Greetings from Room 10!

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Dear Parents of Room 10,

            This was a short, cold and productive week!  The children worked hard as we finalized the ABC Book and began two new writing assignments; their Wax Museum speech (which will be done in school) and their DARE essay (which will be finished at home).

            Whales.  Whales.  Whales.  This week we began the Whale Unit with the first two lessons.  After making their Whale Unit divider, we focused on the differences and similarities between whales and fish.  On Thursday I shared a power point presentation introducing seven whale behaviors.  Ask your child to name and explain each of the seven behaviors.  As I explained to the children, these are just seven of many behaviors whales exhibit.  Next week we will begin the whale-to-scale project where we will do scale drawings (1 inch: 1 foot) of a variety of both toothed and baleen whales.  This is a fun and very mess project…and I LOVE IT!

            As I mentioned earlier, the children have selected their Wax Museum subject, we have conducted research and have written facts in their writer’s notebook.  I gave the children directions for both the one-minute speech and the poster.  Except for putting together a costume for the Wax Museum, THIS PROJECT WILL BE DONE ENTIRELY IN SCHOOL.  The Wax Museum is scheduled for the evening of February 28^th, and the proceeds will benefit the Marillac Shelter.     

            The children had their final DARE class with Officer Dave Harrington on Wednesday.  Officer Harrington explained that he is in the process of planning their DARE graduation for sometime in late February, although an actual date has not yet been established.  As soon as I am given the date, I will let you know.  I suspect it will be a morning event, as the last few graduations have been at 9:45am.

            I am happy to announce that I have an extra pair of hands in the classroom every afternoon.  Matt Viglucci, my former 5th grade student and a current Lab School Senior is doing his internship in Room 10.  He wants to focus on writing, so he spent the week finalizing the students’ memoirs.  He also did an outstanding job reading aloud to the children.  Welcome Matt!

            Is your child reading a minimum of 30 minutes nightly?  I did a “State of the Class” Thursday to get an idea of where each of them is with Betor’s Bulls-Eye.  At this point your child should have read a minimum of 15 books.  Please check in with your child to see if he/she is on the right track.                                                 Stay warm!  Lester Betor & Class

Week of January 7th - Our first full-week back!

Greetings from Room 10,

            Happy New Year to everyone!  We are off to a terrific start in 2013.  It’s so hard for me to believe that we have already completed over four months of school.  It actually makes me quite sad to realize how quickly this year is going by.  I know I have mentioned this in the past, but this is a truly special group of children with whom I thoroughly enjoy working.  I view each and every day as a gift.

            This week has been very productive as the respiratory unit begins to wind down and the unit test is on the horizon.  They will be tackling the test on Wednesday afternoon.  I have given them a study guide, walked through the test format and assured them that they have all the tools they need to be successful.  I have encouraged them to begin studying, so you should see them review their respiratory notes over the weekend and early into next week.  On Thursday we will begin the long-awaited whale unit.

            In writing the children have been working tirelessly on their ABC books.  Most of them are about half-way through the alphabet.  I have seen some amazing illustrations and have enjoyed reading their informational texts.  We will continue to work on this project at least through next week.  If you see it coming home, it’s because your child is behind.  Otherwise, I fully anticipate that they will be finished by Friday.

            In reading our focus has been author’s purpose.  My small group instruction focused on the three reasons an author writes.  Ask your child to name the three “purposes,” and to give you examples of each.  Today we began a whole-class “close reading” of two related articles; one from TFK and the other from the Times Union.  And guess what the topic was!  Yes, it was cursive writing!!  It was fun to use an article that the children were a part of.

We conducted a bit of research on Wednesday in anticipation of the wax museum project that will be held the end of February.  The children are selecting some interesting characters from the Western Hemisphere.  Each child will become a person in history (either dead or alive), and will be asked to write (and memorize) a one-minute speech as if they were that person.  In addition, they will create a poster to showcase the contributions their character has made.  All of this work is done in school.  The only thing you will need to be involved in is creating a costume.  This is really an amazing experience; details to follow.

