relax
Taking deep breaths before or during the test will help us stay calm

Thank You

Thank you to 12 and 22 for the lucky bulletin board and helping us display our 6+1 Traits of writing. (word choice and voice)

Upcoming Events

Saturday, March 31 Chili Super 5pm
Sunday, April 1 April Fool’s Day
Tuesday, April 3 1’s Birthday
Tuesday, April 3 Voting Day
Thursday, April 5 Mid Quarter
Thursday, April 5 Book Orders Due
Friday, April 6 NO SCHOOL
Sunday, April 8 Easter
Tuesday, April 24 Sports Pictures
Wednesday, April 25 Tobacco Presentation 12: 30
Sunday, April 29 20’s Birthday
Monday, April 30 The Ned Show 2pm Yo-Yo Presentation

Learning Corner

Reading: We have just finished up with two nonfiction books one on special effects in movies and one on pirates. We have worked hard on comprehending what we are reading and reading the books more than one time.
Spelling: We will not be doing spelling during MAP testing, but have one test remaining on spelling before getting down with vocabulary.
Math: We just finished a unit on fractions and will be working with exponents in this upcoming chapter and the different properties in math.
Science: We are working with plants, how to classify them, and what parts make up plants, as well as, flowers.

FROG Binders

Parents please make sure your student is showing you his/her FROG binder nightly. This is to help teach them responsibility.
There is also a sheet in there for working with multiplication facts 1-12. I believe that if they practice them 3 nights a week for 5 or 10minutes a night, they will improve their ability to recall their facts quickly and accurately.

Basketball Season

Basketball season has now come to an end. Congratulations on all the hard work put in this season

Fundraiser

We currently raised money for Pennies for Patients: Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.Thank you to all of the parents and students who participated and helped our class fundraise over a hundred dollars for the cause. I’m very proud of the effort made. ($152.15)

Congrats to Mr. Jordan's class for raising $213.18 and for the whole school for raising $583.63

I will be treating the 5th grade class to rootbeer floats for all their hard work. We may not have earned the pizza party, but the 5th grade students were dedicated and were working hard for the right cause.

March News Letter

Thank You

Thank you to 11 and 14 for making a very loving bulletin board.

Club Zone

Keep up the good work 5th graders who are working hard to get into a club.
Congratulations to 19 and 18 for making it into 3 clubs, 13, 8, and 3 for making it into 2 clubs and to 11 and 9 who have made it on to one.

Mr. Anderson

Mr. Anderson is the new 6th grade teacher. He will be teaching the 5th grade in social studies and will be taking over their literature circles on Wednesdays.

Upcoming Events

Thursday, March 1st No School Trout Day

Friday, March 2nd 19’s ½ Birthday

Friday, March 9th End of the 3rd Quarter
Book Orders Due

Sunday, March 11th Daylight Saving
Time Begins
Tuesday, March 13th Spring Pictures

Thursday, March 15th Food Power Presentation
Conferences 3-7

Friday, March 16th Conferences 1-5
Early-out 12: 30
Saturday, March 17th 22’s Birthday
St. Patrick’s Day

MAP TESTING COMING SOON

check with your participating student
on his/her basketball game schedule

Native American Research Papers

The research has been complete and we will now begin to revise our papers. We will also be learning how to create a bibliography using all the sources collected from research. After revising our rough drafts we will be typing them on the computer and working on developing skills of typing, but later turning them into a PowerPoint.

Thanks to the High School FFA

We got to visit some of the animals that would be found on a farm here at school during the National FFA week. We extend our thanks to all the FFA members.

Leaning Corner

Math:We just finished up the chapter on how we can changes percents, decimals, and fractions. Unit 6 will be on using data and adding and subtracting fractions.

Reading: The past unit we studied autobiographies and had a chance to write our own. This new unit we are starting will be based on animal encounters. We are also reading literature books that have a little mystery in them. Please ask your child about the book they are reading. Literature Circles meet on Wednesday morning to discuss their book.

Snow (ice) Days

We are beginning to make up the days that we have missed so please pay attention to the change of parent teacher conferences and that we now have school on Friday, March 16th , and Monday, March 19th.

February Newsletter

The time is always right to do what is right. ~Martin Luther King Jr.

Thank You

Thank you to 17 and 20 for January’s bulletin board of New Year bells.

Learning Cornner

SCIENCE: Water Cycle Project turned out wonderful. Every student had a little something different on each project. We are going to continue working on our weather.

MATH: Fractions are giving us all a little trouble. There will be a test at the end of the month. Please help your students work on converting fractions in to decimals and percents.

READING: We just finished our literature circle and for the next 2 weeks we will be doing centers. Students will have a book that they will need to read aloud to you.
Centers: Fluency, Computer, Guided Reading, Readers’ Theatre, Making Words, Spelling Practice

LANGUAGE ARTS: Students will be starting a research project on Native Americans. We will be taking this project one step at a time. For the first few weeks we will be gathering information and learning how to put it in to paragraphs and recording our sources.

Upcoming Events

Feb. 9 BOOK ORDERS DUE
Feb. 12-23 K-6 Cookie Dough Fundraiser
Feb. 13 4’s ½ Birthday
Feb. 13-16 Homecoming Week (dress up is optional)
Monday 12 Under the Sea
Tuesday 13 Fisherman/Fish Day
Wednesday 14 Switch Day (girls dress up as boys and boys as girls)
Valentine's Day: Party at 2pm
Thursday 15 Pirates of Exeter *no weapons

Friday 16 Red and Black School Spirit
Feb. 16 We have school School HOMECOMING Game
Feb. 19 11’s Birthday
Feb. 19 No School (may change)
Feb. 22 Author Dave Sargent comes to visit
Feb. 23 3’s Birthday
Feb. 24 12’s ½ Birthday
Feb. 30 13’s and 14’s ½ Birthday

Congradulations

Congratulation to all of the students who studied hard for the class spelling bee and the school spelling bee.

Valentine’s Day Party

We will be having a party on February 14th at 2 p.m. We will be decorating bags in class. Students may bring their Valentines cards to school that day to pass out. I ask that they have enough for everyone in the class so nobody is left out. We will be playing games and passing out cards that afternoon.

January News Letter

Happy New Year

With the new year will come some new changes, new goals for students, and higher expectations. I hope that you will help encourage your children to read at home. Practice makes perfect as the old saying goes. Remember students should be bringing home their FROG binders every night to be looked at by a parent/ guardian.

Learning Corner

Math: We just finished up with long division in math and with be starting fractions.
Reading: Reading time has been spent on our Literature Circles, reader’s theater, and talking about family traditions.
Science: We are still working on the states of matter and will begin taking a look at the water cycle and how the states of matter apply.
Computers: We were using mapquest.com to plan a vacation and looking at the math involved with the program. Now we will begin working on some typing skills that will be helpful to our future.
English/Writing: We have been working on adjectives and using them in the stories that we have written. Our goal for this quarter is focusing on the quality of our writing and revisions.

Club Zone

What is the Club Zone? It is an opportunity for students to make a goal for themselves. That goal may be to make it in one club or maybe all 5.
AR Club: Meet AR reading goal of 30points by the end of the year.
Math Wiz Club: Complete all problems correctly on Minute Math worksheet in 1 minute or less.
Record Reading Club: Read and record the times that a book was being read. Goal is to read 5 chapter books.
Spelling Bee-utifully Club: 5 spelling tests with 100% or greater by the end of the semester.
Fact Finder Club: A student must know their multiplication facts from 1*1 to 10*10 and prove them verbally to Ms. Gray.
Benefits or Rewards for being in a club:
2 or more Lunch in the classroom with Ms. Gray every Tuesday
3 or more 30 minutes of free time on the computer
4 or more Free book (limits may apply)
5 or more Pizza party at the end of the quarter/ semester in the classroom with Ms. Gray.

Thank You

Thank you to 7 and 21 for the beautiful bulletin board of our class’s Santa is Missing in Action stories.
Also thank you for the gifts and all the wonderful treats that were brought to our Christmas Party.

Upcoming Events

Jan. 5 18'sBirthday
Jan.8-Jan. 12 STAR Testing
Jan8-Jan 12 Year Book Week (dress up is optional)
Mon. Animal
Tues. Barry County
Wed. Hooville (Dr. Seuss)
Thurs. Toga *must have regular school clothes underneath
Fri. Crazy Hair Day
Jan. 11 Book Orders Due
Jan.15Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday
Jan. 28 8’s ½ Birthday
Jan. 31Mid Quarter Reports

December Newsletter

Stuck on Good Behavior

Students reached their goal and filled the poster man with tape. In return stuck Ms. G to the wall.
Next goal is to fill the man to get the opportunity to play in a giant bubble and have a movie afternoon.

Encouragement

Encourage your students to read. With practice students become more fluent readers and their language skill will improve.
Encourage your students to study spelling words or even math facts at night for even just ten minutes a night to help improve scores.

Congratulations

Congratulations to our class for earning a movie, popcorn, and extra recess for getting back the parent surveys.
Congratulations to 7 and 11, our Carnival King and Queen. Also a big thanks to the parents and students who helped us collect the pennies to vote.

Upcoming Events

Dec. 12 Music Concert 7p.m.
Dec. 20 End of 1st Semester
Dec. 20 Early out 12:30 p.m.
Dec. 20 Holiday Party at school
Dec. 21-Jan.2 No School
Dec.22 16 & 17's Birthday

Thank You

Thank you to 1 and 10 for the beautiful bulletin board for November.
The carnival was a while ago, but thank you to all the parents and students that helped out in our spooky classroom.

November Newsletter

Fall

With fall here and winter approaching temperatures are dropping. Please make sure your students have the proper clothing and shoes to wear outside. We have been fortunate to not have many students out with colds this past quarter.

Thank You

Thank you to RF and TP for the creative faces on window painted pumpkins. Also for a very spooky bulliten board in the hall.

Learning Cornner

Science: We just finished with the planets and working on wonderful PowerPoints that were created by each student. We are going to begin the topic of water, weather and the watercycle,

Math: We are working in Chapter 3 with geometry the study of shapes and figures. We will also continue working on our multiplication facts.

English: Currently we are working on verbs and several parts of speech. We are going to be working also on several forms of letter writing.

Reading: Almost finished with literature circles, we will begin working in centers once again. The next set of literature books will be chosen by the student.s. What book they choose will indicates the group they will work in.

Upcoming Events

Nov. 3 6-9pm Carnival
Nov. 3 Book orders due
Nov. 4 15’s Birthday
Nov. 10 6’s Birthday
Nov. 11 Veteran’s Day
Nov. 17 Mid Quarter
Nov. 22-24 Thanksgiving Break: No School
Nov. 24 Ms. G's Birthday

October News Letter

Stuck on Good Behavior
The class has been showing such good behavior, The month of Sept. they have managed to fill up both arms and are working on filling the head. They seem to be following directions and working hard on making good choices and demonstrating good behavior in the classroom.
Right now when we get all assingments in on time we get 5min of extra recess.


Frog Folders
The Frog Folders are looking good. Everyone has been taking them home. I have had several parents writing notes to me.



PTO Carnival
The PTO is sponsoring a carnival November 3rd. Each class is responsible for creating a booth. I have chosen to do our classroom as a spook- house. I’m open to any ideas on how to make our classroom scary and fun. I’m also going to be sending home a list of items to donate and asking for times to volunteer. I would appreciate all the help we can get!



King and Queen?
We are starting early in collecting pennies. Each penny represents one vote. The 5th-8th grade is in one division. Half the money raised for our class representatives will go to the PTO and the other half directly to our class to help provide for books and other materials. The class representatives with the most coins wins the title king and queen. Our class took a vote and A.N. and K.E. will represent our class.

Congratulations


Upcoming Events
Tuesday, Oct. 3rd J.L. Birthday
Thursday, Oct. 5th Book Orders Due
Friday, Oct. 6th No School
Friday, Oct. 20th End of 1st Quarter
Wednesday, Oct. 25th Conferences 3-7pm
Thursday, Oct. 26th Early Out 12:30pm
Conferences 1-5pm
Friday, Oct 27th No School

September News Letter

Learning is the discovery that something is possible. ~Fritz Perls

Extraordinary News

The first few weeks of school have flown by. Things in our classroom are going wonderfully. Everyone is getting along, staying on task, and working hard.

Stuck on Good Behavior

With good behaviors demonstrated in the classroom and completing assignment notebooks, students will have the opportunity to collect tape to fill up a poster. When the poster is filled the class will be allowed to stick me to a wall. “Stuck on Good Behavior”

What’s Going On

Everyday we start out doing daily oral language and working on our language and writing skills. In reading we are looking at Nature’s Fury and comprehension strategies. We started doing centers for reading,were we get to slit up into groups and work on practicing skills in reading comprehension, spelling, vocabulary, and fluency.
Every Monday will be taking a practice test for spelling and testing again Fridays. Lists are sent home for the next week on Friday.
In math we start off doing a word problem and then on some mental math skills that we may use daily in our lives.

AR Reading

Your child has the opportunity to gain points. Each book is worth a certain amount of points that a student reads. In order to get those points they must answer a few questions about the book on a computer program. Points will be tallied at the end of each month. The goal for our class is to individually read a minimum of 6points for the month of September.

FROG Folders

Fifth Grade
Remarkable
Organization
Goal

Our goal is to keep organized and to build on communication from home and school. These folders will have one pocket to write notes home and and another for you to write to me any notes or comments back. Any important papers or homework will also be kept in these folders. They are to be brought home every night. On Fridays they will need to be signed by a parent or guardian before being brought to school on Monday so I know that it is being looked at on occation. I hope that this folder will help on communication, also with students’ organizational skills, and problems with missing assignments and homework.

At Home

Homework isn’t given out every day. I try to have less than a half hour a night. Things I give them for homework are things that should be review or extra practice. Spelling is given out every Friday so they have a whole week to study. Some students have books to take home from the class library or the school library to read. I recommend that student who do not have homework parctice with a parent or friend multiplication facts, read for 15-20mins, practice their spelling, or even write a story.