Baltes Buzz

February 6th

February 5, 2009                                                                              

 

 

 

High Touch High Tech

  Our High Touch High Tech classroom field trip is coming next week! We are so excited to be learning about constructive and destructive forces. Make sure you ask your child what he or she learned.

 

Honorable Mentions

   Congratulations to Alex Ford for being our “January” breakfast of champions. The word is: resilience. Alex has shown resilience in the face of math frustration. He did not understand something, so he took the initiative to study extra hard until he did!

  Huge kudos to the people who passed their “January” AR goal:

Ashley, Amani, Samuel, Richard, Mirza, DJ, Alfredo, Miguel, Laura, Westin, TJ, and Marquez. Wow, 12 out of 15 people passed this month!! Way to go guys!

  Honorable mention to Laura Valles for getting an 80% on a 7.1 and 100% on a 7.4 AR level book!

 

 

 

Looking Ahead

 

February:

5^th- DJ Birthday

10^th- Laura Birthday

11^th- Progress Reports go home

10^th and 11^th- High Touch High Tech In House Field Trip

16^th- Student

Holiday

(NO SCHOOL)

24^th-25^th- Human, Growth and development

27^th- 6 Hours Six Flags Read to Succeed form due

Specials

Mon.- Music  Tues- PE  

Wed- Science Lab   Thurs- PE 

Fri- Computer Lab  

Mon- No School   Tues- PE    

Wed- Art Thurs- PE

 

Curriculum Corner

Reading

/ Writing- Please make sure you sign the 6 hours “Six Flags” form every night. Everyone is required to read 30 minutes every night. We will continue to work on narrative text. Our focus next week is: foreshadowing, flashback, and takeaway endings.

 

 

Math- Modeling multiplication and division of fractions is the name of the game. Be looking out for your child’s math journals to help you figure out math homefun problems.

Grammar- We are prepped and ready to go for prepositions. Whether we are feeling under the weather or on top of the world, we are ready to take on prepositions.

Science- Look out for some classified information, about animals and plants that is. Students will explore the difference between vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as the difference between vascular and non-vascular plants.

VOCAB: amphibian, reptile, mammal, vascular, non-vascular, classification, vertebrate, and invertebrate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is wrong with this graph?

 

Favorite Pizza
Pizza Topping	# of Students
Pepperoni	45
Cheese	30
Sausage	20
Mushroom & Onion	5

 

Favorite Pizza

 

Toppings	Number of Students
Pepperoni
Cheese
Sausage
Mushroom & Onion

 

Key:      = 5 students

November 6th

November 6, 2008                                                                                       

Barnes and Noble Reading Night

Tomorrow night is Reading Night at Barnes and Noble! Come by the Barnes and Noble at the Avenues anytime between 6pm-8:30pm. We will have all kinds of goodies!

Academic Alerts

Yes, it is that time again. Progress Reports will be handed out on Tuesday, November 18^th. Please be checking Thursday folders for papers that show how well they understand the current topics. Any tests or quizzes that are lower than a C are sent home to be signed.

Fitness at Dowell

Our Recess Mileage Club is continuing to make us fit! Every day, we head out to recess and walk or run laps around the play area. Our big walkers/ runners for the month are: Samuel, Oralia, TJ, Richard, and Amani for walking/ running up to 18 laps a few times this month!! We are getting more fit and stronger each day. Please congratulate your child in getting fit!

VIP Lunch

Do you love turkey, dressing and sweet potatoes? Come eat with your child on November 18^th at Dowell’s annual VIP lunch. Mrs. Elrod always makes her famous treats this time of year. Our lunch time that day will be 12:06pm. See you then!

Curriculum Corner

Reading- Please read 20 minutes with your child every night. Please look over non-fiction books and newspapers with your child and point out important features that help them to understand what they are reading. Dowell is the fittest school in

Cobb

County

. Is that a fact or an opinion? Ask your child. We are currently learning the difference between the two.

Math- Please continue to practice multiplication facts with your child. If you ate ¼ of a pie then ate another ½ of a pie, how much would you have eaten? Fractions are all around us. Ask your child some great fraction problems using the whole around you. Baking, cooking, grocery stores are all great places to start.

Grammar- Sometimes verbs are a little irregular. Sometimes we have to redo our work on verbs. We redid them yesterday. We have also redone them in the past. Get the picture?

Social Studies- What is your responsibility as an American Citizen? Is it to make sure the earth is clean? Obey laws? Vote? We have been learning how to be the best citizens possible!

Specials

Mon.- PE  Tues- Science Lab   Wed- PE  Thurs- Computer Lab   Fri- PE     Mon- Art  

Tues- PE Wed- Music

Looking Ahead

November:

Tomorrow- Hat Day

($1.00 to wear)

Veteran’s Day Breakfast (you must have a ticket to get in)

17^th- Tutoring starts

18^th- Academic Reports go home

        VIP Breakfast

24^th-28^th- Thanksgiving

Holiday

Break

October 23, 2009

Dowell’s Exercise

and Health Club

Are your kids sleepy in the morning? Do they always seen like they don’t have enough energy? Do they beg for sweet snacks? Well, the Dowell Exercise and Health Club is trying to help! Every Friday morning, 5^th graders participate in the Morning Fitness Program. We dance, run through relay courses and do standard exercises. It wakes students up and gets their brains going!

For recess, we participate in the Recess Mileage Club. Each day we run so many laps for points. Some of our boys have run up to 19 laps in one day!! Way to go Samuel, Richard, TJ and Marquez!

In our ASP program, students have officially become members of the “G.Y.M.” program (Get Yourself Moving). Every Monday afternoon from 3:30-4:00pm we play fun fitness games.

Ask your child what he or she has been participating in. Make sure to ask how they are making healthy choices in their life!

Let’s get moving!

Special Events

  We have a couple of fun things planned for the Reading Buddies and days coming soon. Be looking out for a letter to help out by sending stuff in to the classroom.

  On Monday, November 3^rd, we will be holding our 1^st Qtr Market Day. Students will have a chance to work together or alone to come up with a product to sell on Market Day. They will be responsible for creating a product, an advertisement for the product and be ready to present the advertisement to the class on Thursday or Friday of next week.

  We will be doing Market Day with Mrs. Foster’s class. This is a good chance to experience the law of supply and demand as well as economics!

Specials

Mon.- Music  Tues- PE   

Wed- Science Lab   Thurs- PE

Fri- Computer Lab   Mon- PE

Tues- No School Wed- Art

Thurs- PE

Curriculum Corner

Reading- Please read 20 minutes with your child every night. What was the cause of the Civil War? Ask your student. We have talked about causes and effects for the Civil War. We will finish next week and start fact and opinion.

Math- What is so common about denominators? We will find out next week. Our task is to find the relationship between two denominators. Please continue to practice multiplication facts with your child. Some people have made it to their 7s and some are still in their 3s. It is imperative that students know their multiplication facts through their 12s by the end of fifth grade. It is the basis of most math from here on out!

Grammar- Do you ever have a list of things to do? Do you ever feel like you need to pause for one moment? That’s what commas are for!! We will turn our focus to commas after we finish up verbs.

Social Studies- What does it take to be a good citizen? Let your child tell you after the next few weeks. We head back in time when a “Bill” was not a bill you had to pay! We travel through the steps of becoming a law and how amendments are made.

Looking Ahead

October:

Tomorrow- Civil War TimeLine project due

30^th- Persuasive advertisement for Market Day due

November:

3^rd- Market Day

4^th- No School (Voting Day)

Take a look!

TJ, Richard, Marquez, and Samuel

show us how strong Recess Mileage has made them

Time for some Morning Fitness!

October 9th

Math Night

Have you ever wondered how we really use math in real life? Tonight is your chance to find out. It is Math Night at Publix! The fun begins at 6pm. There will be hot dogs, drinks and yummy treats for sale in the front of the store. Then head in to your designated area (Deli Area for 5^th grade) and answer some fun-filled math questions. Once you turn in your questions, you get a free goodie bag! We hope to see you there.

6-6:45pm  Last Names N-Z

6:45-7pm PTA

7-7:45pm  Last Names A-M

Report Cards

  Yes, it is already that time!  Please be watching for report cards coming out next Friday. Everyone worked very hard this quarter!

