Sadowski update 9/29

Happy Monday!

   Tomorrow is the day we go to the book fair as a class.  If the kids forget their money they can bring it on Thursday and shop in the morning.

Tomorrow is also the day that best selling author "Jonathan Rand" (Author of both Michigan and American Chiller books) is coming to visit us at 10:00 a.m.  (So exciting!)  As a result switch for math /social studies/ and science will only be a 1/2 hour rather than the usual 50 minutes.

Spell pages for this week are pages 32 - 34 and page 35 ( top part only.)  Page 32 was assigned today and worked on the first part of this morning.

Spelling list for this week is as follows:
1. launch
2. shawl
3. false
4. author
5. install
6. loss
7. broad
8. audience
9. drawing
10. caution
11. lawyer
12. recall
13. astronaut
14. office
15. scald
16. automobile
17. drawn
18. broth
19. awful
20. flaw

Sadowski classroom update 9/22 spell list!

Coming home some time this week are the field trip permission slips that you filled out in the beginning of the year. I've copied them and am sending the original back to you.  Keep this somewhere where you can locate it before trips so that you can remember whether or not you're packing your student  a lunch or whether they are getting one from school.  I'll let the lunch room know the same based on the information that i have.

Spelling page 26 was assigned in class today and students had approx. 15 minutes to work on it. Those not done will need to finish this up tonight.

Math homework for tonight is one sheet that was passed out at the end of the day after I received it.
Spelling list for this week is as follows:
1. humid
2. remove
3. prove
4. costume
5. rescue
6. unit
7. annual
8. suit
9. include
10. continue
11. future
12. beauty
13. movies
14. value
15. humor
16. museum
17. avenue
18. produce
19. amuse
20. youth

Sadowski science update 9/22

Hello parents!  

   I'm SO excited to tell you how much ALL your hard work with your kiddos has paid off!!!! 
I returned the science test covering terms from sets 1 - 5 today.... EVERYBODY PASSED! 
Not only did everyone pass... but they did so with flying colors!  34 students got 100% and a 4.0!
39 other students received a from a 2.8 (B- ) to a 3.5 (A-)  That means 87% of our students did fantastic!!!! Woohoo!!  Way to go parents!

      All tests were returned today... I handed them their tests personally and we went over them in class so they SHOULD bring them home tonight.  If however they happen to be "forgotten" I'd be happy to email their score to you.

    As always... in science ANY student who scores low on a test or on any assignment that we do that is graded, may retake the test or redo that assignment.  I reminded the kids of this today. Retake tests are always on Wednesday....but the kids MUST come to me to make arrangements to redo their test or assignment. I won't chase them down. Learning the material is important to me.. and tests can be retaken as many times as it takes for them to verify that they know the information.

    Term card sets 1 - 8 were due last Friday.  I have a few that didn't finish... and those few will be staying in for recess until they are done. If your kiddo is one that isn't done yet, I'll let you know via email either today or tomorrow morning.

     The first science warmup sheets are also coming home today.  Some were fantastic!  Some were  a hot mess! So that you can understand what all my little marks are, here are my warmup requirements:

1. All questions that are written on the board must be copied down as written..

2. All words that are written on the board must be spelled correct.

3. Papers must be as neat as possible. If I have to contact the CIA to decode your student's writing, they will be rewriting their papers again.  Some of the most common errors are words that are not separated by any spaces at all, as well as "a's" "g's and "b's" that are not closed and all look like each other.

4.  The beginning of all questions and answers must be started with a capital letter and all sentences should end in some sort of punctuation. These are things they definitely should have in place by now!

   Warmup sheets overall will be graded on content. One point for writing down the question correctly and 1 point for answering the question correctly.  All questions are gone over in class and answers are always written on the board and left up until the next class comes in so that there is plenty of time for them both to be copied.  And as I am REALLY trying to get them to pay attention to detail, all words that I write on the board must  be spelled correctly! I will take a point off for words that are misspelled. One here and there isn't an issue... but a page full of them is. And again.... these can be rewritten correctly for more credit.

The next science term card test over sets 1 - 8 will be in two weeks! That will give everyone (including me!) a much needed break.

That's all I have for now.  Congratulate yourselves and your kids on all their hard work! 
Mrs. Sadowski

Sadowski science update 9/15

Congratulations Sunset Parents!  

98% of Sunset 5th graders scored a 3.0 -4.0 on their first term card test!   Way to make them study!!!  Tests should come home tomorrow. 

Term card sets 1 - 8 are due THIS FRIDAY September 19th.  There will be a test this same day on sets 1 - 5.

Today was the LAST day we worked on term cards in class.  Sets 6, 7, and 8 and all to be done this week as homework if they didn't get them done today.  Again, parents are welcome to help....  just please make sure they're putting the correct term on the back of their cards.  I had  few students not follow directions and they cut out the definitions and pasted them on whatever term happened to be nearby! 

    Regular science curriculum starts tomorrow.  Orange science books will be passed out either tomorrow or Wednesday depending on how far we get.  I'll be sure to email you on nights that they may need to take these orange student journals home to complete, but for the most part they will stay here in their green science folders.

Thanks so much for all your hard work and support!!

