We've had a busy few weeks in the 4/5 challenge classroom! Check out what we've been up to...
Writing: we wrapped up our research and argument writing papers. Each student gave a Power Point presentation on their chosen topic. Each student presented an opinion with evidence on a societal issue. We will begin writing our own myths when we return from break.
Reading: We are wrapping up our study of the American Revolution on Monday. We have put into action many non-fiction reading strategies. We have become excellent at annotating and participating in whole class and small group discussions. We will read a story from our Junior Great Book series next week prior to break. After break we will begin a study of myths.
Social Studies: Nifty Fifty States are memorized! Everyone in our class did an absolutely impressive job on the final 50 states and capitals test.
Science: We will begin our Matter unit of study on Monday. We will kick off learning about the three states of matter. We will be doing several hands on and interactive labs with this unit!
Please note that ISTEP testing begins a week after we return from break. We will begin the on-line testing on Monday, April 18th. Again, please try to avoid any morning appointments this week. Thanks in advance for your help with this.
Have a very Happy Easter and a Superb Spring Break!!!!
Friday, March 25, 2016
Friday, January 22, 2016
Greetings Parents!
We've had a great couple of weeks back in action! Here's the scoop...
Writing: We have been working on understanding Argument Writing. This includes how to identify a claim and find evidence the author used. We read a great article about chewing gum in school. Be sure to ask your son or daughter what the author's claim about gum chewing is! We will develop our own opinion and begin to create a claim and research evidence next week.
Reading: We wrapped up our non-fiction colonization reading and read a very thought provoking story from our Junior Great Book Series. This story generated some excellent discussions and they had the opportunity to support their opinions with examples from the text. We will be reading another selection from the series next week.
Word Study: As you know we took a break from Caesar's this week due to a short week and completing MAP testing as well as the state wide ISTEP stress test on Thursday. We will resume with Caesar's on Monday.
Social Studies: The kids are having a BLAST working in their colonies to capture land and survive in the New World. Be sure to ask your child about their role in their colony and how their colony is doing.
Attention 5th Grade Parents:
Important Information and Dates from Carmel Middle School
Writing: We have been working on understanding Argument Writing. This includes how to identify a claim and find evidence the author used. We read a great article about chewing gum in school. Be sure to ask your son or daughter what the author's claim about gum chewing is! We will develop our own opinion and begin to create a claim and research evidence next week.
Reading: We wrapped up our non-fiction colonization reading and read a very thought provoking story from our Junior Great Book Series. This story generated some excellent discussions and they had the opportunity to support their opinions with examples from the text. We will be reading another selection from the series next week.
Word Study: As you know we took a break from Caesar's this week due to a short week and completing MAP testing as well as the state wide ISTEP stress test on Thursday. We will resume with Caesar's on Monday.
Social Studies: The kids are having a BLAST working in their colonies to capture land and survive in the New World. Be sure to ask your child about their role in their colony and how their colony is doing.
Attention 5th Grade Parents:
Important Information and Dates from Carmel Middle School
- Middle School Parent Scheduling Information Night--Wednesday, January 27th @ 6:30 pm in the Carmel Middle School Auditorium: This is an evening for parents only. The administration and counselors will be sharing information about the middle school scheduling process and course offerings.
- Carmel Middle School counselors will be visiting Carmel Elementary on Monday, February 1st to begin the scheduling process with students. Counselors will be providing information that will assist students in completing their class schedule online.
- CMS Open House for Parents and Students--Tuesday, April 19th from 5:30-7:30: This is a great opportunity for the whole family to tour Carmel Middle School, learn more about clubs and activities, and talk with key staff at CMS. It is an informal event, and families may come at the time that fits best in their schedule.
- Current 6th graders to visit Carmel Elementary during the 4th Quarter--6th grade students, accompanied by CMS administration will visit CE 5th graders to field questions that 5th graders may have about middle school life.
- If your child is interested in joining band, choir, or orchestra, "try-ons" will be coming up soon! Please see the Carmel Middle School website for more information.
Friday, January 8, 2016
Welcome 2016!!
We had an awesome first week of the new year! We started off our week by writing and sharing about our holiday break. Here's the scoop on what we accomplished this week...
Writing: We worked on informational writing in our journals and reflected on a 2015-2016 New Year's Resolution writing project. They are currently being displayed in the hallway for others to enjoy.