Specials

Mon.- PE  Tues- Music   Wed- PE 

Thurs- Science Lab   Fri- PE   

Mon- Computer Lab   Tues- PE

Wed- Early Release

Curriculum Corner

Reading- Please read 20 minutes with your child every night. We will work on comparing and contrasting for the next week or two.

Math- If we added 2 halves together, how much would we have? That is our next task in math. It is all about fractions! Please continue to practice multiplication facts with your child.

Grammar- What should we do? A verb tells us what to do. Our main focus for the next couple of weeks is verbs: definition and tenses.

Social Studies- Tension, secession, abolition and reconstruction, what do all of these have in common? Yes, the Civil War. We travel back in time where WWE first started- North vs. South. Who wins the showdown? We’ll find out next week.

Looking Ahead

October:

11^th- Oralia’s Birthday

15^th- Early Release

November:

4^th- No School (Voting Day)

September 18th

Fall Festival/ Fitness Night

Do you want to learn about how to get fit and healthy? Your chance is here! Friday, September 26^th is Fall Festival and Fitness Night rolled into one. The exciting activities will start at 5pm and end at 8pm. Join us in electrifying games and move to your own groove through a maze of fitness fun. Fitness and health information will be at your fingertips. So bring your family and friends and don’t miss out on this thrilling night of fitness and fun.

Academic Alerts

  Academic alerts came out yesterday. If your child is receiving all A’s and B’s, you received a slip letting you know. If your child got an academic alert, please sign it and send it back in to me, if you have not done so already. Thank you for your continued support in your child’s education.

Fitness at Dowell

Is school just about books and academics? No! Here at Dowell, we take pride in shaping our youth in mind and body. We have officially started 2 programs: Recess Mileage Club and the Morning Fitness Program. Every Friday morning students come to the gym to get their blood flowing through some form of exercise. This awakens their mind as well. Each day, we head out to recess and walk or run laps around the play area. Big kudos to Richard, Miguel and Marquez for walking 17 laps a few days in a row!! We are getting more fit and stronger each day. Please congratulate your child in getting fit!

ITBS Testing

ITBS testing starts on Monday and runs all the way through next Friday. Please make sure your child gets enough sleep and eats a healthy breakfast each morning. Healthy snacks in their lunch would be helpful as well. We know they are going to try their best and do-well!

Curriculum Corner

Reading- Please read 20 minutes with your child every night. We will continue working on non-fiction literary elements for the next two weeks. Please look over non-fiction books and newspapers with your child and point out important features that help them to understand what they are reading.

Math- We are working on modeling the multiplication of fractions. This is chapter 7 in the math book. Please continue to practice multiplication facts with your child.

Grammar- What do we do? A verb tells us what to do. Our main focus for the next couple of weeks is verbs.

Social Studies- We are heading back into time, where the North and the South did not get along. Abraham Lincoln was president. Can you guess what time period this is? You are correct- the Civil War. We will be focusing on the causes and major events in the war. We will be discussing important people, including Abraham Lincoln, General Lee, General Grant, Jefferson Davis and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.

Specials

Mon.- PE  Tues- Music   Wed- PE 

Thurs- Science Lab   Fri- PE   

Mon- Computer Lab   Tues- PE

Wed- Art

Looking Ahead

September:

24^th- Mellow Mushroom night

26^th- Fall Festival/ Fitness Night

**PLEASE COME! I would love for students to help me out here!

30^th- Mrs. Baltes’ Birthday

October:

9th- Math Night at Publix

11^th- Oralia’s Birthday

September 5th

Fall Festival/ Fitness Night

Mark your calendars! Friday, September 26^th is Fall Festival and Fitness Night rolled into one. The exciting activities will start at 5pm and end at 9pm. Join us in electrifying games and move to your own groove through a maze of fitness fun. Fitness and health information will be at your fingertips. So bring your family and friends and don’t miss out on this thrilling night of fitness and fun.

Academic Alerts

  Yes, it is already that time!  Please be watching for academic alerts coming out in the next couple of weeks. If your child is receiving all A’s and B’s, you will be getting a slip letting you know. If your child gets an academic alert, please sign it and send it back in to me. Thank you for your continued support in your child’s education.

