Mrs. Alabakoff's 4th/5th GradeDearborn Public Schools

Dec 14th Week of December 14-18

Reminders for this Week:

Math Unit 4 Test.  Please also study multiplication facts with your child.   Short, frequent sessions work best!

Wednesday 16th–Pajama Day.  Students can wear pajamas to school and they may bring a blanket.  We are going to be watching a holiday movie with our Kindergarten buddies.  Students can wear slippers, but they should come in shoes.

Friday 18th–Our holiday breakfast.  Students voted and wanted the breakfast again.  We will start making pancakes in the morning right away.

Holiday Boutique—16th through 18th–Information to follow

Friday 18th—All school sing-a long at 2:30 in the Gym

We are learning:

Spelling–Our focus this week is the ou sound and spelling pattern

Daily5/CAFE–We are exploring elements of legends.  This corresponds with our Social Studies history as well, since many of the legends are Native American.  We will also continue with main ideas/details.

Writer’s Workshop–Most students are finishing their final copies of opinion letters.  We will do some holiday writing for the rest of this week.

Math–Unit 4 Test tomorrow.  Students need to practice their multiplication facts!  We are having timed tests of these facts.

Social Studies–We are focusing on the history of Michigan.  We are currently studying how the Native Americans used and adapted to their environment and how their stories were used.

Science–When we finish some of our history unit, we will move on to the study of light and sound.

Have an awesome holiday break!

Dec 1st Week of November 30-December 4

Reminders this Week:

Book Fair in the Library all week.  Students can bring in money and I will send them down to purchase.

Wednesday—Lamp Family Pancake Dinner Fundraiser 5:30-7:30.  Please join us to support the Lamp Family at this very difficult time.

We are Learning:

Science Test tomorrow on Earth’s Materials.  We have been reviewing in class and students have folders with necessary information.  Please review with your child.

We will be moving on to Social Studies and will begin the history of Michigan!

Spelling–Our focus this week is the VCCV pattern.  We are identifying where to divide the words into syllables when they have this pattern.

Daily 5/CAFE–We will be working on Legends this week.  Students will explore different Legends and will be identifying the elements of each.  We will also be working on extending our Science with main idea and details connected to fast changes on the Earth.

Writer’s Workshop–Students are working on opinion writing.  We are completing plans that include opinion, reasons and details.  Students will be writing letters for their opinion topic.

Math–Students are working on multiplication and division and different ways to represent them.  We will also be focusing on number stories and will even be creating our own to solve!

Enjoy your week!

Nov 9th Week of November 9th-13th

Conference slips are coming home today.  Please double check your day and time and return the bottom of the slip with your child letting me know if your are attending.  The majority of days and times were chosen at open house.   If the day and time no longer work with your schedule, please indicate so I can change it and reschedule.

This week we are learning:

Spelling–Our focus this week is consonant digraphs.  Students are working on th, sh and ch, along with their content words.   Students should be able to transfer these patterns to their reading and writing.

Daily 5/CAFE–Students have been working on informational text.  They are practicing with asking questions, along with main idea and details.  We will also be incorporating technology to read for information connected to our Science unit–Rocks and Minerals.

Writer’s Workshop–Students completed their informational writing with their Michigan’s human characteristic.  As a fun culminating activity, they built their own bridges using various materials and teamwork.  We will be testing them out this week.

We will now move on to stating our opinion in persuasive writing.

Science–Students are working on the study of Earth’s Resources.  We explored properties of various rocks and minerals using our senses.   Everyone had a great time and learned a lot!  We are going to be learning more about the types of rocks and minerals Michigan has and will then explore soil!  Good stuff!

Thanks again to all who have signed up for Michigan Made donations!  It is so great to have all the support!

Stay warm!

Nov 5th Math Assessment

Please review the Unit 2 study guide, which is coming home in your child’s planner tonight!

Thanks for your support!

Oct 28th Math!

Parents,

I apologize for the delay buy Math tests are coming home today along with a short quiz on the back of the Spelling test.  There were students absent that needed to make-up the test so that is why there has been a delay.  We will be having another assessment coming early next week on addition and subtraction money and patterns.  Please review the papers at home with your child and return them signed.

Thanks!

Oct 26th Week of October 26th-October 30th

Halloween is fast approaching!  Just a reminder that our Halloween breakfast is on Friday morning.  We will start cooking right away!  Thanks so much to Mrs. Mathis and Mrs. Buck for being homeroom mom and organizing this!  Thanks too for all the parents who signed up on the signup genius!  It is so nice to have this support!

In the afternoon, students will be changing into their costumes.  Your child should bring their costume in a bag to change after lunch.  No face makeup or weapons please!  We will be having an all school parade starting at 2 p.m.  We hope you can join us and see all the awesome costumes.

Reminders for next week:

Tuesday, November 3rd–No School

Friday, November 6th–half day

We are learning:

Social Studies–Your child’s Geography Folder is coming home today!  Students will have a test on Wednesday.  As you can see by the folder, we have been hard at work.  The cover has questions to answer for studying.  The answers can be found in the folder.   Your child DOES NOT have to write down the answers, but some of them have chosen to do so.  You can quiz your child orally to find out how much they have learned about Michigan so far!

We will be moving on to Science and studying Earth’s Resources

Spelling–Our focus this week is blends.  We are making connections with other words that contain blends.

Daily5/Cafe–We are working on non-fiction this week.  Our strategy focus is main ideas and details and we will also be asking questions.  Students will be receiving a non-fiction book at their level to practice these strategies.

