January and February Important Dates

Below I have included the important dates for the months of January and February:

Saturday, January 25, 2014 - PTO Pancake Breakfast - 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

Saturday, February 1, 2014 - PTO Elementary Schools Trivia Night

Wednesday, February 5, 2014 - Late Start Day - School begins at 9:40 a.m.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014 - PTO Meeting in LRC - 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, February 13, 2014 - Valentine's Day Parties - 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Thursday, February 13, 2014 - Incoming 6th Grade Curriculum Night at Wydown for 
Parents and Students - 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Friday, February 14, 2014 - No School - Professional Development Day for Staff

Monday, February 17, 2014 - No School - President's Day
Thursday, February 20, 2014 - Black History Night - 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - Late Start Day - School begins at 9:40 a.m.


If any questions arise regarding any of the above events, please let me know!!

A Wonderful Winter Day!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  Thank you to each of your families for your support of our field trip to Hidden Valley last Thursday.  It was truly a wonderful experience for all of the students!  It was so exciting to see the students learn a new skill, persevere through difficulty, and support each other along the way. Many complimented our students on their manners, their perseverance, and their respect for others who were on the slopes.  It was such a fabulous day on the slopes!  Please follow the link below to view some pictures from our trip!

http://www.claytonschools.net/Page/12698

October Important Dates

It seems hard to believe we are about to enter into the month of October!  Here are the important dates for the month of October:

Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - Picture Day

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 - Late Start Day - School begins at 9:40 a.m.

Friday, October 4, 2013 - Field Trip to Cahokia Mounds - 8:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Monday, October 7, 2013 - Wednesday, October 9, 2013 - Parent-Teacher Conferences Begin for Ms. Crowley's Class

Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - PTO Meeting in LRC - 7:00 p.m.

Friday, October 11, 2013 - No School - Conference Prep Day

Monday, October 14, 2013 - Friday, October 18, 2013 - Parent-Teacher Conferences Continue for Ms. Crowley's Class

Friday, October 18, 2013 - No School - Conference Day

Wednesday, October 23, 2013 - Late Start Day - School begins at 9:40 a.m.

Thursday, October 31, 2013 - Halloween Parade and Parties - 2:00 p.m.
If any questions arise regarding any of the above events, please let me know!!

The History of Formal Friday

Ever since October 2008, Fridays have been a special day for my classes.  One Friday in October of 2008, I was greeting my students as they entered our classroom, and I noticed one of my students was wearing a suit and tie.  I asked him why he was so dressed up and he explained to me that his dad had "Casual Fridays" because he had worn formal attire all week.  The student then said to me that he should therefore have "Formal Fridays" because he wore casual attire all week.  I was struck by the originality of the idea, the confidence he demonstrated, and also, the amazing ripple effect.  Soon, each of my students began asking if they could put their own spin on our new classroom tradition.  We, of course, set up our norms and procedures for the day so as to not disturb our learning and the learning of others.  I was so excited that our class had created a new tradition, one that anyone in the school could be a part of if they chose, and that it brought our class together as well.  Ever since that day, "Formal Fridays" or "Tie Day Fridays" (the name it was given at Captain), have been a part of our classroom community.  Students are welcome to wear ties on Fridays.  I have a class set as well in case any students may forget or want to borrow one from me.  At the same time, wearing a tie is completely optional.  Many students may choose to not wear a tie, and it is completely each student's choice.  We celebrate everyone's choice to participate or not participate each Friday.  As I had stated above, we also have our norms and procedures for the day, as the tie is reminder to us to be professional and focused in our learning without any distraction.  The tie is also a reminder to always be original and let innovative and creative thinking shine through each day.  Our class has chosen to carry on the tradition, and I look forward to seeing our class make the tradition their own.  I look forward to posting a whole class picture soon of our "Formal Fridays" together! 

September Important Dates

Each month, I will list important, upcoming dates.  Here are the important dates for the month of September:

Tuesday, September 10, 2013 - PTO Meeting in the Library at 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013 - Late Start Day - School begins at 9:40 a.m.

Friday, September 13, 2013 - PTO Fall Garden Day - 3:30 p.m.

