December update

Welcome to the Chaos of December!

First…. All 4th and 5th grade students will be at the high school auditorium tomorrow morning from 9:45 – 11:30 for our final program practice. Unless of course your child has a speaking part… then they have to board to bus as soon as they get here and they’ll practice their lines until the rest of us get there.
Performance is at 7:00 on Tuesday night. Kids need to be at the high school choir room between 6:30 and 6:45. We’ll do a warm up, get the kids on stage and then the show will begin!
Dress….. red, green or white tops and black pants. If they don’t have black pants, then clean, non-holey jeans are fine.

Sadowski's class only below:

On Wednesday ( December 7th) Sadowski's will be walking to “Generous Hands” next to Subway in Vicksburg for our community service project. Originally, we were going on the 21st…. but there was a mix-up with times at the generous hands center, so we took Mrs. Vandermei’s slot for this Wednesday as she has training that day and it probably wouldn’t be a great idea to have a sub haul kids all the way across town. Please make sure that the kids dress or bring appropriate clothes for Wednesday’s walk. It’s about 3 miles there and back. We’ll be hoofing it, but if their fingers and heads are covered, I’m sure they’ll be much happier on the walk!

Schedule books have not been done for the last week…. If your child was awesome and did them on their own ( as they will be expected to do next year) then fantastic! The reason they are not done, is that they had music practice every day at 3:00 – 3:30 last week….. so by the time they got their things and got dressed to go there was no time for us to do it formally. Today went the same way….. so tomorrow I’m going to try to have them do it in the morning.

Groups 1 and 2 got new spelling lists this week. Groups #3 still has the second half of their packet to finish, and their list for this week is inside of it. We did NOT have time to go over spelling lists or meanings today due to again….. lines practice which had half of my kids out of my room at 20 minutes intervals all afternoon…. And then music practice for all kids again was from 2:30 – 3:30. We WILL be going over their list tomorrow morning , but I did hand them out so they could study.

Listsfor Sadowski's class for the week of December 5th are as follows:

List 1

beginning humming dropped setting slipping joggers grabbing bobbing tripped padded skimming scrubbing winners outfitted wrapped clapping dragging chatting quitter trimmer

List 2

transport transfer increase disgrace uncovered discontinue uncooked discovered include inhale disturb incomplete unjust transplant unusual unselfish insecure distance inspire inexpensive

List 3

responsible charitable curable livable portable amiable compatible habitable notable disposable attainable communicable intelligible permissible quotable available consumable legible pitiable reliable

Friday Field Trip - November 18th

5th grade will be traveling to the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and the Kalamazoo Valley museum Friday, November 18th. Any student who did not sign up for a sack lunch will need to remember to pack a completely disposable sack lunch.

Monday November 21st @ 2:45

4th and 5th grade boys will attend an assembly in the cafeteria where they will learn about the Vicksburg wrestling program. Flyers will most likely come home after that meeting.

November 22nd - last day of school before Thanksgiving break. School closed on Wednesday.

December 2nd - Used book sale during school hours, Sunset Lake Elementary

December 6th - Holiday Musical for 4th and 5th graders at the P.A.C.

Students need to arrive no later than 6:30, for a warmup to their performance.

December 8th - Holiday gift shopping for Sunset Lake Students.

December 21st - Sadowski's Class Only- Visit to Generous hands to pack backpacks.

** Kids will need to dress in layers as we will be walking there! Snowpants, headbands, hats, gloves, boots, the works! Unless its a blizzard, we will be going!

December 22nd - 5th grade holiday skating party - Long Lake Roller Rink

More details to follow as time gets closer.

February 17th - 5th grade ski trip to Timber Ridge

Sadowski Conference Schedule for November 10th

5:30 Jon P.

5:45 Josh S.

6:00 Vic. S.

6:15 Lil V.

6:30 Bren B.

6:45 Matt M.

7:00 Jared H.

7:15 Em H.

7:45 Lee W.

8:00 Lin M.

Sadowski Conference Schedule for November 15th

5:45 Em T.

6:00 Lucas C.

6:15 Nic H.

6:30 Terr. L.

6:45 Hay P.

7:00 Ryan S.

7:30 Mia M.

7:45 Dak R.

8:00 Ais. B.

8:15 Terr. C.

Upcoming Events

The following events are upcoming for 5th grade students:

10/19 75% day for A.R.