Language Arts / Social Studies: We continued with our integrated colonization reading and simulation. We put our annotating skills to use this week with our non-fiction reading. The class is LOVING our simulation. Be sure to ask your child how many of their colonies ships made it to the New World.
During language arts we are also completing the district wide NWEA testing. This week we took math tests on the computer. Next week we will be taking reading.
A HUGE THANK YOU for the wonderful auction items before break as well as the Gingerbread items. Everyone enjoyed both of these fun activities.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Hepp
Writing: We worked on informational writing in our journals and reflected on a 2015-2016 New Year's Resolution writing project. They are currently being displayed in the hallway for others to enjoy.
Language Arts / Social Studies: We continued with our integrated colonization reading and simulation. We put our annotating skills to use this week with our non-fiction reading. The class is LOVING our simulation. Be sure to ask your child how many of their colonies ships made it to the New World.
During language arts we are also completing the district wide NWEA testing. This week we took math tests on the computer. Next week we will be taking reading.
A HUGE THANK YOU for the wonderful auction items before break as well as the Gingerbread items. Everyone enjoyed both of these fun activities.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Hepp
Friday, December 4, 2015
What a great week back in action...
Greetings Parents!
We had an awesome week back in action! Here's the scoop on our week...
Writing: we worked in our daily writing journals! It was fun to read and hear about everyone's Thanksgiving break. We are working on a surprise writing project for you all!
Language Arts: we wrapped up our book clubs this week. We took our strategy assessment on Thursday. Look for graded assessments to come home next week. We will begin a combined language arts and social studies unit on Colonial American next week. This will include lots of non-fiction reading and annotating as well as an interactive simulation.
Math: the fourth graders finished unit 5 this week and are taking their unit test today. Look for graded tests to come home with your child on Monday.
Science: we wrapped up our Motion and Design unit this week.
A HUGE thank you to everyone who has donated cans for our annual canned food drive! We have 191 cans as of this morning! What an impressive start!
We will be having a class AUCTION the last week of school so if you are out running around and see a few items that you could donate that would be fantastic!
Have a wonderful weekend!
We had an awesome week back in action! Here's the scoop on our week...
Writing: we worked in our daily writing journals! It was fun to read and hear about everyone's Thanksgiving break. We are working on a surprise writing project for you all!
Language Arts: we wrapped up our book clubs this week. We took our strategy assessment on Thursday. Look for graded assessments to come home next week. We will begin a combined language arts and social studies unit on Colonial American next week. This will include lots of non-fiction reading and annotating as well as an interactive simulation.
Math: the fourth graders finished unit 5 this week and are taking their unit test today. Look for graded tests to come home with your child on Monday.
Science: we wrapped up our Motion and Design unit this week.
A HUGE thank you to everyone who has donated cans for our annual canned food drive! We have 191 cans as of this morning! What an impressive start!
We will be having a class AUCTION the last week of school so if you are out running around and see a few items that you could donate that would be fantastic!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Science Fair Scoop...
Calling all Scientists...
Kickoff
Event:
Science Fair 101 with
Rick Crosslin
of WFYI’s Indiana
Expeditions
Monday December 14,
6:30 PM
Carmel Elementary
School Gym
Carmel Elementary is
honored to host Rick Crosslin, TV personality and Science Teacher
extraordinaire, who will teach us how to do a Science Fair Project. This free
event is open to Carmel Elementary 4th & 5th grade
students and their families. Students will conduct a mini-experiment, and
parents will learn how to help. If you plan to participate in the Science Fair,
this event is for you! Attendance highly recommended, not required.
The Carmel Elementary
Science Fair will be held on:
Tuesday, February 16,
6:30 PM
Registration Open: Dec.
14 through Jan. 8
Science Fair projects are conducted at
home with parent supervision over the course of 6 weeks, starting after Winter
Break. If desired, a student may choose to complete the entire project
during the 2 week Winter Break. Watch for more info coming soon from: Jennifer
Alcantara, CES Science Fair Director.
Friday, November 6, 2015
Busy Week Ahead...
We had a terrific learning week in room 21! Here's what was going on...
* In writing we wrapped up our Narrative writing pieces, wrote a Veteran's Day Essay and created an Explorer Epitaph!