Friday, September 27, 2013 - PTO Captain Movie Night - 7:00 p.m.

If any questions arise regarding any of the above events, please let me know!!

Welcome!

First, let me say welcome to you all!  This year, I will post our latest classroom news, curriculum updates and important dates on our blog.  I hope this is helpful for all of your families and also easy to access.  Please let me know your thoughts as we go forward.  This is my first blog actually, so I want to make it as helpful to all of your families as I can.

What a wonderful start to the year it has been!  I am so grateful to work with each of your children and your families.  Fifth grade is truly a wonderful year - a year full of inspiration and growth.  There is a magic in the year, and I so enjoy being a part of this milestone year with all of you.  We began our year by discussing the three key components of fifth grade.  I always tell my classes that fifth grade is about three things: Dreaming, Leading, and Seeing.  We dream about the possibilities of now and the future.  We reflect on our strengths and also how we can grow in all areas.  In terms of leading, we begin to understand what it means to be a leader and how leadership also carries with it great responsibility.  Finally, we seek to see...really see the world, see ourselves and see others through a new perspective.  All of these themes will be reflected throughout the year as we learn and grow together.

We began our dreaming as we created our own “dream house” on the first few days of school.  We read the book, The Big Orange Splot.  In this story, a gentleman named Mr. Plumbean lives on a neat street where all of the houses look the same.  Everyone is very happy with their neat street, and the community does not want anything to harm their perfect routine and neighborhood they have in place.  One day, a seagull flies over Mr. Plumbean’s house and drops a can of orange paint on his house leaving a big, orange splot.  This stresses the community greatly as their street is no longer the same.  Mr. Plumbean embraces the orange splot, and from it, he creates his own dream house.  After his creative renovation, he states to the community, “My house is me, and I am it...It looks like all of my dreams.”  The community initially resists, yet soon follows his example, and the neighborhood grows into an amazing array of originality and creativity.  After we read this story, our class discussed the implications for us.  We agreed that the message of this book is that everyone’s originality should be celebrated and embraced.  We also stated that we want everyone in our community to feel welcome and valued.  We then went to work on creating our own “dream houses”, which are now hanging in the front of our classroom.  I have attached a picture of our creations.  These houses will serve as a reminder of our mission: to welcome originality and value all members of our community.  It is also my hope that this mindset will extend outside the doors of Captain and out into the world.

Our community building will continue throughout the next few weeks as we will review our norms and also continually practice procedures.  We are also hard at work in different subject areas. In Writing, our first unit focuses on developing who we are as writers.  Students have begun to work on their own free writing pieces, for example, their own fiction stories, poems, songs, and many other pieces.  We will continue to work on these pieces throughout the school year.  We will also have our classroom pieces we will work on.  In this first unit, we will write a poem.  This poem will be the first piece we will publish this school year.  

In Social Studies, we have begun our first unit, entitled “Cultures Meet”.  In this unit, we will examine how cultural differences and competition for land lead to conflicts among different groups of people in the Americas.  We began the unit by organizing our Social Studies notebooks, and reviewing our knowledge of geography. We have textbooks we will reference throughout the school year, but we will also use various other resources and primary sources to help us as we think like a historian. 

In Reading, our first unit: “Agency and Independence: Launching Reading with Experienced Readers,” focuses on solidifying our reading habits, and also, growing our agency, or our determination to meet our goals.  As we develop a strong foundation for our reading this year, we also saw the importance of having a reading log to document work and growth.  The students formed their own reading logs, and students will record their reading each day.  Many of the students chose to use a log similar to last year, while others chose to design their own.  The students will log their reading each day. I will check in with them to see the progress they are making in their reading logs and also to make sure they are up to date and organized.

In Math, our first unit “Whole Numbers,” has focused on the skills of writing numbers in word form, standard form and expanded form.  We have also discussed place value, comparing numbers and how to successfully round and estimate.  We will have a test on this unit this Wednesday, September 4, and we will begin our work in our new math classes on Thursday, September 5.

I look forward to continually updating you on the great learning occurring in our community!! Have a wonderful week ahead!!