                                                                                                                                    Kind regards, Lester Betor

Happy New Year From Room 10!!

Happy 2013!
We are looking forward to a productive 3 days this week, culminating with the Applebee's Breakfast on Saturday morning.  I hope you are all able to attend, as this is a really fun event.  The children LOVE to work at this fundraiser, not to mention the pancakes are pretty darn good.  Don't forget that the 5th grade teachers will be selling 50-50 chances as well.  Last year's winner walked away with over $200! 

I am including photos from both our dreidel party and our holiday party!  ENJOY!

Welcome to the Final Week Before Winter Break!

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Greetings from Room 10,

            Our week began with a visit from local author, Dr. Dawn Kolakoski who talked with the children about her novel and her writing process.  I have known Dawn for many years, but I had no idea how much research went into writing her book.  The children enjoyed her enthusiasm for writing.  Aside from being a talented writer, Dawn has been a teacher at both the elementary and college level for many, many years.  (Her first teaching job was actually here at Slingerlands!)  Her book, Madison Hart and the Desert Jewel has captured the imaginations of the children and is proving to be a GREAT read aloud!        The children made “Thank You” cards for “Dr. K” and provided ideas for her sequel!

Speaking of cards, 5B participated in a card writing campaign for the troops overseas.  On Thursday, the children made beautiful cards with heartfelt expressions of “Thanks” to the men and women serving our country.

Our respiratory unit is moving along nicely.  We initially focused on respiratory vocabulary, and now we have completed an in-class project on the respiratory system pathway.  Next week I will share a Power Point I created which describes the respiratory process.  The children will take notes that will be valuable when studying for the unit test.  I have planned for this unit to culminate in the middle of January.  Next up:  WHALES!!!

Our reading skill lesson for the week was inferring.  I spent about 20 minutes with each small group playing an inference “game.”  The children LOVED this lesson and many asked if they could come back for a second session.  I love having the opportunity to work in small groups with the kids!

Today we played dreidel with our 2^nd grade buddies.  I love to watch the children interact.  It’s really neat to see the 5^th graders step-up and take on a leadership role with their buddies.

Sending special thanks out to Mrs. Taranto who came to our math class today to teach problem solving.  She is an amazing teacher, and the kids really enjoyed having her work with them on problem solving.

Our holiday party is next Friday, December 21 at 1:15pm.  Feel free to stop by during the party. Also the children’s Kidnastics Show is on Friday from 9:45 – 10:45.  Hope to see you there!

You should continue to see your child read nightly.  Even when I have not assigned written homework, reading 30 minutes each night is a standing homework assignment! On Thursday I conducted a “State of the Class” for Betor’s Bulls-Eye.  At this point, each child should have read a minimum of 10 books.  Please encourage your child to read nightly.  It’s truly the best way to become a better reader!

                        Have a nice weekend, Lester B. and class

Happy Hanukkah!

Greetings from Room 10,

This week we found ourselves finalizing our government unit as well as our memoir unit.  At the same time we began the respiratory unit in health and began to brainstorm ideas for our ABC book.  The children are really excited about writing an ABC book, and they have found it to be a bit more challenging than they initially thought.  I suspect they thought it would be an easy project, until I sprung the requirements on them.  We are using Yankee Doodle America as our mentor text.

Now that we are through the first marking period, I plan to focus our reading instruction on small groups as opposed to whole-class instruction.  The children have been "close reading" non-fiction articles including an article on the Electoral College, childhood obesity and sports figures as role models.  Main idea has been the first skill we tackled.  We will move onto inferring beginning next Monday.  I love reading with the children in a small group setting.

Has your 5th grader told you about the holiday songs we have been singing?  I have been accompanying Mrs. Platek for our yearly sing-a-long for the last 12 years, so my students get to practice with me before the big extravaganza on December 21st.  It's a lot of fun, especially when they sing Felice Navidad! 

Have a relaxing weekend!  And for those families celebrating Hanukkah, I wish you much joy and happiness during this holiday season!