Dear families,

        We are having a crazy week with field day and helping the teachers pack up because   all the teachers are moving into different rooms. Also, we are having the catapults on Monday we were designing our catapults and on Tuesday we're building our catapults and on next Monday we are having a contest. The contest is when you have shoot a marshmallow 10 ft through a hula hoop.

      On Tuesday we had “play outside for 15 minutes” we started to write letters for future 5th graders. When we finish that letter we write a letter for our 6th grade teachers.     

        On Wednesday it is finally field the 4th graders needed to wear white,the 5th graders wear red and, 6th graders need to wear blue. Also, the catch is it's also flag day. On field day we’ll have 6 different stations.

       On thursday we finished a movie we started on wednesday called gnomeo and Juliet. Also on thursday morning we watched another movie called balto and, in the afternoon in art we watched minions.

           Last Friday can you believe it cause I can’t. In class we are just finishing up our work and finishing up catapult. Also, Mr.Gildea gave us the talk. The was to always step on the gas and never let go. Happy last Friday of 5th grade.

   Your writers,

Jonny and Yael

Tuesday:

       On Tuesday we had no math due to a much needed play practice. In social studies we finished our made up letters to king George III. We also read about the American revolution loyalists and patriots. In ELA we did chalkathon for our Bust a Balloon celebration.

Wednesday:

           On Wednesday we had a normal school day with no play practice and we mainly worked on finishing our persuasive writing pieces to Ms. Kenny. Also, for our Bust a Balloon celebration we got a special one that makes it so that you can make a little fort out of the towel and your desk and Ms.Stan gave us glow sticks to use, then you sit underneath your desk and read your book.

  

Thursday:

           On Thursday we had a very good 2 hour play practice in the morning. Then, for our Bust a Balloon we got turn your chair backwards day, which said we had to sit at our desk with our chair backwards for the whole day. In ELA some kids worked DRA assessments while other kids worked on finishing our Book Creators based on our letters to Ms. Kenny.

Friday:

           On Friday we had a early morning chamber chorus concert that we were not permitted to participate in due to the farm field trip. Later in the morning we left for the  field trip to the farm,  at the farm our class planted 2 and a half rows of egg plants. We as a team had a  very good workout.

In all of this week, has been a fun and exciting I week and we hope to have a great rest of the school year.

 

                                           Your bloggers,

             Michael and Chris

Aloha parents!

Here is the blog for this week. On Monday for morning meeting we started to do an activity called bust a balloon. We blow up balloons, and every day until the end of the year we will pop each of them. In the balloon there is an activity that we do for ELA or morning meeting, Today we did Scrabble for ELA.

In ELA we are working on our persuasive pieces, and soon we will start peer editing them. On Monday we couldn't do any of our writing because we did Scrabble. On Tuesday, we popped the balloon that said we could have a paper airplane contest, so we made paper airplanes and flew them. Andy and Ethan won. After that, Ms. Stan had checked and commented on some of our persuasive essays. Those people fixed mistakes on their essays and then started peer editing. The people Ms. Stan didn't get to yet did book club assignments.

In math on Monday, we were finishing our math packets and then working on Prodigy test review. We also are usually having On Core math homework instead of Eureka now so we have less homework. Tuesday in math Mrs. O let us do our homework in class because it was an MCAS practice packet. After that we did prodigy. On Wednesday in math we checked our MCAS packet homework and our “do now” work and then we got to play Prodigy.

In science we are starting a new crash course on simple machines, and we learned all six simple machines: screw, pulley, wheel and axle, inclined plane, wedge, and lever. We had a scavenger hunt and tried to find all six simple machines, and whoever thought of the most unique simple machine won a lollipop. Marin won uniqueness for thinking of a light switch as a lever. On Wednesday in science we watched a video on simple machines. Then we split the class up into two teams and we did a contest to see which team could get the most questions right.

In social studies we are writing a letter to King George III about how mad we are about the taxes and violence (we are pretending to be colonists in the 1700s, of course). We are also learning our scripts for the play. Will is John Adams in the play, and Sydney is James Otis. The people in the scene ‘13 little countries’ are: Eshwar, Abby, Michelle, Johnny, Ryan, Meghan, and Aditi. The rest of the class in in the chorus for the play.

