We began out first Social Students unit this week. For the next several weeks we will be studying government. This week students learned about what life was life in the British colonies. Their vocabulary should be growing, as they learned terms such as Liberty, Nature Right and Consent, just to name a few. We read and discussed the ideas of John Locke, an English man living in the 16th century, who greatly influenced many of the founding fathers, as they closely examined the challenges and the importance of protecting the rights of people. Students learned about what things would be like in a "State of Nature", as well as learning about the important idea of a Social Contract, an agreement between people to set up a government, agreeing to give some rights up to receive others in return. The students are "mapping" the ideas from our reading and discussions as a way to keep track of all of the important ideas we are learning about!
We are having a good time brushing up on our knowledge of parts of speech ( Noun, Verb, Adverb and Adjectives) during Word Work. We have been playing games, making flash cards and reviewing these important words and their role in writing. Students have been busy creating their own personal spelling lists from our first MegaWords word study list. Our current focus of study in on the consonant suffixes:
-ment, -ness, -ful, -fully, -ly, -ty, -some and the spelling rules used when words are changed from singular to plural.
REMINDERS
- Please make sure your child is reading AT LEAST 20 minutes each night and some on the weekend too!
- We will be having a MATH QUICK FACT test next Thursday, please help support your child studying their facts if they are still working on Multiplication or Division fast facts!
- The below information about the 5th grade graduation video was sent via email last week, however I wanted to share it at on the blog as well!
Hello Fifth Grade Parents -
We can hardly believe our children are in fifth grade! That means it is time to start gathering photos for the Fifth Grade DVD Scrapbook that will be featured at the closing ceremonies in June. That means we will need parents to start collecting and sending in photos for the scrapbook video. The scrapbook video is traditionally a montage of the fifth graders throughout their years at Highcroft.
We can hardly believe our children are in fifth grade! That means it is time to start gathering photos for the Fifth Grade DVD Scrapbook that will be featured at the closing ceremonies in June. That means we will need parents to start collecting and sending in photos for the scrapbook video. The scrapbook video is traditionally a montage of the fifth graders throughout their years at Highcroft.
Each family will have the opportunity to purchase a copy of this professionally produced DVD that will include the scrapbook, the fifth grade play and the closing ceremony. More information about purchasing will be provided in the Spring.In order to create the DVD, we need your help! We are asking each family to submit the following by December 19th, 2014.1) One baby/toddler photo of your 5th grader (please only send one)2) One current photo of your 5th grader (please only send one)3) Any candid group photos of the fifth grade class that have been taken over the course of their years at Highcroft (PK-5th). ***Photos must be at school or school eventsThere are a few ways you can get your photos to us: (please send high resolution .jpg files)1) Email pictures to marniemarmet@gmail.com (please put 5th Grade Video in the subject line) 2) Dropbox.com - uploading your pictures to this site automatically creates the best resolution of your photo (preferred method). To use dropbox you will need to create an account. You will be sent an email from either Marnie or Aleya via Dropbox. Follow the link. You may upload your pictures to the Fifth Grade Video shared box (which contains folders broken out by grade) or create your own folder and share it with Marnie or Aleya. As added insurance, please shoot one of us an email to let us know you added your photos.3) Hard copies (least preferred) - you may leave these in the officeIf you are uploading photos, we ask that you label each photo to ensure that your child's baby/toddler photo is correctly associated with your child's current photo. Our preferred labeling format is (surname) baby photo, (surname) current photo. Our suggestion for labeling group photos is to label with school year and event (i.e. Second grade - Butterfly cookies). If you are emailing photos, please be sure to put in the email, the name of your child and the year and the event of the group photo. If you are submitting hard copy photos, you can drop them off in the Highcroft office. There is a manilla envelope with a sign that says "5th grade graduation photos" on it. Please do not send your only copy of a family favorite that is irreplaceable. While we make every effort to return originals, we cannot guarantee the return. Lastly, we ask that you send photos that we can clearly see your child's face (head shots). The point is to be able to identify your child. :)If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us for help!Thank you,Marnie Marmet: marniemarmet@gmail.comAleya Champlin: aleyachamplin@yahoo.com