Specials

Mon.- PE  Tues- Music   Wed- PE 

Thurs- Science Lab   Fri- PE   

Mon- Computer Lab   Tues- PE

Wed- Art

Curriculum Corner

Reading- Please read 20 minutes with your child every night. We will work on sequencing for the next week or two.

Math- We will be reviewing factors, multiples, and prime/composite numbers. Please continue to practice multiplication facts with your child.

Grammar- Nouns, nouns, everywhere! Our main focus for the next couple of weeks is nouns: common, Proper, and possessive.

Science- Matter is all around us! Did you know that human beings are matter? We’ve been discussing the properties of matter, including mass, volume, atoms, and elements.

Looking Ahead

September:

6^th- Samuel’s Birthday

16^th- Early Release

(Dismissal at 12:20pm)

26^th- Fall Festival/ Fitness Night

30^th- Mrs. Baltes’ Birthday

October:

11^th- Oralia’s Birthday

Welcome Back!

Welcome Back

The first week of school has been incredible! What a great bunch we have this year. Everyone has been very respectful and contributed many wonderful ideas to our class rules and procedures. If you have not sent in all of the forms that need to be signed, please send in them in by tomorrow. I know the first week is crazy, but it is almost over. We are looking forward to a great year.

 Snack

Since lunch time is not until 12:16pm every day, we are going to have snack time around 9:30/10:00am every day. Please send in a healthy snack for your child. Please do not send soda or real sugary snacks. Thank you!

Open House

Open House is already coming! It will be next Thursday night, the 21^st. The schedule for the night is as follows:

6:30-7:15 PTA Meeting

FOR Open House in rooms:

5:30-6:15 (K-2^nd)

7:30-8:15 (3-5^th)

Please come to Open House to get important information about the 5^th grade year and CRCT requirements.

 Specials

Friday- Music  Mon.- PE     Tues- Science Lab Wed- PE       Thurs- Computer Lab   Fri- PE

Looking Ahead

August:

21^st- Open House

September:

1^st- Labor Day (No School)

9^th- Picture Day

Curriculum Corner

Reading-

Please continue to read 20-30 minutes every night with your child. Make sure he/she knows what the story is about and understands what he/she is reading.

Reading

with your child is one way for you to know if your child understands what he/she is reading.
Math-Please work on multiplication facts with your child at home. We will be making flashcards in class. Our first unit will focus on place value with whole numbers and decimals. We will be looking at the values of numbers, comparing them and multiplying decimals.
Vocab- digit, value, decimal fraction (yes, they changed the name!)
Science-The first unit in science is matter. Much of the science and social studies curriculum will be integrated within our Reading/ Language Arts block. Please look for the Parent Science letter coming home this week. Focus on the following vocab:
matter, mass, density, volume, magnification, microscope, physical change, chemical reaction

Come on and move it move it!

Dear Parents,

If you have ever seen the fantastic movie, Madagascar, you will recognize our theme for next month as it was song by the cuddly lemurs.  March is national nutrition month and our class theme is “come on and move it move it!”  We want to enable our students to make informed decisions, regarding nutrition and health in general.  You might have seen the letter we sent home the other day requesting healthy snacks to be sent in for the rewards drawer.  By offering a healthy alternative to a chocolate or sugar reward, we hope to see increased energy and focus in class and maybe the students will feel better about themselves.  Talk to your children about healthy food and how a balanced diet can increase academic and athletic performance.  Keep an eye out for letters concerning extra credit assignments relating to nutrition.

Best,

Mrs. Baltes and Mr. Shekell

Be Subject Savvy

Science and Social Studies – We are wrapping up our electricity and magnetism unit in Science and embarking on our journey back in time to World War 1.  We will discuss the implications that the war had on the economy and political arenas in America.  This should lead us into the Great Depression.

Math – We are taking this week and next to review what we have taught throughout the year before moving on to further examine fractions, algebra and volume.

Important Dates

3/7 – Picture Day

02/07/2008

What to look out for

This past week we talked a lot about the presidential elections and how every citizen should be utilizing their right to vote.  I hope some of the students had an opportunity to participate in the elections this week, seeing as how this might prove to be a truly historic time in our countries history.  Continue to talk to your children about the candidates and issues that are confronting our country.

