August 29, 2008
It was great to see so many parents at Back to School Night last night. Parental interest, involvement, and support are key components of what makes Rancho a great school, and I thank all of you for the time and effort you put into laying the foundation for your child's success.

Students did a good job of presenting their "pumpkin" boxes this week. It is always interesting to see what items they chose to include and why--from a clear message to the future about the environment to very personal statements about what they value most in their own lives. Grades for the project will go home in next week's Friday folder.

Students will take their first math chapter test on Tuesday, Sept. 2 (not the best timing, but we have to move ahead). They took the practice test today. We went over it thoroughly, and they are ready for the test. The first few weeks in the math textbook focus on number sense--place value, comparing and ordering numbers, and manipulating large numbers. We started the year working with whole numbers and will move to decimal numbers next week. Students who did not get at least 90% on the first mixed multiplication facts time test will take the test again on Thursday. Those who did score 90% or better will take the mixed division facts time test. Remember to try the Harcourt website, www.harcourtschool.com (password Andrews), for an easy way to practice math facts.

Students will take the first geography test next Friday. The test will cover material from the handouts for weeks 1-3. The geography handouts we use throughout the year are the study guides for any geography tests we have so students should keep them either in their binder or folder. We will begin our study of the states next week, culminating in a class State Fair. Students, over several weeks, will need to learn the names of all 50 states, their location, their capital, and their postal abbreviation. We'll move by region, beginning with the states of the northeast.

Students wrote some wonderful interview questions this week, and hopefully, if we can get everyone in class for an entire day, students will begin interviewing each other next week. They will write up their interviews, focusing on appropriate word choices, sentence fluency, and fluid transitions between paragraphs.

As always, if you have any questions, please let me know.

Friday, August 22, 2008
It has been a great start to the new school year. I'm enjoying getting to know everyone, and we are all looking forward to having Lucca McKay join us on Monday.

Students took a multiplication math facts test today and will get the results on Monday. Mastery of math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division from 1-12) is not essential to success in life, but it will significantly improve your child's success in math from this point on (including middle and high school). If your child has not yet demonstrated mastery of basic math facts, I strongly urge you to work with your child to come up with a plan to work towards mastery. The website that complements our math textbook, www.harcourtschool.com (password: Andrews) has some very useful tools to help students practice math facts.

This week's Friday folder has a field trip permission form that I'd like returned by Wednesday, August 27. Our class will take several walking field trips to the creek behind the school throughout the year (I always walk the creek the day before to check things out--contact me if you have any questions or concerns), and this field trip permission form will cover all of those trips.

I look forward to seeing everyone at Back to School Night on Thursday, August 28--a flier will go home early next week to let you know the specific times for each grade level. This will be a minimum day for students, who will be dismissed at 12:30 P.M.

Have a great weekend!

And so another school year begins! Welcome to Room 14 and fifth grade. I hope everyone had a wonderful summer--my favorite activities this summer included observing nesting sea turtles in Florida and spending time with family. As the year begins, we'll spend time getting to know each other and establishing our classroom routines as we dive into the fifth grade curriculum. It will be a busy but also, hopefully, a fun and productive year.