Wow! I had a fantastic day with the fifth graders today. These kids are great. The each went home with a "grab and go", which contains items for reading at home. Please check these out and bring questions to the ACS Open House.
I can't wait to see the sixth graders tomorrow!
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Sierra Club Serve Outdoors: Sept. 11, 2010
September 11th has been designated the National Day of Service and Remembrance, and on that day young people across the country will be pulling on their boots and heading out to volunteer. For many, service means standing up for our neighborhoods, our communities, our country and our natural world. Through service, young diverse Americans are taking the lead in building a foundation for the future. The Sierra Club is proud to join this national call to volunteer on September 11, in honor and remembrance of those who bravely serve our country! We are honored to be part of this important day, and we hope you will join as well.
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Trapper Keeper or really sturdy three-ring binder
1 package of tab dividers
1 pencil pouch
1-2 packages of wide-ruled notebook paper
6 pocket folders in these colors: red, orange,yellow, blue, green, purple
1 glue stick
A BUNCH of #2 pencils
A personal (unmotorized) pencil
A "stick" for saving materials
Optional
scissors, colored pencils, markers,crayons
a red pen for correcting
erasable blue or black pens
SEE YOU SOON!!!!!!!!!
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We are going to start off the school year studying about ecology, conservation and management. I hope we can start the year off right and adopt!
Adopt a Raptor Program
The VINS Adopt-a-Raptor Program is a fun way to learn about and support avian wildlife. When you sponsor one of our resident raptors or songbirds, you help provide the specialized care needed by the many and diverse animals living at VINS Nature Center. Plus, you have the pleasure and pride of helping to care for these avian ambassadors! You also can adopt a raptor or songbird as a unique gift for someone special!
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Our first day is September 1,2010!
This will be my tenth school year at ACS! How exciting! I have been planning some great lessons and units for this upcoming year. As a teacher, you are always finding new and exciting lessons.
I will be sending home information for parents. Please be on the look out for this information. This information will be for the fifth grade parents.
This year your child will see Mrs. Maynard and Mrs.DaBica throughout the school day.
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Developing Writing and Spelling at Home
By: Reading Rockets (2008)
Writing is a terrific way for children to express their thoughts, creativity, and uniqueness. It is also a fundamental way in which children learn to organize ideas. And learning to write well helps children to be better readers.
Writing is a terrific way for children to express their thoughts, creativity, and uniqueness. It is also a fundamental way in which children learn to organize ideas. And learning to write well helps children to be better readers.
When engaging in writing, young children often mirror what they see around them; adults and older children writing lists, notes, text messaging. They are observing the way writing is used in our everyday lives.
Writing at home
Here are some suggestions that engage your child in the writing process:
* Have your child write instructions for taking care of the family pet. These will be useful as you plan your summer vacations!
* Write a letter or thank you note to a relative. Talk through what your child wants to say before writing begins.
* Make a shopping list before going to the grocery store.
* Write an online review of a book or an item you recently purchased (www.amazon.com) or a recipe you tried (www.allrecipes.com).
* Talk about the presidential election and write a description of the kind of president you want.
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Tips For Keeping Kids (And Families) Science Smart
By Staff Editor
Jul 10, 2010 - 8:56:41 AM
In fact, a recent nationwide survey co-sponsored by the National Science Teachers Association and pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim found nearly all science teachers wish their students' parents had more opportunities to engage in science with their kids-and many parents said they need help. Parents also said that access to materials and community resources would help them get more involved.
Science can be a tricky subject for mom and dad to discuss with their kids but there is no need to fear. Here are a few easy tips:
1. Incorporate science into everyday life. Ask your kids questions about things they see around them to encourage curiosity. Let kids take things like old toys apart to explore how they work.
2. Link family vacations to science. Whether on a camping trip or visit to the ocean, explore nature with your kids. In addition to being fun, trips to museums and zoos are good opportunities to ask kids questions about what they observe.
3. Conduct fun experiments at home. Some easy experiments can be found on the Internet. For example, the Family Science Quest Channel on YouTube features video tutorials of fun and engaging experiments using common household products. To find it, go to YouTube and search for "Family Science Quest."
The YouTube channel is part of the Boehringer Ingelheim Science Quest program. The program and its mobile laboratory bring hands-on science lessons directly to students at elementary schools that need it most.