Crunch Time

The end of the year is fast approaching and that means that the CRCT is right around the corner.  This is the most important time of the year for all the students.  Make sure they are getting enough rest to be wide awake at school.  A healthy breakfast is also essential in optimizing their performance.  Attendnace is crucial for the rest of the year.  Since we are doing a lot of review and covering new material, missing just one day of school can set a student back significantly.  Be aware of how your child feels in the morning, we want all of the students at school, but a sick kid can infect a number of other students too!

Be Subject Savvy

Reading/ Language Arts – Sequencing and theme are complete.  We will now examine the literary elements and how they are applied to fictional writing.  We are going to begin comparing and contrasting fictional texts next week.  For the readers response this week, the strategy is sequencing.

Math – The graph project is due tomorrow.  Everyone has a good looking graph and we are excited to hear how well the students interpreted the information.  We will be moving into fractions again next week. 

Science – We are now learning about electricity.  We will examine circuits and magnetism.  Talk to your kids about electricity in the house and how important it is to your life.  We will take a look at how circuits work and even do a few experiments with them.

This past week we talked a lot about the presidential elections and how every citizen should be utilizing their right to vote.  I hope some of the students had an opportunity to participate in the elections this week, seeing as how this might prove to be a truly historic time in our countries history.  Continue to talk to your children about the candidates and issues that are confronting our country.

Crunch Time

The end of the year is fast approaching and that means that the CRCT is right around the corner.  This is the most important time of the year for all the students.  Make sure they are getting enough rest to be wide awake at school.  A healthy breakfast is also essential in optimizing their performance.  Attendnace is crucial for the rest of the year.  Since we are doing a lot of review and covering new material, missing just one day of school can set a student back significantly.  Be aware of how your child feels in the morning, we want all of the students at school, but a sick kid can infect a number of other students too!

Be Subject Savvy

Reading/ Language Arts – Sequencing and theme are complete.  We will now examine the literary elements and how they are applied to fictional writing.  We are going to begin comparing and contrasting fictional texts next week.  For the readers response this week, the strategy is sequencing.

Math – The graph project is due tomorrow.  Everyone has a good looking graph and we are excited to hear how well the students interpreted the information.  We will be moving into fractions again next week. 

Science – We are now learning about electricity.  We will examine circuits and magnetism.  Talk to your kids about electricity in the house and how important it is to your life.  We will take a look at how circuits work and even do a few experiments with them.

2008 A New Year

Parents and Guardians,

We hope that you enjoyed your break and spent some quality family time together. Now that the break is over, we can focus our efforts on the progression to middle school. There are only 92 days left in the school year, making our timeline shorter and shorter to prepare for the future. We look forward to meeting with you during conference week. Please see the attached schedule for conferences and verify that you can attend. Please be reminded that we have 26 students to schedule conferences for in a one week period, and 20 of them have siblings, making this a scheduling nightmare. If you must reschedule, know that you may have to come on more than one day to meet with all of your children's teachers. Thank you in advance for you support over the upcoming months.

Conferences

Please confirm your time regarding the aforementioned conferences. We will be giving out report cards during conferences. If you do not attend your conference, it will be distributed after conference week is over. Promptness is essential during conference week. Because of numerous back-to-back conferences, there is a 25 minute timeframe. If you are late, you will only have the remaining time to conference. We look forward to meeting with everyone and sharing your child's progress.

Be Subject Savvy

Social Studies - Our Essential Question for the unit is: How did Immigration and the Industrial Revolution affect the United States? We will examine the economy and political events of the late 1800's and how inventors and immigrants transformed the United States into an industrial giant. Talk to your kids about the economy now and discuss supply and demand, as well as producers, consumers and how you invest money.

Math - Our Essential Question for the unit is: How do I use the characteristics of geometric figures to determine congruent shapes? Geometry is in full swing. We are examining area of polygons, such as parallelograms and triangles. Find geometric shapes in your house and manipulate them or discuss how they are similar and different.

Writing - Our Essential Question for the unit is: How do I tell a story using narrative writing? There is a contest going on to see which student can create the best movie script. Talk to your children about what makes movies so good and how to incorporate that into their writing.