Dec. 8

Hello Families!
I am sure you will hear about our Snow Slime adventure today. I wanted to share a few fun pictures I took during the madness. Enjoy!!!
Mary

Update: Week of Dec. 1st

Hello, families!

It has been a great week back from break. It is crazy that our next holiday break will be here before we know it!

Here are a few updates from our room:

-Holiday Calendar Materials: If you signed up to bring Holiday Materials for our class activities this month, please make sure the materials are here by the Monday before the activity. If you need to access the link again to see what you signed up for, here it is: Holiday Festivities in Trailer C

-Winter Party: As I said, the Holidays will be here soon! If you could please access this SEPARATE link  from our room parent to view what is needed for the winter party on December 21st, that would be great. We appreciate you and your donations!

-Math Test: We will likely test over unit 3 in math at the end of next week. Please be aware that next week there may be extra practice pages coming home to prepare for the test.

-Upcoming Events/Important Dates: 
Friday, December 8th-(Tentative) Math test date
Friday, December 15th-Schoolwide Ugly Holiday Sweater Day hosted by Service Club
Tuesday, December 19th-Secret Santa gifts due
Thursday, December 21st-Secret Santa reveal, Winter party
Friday, December 22nd-Thursday, January 4th- WINTER BREAK
Thursday, January 11th-Music Extravaganza at Gentry (6:30 pm)

Enjoy your weekend & Stay Healthy!
Mrs. Sanders

Holiday Activities

Below is the calendar that was sent home in Friday Folders regarding activities in class. Also, I have included the link to the Sign-Up Genius.

Thanks!
Mary

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/4090F4BAAA828A5FC1-holiday 

Week of Nov. 15

Hello, families! Happy fall! I enjoyed meeting with each of you this past week. Thank you for dedicating time out of your day to your child's learning. Here are some updates:

Friday Folders: 
There will be Friday Folders sent home this Friday, but next week we will not have them due to the short week.

Turkey Tom: 
Turkey Tom is due on Monday, Nov. 20. Students are to pick a state to research, have at least 6 facts about the state, and decorate the turkey to represent the state. Feathers can be added to the turkeys, turkeys can be cut out, and students can be as creative as they choose. There will be a "Most Creative" and "Most Informative" winner.

Book Projects: 
Books projects are due Dec. 1. If your student finishes a project, it can be brought to school at any time. Please be sure to review the project with the rubric to ensure all criteria are met.

Holiday Celebrations: 
As we approach the Winter Holidays, the fifth grade teachers like to do activities in class that are related to them. We will be making gingerbread houses, watching movies, creating elves, making snowflakes, and much more. In Friday folders on Dec. 1 I will be sending a calendar of events that I have planned for the kids. If there is something you prefer your child not to participate in, please let me know as soon as possible. With this calendar, I will also send out a digital link to the Sign Up Genius I will be creating for all of the materials needed for these activities to be possible.

Field Trip: 
We do have an upcoming field trip the week after Thanksgiving Break. We will be visiting the RBHS planetarium on Nov. 29 from 11:30-12:30. We will not need parent volunteers for this trip. Please avoid making appointments during this time if at all possible.

It has been a great few weeks in Trailer C. There has been so much learning going on! I hope your family has a relaxing holiday break next week. Please do not hesitate to email me with any questions or concerns!

-Mrs. Sanders

Week of Oct. 27th

Hello families!

Here is a quick update from Trailer C :)

Announcements/Important Dates:
-Parent teacher conference times have been sent home in your student's Friday folder this week. Please double check that the time works for you, and email me if there is a conflict.
-No school on Monday, Oct. 30
-Veteran's Day Assembly Nov. 8 at 8:30 am
-No school on Friday, Nov. 10 in lieu of conferences
-Fall break will be Nov. 22-24
-***Please make sure your student has a working pair of headphones/earbuds at school. They are necessary for Media class as well as in the classroom on some iPad apps. Thank you so much!

Reading & Writing: 
During reading, we have been working on using background knowledge to understand what we read. We also read a monster story to prepare for our writing. We finished our first narrative writing piece, and students have now started a fun "Monster writing" piece. Please see the form in the Friday Folder about supplies for creating a monster on Tuesday, Oct. 31 in class. As always, if you have extra supplies and are willing to donate, there will probably be someone who can use them.