10/20 Funeral procession for fallen Vicksburg soldier Drew Russell. 5th grade students will line the streets for 10:30 procession. Feel free to join us. Dress for the weather and bring a flag.

10/31 Halloween party. Parade at 2:15. 5th grade party to follow in Sunset Lake Cafeteria. Email details to follow.

11/7 Ned reward assembly for 100% reward for A.R.

11/11/11 Veterans day observance in town at 11:00. ( 5th graders) Dress for weather.

11/18 Kalamazoo Institute of Arts trip/Kalamazoo Valley museum trip.

(Chaperones welcome... but due to limited bus space must drive separate)

December 6th - Tentative date.... 5th grade program at the P.A.C.

Other 5th grade news

Groups B /D have Science this week and for the next three weeks.

Groups A/C have Social Studies

All students (regardless whether they have science or social studies) should be studying those term cards.

Science this week - Meap test Wednesday - Motion and forces unit next three weeks.

Review : What is a force? How can you tell if something is moving? What is a point of reference? What is velocity? What is speed? What is the differnence between a balanced and unbalanced force? Who is Newton and what are his three laws of motion?

Congratulations to Victoria Simmons for making it around the world with term cards! She and

2 - 3 fifth grade friends of their choice will receive a pizza lunch on Friday of this week. Way to go Victoria!

1st Quarter A.R. Goals

50% Day - October 4th

75% Day - October 19th

100% Day - November 3rd

Please ask your child frequently where they are in meeting their goal. Goals were set based on the fact that ALL students should be reading a 1/2 hour a night or 2 + hours per week at home.

Students who are sginificantly behind in their goal will be kept in for opportunity to catch up. Parents will also receive an email home notifying of them of their student's progress.

OEC

OEC is this Monday, October 3rd. If you were prepared to send a digital camera with your child last week, please make sure those come in on Monday instead. Students will still need to dress in layers as well as pack a lunch. All students who had signed up for a lunch from the cafeteria last time, will receive a sack lunch this time.

M.E.A.P.

Meap testing starts on October 11th. We ask that you PLEASE make every effort to ensure that your child is here on testing days. If you know now that you have dentist or dr.'s appointments scheduled for test days, please try to reschedule them so that they don't have to make up any part of their testing.

Testing dates for 5th grade are:

October 11th - Reading Day 1

October 12 - Reading Day 2

October 18th - Math

October 19th - Science

OEC!

Friday September 23rd the Sunset Lake 5th graders will be spending all day at the OEC.

Students have been asked to: Dress in layers for warm or cold weather.

Pack a lunch/bring school lunch

Students have also been asked to bring a charged digital camera for an activity that we will be doing with them. If you will allow them to bring a camera of yours, it must be a camera, and not a phone or D.S. Please label each camera with your name with a small piece of tape. Only your student will be allowed to use your camera. Students will be put into groups of three for this activity so if you don't want your child to bring your camera, there is usually enough available for each group to have one.

Please make sure your student knows how to use your camera!

Please make sure cameras are charged or have extra batteries with them. If they're camera can't take pictures they will be unable to complete their writing assignments the following week.

September 12th - 16th

This week starts our first full week of switch. Groups A and C will have science for the next four weeks. Groups B and D will have Social studies.

The signed field trip permission slips for Mrs. Sadowski's class have been copied and are in your student's mailboxes today (9/13) ready to go home. Keep them handy so that as field trips and outings progress you can review what lunch choices were chosen for each event.

A HUGE thank you to all the families who donated gift certficates to the 5th grade teachers for the book fair. We each got some GREAT new books for our classrooms and most are already checked out by your students and being read as I type this!

Thank you also for the much needed tissue and clorox wipe donations! Once we shut those windows and the fresh circulating air goes away, we NEED those to wipe away the germs daily!

This week in science students are doing some review for the upcoming M.E.A.P. as well as working on their science term cards. If you have a student in A and C, or if your student is in Mrs. Sadowski's class, they should have their 1st - 2nd set almost done and be working on memorizing them for the games we play with them. Too fun!

OEC date for fall coming soon......

Teacher Cadet

This year in Mrs. Sadowski's class we have a teacher cadet named "Joran Avila". Jordan is a Senior at Vicksburg highschool and is aspiring to be a teacher. Known as "Miss A" to the students, J0rdan will be in our classroom helping out, and learning classroom management skills Wednesday through Friday. Jordan was a student in my class in 2004 - 2005, and she is already enjoying being back in familiar surroundings. This week is her first week with us, and she will be writing a letter of introduction to you to send home with your students sometime this or next week.