Jim Baxter, senior vice president of development for Boehringer Ingelheim, explains, "As a company committed to innovation in science for 125 years, we support programs that further science education and help extend the learning process into the homes and families of students. Through our Science Quest initiative, we hope to encourage a passion for science in children beginning at an early age."
It doesn't have to be hard to get kids curious about science. Trying these tips and engaging the family together are great ways to bring science to life.
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Online activities for families
Share examples of good interactive educational websites that parents and young kids can explore together. Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) has an excellent bilingual site called Let's Read as a Family designed to help Latino families read, sing, and share stories together at home. There are lots of other quality websites for kids. Here are a few more of our favorites:
* National Geographic Kids: offers great nature videos, activities, games, stories, and more
* CoolMath4Kids: take a trip through an amusement park of math and more at this extremely interactive math website
* Smithsonian Kids Collecting: how to start your own collection and see what other kids collect
* Explore Dinosaurs: FAQs and top 10 myths about dinosaurs, a virtual dig, behind the scenes tours, and more from the National Museum of Natural History
* Smithsonian Digging for Answers: a site that tests your research skills and knowledge
* NASA Quest: interactive explorations that engage students in real science and engineering. Topics include robots, helicopters, lunar exploration, and designing your own human-friendly planet
* My Wonderful World: a multimedia tour of our seven continents
* Time for Kids: fun games (The Great State Race), an online weekly magazine written for kids, and news from around the world
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I hope that you are all keeping cool with a great book. I have been reading a lot about conservation and ecology topics; getting ready for the fall.
How are you doing with your math work????
Have a super summer and see you soon!
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Tomorrow is the last day of school. The kids will leave at 11:45.
Have a wonderful summer. School work has been handed out or mailed to you. This work will only help!!!
See you in September for 6th grade!!!
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The fifth and sixth graders threw Mr. Wright a surprise going away party. It was a wonderful, fun-filled afternoon. Thank you to all the families that brought items to the party. Thank you!!
Friday is our fifth grade celebration. Pizzas will be picked up for noon and we will have a pizza party...yum!
Monday is our READ-A-THON! We will read for 45 minutes and take a break. We will do this all day! The kids are able to bring in pillows and get really comfortable for this reading day!
Thanks for all you continue to do!
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WOW!!! The kids put on a show today with their solar cookers. I was impressed with many of the designs. This concluded grades for science. I can not believe the year is coming to an end.
The community BBQ is tomorrow. Please let the sub know if you are taking your child home early. I have asked the kids to sign out. Thank you in advance.
We are having a few celebrations over the next couple of days. Thanks for helping out.
The kids gave Mrs. Ross a beautiful book today. They each wrote poems and took photos. It was a very thoughtful gift. It is moments like this that I love and will cherish about this group. They have wonderful hearts. Good kids!!!!
As there is no camp-out, I am having a pizza party for the kids on Friday. I will provide drinks and the pizza. This is for a wonderful year. Please send in a PG or G movie for the afternoon, the kids can vote on a movie.
Thanks for everything!
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The kids have probably told you that I was out the last two days. I have some medical issues that need urgent attention. I will be out for some appointments and testing. I am sorry to report that I will need to cancel the camp-out. I will be in Albany and won't be back in time. I will try my hardest to make it up to the kids. We will brainstorm on Tuesday. Thanks for your support.
Enjoy your weekend!
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A Cure for Kids' Summer Reading Doldrums
by John Kelly
Detail from the cover
Detail from the cover of Summer Reading Is Killing Me! by Jon Scieszka
For Grades 1-3
See John Kelly's summer reading picks for first grade through middle school.
'The Magician's Boy'
'Mr. George Baker'
'Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog'
'Mighty Jackie, the Strikeout Queen'
'How I Became a Pirate'
For Grades 4-6
'Each Little Bird That Sings'
'Saffy's Angel'
'The Giant Rat of Sumatra or Pirates Galore'
'Summer Reading Is Killing Me!'
'Toad Rage'
'The Tarantula Scientist'
'How to Train Your Dragon'
Middle School
'The City of Ember'
'The American Plague'
'Bindi Babes'
'The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela'
'For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy'
'Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery'
'Wolf Brother'
'Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman?'
Also for Grades 4-6: Find Where the Wind Goes: Moments From My Life, by Dr. Mae Jemison. An inspiring and accessible autobiography by the first woman of color in space, who knew as a youngster that she wanted to be an astronaut and was determined not to let any obstacle stand in her way. (Excerpt unavailable)
Save, Print This List
Summer Reading Picks for Kids: Full List June 22, 2005
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June 22, 2005
I think of it as the summer of Tom Brokaw. He hung around our house like an uninvited guest.