Math:
We tested today, so we will begin Unit 3 next week and take the STAR math test.

Social Studies: 
This week, kids chose a state to research and make a poster about. The kids did really well with the project. I will be displaying these at school.

Science:
We finished matter last week, so we have started talking about Space Systems. 

Week of October 6th

Hello, Families!
Here is a quick update from our classroom this week:

Reading: We have been working on identifying parts of a plot within a story. We've watched Pixar Short Films to try and figure out the plot and fill out story arcs as we go. We also focused on setting earlier this week.

Writing: We are continuing to write our narrative drafts! We are getting close to publishing.

Math: We have been working on multiplication strategies this week. We also have been practicing using powers of ten within expressions. Next week we will focus on division strategies. Our test over Unit 2 will probably be the last week of October.

Social Studies/Science: Students completed the Native Americans project, so we have entered our science block over matter. We have been doing some experiments and working on identifying what matter is. We will be having a short quiz over this in the upcoming weeks. I will send a review home with plenty of time to review at home.

Homework: There is a hot pink nutrition form that came home Wednesday that will be due next Wednesday. Our nutrition lady who comes on Wednesdays wanted students to complete this activity. 

If you have any questions at all please contact me! I look forward to seeing all of you at the Chicken BBQ next weekend!

-Mrs. Sanders

Important dates:
10/14: Chicken BBQ 4-8pm
10/17: Early release- 12:10 pm
10/27: Fall Party
10/30: Teacher workday-No school

Week of September 22: Classroom Updates

Hello families!
Here are a few updates from our classroom this week:

Reading: We've been working on identifying story elements this week. Next week we will work on characters and their purpose in a story.

Writing: We have gotten into drafting our personal narrative. Next week we plan to add detail and stretch out some of the more simple ideas in the drafts.

Math: We finished Unit 1, and we're on to Unit 2! This week we have reviewed some place value content and will continue with that next week, as well as using exponents and powers of 10. If you have not returned your child's signed test, please do so as soon as you can. 

Social Studies: States and Capitals seem to be going really well! I was impressed with the enthusiasm on the Northeast states. Those always seem to be the most challenging. Next week we will work on Southeast, and then we will work on studying all 50 states and capitals. I plan to have that test the second week of October, probably October 13. I will let you know for sure as we get closer.
We also started a brief Native American study in class. Students were assigned a region and group. They will be presenting Google Slides presentations to the class next Friday, Sept. 29. This project will mostly be completed in class, unless students need to finish artifacts at home.

Please remember to send the Chicken BBQ bags back to school, even if you are not ordering anything at this time. Thank you!

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Sanders

Important Dates to Remember: 
9/25: Teacher workday, no school
9/26: Safety Patrol Meeting after school
10/14: Chicken BBQ 4-8
10/30: No school, Teacher workday

9/11 Anniversary Teaching Topic

Parents,

Thunderdog by Michael Hingson

This week we have talked a lot about 9/11 and the influence it had on our country's security and well-being. Today I talked to the kids about a book I read last summer. I recommended students to read the book with an adult just for support in understanding what is happening throughout the book. There is no violence that I recall, but the ideas discussed are complex for these kids. If you are interested in reading the book with your child, here is the title and picture of the book. It is available at Daniel Boone library!
Have a great day!
-Mary

Thunderdog Video

Week of September 8th: Classroom Update

Happy Friday to all of our families!
I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing Labor Day weekend. The kids seemed to have enjoyed the short break. Here are some updates from our classroom this week:

Reading: In reading we have been focusing on summarizing. This may help with writing summaries for reading homework. We will focus on it again next week. The method we have been using is: Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then to write the summary. It seems to make the concept easier to understand for the students.

Writing: We have continued working on our narrative planning sheets. Students have chosen a topic to write about and hopefully we will begin focusing on each individual part of the essay beginning next week.

Social Studies: The states and capitals have been a hit for the kids in my room! It seems like they are enjoying the challenge that comes with learning all of them. I hope the scores continue to be as great as they have been so far! In the end, there will be a quiz over all of the states and capitals, but students will have more than a week to study for that quiz. If your student wants to retake this week's quiz, I will offer time for that on Monday.

Science: We talked about germs and viruses this week. The students were intrigued by the complexity of it. We also talked a little bit about the metric system in comparison to the U.S. Standard Measurement system, as this paralleled with our math. If you have time this weekend, talk with your student about different measurement units!

Math: In math, we have been doing a lot of unit conversions. In class the students have been able to refer to their reference books. We have also been talking about different ways to find the volume of a 3-D shape. The students have enjoyed some of the interactive, hands-on activities we have experienced during this unit. Our tentative testing date for unit one will be around September 20-21. Please make sure your student is confident in the content as the study guides, homework, and practice pages come home! Thank you for your support!

As always, please let me know if there are any questions or concerns with any part of your child's education!

~Mary Sanders
msanders@cpsk12.org

Important Dates:
9/15: DOT Day-Wear polka dots!
9/25: No school
10/17: Early Release
10/20: 1st Book Project Due
10/27: Fall Party
10/30: No school

Week of August 21: Classroom Update

Happy Friday, RBE families!
Every other week, I will post on my blog in place of our classroom newsletter. This just happens to be the first week! Here is some information for you regarding our week in Trailer C!

Math: We have officially launched our new math curriculum! We started this week with finding the area of a rectangle using unit squares. We also had some practice in our warm-up problems pertaining to the Order of Operations. Next week, students will learn about volume of different shapes. I have assigned some Home Links (Everyday Math's version of Homework), but most students have finished in class. The time in class will unfortunately dwindle, so students may be coming home with a math page in the following weeks.

Reading/Writing: This week in reading we worked on predicting. We read a story and talked about the endless predictions our classmates had. Next week we will be working on asking questions as we read. In writing, we looked at some student examples of narrative writing, talked about areas of success or areas for improvement, and brainstormed for our personal narratives.

Science/Social Studies: Next week in science we will start working with experimental design and the scientific method. In social studies, we will continue to focus on states and capitals for the next few weeks.

Miscellaneous Information:

• Students have received Everyday Math access codes to access the book at home. They are taped in the front of the student agendas. 
• Homework is to be completed at home and returned to school Friday morning. Please make sure this is getting done by signing the front of the homework packet prior to your student turning it in. 
• If you have not already, please sign and return the page on the front of the student handbook to me. The deadline for that is Friday, September 8th. 
• Please consider donating to the RBE Chicken BBQ! The date is October 14 from 4-8pm. If you are able to help, please volunteer! We will need a lot of help. There is a yellow form in Friday folders pertaining to this. 

Enjoy your weekend! As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns! 

Mary Sanders

msanders@cpsk12.org 

Lost glasses

Parents,
As I have begun cleaning my trailer for the new year, I found a pair of black Nike glasses that are "KD" style. If your child is missing these, please email me at msanders@cpsk12.org and I can leave them in the office!

Mrs. Sanders

Donate to "Pinning Cancer"

Parents,
Myles Putnam, a 3rd grader at our school is trying to raise $6500 for St. Jude's. He is a wrestler and his team wants to make a difference in the lives of children with cancer. Please consider donating for this cause. Our class goal is $1000 before the end of school. Help us reach our goal! Any amount is appreciated! We will have a donation jar in our room until Tuesday, May 23.

Thanks!!
-Mrs. Sanders

Sock Hop Pictures

Please visit this link to see some awesome Sock Hop pictures!

Sock Hop 2017

-Mrs. Sanders

End of April Update

We have officially finished MAP testing! I have been so proud of the perseverance I have seen the last few days.

I wanted to let you know that students will be getting their last homework packet this upcoming week. In addition, students will get a "20th Century Interview" homework assignment that will be due the following Wednesday. Details will come home on Monday.


A few reminders:
-SOCK HOP 6-8pm on 4/28
-LAST LIBRARY CHECK OUT 5/4
-MO CREDIT UNION FIELD TRIP 5/8
-HIKE TO RB STATE PARK 5/9
-MAP TEST HOT DOG PARTY 5/10
-MARKET DAY 5/12
-VARIETY SHOW 5/16
-TWIN DAY/FIELD DAY 5/19
-5TH GRADE GRADUATION 5/24
-LAST DAY OF SCHOOL (HALF DAY)/5TH GRADE PICNIC AT SCHOOL 5/25

Have a relaxing weekend!
-Mrs. Sanders

Welcome back from break!

Hello families, 
I hope you had a relaxing spring break! I was excited to hear all of the students' stories about their week off! 

