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.