His World War II book, The Greatest Generation, had been assigned to rising seventh graders at my daughter's middle school. It seemed that wherever I looked that summer, there was Tom: on our bookshelf, on the dining room table, on the floor of Gwyneth's room.
Everywhere, it seemed, but in Gwyneth's hands. As June turned to July, I could predict — with the unique clairvoyance that comes from being a parent — that the book would be tackled in a desperate, last-minute, tear-stained frenzy.
And so it was. Gwyneth hated that book.
She hated it just like kids through the ages have loathed Johnny Tremain, Where the Red Fern Grows, All Quiet on the Western Front, and all those other earnest, dull and occasionally disturbing books that populate summer reading lists.
As one preteen girl from my Sunday school class said when I brought up the subject, "The problem with summer reading lists is I never like any of the books you have to read."
Uh, yes, that would be a problem.
And it's a problem that we grown-ups don't have to deal with. When the weather gets hot and the beach beckons, we trade in our nutritious, fiber-filled reading for a diet of delicious junk: gruesome mysteries, trashy romance novels, tell-all autobiographies.
Meanwhile our kids are on a forced march through books in which a dog dies and a child learns a painful lesson, or a parent dies and a child learns a painful lesson, or a child dies and ANOTHER child learns a painful lesson.
I exaggerate, of course. And asking kids whether they like being forced to read a particular book during summer vacation is sort of like asking them if they enjoy having their braces tightened. Not many say yes.
Not every school has a single book an entire class must read before the fall. Some have a list of authorized books from which students must pick a requisite number. Then there's the looser conglomeration of titles recommended by librarians for summer reading clubs.
Just as some books are better than others, some of these lists are better than others. Kids, though, are quick to detect the telltale tang of dust and embalming fluid: too many official classics.
That's a shame, says Sharron L. McElmeel, a literacy consultant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
"There are no 100 books that every child must read before they grow up," she says. "They need to read 100 books before they grow up — and many, many more — but there is no list."
And the kids most likely to read don't need any lists. Readers read.
"The trick is to entice the rest of the school population," says Vicki Velsey, who recently retired after 29 years as a school librarian in Washington, D.C.
Velsey compiled her summer book lists by asking clued-in kids what they had enjoyed recently and what they were looking forward to that summer. The goal of summer reading, she says, is to help limit "summer learning loss," the term for the drop in skills that occurs when school is out.
Proponents also point to another reason that specific, mandatory books are a good idea: A summer book is a way to engender solidarity among students, to create a shared experience. Too often the media that kids talk about — deconstruct, analyze, argue over — aren't books, but TV shows, movies or video games. A required book is one way to focus the spotlight on something more positive, more — dare we say it? — educational.
"You've got a frame of reference that's universal within that classroom," says Judy Fickes Shapiro, a children’s author and bookstore owner in Ventura, Calif. "When you're creating community in the classroom, you've got to start with something common."
There's no doubt kids should read over the summer, and even as many schools tweak their lists to make them less ponderous, some version of the dreaded required book will probably always be with us.
So what can you do to help your foot-dragging child through his or her required books? You can take turns reading them aloud, or find copies on cassette tape or CD to listen to in the car. You can rent the movie versions to make the narrative accessible. And of course, encourage your kids to pick out their own books to serve as palate-cleansers between required courses.
I make no claims or guarantees about the summer reading I assembled here, other than to say I asked librarians and teachers for titles you'd probably never see on a mandatory reading list. Give me books that are just fun to read, I said, painful lesson not required.
Oh, except for Gwyneth. She'll be reading The Odyssey this summer. Fortunately, she still has the whole summer ahead of her. Plenty of time.
John Kelly is a columnist at The Washington Post and was the founding editor of KidsPost, a daily news page for the 8- to 12-year-old set.
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Hello,
We are wrapping up our fifth grade year with assessments and end-of-the-year activities.
Solar cookers and food will need to be in on or before June 7, 2010. The kids will create a hypothesis and test it throughout the day. They will collect data by taking the temperature of their cookers and or food. This will be the last science piece of the school year.
Report cards will go home on the last day of school. I have graded your child on the profile pieces that have been completed. This is what will be reflected on the report card. You will find comments attached on various papers and not on the report card. I find the attached paperwork more telling than the report card but you can be the judge.
Thanks!
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