Have a great weekend!

Connor and Shoba

Blog

Monday

     In math on Monday we learned about polygons. Regular and, irregular. Depending on the number of sides, the polygons have different names such as octagon, pentagon, nonagon, decagon, and much more that is what we learned in math on Monday.

     Then we went to science. We were assigned and started a mighty mineral. The students will, in chatterpix, talk about what they're minerals properties are. We also got another MCAS practice due Wednesday. That is what we did in science on Monday.

     Then the students head to gym. We ran the mile even though many people did not know it was this week. I think as a class we did really well and that everyone should be proud of themselves. Also, many kids improved now oppose to, in the fall!

     After activity period recess and lunch the kids were back for ELA. We continued working on persuasive letters to the principal, Mrs. Kenny about if we should continue recycling or if we should stop selling water bottles at lunch. If kids did not finish there flash draft for that, then it was home work.  

Then all of us went home satisfied that the long Monday was over. Only 31 more days of school left now!

Tuesday

       Today in math we learned about triangles. About their sides, angles, vertices, and more. We learned how to identify obtuse, acute, right, scalene, isosceles, and equilateral triangles based on the angle. We definitely did a lot of learning in math class today.                 

     Then when math was over, we had snack and moved on to social studies. In social studies, we auditioned for the colonial day play that is coming up June 8, 2017 to get singing or talking parts of the play. And when social studies was over, our teacher picked the people who auditioned to get the parts that they wanted.

     After social studies it was time for special. Today for special we had library since our 6 weeks of technology class was over for this year of 5th grade. Today in library class we learned about primary and secondary sources. A primary source is when someone writes something like a letter or something in their diary about what he opens everyday while a secondary source is when someone writes a book or a newspaper, but didn't experience the time of the book that they're writing about. And at the end of library we got to check out books.

     After activity period we all headed down to recess for 15 minutes like every other day. When the whistle blew, we had to line up and go to the cafeteria to get lunch. After lunch, we had ELA and in ELA today we kept on working on out drafts for our persuasive letters to Ms. Kenny, our principal here at Mill Pond School. Lastly, we had read aloud and then packed our bags up to head home after a long Tuesday!

Wednesday

     We started of our day by going to math class with Ms. O and we learned about polygons, parallelograms, trapezoids, rectangles, squares, etc. We are preparing for our math MCAS that is coming up very soon and we need to review everything to make sure that we do a good job on our math Mcas. And that is what we learned in math on a Wednesday.

     After math, we went to the room right next to our math social studies classroom with our science teacher, Ms. P. In science we learned about metamorphic rocks, igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks, lava, and magma. Since our science mcas is coming up May 22, we need to learn all of these things to be prepared for what the questions will be.

          When the 4th period bell rang, it was time for music. In, music we finished up our songs to present them to the class and we also played cool instruments and sang a song to a Japanese song. Music was definitely very fun today.

     When music was over, we went back to the classroom and went to our own activities for activity period. In addition, we had outdoor recess and then lunch. After lunch, we had ELA and in ELA we still kept on working on our letters for Ms. Kenny but this time we are improving our letters by putting quotes to the information that we got from the sources that we used. And lastly, we packed our bags to go to our bus lines.

Thursday

Our first subject of the day is math. During math we learned about the basics of coornits. We watched a Brainpop to learn more. After we did some On core sheets, we had snack waiting for Social Studies to begin. Best of all, NO HOMEWORK.

For Social Studies we worked on the play a lot. Will got John Adams. Sydney got Mr. Otis. Ryan, Brady, Michelle, Jonny, Eshwar, Aditi, Meghan and Luciana were all colonists.After we worked on that we headed to Art.

In art we started a new project now that our clay faces are now done. We are now making japanese lanterns. Students got to pick a picture and then try to draw it on paper. Eventually we will fold them so they look like lanterns.

After activity period, recess and lunch it was back to work with ELA. We continued writing our persuasive pieces to Ms. Kenny. Today was the last day of self editing. Next week we will peer edit.