Have a great week! Don't forget to ask to see those schedule books each night!

Welcome Class of 2012!

We're so pleased to have met all your wonderful students and we now look forward to talking with you tonight at open house!

Open house 6:30 - 8:00

5th grade parents are asked to assemble betweenm 6 -6:15 for a short meeting with all 5th grade teachers in the cafeteria. Afterwards we will be in our rooms to say hello!

If you have not yet sent back your registration forms please do so as soon as possible.

We will keep you updated as to upcoming events right here on our blog!

May

Well... we flew through March, floated our way through a rainy April and now we're already to May! Where does the time go!

Middle School Class Sign Ups

Middles school class selection sheets went home with students yesterday. Please make sure that these are back to their classroom teachers no later than Tuesday May 10th. Please direct all of your questions regarding these forms to the middles school.

Upscoming Events

May is event month! We usually take all of our fun trips this month as it is usually when the weather is the nicest. The following are the events that need to be on your Calendar:

May 5th - 50% goal for A.R.

May 13th - Field Trip to Kalamazoo Institute of Arts

May 16 - 75% goal for A.R.

May 20th - Outdoor Education Center

May 26th ( Thursday) Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery/ South Haven Trip

May 27th P.m. - Human Growth and Development

May 27th - 100% goal for A.R.

June 1st - A.R. 100% Reward Field Trip

June 6th 9:10 - 5th grade graduation

June 7th - Track and Field Day

MARCH!

March is here! And with it Spring is about to be Sprung! (At least we hope!)

With the weather being so unpredictable, please remember to have your student continue to dress for the weather. One day it might be 20 degrees, and the next 55.... but either way they are going outside to recess and they should dress accordingly.

Spring Musical!

The spring musical is fast approaching! Students have been working hard durng their music class each day. Starting next week (14th - 18th) 4th and 5th graders will meet for an hour each morning for practice as a group.

Show Date: March 22nd @7:00.

Students need to arrive between 6:30 and 6:45 for rehearsal.

Late Start Day: March 9th. Students arrive at school at 10:25.

A.R.

50% Day - March 16th

100% Day - March 30th

Records Day - April 1st. No school for stduents!

Upcoming Field trips

April 29th - Kalamazoo Gem and Mineral Show

Location: Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds- Main building

Sunset Arrives 12:45 and leaves at 2:15.

Parents are welcome to attend and meet their students at the fairgrounds. We're sorry but with 75 students the bus will be full.

May 26th - Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery/ South Haven Field Trip

Due to the overwhelming cost of busses, for THIS TRIP ONLY parents have permission to drive their student to and from our destinations.

Time: Leave @ 9:05

Arrive back 3:30 p.m.

Location: Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery Mattaway 9:45 - 11:30

Lunch South Beach South Haven 12:15 ish - 2:30.

More details to follow. Parens are welcome, but must drive or carpool.

Valentines Day!

Valentines Day is Monday. Since we did the chocolate caper together on Friday, teachers will celebrate valentines day in their individual classrooms.

Sadowski's class list went home on Tuesday of last week. We will make Valentine bags on Monday and pass out Valentines later that day.We will also be watching "Percy Jackson" the Lightning Thief" in the afternoon as we just finished reading that book as a class. There are many differences between the book and the movie, and I look forward to the discussion that will follow concerning exactly how different the movie is.

Back in our Groove!

Now that the holidays, the ski trip, the chocolate caper and Valentines day is (almost) behind us, its back to business as usual! Groups A and C have science this week. Groups B and D have Social Studies. In two more weeks we will switch groups again.

Science

In science we have started a new unit: "Objects in the Sky." This unit covers the seasons, how the angle of the earth on its axis and the direct or indirect light of the sun causes the seasons, the cycles of the moon and the planets. Ask you student what the significance of June 21st, December 21st, March 21st, and September 21st is.... They should all know by now!

Upcoming Field Trips

April 29th 11:30 - 3:00 Kalamazoo Rock and Mineral Show

Location: Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds.

This is a great field trip for parents to join us at! Due to $, we don't have any extra room on the bus for this event, but you are welcome to meet us there. We would arrive at approx. 12:30 and stay until about 1:30 - 2:00. There are tables and tables of dealers selling rock and mineral specimens for as little as 10 cents and other for $1.00. There are jewelry makers with real unset gems for sale. If you like rocks, this is the place to be!

Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery/South Haven

May 26th ( Thursday) All Day. More details to follow.

January 2011

Ski Trip

5th grade students had a wonderful time at our ski trip. Thank you so much to the parents and chaperones who attended. All your help was appreciated!

4th /5th Grade Musical

Our spring program will be Tuesday March 22nd at 7:00 at the highschool PAC. Mrs. Heintzelman will be sending home information regarding costumes and details. There will also be a few speaking parts the kids can try out for. Information should come home with the kids from music class. Kids will need to arrive between 6:30 and 6:45 for warm up and practice.

K Wings Hockey Game

Those students who earn 100% of their reading goal for the 3rd marking period will attend a Wings Stadium hockey game on March 30th. There is no charge for this event. Students are welcome to bring money for souveniers, lunch etc.

It is our home that all 5th grade students will be able to attend. Please make sure that your student is reading the required 30 minutes a night. Their goals are set based on the assumption that they ARE reading each night. If they are not, they cannot possibly meet their goal.

Valentines Day

As with all of our other parties, we will have a joint party on Friday February 11th. The party will be a Chocolate Celebration for solving our "Chocolate Caper"... a project that we have been working on for the last few months. We have plenty of plates, napkins and beverages... what we DO need is chocolate! We would like to have a Chocolate Smorgasborg. Anyone interested in sending in a chocolate treat is encouraged to do so. You can never have too much chocolate!

As individual classes we will be passing out and opening valentines on Monday February 14th. A list of your student's classmate names will come home this week.

Parents are welcome to come to our chocolate party on Friday from 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. If you can come, please let your classroom teacher know.

Conferences

The 5th grade teachers look forward to seeing all families at conferences February 3rd and 10th. Scheduling notes went home last week and should be returned asap if they have not already been brought back.

Happy New Year!

Mrs Buell, Mrs Vandermei and I all hope that you had nice and restful holiday break! Now that we're all back... its time to update you on all of our upcoming events.

Ski Trip

Our 5th grade ski trip is next Friday, January 14th. All permission slips were due yesterday the 4th of January. The cost for students is $6.00... parents who wish to chaperone or ski with their child need to pay $12.00. This cost covers both the lift ticket and ski rentals. If you have your own skis, you still need to pay $12.00 for a lift pass. If you already have a season pass ( I know some of you do) you do not have to pay this fee.

Students were to select whether they wanted a school lunch, a home lunch or a lunch bought at Timber Ridge. If you are packing them a lunch PLEASE include extra food. I'm always amazed at how much they eat on this trip! The cold weather and the exercise really burns the calories out of them.

Chaperones

If you have decided to ski and chaperone, please remember that you have to have had a background check to attend this trip. If you have not yet done so, please contact the office for a form. Parents of children who have ski experience can pass on the lesson and take their children right to the lifts. Keep in mind however, that the black diamond hills are off limits to the kids on this trip, no matter how able your child might be at negotiating these big hills. We would appreciate you sticking to this rule as it makes our job so much more difficult when we have to explain why some kids get to go on the black diamond hills while the others cannot.

Also... for the first time EVER, I ( Mrs S.) will not be able to ski this year. I have two bulging disks in my lower back and I don't DARE mess it up more than it already is. SO! That means that all of you parents will have to take over my job of lifting up the fallen masses all over the hills. Start building up your arms now, because they WILL be sore!

Ski Equipment/Snowboards

Ski equipment cannot be transported on the bus. Arrangements must be made to either transport it yourself, or to carpool it up with a friend. Snowboards ARE allowed as long as they are official snowboards with the metal edge, AND the students who are using them have had formal lessons and previous experience on them. If you have just gotten them a snowboard for christmas and they have never snowboarded before, they will need to ski on this trip.

Science / Social Studies

Groups A and C are in Social studies for the next four weeks. Groups B and D are in Science. Groups B and D received their graded science books ( pages 1 - 9) back today so that we can finish the second half of the book. Grades were given for pages 1 - 4, 5 - 6, 7, and pages 8 - 9. The highest grade they could receive was a 3.0. I did give a few 3.5's and two 4.0's for students who went above and beyond with extra detail and explanation. Please ask to see these pages and ask what they are working on in science now.

That's all for now! See you on the ski trip!