Mrs. Anderle's Class
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Monday, December 14, 2015

12/14/2015

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Wishing each of you and your families a wonderful holiday season. Have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderfully Happy New Year!!!! See you all in 2016!!!!!

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK:
MATH: 
In math last week we finished up Unit 4, Division. Students solved place value puzzles, and reviewed division, magnitude estimates, and triangles. In addition, students played an exciting game of First to 100 using the Algebra Election gameboard!

READING WORKSHOP:
Our study of nonfiction signposts continued last week, as we examined Extreme or Absolute Language, Numbers & Stats, Quoted Words, and Word Gaps.

Extreme or Absolute Language:
Extreme or Absolute Language makes an exaggerated, overblown, and probably untrue claim. It admits of no exceptions, and it seems to forbid doubt or questions. When readers spot this language, they will be alerted either to the strength of the author's feelings or to the possibility that the writer is exaggerating and may even be deceiving or misleading the reader.
In class, students learned that when you're reading and you notice the author uses language that leaves no doubt, exaggerates, or pushes to the limit, we should stop and ask ourselves, "Why did the author say it like that?" We learned that the answers will tell us something about the author's point of view or purpose. The author might even be exaggerating to make us think a certain way.

Numbers & Stats:

Authors use numbers and statistics to provide precision-or to avoid it. This signpost helps students make comparisons, draw conclusions, make inferences or generalizations, differentiate fact and opinion, identify details, recognize evidence, and understand the author's purpose or bias.
Students learned that when you're reading and you notice specific numbers, number words, or amounts, you should stop and ask yourself, "Why did the author use these numbers or amounts?"

​Quoted Words:
Asking students to be alert for Quoted Words really means asking them to think about what was quoted and who was quoted. This helps students recognize the author's purpose, make inferences, draw conclusions, and identify point of view. Noticing who is quoted and what is quoted might also help students think about facts and opinions, see cause and effect relationships, make comparisons or contrasts, draw conclusions, infer, and think about the author's point of view, purpose, or bias.
In class we learned that when you're reading and you notice the author quoted a voice of authority, a personal perspective, or cited others' words, you should stop and ask yourself, "Why did the author quote or cite this person.

Word Gaps:

Our final signpost turns attention to the gap between the words authors use and what students know about those words. For many this gap is the critical problem in understanding nonfiction texts. 
Students learned that when you're reading and the author uses a word or phrase you don't know, you should stop and ask yourself, "Do I know this word from someplace else?" or "Does this seem like technical talk for experts of this topic?" or "Can I find clues in the sentence to help me understand the word?"
The answers will help readers decide if they need to look the word up, or keep reading for more information.

PERSONALIZED LEARNING:
​We continued using our WEX time last week to work on our Personalized Learning projects. Students continued to move through the research process and document their findings. We also began reflecting on individual progress and gave feedback to peers as well!

SOCIAL SCIENCE:

Last week our Constitution unit came alive! To begin, students shared their Branches of Government projects with the class! Once again I was thoroughly impressed by the creativity and effort that went into each presentation. Next, our field trip to the courthouse was absolutely amazing! I can't think of a better way to see the branches (well at least two of them...) of government in action! Students loved speaking with attorneys, sheriffs/deputies, judges, probation officers, etc. first hand. They learned so much from the conversations and question/answer sessions with these professionals! Finally, our examination of the Bill of Rights began, first with an exploration and understanding of why the writers of the Constitution felt it was necessary to create these amendments to protect our rights. We split up into groups of three(ish) to research specific amendments and reach an understanding of what freedoms the amendment protects. Next week we will share this understanding with the class. In addition, Mr. Larson announced his proposed rules for Patton on Thursday. Beginning next week (or soon after) each group will find the proposed Patton Rule that violates the amendment they studied. Students will then be responsible for arguing against that rule.
THIS WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS:
MATH:
We will finish up Unit 4, Division. Students will take their final test on Tuesday. We'll spend the rest of the week completing logic puzzles and reviewing multiplication, fractions, and graphing!

READING WORKSHOP:
Our nonfiction signpost study will come to an end this week. Students will examine the following strategies:
Possible Sentences, Somebody Wanted But So, Syntax Surgery, Genre Reformulation, and Poster.

PERSONALIZED LEARNING:
We will continue working on our Personalized Learning Projects. Hopefully our research will be completed by the end of the week!

SOCIAL SCIENCE:
Our examination of the Bill Rights will continue this week as we learn more about specific amendments and prepare presentations for Mr. Larson.


UPCOMING EVENTS:
Tuesday, 12/15.............................................Unit 4 Math Test (Anderle)
Wednesday, 12/16........................................Branches of Government Quiz
Thursday, 12/17............................................Choir Performance @ 7pm
Friday, 12/18.................................................Winter Break Begins @ 3:35pm
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Monday, December 7, 2015

12/7/2015

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Happy December! Fifth grade continues to be super busy! It's hard to believe that our final weeks of the calendar year are already upon us!!!

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK:
MATH:
In math last week we began Unit 4, Division. We reviewed division vocabulary (divisor, dividend, quotient) and practiced dividing with one and two digit divisors. Students also examined map scales and found distances between US cities. In addition, we practiced dividing decimals and interpreting remainders.

READING WORKSHOP:
Our study of nonfiction continued last week with Notice & Note Stances, Signposts, and Strategies. We began the week by creating the questioning stance. Students were asked to read with the following questions in mind:
What surprised me?
What did the author think I already knew?
What changed, challenged, or confirmed what I already knew?
"Reading with these Big Questions in mind encourages a critical, attentive stance and develops habits of mind that-if we can instill them in our students-may help them deal more attentively and intelligently with the nonfiction texts they will encounter throughout their lives." 

Next, students began to explore the first nonfiction signpost, Contrasts and Contradictions: When the author shows you how things/people/ideas contrast or contradict one another, or shows you something that contrasts or contradicts what you already know, you need to stop and ask yourself...What does this make me wonder about (or why does this matter)? We learned that the answer will help us see details that show the main idea, compare and contrast, understand author's purpose, infer, make a generalization, notice cause and effect. Students also learned that phrases such as on the other hand, by contrast, however, and another viewpoint provide direct signals of a contrast. 


SOCIAL SCIENCE:
Our next research project began last week during social science! Students ranked ordered their interest level on the following topics to determine their course of study for the week: 
Articles of Confederation/Constitutional Convention
Legislative Branch
Executive Branch
Judicial Branch
Groups spent their time collaborating with one another as they planned their learning, researched their topic, and designed a presentation for teaching the class. As you can imagine, the high level of engagement during our work sessions was extremely evident. Students loved learning about their topics and collaborating with their groups! We're all excited to learn about these important aspects of the branches of government from our peers this week!


PERSONALIZED LEARNING:
​Our Personalized Learning project is up and running! We had a fun week of reviewing how to narrow down a topic, and practiced writing "inch, foot, and yard" questions. 
Students developed "yard" questions to explore research topics, met with "critical friends" to receive feedback on their questions, and participated in question conferences with me as well. I'm so excited about last week's progress on this difficult step of developing research questions! Students were also introduced to their own personal learning web pages that will be used throughout this project. Many began documenting information on their page; including who their target audience is and what their plan of action will be. Finally, students began researching their question and documenting their learning.

THIS WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS:
MATH:
We will continue moving through Unit 4, Division. Students will practice making magnitude estimates when solving multiplication and division problems.

READING WORKSHOP:
Our study of nonfiction will continue with an exploration of the following signposts:
Extreme & Absolute Language
Numbers & Stats
Quoted Words
Word Gaps
We might also have time to examine our first nonfiction reading strategy, Possible Sentences.

PERSONALIZED LEARNING:
​
We will continue to explore our research questions this week during our Personalized Learning time. Students will also update their sites by documenting their notes, resources, and reflections.

SOCIAL SCIENCE:
This week in social science we will begin an exciting project to study the Bill of Rights! Students will be utilizing social science time, along with extra LMC time, to take an in depth look at the first ten amendments to the Constitution. 


UPCOMING EVENTS:
Tuesday, 12/8.................................................Courthouse Field Trip (AM)
Thursday, 12/10................................................Band Concert @ 7pm
Tuesday, 12/15...............................................Unit 4 Math Test (Anderle)
Thursday, 12/17..............................................Choir Performance @ 7pm
Friday, 12/18...................................................Winter Break Begins @ 3:35pm!
​


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