Then after that the students headed home happy tomorrow is Friday.

Friday

Today is a half day! It was periods 5,6,7,and 8. So, we started with activity period. After that then we had ELA. But not any ordinary ELA. We had a game day for filling the bead jar. A bunch of people brought in board games to play. Not an ordinary way to end the week.

HAPPY WEEKEND!

Your bloggers,

ANDY and LUCIANA

Hello parents of the students in Ms. Staniszewski’s class. This week we have a short week because of Good Friday so we have no school. Everyone is excited for April vacation next week. On Monday we Skyped with the author of Pax, Sarah Pennypacker, because that book won the battle of the books. She told us about Pax and a special writing technique she use while writing the book. On Wednesday we had to bring our IPads and chargers to school so they could stay at school for MCAS. If you were going away for vacation early, you would bring them in on Tuesday. On Thursday we had Maturation Day. Boys and Girls were separated to watch a video about changes to their bodies.

ELA

In ELA, we are doing an activity with Ms. Cincotta’s class on Monday and Wednesday about point of view and perspective. First, we watched a video about Cinderella and then Ms. Stan read a book about Cinderella too, but from her stepmother’s perspective. Then we were divided into four groups and there were four stations. We are suppose to rotate so everyone can work at each station. The first station is to read a book about a fairy tale with a partner, where the evil person in the story tells the fairy tale from their point of view, and they make it sound like the good one is the bad one. The second station is with Ms. Staniszewski, and we compare and contrast the original story of Cinderella with a story from the wicked step-mother’s point of view. The third station is with Mrs. Whitehall, and we read the original Cinderella up to when the fairy-godmother comes, and then we have to change the rest of the story, and we can have different characters and a different setting. The last station is with Ms. Cincotta, and we have to describe the Cinderella in the story from the stepmother’s point of view and explain how the adjectives go with Cinderella. We won’t be having spelling words or Literacy Letters this week because of vacation.

Math

In Math, we didn’t have any homework because vacation is coming up. This week we have been working on area and perimeter. We have a packet that we have to finish, and if you finish it during math you could do Zearn or Prodigy, which are two math games our class plays. So not very much has happened in Math Class.

Social Studies

In Social Studies, We finished the unit on slavery and now we are on to the unit of life in colonial Williamsburg. During the slavery unit we had to fill out a packet for a BrainPop video. When we got past that unit we had to read the Reading Further section in Chapter 8 and the whole Chapter 9. After we read Chapter 9 we had to answer the questions at the bottom of each page.

Science

In Science, we are learning about the earth. Like the Layers of Earth and the natural disasters. The order of the layers of Earth are from the outside, Crust, the Mantle, the Outer Core, and then, finally, the inner Core. We had to read a few pages in a science book, and then we had to fill out two papers that had questions about slow and rapid changes on Earth. Then we watched a Bill Nye video about Earth’s crust. We also watched some more BrainPop videos about Earth such as Volcanos, Tsunamis, and many more.

Specials

On Monday we had Gym, and every time we have Gym before vacation we have choice week, where we can choose between dodgeball, hula hoops, badminton, gymnastics, dance machine or a parachute.

On Tuesday we had Technology, and we played a game called Scratch, where you learn about coding and can create games and videos. Ms.DeFiore set up challenges for us and we had to pick one and do it without directions by ourselves

On Wednesday we should have had Music as our special , but we had to go to the auditorium for a presentation from The Weather Channel about natural disasters and how they track them down.

On Thursday we had Art, and we drew this optical illusion where you would trace your hand on a piece of paper, and then draw lines going horizontally across the paper, but not on the hands. Then you would go across the hands, and the lines would curve upwards just a little, so it would look like the hand was coming out of the paper. Then you would go over the lines and hand in black sharpie, then you would color it in.

On Friday we should have had Gym again, but it was Good Friday so we didn’t have school.

That concludes our blog. Thank you for reading, and you will get another weekly class blog in 2 weeks.

Your Bloggers,

Vincent and Michelle

Dear families,

      This week, it was full of fun and knowledge. On Monday, our class did our Morning Meeting and did a game called “Statues”. You might have heard of the popular game in our class. Next period, we did math. We learned how to divide fractions by whole numbers, and whole numbers divided by fractions. After that, we had science class. We began a new unit on rocks and minerals. Soon, it was time for gym class. There was an obstacle course set up. We had fun rock climbing, leaping, and swinging on ropes hanging from the ceiling. After recess and lunch, it was time for ELA. Our class did our infrastructure MCAS trial with a teacher called Mr. Romaker. We then packed up and went home.

      On Tuesday, our class began with Morning Meeting. Soon, we moved on to math class. We kept on learning how to do “division with fractions and whole numbers” word problems. Later, we switched on to Social Studies. We learned about a new topic on slavery. Soon, it was Technology Class. Our class learned to create a game on Scratch. It was pretty cool, and difficult. After lunch and recess, it was time for ELA. Our class discussed and read a poem. We tried to find the poem’s theme. We highlighted important parts and details too. Then, it was read aloud. Finally, it was time to pack up.

      The next day (which is Wednesday) our class did the morning meeting game called Alibi. We had fun playing this game, you should have heard of it before. The bell soon rang, it was time for math. We realized that there was a test coming up on Friday. So, our class basically did a review, also doing a math website called Zearn. Later, it was science class. We learned the definitions of some essential words in Rocks and Minerals. We learned more about some disasters (like earthquakes and tsunamis) and weathering. We then switched on to Music Class. In music, we watched the show of a musical group called Stomp Out Loud. After lunch and recess, it was time for ELA. We learned new things about poetry. After that, we went home!

      On Thursday, we played Jeopardy on the key value: Courage. We didn’t get enough time to play the whole game. Then, we went to math class. In math we did the study guide for the test. Soon, it was Social Studies. We read all about slavery. After that, we went to art class and glazed our mugs. After recess and lunch, we learned about points of view. Then we played Points Of View cards to test our knowledge. Then it was read aloud.

      On Friday, we started our morning meeting game: Statues. Then we went to math class. We did our math test there. Soon, it was time for science class. We studied more about Rocks and Minerals. We watched some BrainPOP videos on terrifying disasters. In gym class, we had fun doing the Obstacle Course again. After lunch and recess, it was time for ELA. We did our spelling test. Then we got assigned to our new Book Talk dates. Later, we read our IDR books. Finally, it was almost time to go home, we did read aloud! Then we went home. This weekend was full of fun and joy!!

Sincerely,

Linda and Ryan

Dear Aloha Frogs,

This week in  Mill Pond has been “sharing are special qualities” week. Each of the students can wear clothes that are connected to the theme of the day. Monday’s theme was Mill Pond School spirit day, Tuesday’s theme was Talented Tuesday, Wednesday’s theme was Put Bad Words to Sleep, Thursday’s theme was every one counts, and Friday’s theme was have a heart day.

ELA

This week in ELA we have been finishing our informational essay piktocharts. We made green screens and books on Book Creator. We are just about finished with our informational essay projects. We started a new project on refugees to prepare for MCAS. We had to read an article from Time and another one from NewsELA. Then we had to decide whether we wanted to be an activist, refugee, or volunteer coordinator. The activist is supposed to write a letter to the president about whether we should or shouldn't let Syrian refugees come to the United States. The refugee is supposed to write a poem about their experience of coming to the U.S. The volunteer coordinator is supposed to make a brochure about an event to help Syrian refugees feel comfortable in the United States. This project is due Friday and we are doing it in school.

Science

This week in science we have been  learning about saturation. We have been doing a lot of labs. Almost everyone has done their Special Scientist who far. This week Yeal and Vince did their Special Scientists and next week Nithika and Luciana will do theirs. Other than Special Scientists, we haven't had any science homework. We will only have homework around MCAS to prepare.

Social Studies

This week in social studies we have been learning about the New England, Middle, and Southern colonies. On Thursday we worked on a study guide. We have to finish it for homework. We will have a test on Wednesday.

Math

This week in math we learned about multiplying fractions and drawing tape diagrams associated with the problem. We also got are math quiz back and every I think everyone did great.

We hope you have a nice weekend.

Sincerely,

Marin and Michael