* In reading we selected new book club books and worked on understanding vocabulary words we didn't know by using context clues. We also used our Making Connections strategy while reading.
* During social studies we finished writing our Explorer speeches and have been working on memorizing them for our museum.
* Fourth graders took their unit 4 math test this week. Graded tests should have come home with your child on Thursday. We started unit 5 on Thursday which focuses on fractions.
We have a few exciting events next week:
Tuesday: Choir students go to the Booth Tarkington Theatre at the Palladium to perform. I will be attending this with our choir students and Mrs. Baney.
Wednesday: Veteran's Day Performance at 9:00AM and 7:00PM. All are welcome to attend both performances.
Thursday: Please send in explorer costume in a bag with your child's name. (Would like all costumes on Thursday to ensure that every student has a costume and will be ready for tomorrow)
Friday: Explorer Parade and Living Wax Museum
11:30 Parade with museum to follow until 12:15
Have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone next Friday, November 13th!
* In writing we wrapped up our Narrative writing pieces, wrote a Veteran's Day Essay and created an Explorer Epitaph!
* In reading we selected new book club books and worked on understanding vocabulary words we didn't know by using context clues. We also used our Making Connections strategy while reading.
* During social studies we finished writing our Explorer speeches and have been working on memorizing them for our museum.
* Fourth graders took their unit 4 math test this week. Graded tests should have come home with your child on Thursday. We started unit 5 on Thursday which focuses on fractions.
We have a few exciting events next week:
Tuesday: Choir students go to the Booth Tarkington Theatre at the Palladium to perform. I will be attending this with our choir students and Mrs. Baney.
Wednesday: Veteran's Day Performance at 9:00AM and 7:00PM. All are welcome to attend both performances.
Thursday: Please send in explorer costume in a bag with your child's name. (Would like all costumes on Thursday to ensure that every student has a costume and will be ready for tomorrow)
Friday: Explorer Parade and Living Wax Museum
11:30 Parade with museum to follow until 12:15
Have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone next Friday, November 13th!
Friday, October 30, 2015
What a great week...
It's been a fun-filled week in Challenge Class! Here's what's been going on...
This morning our school had the distinct privilege of having Thaddeus Rex...otherwise known as Gavin H's dad...perform for our school! This was a HUGE treat for our entire student body. He shared his songwriting skills, tips and talents with us. His highly motivating and entertaining show shared the importance of reading and using our writing skills. Please be sure to ask your son or daughter about this incredible performance!!
* We completed our narrative writing papers this week! We will be working on Veteran's Day essays and poetry for Veteran's day next week.
* Author study groups collaborated this week on a group project. They synthesized information from their choice author book and the autobiography book they read a few weeks ago. Be sure to ask your child what group project they completed and how their performance went!
* We are at different points in our Explorer projects. We have a few still gathering research, some students are writing their speeches and some are in the editing stage of speech writing.
* Mark your calendars for the following dates:
~ Wednesday, November 11th: Veteran's Day Performance at CE: 9:00AM & 7:00PM
~ Tuesday, November 17th: Carmel Symphony Orchestra field trip (permission slips coming home with your child today)
~ Friday, November 13th: Explorer Wax Museum at CE
Parade begins at 11:30 with museum to follow until 12:15
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
This morning our school had the distinct privilege of having Thaddeus Rex...otherwise known as Gavin H's dad...perform for our school! This was a HUGE treat for our entire student body. He shared his songwriting skills, tips and talents with us. His highly motivating and entertaining show shared the importance of reading and using our writing skills. Please be sure to ask your son or daughter about this incredible performance!!
* We completed our narrative writing papers this week! We will be working on Veteran's Day essays and poetry for Veteran's day next week.
* Author study groups collaborated this week on a group project. They synthesized information from their choice author book and the autobiography book they read a few weeks ago. Be sure to ask your child what group project they completed and how their performance went!
* We are at different points in our Explorer projects. We have a few still gathering research, some students are writing their speeches and some are in the editing stage of speech writing.
* Mark your calendars for the following dates:
~ Wednesday, November 11th: Veteran's Day Performance at CE: 9:00AM & 7:00PM
~ Tuesday, November 17th: Carmel Symphony Orchestra field trip (permission slips coming home with your child today)
~ Friday, November 13th: Explorer Wax Museum at CE
Parade begins at 11:30 with museum to follow until 12:15
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
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