I just posted the most recent assignment checklist. I intend to do it on Fridays, but the afternoons when I am out of my classroom are tricky. Anyway, it's up! The image appears to be blurry -- sorry! 
~Erica
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This week's blogs were incredibly fun to read because the topic was selected by the writer. So fun to see what the kid are thinking about!  I hope that you are able to read your child's blog each week. Even if you don't leave a comment (I know some are mortified by that!), it's a great way to see what your kid's thinking about how they are writing. A few could use an editor as well. There are always instructions on the direction page. This week's are:

Normal "rules" apply:
**use school appropriate language
**use correct spelling
**include capitals and periods
**include at least 100 words!

To get credit, there must be 100 words, capitals and periods must be correct and common words have to be spelled correctly. It's not "cheating" to help your student edit their work.  Another idea is to have them type their blog in to MS Word (or an equivalent) and then paste it in to the blog. Word has spell check and word count which are some helpful tools!
~Erica
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We're reading a novel together as a class by Lois Lowry -- Number the Stars. If you've never read it, it's worth a read even if it is Children's Literature. It's a Newbery winner that tackles the hard topic of Jewish families during WWII.  Annemarie's family is living in Copenhagen in 1943 and they end up hiding Annemarie's friend, Ellen, who is Jewish. The writing is so good -- there is suspense and fear without going overboard.  We are having some amazing class discussions centered on interpreting text, prediction and symbolism.  For each chapter, the kids are keeping notes on characters involved, setting, problem and a personal observation (or prediction, connection etc.).  This is a great book for a dinner conversation!
~Erica
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What a great concert! I was sick last week during the rehearsal, so Thursday night was the first time I had seen it. What fun!  I loved that it was a concert, but also let the 5th graders be silling and be themselves a little bit. Hope to see many of you on the 12th for the band concert!
~Erica
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We are starting a unit on Algebra, which is either really fun or super frustrating. :) A lot of kids that have problems with processes (like division and multiplication) find success with algebra. The IXL for this week is Q3.  It has been brought to my attention that the kids are asked to do some work with fractions. As we haven't done fractions this year, have your kids work up until the math (not the algebra) becomes a problem. I will talk to the kids about it today. Thanks!
~Erica
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I just posted a a picture of our new assignment checklist. I will usually post updates on Friday, but I wanted to let you have a look at where we are starting. As I mentioned to many of you at conferences, I made few changes. The biggest change is that work needs to be turned in on time.  When the assignment is due, and I check in the work, I will be filling in the column for each student. A sticker means that the assignment was turned in complete. If the assignment wasn't turned in, it will have an I or an M indicating that the assignment was either missing or incomplete.  It's really important that your kids get organized enough to get work turned in on time and get in the habit of checking for completeness.  Check back Friday for an updated picture.
~Erica
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