Happy Halloween from the 5th Grade Dream Team!

We had our first BREAK party today! The kids participated in a fall-themed scavenger hunt outside. Then we came inside to have a party, including a dance to the Monster Mash and a funny Halloween story by Jerry Seinfeld. We ate a feast fit for the masses, thanks to all the wonderful food you sent in for us. The BREAK party is a celebration of good behavior.

Play Ball!

Mrs. Sands is in full swing of teaching Storytown! This week, the kids read a story called "Line Drive," a biography about a girl who wanted to play baseball in the 1960's, but had to prove herself to the neighborhood boys first. We worked on fluency with choral reading, and we sang a song! Mrs. Sands broke out some John Fogerty, and we sang "Centerfield." Did you know that singing along with lyrics helps with fluency?

The kids really enjoyed their visit with Mr. Woodward and Mr. Phillips. They were very interested in what they had to say about citizenship, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. The students were extremely well behaved, and we are very proud of them!

Our LEA representative came in to lead us in a soil studies unit. We went outside to test the percolation of the soil in the field here at school, which we will compare and contrast the soil on Bald Pate Mountain next week. We are recording the information in our soil journals. All of this information ties in to our theme of the constantly changing earth.

We have taken the unit 2 assessment in math, and are ready to move on to unit three, which focuses on geometry.

The kids have all earned their 200 BREAK points, and are ready for a celebration! We will be having a party next Friday, 10/30/09. More to come on that later.

LEA! Storytown! Citizenship!

We've got a lot going on here in fifth grade. A representative from LEA will be coming in to science class to help us learn all about soils. We will study the layers of soil, understand how soil is created, and learn properties of soil such as percolation. Our soils studies unit culminates in a hike to Bald Pate Mountain in Bridgton, where we will compare and contrast the soil at the mountain to the soil at school.

Mrs. Sands has started teaching with Storytown! The story for the week was "Ropeburn." We learned about plot, conflict and resolution. Mrs. Sands is very excited to be piloting this program this year! And the kids are excited, too! The students are still expected to be reading independently from their chosen novel as well.

Next week, Mr. Woody Woodward and Mr. Patrick Phillips will come into our social studies class to talk about being an effective citizen. Some of the topics we will discuss include voting, being informed on public issues, obeying laws, respecting rights, paying taxes, participating in civic groups, and community service. We are also still learning about the Revolutionary War.

In math, we are learning about different ways to multiply, including lattice and partial products. Keep studying those times tables!

Crazy Schedules!

We've had a couple of crazy schedules here in the last few days, but the kids are handling it quite well. On Wednesday we braved a few little raindrops and headed out to the Bridgton Public Library for a scavenger hunt. The kids had a great time! They got to meet the children's librarian, Annika Black, along with her two helpers Sue and Suzanne. The kids completed a scavenger hunt and received information on how to get a library card. If you haven't visited the Bridgton Public Library, it's a great place. The best part about it is - it's FREE! It's a lovely place to spend an afternoon perusing books with your child.

On Thursday and Friday we participated in NECAP testing which will go until next Tuesday, 10/6. There is no school next week on Thursday and Friday, as teachers have workshops on those days. There is also no school on Monday, 10/12 as it is Columbus Day. The students will return on 10/13 well-rested and ready to learn!