Hello, We will be reviewing for the Grammar Midterm on Monday and Tuesday. A study guide went home on Friday for students to review by making flashcards or other study games. Scholars should ask your assistance is quizzing them on the definitions of the parts of speech. We will having dress rehearsals for the Shakespeare play in Literature. You all should have received an invite to the Shakespeare Festival with performance times included. Our midterm schedule is as follows: Wednesday: Grammar Midterm 8-9:00 Snack Break from 9:00-9:30 Science Midterm from 9:30-10:30 Shakespeare Rehearsal 10:30-11:30 Chess 11:30-Noon Thursday: Mathematics Midterm 8-9:00 Snack Break from 9:00-9:30 History Midterm from 9:30-10:30 Shakespeare Rehearsal 10:30-11:30 Chess 11:30-Noon Enjoy your winter break and have a blessed and restful holiday season! Warm regards, Mrs. Baird
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"This is the great power of literature, that by its power our parents long dead can speak to us, and we can listen to them. And if they do not seem to answer when we ask, it may be only because we have not turned the page. And this is the great value of a thoughtful parent or any other true teacher in any other guise - that he has turned many pages." Richard Mitchell, The Gift of Fire
Hello, The next two weeks will practically fly by as we enjoy the fruit of scholars' labor in music and drama. Our fifth grade concert will be held on Thursday evening, so no homework will be assigned for that evening. Scholars can expect to have diagram practice pages for homework on Tuesday and Wednesday, along with nightly rehearsing of assigned Shakespeare lines. We will work on memorizing a list of prepositional phrases by singing them to the tune of "Jingle Bells," which students will recite in class on Friday. Final decisions for details related to our fifth grade presentation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and an invite will be emailed when the times are confirmed for our program on the Friday of December 16th. Thank you for the support with costumes, and for running through script lines with your child! They are working hard to present a quality performance. Warmest regards, Mrs. Baird 12/08 - Winter Concert, 6-7PM 12/14 - 12/15 Midterms, Noon Release 12/16 - Shakespeare Festival, Noon Release 01/03 - 01/06 Project Week Half Days, Noon Release "That Shakespeare was a typical man of the Renaissance is clear from his zest, his boldness, his humor, his love of beauty, and his incisive faith in that enterprise of living. This appears nowhere more obviously than in the sources of his plays, for these sources were to him records of various things that had happened to men and women under the will and providence of God." - Hardin Craig, An Introduction to Shakespeare
Hello, Our Shakespeare plans are well underway, with each student having received line assignments on Wednesday before the long weekend. Students should be practicing their lines each night to be prepared for in class rehearsals and the big performance on the morning of December 16th. Student involvement in this performance will be a large part of their grade for this quarter, so please arrange travel plans after the end of the school day on the 16th. We will be assembling some simple props to represent each character, therefore, I will be reaching out for some "stagehands" for support in that task. Additional excitement this week includes the in class Spelling Bee on Wednesday, and the Bard Competition on Thursday. All scholars will participate in the Spelling Bee, but only those who have registered to recite a poem in the Bard Competition will be reciting poems for their peers Thursday. Spalding words will be taught on Monday and Wednesday, with a test on Friday. In class time will be given for students to continue working on rough drafts completed in last week, with a focus on comma splice errors. Have a great week! Warm regards, Mrs. Baird 11/30 - Classroom Spelling Bee 12/01 - First Round Bard Competition 12/08 - Winter Concert, 6-7PM 12/16 - Shakespeare Festival “I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character…like those among men who live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy…the turkey…is a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America.”
—Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Sarah Bache, Jan. 26, 1784 Hello, During this short time together this week, we will focus most of our attention on understanding the plot and themes of Shakepeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. We will discuss the characters and the language used in order to better represent these parts during the Shakespeare Festival, which has been moved to Friday, December 16th. Students will receive their line assignments and scripts on Wednesday before the R& R weekend. Mrs. Herrmann forwarded a link for A Midsummer Night's Dream, in case you have not obtained a copy of the book. I have posted the link on the "Links" page. Thank you, Mrs. Herrmann! Line numbers from the play are listed in agendas for nightly assignments in case student's have a different book than the one used in class. In Writing & Grammar this week, we will complete a summary of an earthworm article in class and students will peer edit each others' work. Students will also annotate and create a one level outline of an article about the history of the Thanksgiving holiday. Have a restful holiday weekend with your loved ones! Warm regards, Lisa Baird Important Dates: 11/23 - Half Day - Noon Release 11/24-11/25 - Thanksgiving Break 11/30 - Classroom Spelling Bee 12/01 - First Round Bard Competition 12/08 - Winter Concert, 6-7PM 12/16 - Shakespeare Festival (Moved from Monday to Friday) "Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle will not grow." - The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden has sparked a lot of conversation among classmates about experiences related to caring for those who are ill or disabled in some way, which has fostered deeper levels of sensitivity in our classroom culture. We have all been enriched through Mary and Colin's journey from negativity to joyful living through the development of friendships. This week we will complete our study of The Secret Garden with a seminar discussion on Tuesday. Scholars should prepare for this discussion on Monday night to contribute their thoughts and opinions effectively. We will enjoy some crumpets at this discussion in celebration of finishing this novel. Scholars will need Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream for the next literature selection, for which reading assignments will begin on Tuesday. Please make sure that your child has this novel available by then. This week we will begin focusing on writing strategies once again. Students are being guided in summarizing articles in chronological order, using complete sentences with correct conventions. Additionally, students will create one-level outlines for articles in order to identify the main ideas in paragraphs. Peer editing will allow students to support each other before final drafts are written. There will be many exciting events over the next month. Students may purchase books at the Book Fair on Tuesday, and dress as their favorite Literary or Historical Figure on Friday. The fifth grade will be preparing for a Shakespeare Festival. The class Spelling Bee will take place on November 30th and the Bard Competition will be held on December 1st. Scholars will also be rehearsing for the Winter Concert that will take place on December 8th. Please check your child's uniforms for length. They grow like weeds at this age and can outgrow skirts and pants overnight, it seems. Skirts should fall just above the knee and pants should touch the shoe but not drag on the ground. My compliments to your excellence in having your children looking so sharp each day. We rarely have DCV (dress code violations) aside from the occasional forgotten belt, so thank you for maintaining the standard of the Archway Trivium East community. Have a great week! Warmly, Mrs. Baird Important Dates: 11/18 - Literary & Historical Figure Day 11/23 - Half Day - Noon Release 11/24-11/25 - Thanksgiving Break 11/30 - Classroom Spelling Bee 12/01 - First Round Bard Competition 12/08 - Winter Concert, 6-7PM 12/12 - Shakespeare Festival “Two worst things as can happen to a child is never to have his own way - or always to have it.” - The Secret Garden Hello, There has been great discussion related to the interactions of the characters in The Secret Garden. Many students have expressed relating to the actions of Mary and Colin at times, an example of how literature can generate self-reflection. This week we will pick up the pace a bit with our literature reading. Students should expect to have about 30 minutes of reading each night, and should answer three comprehension questions for each chapter completed. We are building academic muscle and capacity for our next Literature unit on Shakespeare's, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Students will be memorizing "Sonnet 18" from this book as a precursor to the play. Prepositions and prepositional phrases will continue to be our focus in Grammar as we work towards diagramming more complex sentences. Students have been eagerly looking for a song that captures the prepositions to make them easier to memorize - there are many! Most importantly, students should be able to recognize prepositional phrases and be able to identify what word it is modifying in the sentence. Spalding homework will come home on Monday night and Wednesday night only due to the short week. The spelling test will be on Thursday. Remember that Friday is Veteran's Day and there is no school; however, students will have homework, since it is not an R&R weekend. Have a great week! Warmly, Mrs. Baird Important Dates: 11/11 - Veteran's Day, No School 11/18 - Literary & Historical Figure Day 11/23 - Half Day - Noon Release 11/24-11/25 - Thanksgiving Break 11/30 - Classroom Spelling Bee "Living as it were, all by herself in a house with a hundred mysteriously closed rooms and having nothing whatever to do to amuse herself, had set her inactive brain to working and was actually awakening her imagination."
