In reading, we started our Poetry unit this past week. We will be focusing on various forms of poetry, what inspires poetry, the purpose of various poems, and how to determine some big ideas in poetry. We are encouraging all students to have at least one poem book for independent reading over the course of this unit to extend what we are learning in our lessons.
As I mentioned in a previous email, we have been continuing our development in digital citizenship and spent some time discussing cyberbullying last week. Here are a couple of resources about the role technology plays in students' lives shared with us by our technology facilitator, Mrs. Frantz.
Kids & Tech The New Landscape
Teens & Tech: The New Landscape
This year the students will be taking the PARCC tests on the computers for the first time. We have been practicing in class with the online format, features, and tools and have made the link for the practice tests accessible for the students through Edmodo. Our goal is to ensure that students are comfortable with using the online tools and navigating the various formats of test questions online, while trying not to take too much time from our instruction to focus on the testing. Here is the link for PARCC practice tests. You can access both the English Language Arts and the Mathematics practice tests with this link-just use the tabs on the upper right to select the subject, then select the grade level, then choose "computer based" units for practice. Students are welcome to practice these at home if they would like, but it is not required, as we are practicing in class. So far, the students have generally had very positive feedback and have found many of the online tools to be helpful!
The fifth grade testing schedule is:
Tuesday, March 7th, 10:10-12:10: ELA 1
Wednesday, March 8th, 10:10-12:10: ELA 2
Friday, March 10th, 10:10-12:10: ELA 3
Monday, March 13th, 10:10-12:10: Math 1
Tuesday, March 14th, 10:10-12:10: Math 2
Wednesday, March 15th, 10:10-12:10: Math 3
Friday, March 17th, 10:10-12:10: Math 4
Conference time letters will be sent home on Wednesday, March 1st, so please be on the lookout for those!
A quick message from the school: The Just Move it! Challenge 5k and 1 Mile run/walk fundraiser will be held on April 22nd at South Middle School. This is a great family and community event that raises money for ABC25 grants. Please consider participating as a runner/walker or a volunteer and help Dryden bring home the participation trophy this year!!
Early registration for the JMI Challenge is now open to all walkers and runners! Please go to registration. In order to guarantee that you receive a t-shirt for the race, you must register before April 7, 2017.
If anyone would like to volunteer to help make this year's race a huge success, please sign up here.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions!