Friday MAIL

Dear Parents of Room 10,

      On Friday, I sent home three very important pieces of mail that I want to bring to your attention; one was WHITE, one was ORANGE and one was CHARTREUSE.

WHITE:  Your children and I had our yearly "personal safety" chat on Friday. This is sometimes referred to as "Good Touch/Bad Touch." This letter is meant to let you know that the lesson occurred, and it lists the objectives of the lesson. Please take a few moments to talk with your child about our class discussion.

ORANGE:  Because fifth graders are so busy the last few months of the school year, I sent home a list of important events, including dates, time-of-day and event. Although an occasional event might pop-up between now and June (including our end of year party), this is a pretty inclusive list. You may want to go "RETRO" and hang in on your refrigerator or just add the dates to your virtual calendar; whatever works best for your family.

CHARTREUSE: Nature's Classroom Information packet. There are two forms that must be completed and returned; NC Student Registration and Home and Health Information Questionnaire.  ALL FORMS (INCLUDING MED FORMS) ARE TO BE RETURNED NO LATER THAN THURSDAY, APRIL 18TH.) Please note that your final Bill will come home under separate cover.

Thank you for sharing your child with me!  Lester Betor

Pajama Day & Show and Tell

Good Morning!

I am attaching some photographs from our Pajama Day. The children posed with their special "Show and Tell" item. They did beautifully with explaining the importance of the item they brought in.  Enjoy!

Room 10 Classroom Update

Greetings from Room 10!

      We have been very busy since returning to school after the holiday break. In addition to academics, the children have been preparing for our first-ever Cultural Festival, next Thursday evening, January 17th beginning at 5:45pm. A flyer outlining details about the festival will be coming home today. I look forward to seeing everyone there!

      The respiratory unit is drawing to a close and will culminate next week with a unit test. The children have materials from which to study, including scaffolded notes from a Google Slide presentation.  Beginning the following week, we will begin our newest science unit, "How Do You Bring Fresh Water to Those in Need." Anna, a PhD. student from SUNY, will be joining us for science each day.

      In writing, our focus is non-fiction writing, and the children have researched a topic related to Westward Expansion. Over the last couple of days, they have written a flash-draft. This will be revised and edited MANY times over the next several weeks.  To complement this unit, we are focusing on non-fiction reading right now. Since beginning this unit, the children have compared and contrasted the same article about Octopuses at various reading levels. It has been interesting to see how the same information can be shared with a variety of grade levels (Grades 2-6).

      Play rehearsal has been going well, although there are still a number of students who have not memorized their lines and/or song lyrics. At this point, Mrs. Clarkson and I are blocking the action on stage, and the children can not rely on a script. Play rehearsals, with the exception of our February break, will be weekly at their designated time. Children should arrive and be picked up on time. Since we began in December, despite the reminders, children are being dropped off late and/or begin picked up late. I appreciate your support in this regard.

      I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and healthy 2019!  Hope to see you next Thursday night for the Cultural Festival!

                                                             Kind regards, Lester B. and Class

Gingerbread Houses and DARE Graduation Reminder

Greetings from Room 10,

     On Friday we celebrated the coming holiday by decorating gingerbread houses. I was amazed to see how well the children worked both independently and with their second grade buddies. They had so much fun!! We were all impressed by how well they shared and helped one another. Thank you to Mrs. Jennings and Mrs. Danz for organizing all the supplies and for all of our 5B families for donating supplies for the gingerbread houses. Special thanks to Mrs. Jennings for coming into the classroom and helping us out on Friday. Following are some photos of our gingerbread decoration extravaganza!

     Just a reminder that tomorrow, December 17th at 9:45am, the children will be participating in their DARE Graduation. All are invited to attend.

                                                                   Take care, Lester B. and Class

Crazy Hat & Crazy Hair Day!

Greetings from Room 10!

     This has been a particularly ambitious week, and the children enthusiastically rose to the occasion. We are in the editing stages of our narrative writing piece, and we began our first book clubs of the year.  Our focus in book clubs initially will be characterization. This is an area of review. However, determining theme is our new concept. They are doing wonderfully!

     Today we celebrated a great start to the new school year with a popcorn party and CRAZY HAT & CRAZY HAIR DAY!  Throughout the school year, we will enjoy special events like this to celebrate.  Speaking of celebrations, Wednesday is our Halloween Party. Our party will begin at approximately 2:20pm and go to the end of the day. All are invited to attend. We will play BINGO and enjoy treats.

      Auditions for A Monstrous Tale are scheduled for November 6^th or 7^th. Be sure to arrive a few minutes before the audition so we can keep the process running smoothly.  Our goal is to make the auditions fun and not-at-all scary. We will take photos of all the children during their auditions.

      For American Education Week, you are invited to join us in the classroom on November 6^th from 11:15-12:00 and then join your child at recess/lunch at noon.

      Our Annual Eat, Shoot & Read event is November 8^th. The fifth-grade class is hosting a snack bar and will sell pizza. If you haven’t already pre-ordered your pizza, you have until November 5^th. Otherwise, we will sell pizza by the slice. Check out the Sign-up Genius to donate food items.

      If you haven’t already done so, please use the Sign-Up Genius link I provided to schedule a conference. I look forward to chatting with everyone!

      I am attaching some photos I took this morning.  Enjoy!!!

                                                                 Have a great weekend!  Lester B. Debbi B. & Class