Back in October I wrote a grant for class iPads, and they are finally here!  A 1 to 1 program was offered to members of the district tech team, and I feel completely blessed to have been selected!!  We are the elementary pilot classroom; there is another middle school classroom piloting as well as a high school classroom.  I have a lot of grandiose plans, but we started small today with students creating a personalized background on their assigned iPad as well as starting to organize the apps that I loaded.  My mom came and helped out this afternoon -- I was chuckling with her about how it was quieter when they got the iPads than it was during the reading quiz this morning! To say the kids were excited was an understatement. We have a lot to learn about management and integration, but I am incredibly motivated and will keep you updated! 

~Erica
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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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Nevermind -- issue resolved!!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  I sure did.  I LOVE the Oregon Coast -- the waves, the wind, the fresh air. Sigh. ;) Also great to be back today. I don't know that the kids are old enough to really appreciate the fresh start of a new trimester, but I truly feel that.  

I had a little mix-up with the pre-orders on Diary of Wimpy Kid -- The Third Wheel.  I had four names written down, but then a fifth book arrived. Did anyone order one that didn't receive a book? I'm at a loss... Thanks!
~Erica
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I was just planning for next week and realized that we are not going to get as far as I had originally thought in math. I had thought we might get through dividing by 2 digit divisors, but it looks like we will only have scratched the surface before Thanksgiving. So...I moved IXL H10 -- again!  It's new (and hopefully final) due date is November 30th. 
~Erica
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The IXL for this week is H10, which is dividing by 2 digits.  This is something that we won't cover in class until Tuesday/Wednesday. While the process is the same as dividing by 2 digits, it will be easier for most students to tackle after classroom instruction. Also, this skill is one that does get much harder as students progress towards mastery which is why there is one skill instead of two.   This will probably require at least an hour of time, and most likely more in most cases.  Usually I require students to have mastery of the skill to get credit, but this week I will be looking at time spent as well as mastery level. If your student has spent well over an hour and still isn't at mastery I will still give them credit for the week. Don't let them get too frustrated! My recommendation for IXL is always to spread it over a few days instead of all at one chunk.  That helps ease frustration and also helps set up good study habits for the future.
~Erica
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