Pier 20 Press Mrs. Jenkins’ Fifth Grade Newsletter

Volume 3 Issue 26 March 10, 2014

From the teacher’s desk…. I think we broke a classroom record last week. Nine, yes, NINE students earned a 4 on their Multiplying Fractions final assessment. As usual the test was challenging. In order to earn a 4, students must get every problem correct, including the level 4 question. Congratulations to London, Emma B. Blaklee, Elijah, Ben, James, Josie, Sammie, and Nate! We have another busy week this week, with our DWA (Direct Writing Assessment), a visit from best-selling author, Brandon Mull, and yet another math test – dividing fractions. Your children have shown incredible focus as we dive deeply into learning and growing and I expect them to continue in their upward progress as we sprint toward the end of the year. Today students will walk into a room filled with brand new yoga fitness balls at each of their desks! A heartfelt thank you goes out to all who supported our effort to buy these for the entire class. I posted the project with DonorsChoose on a Saturday and we were fully funded by Monday afternoon! The balls arrived on Friday and were inflated over the weekend. We’re all set to be fit and focused! Thank you!

Language Arts As mentioned earlier, this week students will be taking the Direct Writing Assessment. This state-mandated writing assessment is given to students in the 5th and 8th grades. Students will be given a prompt and will respond on the computer with a 5-paragraph persuasive essay. The essays will be scored on the six components of writing: ideas and content, organization, voice, word chose, sentence fluency, and conventions. I’m sure our practice and hard work will be evident!

Math As Jerome Bruner put it, “Practice in discovering for oneself teaches one to acquire information in a way that makes that information more readily viable in problem solving.” This is precisely what your children did last week when they discovered for themselves the processes involved in dividing fractions. They had the necessary “tools” to do the math; they just had to figure out how to use them. So I decided to cut them loose and let them discover the steps for that particular skill. They didn’t disappoint me. The entire class discovered the process on their own! We celebrated by writing a Haiku about the process!

Marching Forward

This Week’s Spelling Words

Important Contact Information Cell: 203.640.3375

Email: mjenkins@canyonrimacademy.org

Website: http://jenkins5th.wordpress.com

This Week’s Vocabulary Words Word of the Week: alternative conspiracy perceive dismay hast trudge

Upcoming Events Mar. 12 Direct Writing Assessment Mar. 12 Brandon Mull Assembly Mar. 13 Math Test Mar. 17 Opera Assembly Mar. 21 Happy Birthday, Grace! Mar. 22 Happy Birthday, Ike!

Science and Social Studies Just as we all have a timeline of our life, our earth has a timeline as well…..only WAY longer. This week students will compare and contrast their personal timeline with that of the earth. For example, Utah was under warm seas 1000 million years ago (MYA). They will discover how some geological changes take millions of years, while other geological changes, such as landslides or avalanches, change the geological landscape quickly. We’ll get back on track with our social studies learning this week as we discover events that led to declaring independence, such as the French and Indian war, the Stamp Act, and the Boston Tea Party.

Remember….easy ways to enhance the budget at Canyon Rim Academy! Smith’s: Ask Customer Service to add CRA to your account. Every time you swipe your card your children get more advantages! Amazon: Shopping through Amazon? Enter through the CRA Website (under quick links) and continue to enhance our budget. Boxtops: We will continue to collect box tops. The winner at the end of the year will earn a generous reward!

Blue subway combine propel enable subset company promote encourage submarine companion propose entrust subtotal compound protect endanger subtitle compress provider enforce submerge comrade progress enlarge

Green voyage about drowsy destroy country moisture coward amount thousand avoid poison trouble noisy annoy employ allow double loyal county around powder appoint counter southern

Yellow human never reason river pilot visit meeting wagon planet lemon frozen peanut finish student seven leader lazy present easy second music sneaker humor minute