Dear parents,
I cannot believe our year together has come to an end! Oh what a year we have had! Thank you for your consistent support during our hybrid and full remote days and every day since we have back to full in person! You have been amazing partners with me this year, and it made things so much easier for me and the kids! We had a fun final week together! Started the week with a complete drenching at our Field Day. I don't think I have laughed that hard or been so wet in a very long time. It was great to see the kids just having tons of fun together ! The PTO went above and beyond by bringing an ice cream truck for us to have a treat after our hour of fun! Tuesday we put on our creative hats and designed kindness rocks to leave as a class gift to our Cole Community! It was great to see them working together on this fun project! On Wednesday and Thursday, we finished up our year end assessments and had some fun on Wednesday with Spirit Day and even more fun at our Luau/Class Picnic! Once again, the PTO went above and beyond and made this special for us. We had pizza brought in, had a COLE School Bingo game with prizes, received our yearbooks and had time to get friends' signatures and also had some fun playing with beach balls and hula hoops. The day was complete when the KONA shaved ice truck showed up for an additional treat! It was so fun to see the cars decorated and big smiles as you all entered the Middle School last night! I hope the kids enjoyed watching the videos when they got home, we watched the pass the ball yesterday and will watch the class video together today ! To say I am going to miss this class would be an understatement. They are my heroes for this year. Their smiles and grit are what got ME through each and every day! Thank you for the opportunity to teach your child! Have a wonderful summer! Keep them reading and working on math facts! Cheers! Maura
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Happy Friday all!
I am so glad the heat gave us a break at the end of the week! Students in Room 15 were absolute Rockstars this week! They took the Math MCAS on Tuesday in the extreme heat and conquered it with confidence! They stuck with it and worked through, and I couldn't have been prouder. On Wednesday we had a visit from the Middle School Guidance Counselors, Mrs. Sailer and Mrs. Sifflard, along with Principal Sulc. They answered any of the questions we had after watching a great slide show they had put together for us! On Thursday, their same determination attacked the Science MCAS! They, once again, took their time and worked through their tests dealing with the a lot less heat but happy knowing this was their LAST MCAS for the year! Their "brain juice" and "genius juice" seemed to do the trick! We finished reading Because of Mr. Terupt and had some great conversations around this book. The sequel, Mr. Terupt Falls Again would be a great summer read for many students - possibly a book club? We just started to read Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, be sure to ask your child about this book! I have to say the conversations we have had as a class this year about the many social issues presented in our read alouds have been incredible. I think back to our first book of the year, The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise and how empathetic they were when we learned about each character. The only thing that changed this year is that they are even more empathetic! They continually amaze me with their insights and thoughts about how we should teach others. These children truly are our FUTURE! We did a great job with our second Egg Drop Challenge - please see the photos, but this was a record year! EIGHT eggs survived! We also had some fun reviewing Science with some Kahoots as well as a hands-on session to look at animal adaptations. We looked at migration vs hibernation, how feet/claws impact the types of food animals eat, predator vs prey relationships and how beak shape impacts animal feeding habits! Check out the photo gallery for some pictures of our scientists at work! As we finish out our year together, we will have some fun with some review Kahoots and other hands-on activities (So happy we can do this now!). Students need to realize how much they have learned and just how prepared they are for grade 6! We have a great week planned for them next week (see below). I look forward to seeing you all on Thursday night! Cheers! Maura Grade 5 Spirit Week!
Happy Friday!
Can you believe we are in JUNE? It feels like the last few weeks have just FLOWN by! So much continues to happen in Room 15 as we begin to wind down our year together. This week we FINISHED our ELA MCAS. So proud of students for their focus and the time they spent organizing their thoughts. On to MATH on Tuesday and SCIENCE on Thursday of next week! It was a proud moment for me to hear kids saying "it wasn't that bad, I just created an ACE and found some good evidence!" #HappyTeacher! In Math, along with our work on conversion of measurements and decimal operations, we have been working with some math games to review many of our skills to remind students just how much they know. My advice to them will remain, to take a deep breath, work slowly, use graph paper and ask yourself, "Does my answer make sense?!" They have all come so far this year, I know they will do just fine if they relax! In Science, I am so impressed with the work they have done so far on their Ecosystem Research which is due next Wednesday, June 9th. They are asking some great questions and finding some fun facts to share with classmates! This week we also had so much fun with the annual EGG DROP CHALLENGE. On the first trial, students were put on randomly generated teams and given a "budget" to buy items from me to build their contraption. We had 3 succeed out of 5! That's a record for my classes ! Today, I let them choose their own partners and challenged them with a twist. I gave each team the exact same materials to build a new contraption, using what they learned from our drop earlier this week. Stay tuned to see how we do when we drop next week! In Social Studies, we are continuing of study of the Civil War. Students are working in groups to look at some political decisions on slavery which led to the Civil War erupting. Some great discussion as always! Proud of the empathy they consistently show as we learn about the history of slavery and the abolitionist movement. Today we watched a slide show that was put together by the Middle School. We spent some time talking about next year and I answered as many questions as I could. Next Wednesday, the Middle School Guidance Counselors and Mr. Sulc will visit with us to answer any further questions students may have. A reminder, on Monday, we are having our class picnic to celebrate the filling of our GEM JAR! We will play a few games outside as well, so please be sure you child is wearing sunscreen and has water to drink as the forecast is for a hot and steamy day! Thank you for all of the paper towels, baggies, kleenex, balloons, pipe cleaners, cotton balls etc! We had so many I was able to do the second round challenge without having to bother you again! I really appreciate your constant generosity to our classroom. Friday folders are coming home today with the last comment of the year! I will have comments on student report cars which will go home on June 18th, but I can already tell you all how much I am going to miss this special, special class! As always, any questions, please let me know! Have a wonderful weekend - looks like we may get some beach weather1 Cheers! Maura Important Dates to Remember
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