Math–We are currently working on addition and subtraction of multi-digit numbers.  It is important that students practice (especially the subtraction) at home for reinforcement.  We will do some problem solving and a little bit or work with money and making change.

Writer’s Workshop–To connect to our Social Studies and informational non-fiction, students researched a human characteristic of Michigan.  We have begun organizing our information and started writing our first drafts.

Have a good week!  Happy Halloween!

Oct 21st Reminders

PLANNERS

Please be sure to check your child’s planner each night and initial after you have seen their completed homework.  It is a great communication tool between school and home.  It is important that your child complete homework when given as it is a reinforcement of concepts taught in class.  Please feel free to use the planner to write a note to me if you have questions.

Please practice addition and subtraction basic facts with your child.  Flashcards work well.  There are also many websites that offer practice with these facts.  Short frequent sessions work best!

ADDITION/SUBTRACTION

We will be having timed tests on Thursdays.  When students pass their addition, they will move on to subtraction.  If they master both I will have them start practicing their multiplication facts.  Many are excited to start into their multiplication!

Since we don’t have a lot of opportunity to practice these at school, support at home will help tremendously.

SOCIAL STUDIES ASSESSMENT

Students will be having a Social Studies assessment on Geography of Michigan coming up next week.  You will soon see a blue folder coming home with a page attached on the top.  The page can be used as a study guide, along with the papers inside.  Students have worked hard as they learn more and more about Michigan.  We will be reviewing the material in class as well, but they will also need to study at home as well.   As you will be able to tell by the papers in the folder, they have learned a lot!!

Thanks again for your support!

Oct 12th Week of October 12th-16th

I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful weekend!  I enjoyed the apple orchard with family and friends yesterday!  Lots of fun!

Reminders for the week:

Friday–Oct. 16th 11:45 dismissal

This week we are learning:

Spelling–Our focus this week is long and short e.  Students are learning how to transfer the spelling patterns of ea and ee to their writing.  Be sure to review the words each night and have your child come up with some of their own long and short e words.

Daily5/Cafe–We are focusing on folktales as our genre.  Students will explore their own folktales at their level.  Many students are also reading chapter books as well.  We will work on the strategy of making inferences within their folktales.   Students will also be identifying action verbs for work on writing.

Writer’s Workshop–We are finishing our descriptive pieces today and tomorrow.  After a short journal entry focusing on voice, we will move on to opinion writing.

Math–We are doing some last minute wrap up with bar graphs and will then move on to patterns and adding a subtracting multi-digit numbers.  Students should be practicing their basic facts to make adding and subtracting larger numbers easier.  We will most likely start our timed addition and subtraction tests on Thursday.  Your child will be learning different strategies to add and subtract these numbers and will be able to choose what works best for him/her.

Social Studies–Students are enjoying gaining more knowledge about Michigan.  This week we will learn about renewable and non-renewable resources and Michigan examples of each.  We will also learn about the positive and negative consequences of using these resources.   It is important that you ask your child about what he/she is learning.  It helps to reinforce the concepts.

Michigan Made this past week was  Flatout Bread.  Most of the companies we use have websites and usually give a short history of the company.  Check them out each week.

Thank you to Mrs. Mathis for setting up the sign up genius for donations!  Details will follow!

Enjoy your week!

Oct 6th Week of October 5th-9th

Hope everyone is enjoying this warm up for Fall!  I wish it wouldn’t get any colder than this, but it will!  Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather.  Even if it gets warmer in the afternoon, the mornings can be very chilly!  We try to get outside for fresh air and movement in the morning.

I will normally post the information for the week on Monday, but this Monday was especially busy!

Reminders:

Tomorrow–Late Start Wednesday–First bell rings at 9:35

This week we are learning:

Spelling:  Our focus this week is long and short o.  Students sort the words to identify the sound and also come up with other words that fit the pattern.  We also have 3 content words that may connect with what we are learning about in Math/Social Studies/Science.  It is important that they study the words each night for the test on Friday.   Students should be able to tell you what the spelling pattern is–for example: the magic e makes the vowel long, ow makes a long o sound….This is important because your child needs to be able to transfer this to his/her writing.

Daily5/Cafe–This week our focus is Realistic Fiction and we are also working on characters and their traits based on evidence in the story.  We will also work on Asking questions.  Students will be choosing their individual goals this week and next.

Be sure they are reading 20 minutes a night and they can tell you about what they are reading.

Writer’s Workshop–Students are working on a descriptive piece about their favorite place.  We focus on good leads, a good start to grab the reader’s attention.  We will be doing the district writing prompt this week as well.

Math–We have been working on time and elapsed time.  Hopefully, your child showed you how they “jump” on a number line to show how much time has elapsed.  They are getting quite good at it!  We will then move on to bar graphs.  Students will be able to get information from the graph, as well as a produce their own graph based on a set of data.

Social Studies–Currently, we are working geography in Michigan.  Students just finished up studying about landforms and water in Michigan.  This week we learn about the vegetation and climate of Michigan.

I alternate between Social Studies and Science for continuity.  When we finish geography we will move on to Science.

We also have been enjoying our Michigan Made Fridays!  We have sampled Better Made potato chips and Flat-out bread.

We welcome donations for Michigan Made also!  If you would like to send in a product let me know!  This helps to get your child involved in “Buy Michigan!”

Have a sunny week!

Oct 1st Summer Packet Pizza!

Forgot to announce today!  Oops!

Congratulations to the following students for completing their summer packet.  They will be having pizza with Mr. Attee tomorrow:

Emina

Olivia

Liam

Margaret

Chris

Billy

Great Job!