Homework update 9/11

Kids have quite a load of homework tonight so I thought I'd give you the list in case any of them say "I don't have any homework tonight".
First... They have a math worksheet.   I have been noticing a LOT of comments on facebook about the difficulty of the new math program. Know that this isn't just something that Sunset chose... this was something that was purchased for the entire district and most other surrounding districts bought it also as it is aligned with the new "common core".  It IS completely different from the way we were taught and a letter and help is on the way... for now I have attached a web link below that can help:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT_uMvtIYhQ

Second... We have a spelling test tomorrow. I gave them all of their books to bring home tonight with instructions to study this list on page 14. I will also attach the list below this section in case for whatever reason they forgot and put their books back in their desks rather than their backpacks.
I know we said at the beginning of the year parent meeting that the spelling books would be done at home as homework... but I'm a bit concerned with the math being every night... and reading every night.... and with science and social studies occasionally on other nights that your kids are going to be up way past bedtime just trying to get all their homework done. SO!  We're going to start our spelling pages each morning in the 10 minutes before we go to our first special (all of our specials are first thing in the morning) and whatever isn't done during that time by your student will THEN need to be homework. Only three pages of each new section have to be done each week.... extra pages done will earn a ticket for each extra page. (some sections have more extras than others)  All spelling books will need to be turned in Friday so I can check them and get them back to the kids by Monday.
Third - The quiz over the science term cards set 1 and 2 is tomorrow.  About half of my class has already taken the quiz orally and 1/2 already have sets 1 - 5 done!  Sets 1 - 5 are due tomorrow as well.
Fourth - Reading.  Reading is important... but I'm putting it at the bottom of the list as its the item that doesn't absolutely have to be done tonight if you don't get to it.  I'm just trying to be realistic!

Spelling list is as follows:
1. eighty
2. claim
3. needle
4. beneath
5. foggy
6. gasoline
7. eighty
8. freight
9. complete
10. scary
11. neighbor
12. daily
13. screen
14. police
15. explain
16. feature
17. straight
18. memory
19. contain
20. populate

Sadowski science update 9/8/14

   By now your kiddos have had science 4 times.Our primary focus for the first few weeks is going to be "Science Term Cards"

   Because of the district push of reading and math in the early grades, not a whole lot is done with science. It's not the lower elementary teacher's fault... there are just only so many hours in a day. So! In order to get them ready for middle school next year, I need to get them caught up "science wise" on things they should have been learning over time.  One of the areas that they are most lacking in is their "science speak" or in their ability to use, discuss and understand science words.  This is important for a number of reasons but the primary one being that if they don't know what common science words mean, they're going to be lost when it comes to taking a test filled with terminology.

   For instance... Back in 2004 when we as teachers were last allowed to see and read the meap test, one of the questions was:

    "In a temperate ecosystem, how does an over population of carnivores affect the herbivores and producers?"

   Any child who didn't understand "temperate", "ecosystem", "population", "carnivores", "herbivores" or "producers" was losing their minds trying to answer this question.

(And yes.... we too thought this question was a little over the top and complained to the state department of education... which of course is why we are no longer allowed to look at or see the test questions anymore... you can't argue with what you don't see!")

   So now we do science term cards.  There are 8 sets of term cards or 114 different words.  We start with set #1.  We basically cut and paste onto index cards. The Term goes on the front of the card and the matching definition goes on the back.  And since memorizing a bunch of cards isn't fun AT ALL we play games to learn them.  Around the world. Swat Terminology, Memory etc. We played our first game today and one kid already earned a pizza lunch with friends. (Ask your student for the specifics.... they'll explain the incentives.)

  This Friday sets 1 - 5 are DUE when they walk into my room in the morning. They'll have a quiz they'll be taking over set 1 and 2... and I"ll check out their card sets while they take the quiz. If the cards aren't done I'll just keep them in for recess to help them finish.

   We've already worked on these cards in class two days and will be working on them again tomorrow..  They also have the option of taking sets home and putting them together there to get them done faster. The fastest way I've found to do it is to stick a term on each card face first... then go back and match up the definitions. I can usually crank out a set in about 10 minutes.

Kids are welcome to borrow glue sticks, scissors and cards to help them complete these card sets. I have lots of extras available.

   Please feel free to ask questions about the cards, their creation and ways to practice at home. .  Any kid in my class who has an older sibling that has made these before and who still has their complete set (They were told to keep them until the end of 8th grade) can use the previously made set... they don't have to make another!

Sadowski update 9/3/14

Howdy!

The first two days of school have been fantastic! Thanks so much for raising your kiddos right!  They're all very sweet and have great manners!

Box tops!
   Have box tops?  Or soup labels?  please please send those in!  Each on is worth 10 cents!  Last year our class collected over $2,200 in box tops!  (multiply that out.. that is a LOT of box tops!) Tops are collected every Friday. No need to trim perfectly.. just send them in as is.  These make a HUGE difference in what we are able to buy supply wise for our kiddos!


Coke tops?
Do you or your family drink coke products?  If your answer is yes I NEED OUR BOX CODES AND TOP CODES!  Send in your tops and codes to me so that I can earn free gift cards to buy books for our classroom.

    Each time we bank 1,400 points we can get a $20.00 gift card to Barnes and noble.  Last year we  had over $80.00 in books purchased for our room using just caps and box codes! If you don't redeem codes yourself, please send those in! (Powerade also has codes.. send in those caps too please!)

I have 4 series of books in my classroom that students MUST have parent permission to read. These books are the Divergent series, The Hunger Games series, The Maze Runner Series, and the Twilight Series. These are technically middle school level books that know many kids have read already... but due to the mature and sometimes violent content I have to either an email, a note, or a message written in their schedule books before I will allow students to check these books out.

Finally.... I'd like your opinion on accelerated reader and our current reading program. (Reading for points)  I was pretty heartbroken this year at the number of students who were pretty blatant at how much they DON'T like to read.. and I'm worried that we're getting a little too obsessed with points and not enough in teaching children to actually like what they are reading.  Mrs Buell has decided to do something slightly different this year.... and it sounds awesome. But before considering it, I would like your opinion on the reading program as it stands now before I make a decision. These are after all your kids and it doesn't make any sense to me to make a decision regarding their reading education without your input!
   Let me know what you think! If you love it as it is, let me know. If you think a change is in order, let me know.
That's all for now! More updates to follow.