- The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett Dear Parents, A registration form for the Bard Competition was sent home in the Friday folders. This event has been highly anticipated by our scholars, as they are given an opportunity to memorize and recite a poem of their choice from The Harp and Laurel Wreath. The dates and other details are included on the registration form, which is due this Friday, November 4th. Our fifth grade students have quite a gift for recitation, and I hope that everyone will participate. Please let me know if you have any questions. This Friday, students will recite "The Violet" in class, so please encourage them to recite it to you this week and give them feedback on lines they need to practice. We will also continue to read through chapters 15-19 from The Secret Garden with emphasis on finding the answer within the text. It is a good practice for students to note the page number where they find the answer, so that they can quickly find it in case of a discussion. Comprehension questions should be answered in complete sentences with details from the novel, and correct writing conventions should be used. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you all at conferences and I am thankful to be working among the ACTE community to nurture these young souls. Warm regards, Mrs. Baird “When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden Hello, This week students will receive a new poem for memorization, The Violet, by Jane Taylor. It is a beautiful poem about the quality of humility recognized in the simplicity of a flower. Students will have until November 4th to memorize and recite for classmates. Please encourage your child read the poem and practice each night, whether by writing, listening, reading or reciting. I have posted an audio version of "The Violet" on the "Links" page for those who learn best by listening to other recitations. We will also focus on predicate nominatives and predicate adjectives, pronouns, before ending the week with a Grammar quiz. A study guide is provided to students for you to quiz them at home. Last week was greatly enjoyed as we spent each class day reading and discussing The Secret Garden. The novel opened with a tragic event for the main character, Mary, who is then swept away to live with an unknown uncle in Yorkshire, Great Britain. With each chapter, students should be defining 3 vocabulary words of their choice and 3 comprehension questions. The pages listed in the packet do not correlate to our texts, but it should not be difficult for students to locate the words or answers within chapters. Occasionally, ask your child to recall what they read in the novel; this will help them to recall what they have read and will help develop their oral summarizing abilities. I will be sending home a copy of the Spalding rules to support you with Spalding practice at home. Students will be practicing 20 words this week to be tested over on Friday. Students should use Spalding homework to practice correct cursive handwriting. Homework is completed with marking on Mondays and Wednesdays, but should be written without markings on Thursdays to prepare for the test. Scholars should practice words "just like in class," by breaking words into syllables and using fingers to note the phonograms used. Have a great week! Warm regards, Mrs. Baird Welcome back! This week we will begin a new piece of literature, The Secret Garden. Most students already have this book in their lockers, but please remind students to bring it if it has been kept at home. With our shortened schedule this week, we will focus on reading comprehension, reviewing skills that will support students in understanding what they are reading. This will allow them to more fully enjoy what they are reading! Scholars will be looking up vocabulary words, pre-reading questions and considering what clues a chapter title gives to the plot. I have posted a link to an audio recording for The Secret Garden on the "Links" tab above, for students who wish to read along in their book as they listen to the audio. Before the break I had the privilege to listen to our fifth grade students passionately discuss Where the Red Fern Grows. I listened as they expressed both love and disdain for scenes in the novel, but smiled as I heard many of them remark that the book made them want to read more. Many students shared with classmates that the book touched their emotions, and this, they agreed, was a sign of well-written literature. The book also sparked discussion about family and community, and I was touched at how much our fifth grade class had to say about the importance of parents being good role models for their children to follow, as well as the importance of being a part of a community. The overall consensus was... yes, they liked this book as a part of their fifth grade curriculum! Due to conferences, students are release at noon all week. There will be no lunch served, but students may bring a quick snack to eat at recess if desired. I look forward to seeing you at conferences this week! Warmly, Mrs. Baird Important Dates: 10/17 - 10/21 Half Days, Noon Release (Parent Teacher Conferences from 1PM to 5PM) “I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” ― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables We have nearly arrived at the end of the first quarter. This will be a four day school week, with Friday being no school due to Teacher In-service. Last week students impressed me with their renditions of "Jabberwocky," and I look forward to the final recitations this week. Students have until Thursday to recite this poem to the class. Its story-like quality has seemed to make it easier to memorize for some, in spite of the nonsense language. We will also work on diagramming sentences, gradually adding in new elements such as predicate nominative and predicate adjectives. Dictation and copywork exercises from our literature selections will be practiced as examples of correct and beautifully written work. The class will be introduced to using a thesaurus when composing sentences, and be given time to practice this skill. As we finish Where the Red Fern Grows this week, I encourage you to be aware that the ending can evoke some emotional responses from both children and adults. I have rather enjoyed the students' reports about parent reactions to this novel, specifically the boys amusement about mothers' responses. You know your child best, so be prepared to discuss the ending with them. We will allow time in class this week for students to share thoughts with classmates, including their feelings and opinions on this being one of our classics to keep. I look forward to hearing their heartfelt responses. A SignUp Genius link will be emailed today, October 3rd, through Jupiter for you to schedule a parent teacher conference. These meetings will last 15-20 minutes with all fifth grade teachers present to discuss your child's progress. We look forward to seeing you there. (Sorry for the delay in posting... I had saved as a draft and forgot to publish on Monday!) Important Dates: 10/05 - Mathematics Clinic, 6PM 10/07 - No School, Teacher In-service 10/10 - 10/14 Fall Break, No School 10/17 - 10/21 Half Days, Noon Release (Parent Teacher Conferences from 1PM to 4PM) |
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Mrs. Baird Archives
February 2017
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