I just wanted to inform you of a few quick things. First, MAP testing will begin Tuesday, April 18 and go until Wednesday, April 26. We have a school-wide schedule that spreads out the different sessions to give students a break between sessions. Please make sure that your student gets plenty of sleep and eats breakfast during this week. The fifth grade team is allowing students to bring hard candy to have during the test. If you would like to donate to our classroom or send your student with some candy during that week, that will be fine. We do ask that students bring candy only for themselves, not for friends, unless the candy is donated to the classroom. Thanks!

Another note: Baby pictures are due to me by April 21st. Please send one to school!

Important end of the year dates: 
4/28: Sock Hop 
5/5: RBHS Field Trip with Mrs. Sharp 
5/8: Missouri Credit Union Job Shadowing Field Trip
5/19: Field Day--contact Mrs. Moore to volunteer
5/24: Tentative 5th Grade Graduation Date 
5/25: Tentative Last Day of School

March 15 - PJ DAY and much more!

Parents,
The students earned a Pajama day tomorrow, March 15. Also, a student wants to use his snack day coupon then too. So, we will be having a snack/PJ day tomorrow. If you are able, please send snacks for students to munch on throughout the day. Pre-packaged items work best, such as mini goldfish bags, trail mix pouches, pretzel and hummus packs, or the pretzels with cheese packs. Of course, there are many other options. I really emphasized that it needs to be a snack that can be shared with the whole class. If you want to donate a box of cheez-its or something of that sort, I will have cups available to portion the snacks. Juice pouches with clear juice or mini water bottles will also be accepted. We have 25 students in our class.

Thank you for your help in celebrating good behavior in Trailer C!
-Mrs. Sanders

March 7th News

Hello, Families!

            Sorry for the late post, we have had some technical difficulties on my end with Blogger.

This is Reading Week at RBE. We will have Mystery Readers on Friday in the Media Center, so I know that will be exciting for the students.

                        Here are the spirit days we have planned:

                        Monday, 3/6: Mismatched Day

                        Tuesday, 3/7: Top Hat Tuesday

                        Wednesday, 3/8: Dress like your favorite Book Character

                        Thursday, 3/9: Wear all green-Green Eggs and Ham day

                        Friday, 3/10: Flannel Friday

Wednesday, March 8^th students may bring a ‘special drink’ to school. This may be a clear liquid or Gatorade. NO DARK SODA WILL BE ALLOWED.

SPRING PICTURES: Spring pictures will be on Tuesday, March 14. We will also have our 5^th grade panoramic picture that day. Please return the order forms by Tuesday, 3/14 to order.

FIELD TRIP: Literacy field trip to Warrensburg, MO. Please see the handout that was sent home in Friday folders for more information.

Homework: There has been a rise in “NHI” assignments (not handed in). Please check with your student each night that homework is being completed. These choices will result in strikes, and three strikes dismisses a student from the next 5^th grade activity or field trip.

Enjoy the early release with your kids today!
Mrs. Sanders

This week's news!

We have had a great week in Trailer C! Please see below for a few updates and reminders:

Reading & Writing: In literacy, we have been working hard on our assessments. Most students have finished their STAR reading tests and will have that data in time for Parent-Teacher Conferences. We also have continued working on our Colonial Job essays. We began putting our information from graphic organizers into rough drafts this week. Hopefully we will have a finished product to send home soon! We also want to give a shout-out to our spellers that will represent our class at the school spelling bee on Friday: Victoria and Isaac.

Math: This week we tested over Topic 9. We will start Topic 10: Adding and Subtracting Fractions and Mixed Numbers next week. I noticed on our math tests that several students improved their scores compared to previous tests. Way to go!

Science: We have been talking about Matter this week. We have discussed properties of matter and discussed the relationship between Mass and Volume. We also made Oobleck in class. Please see below for the recipe for Oobleck if you would like to make it at home J

***CONFERENCES: I will be sending home the conference time confirmation slips in Friday folders. Please make sure your time works for you! Let me know if it does not.

Please keep your eyes peeled for a Sign-Up Genius link to be coming home soon for signing up and donating to the Valentine’s Day Party!

Have a wonderful 3-day weekend!

-Mrs. Sanders

REMINDERS:

Monday, Feb. 6: No School-Teacher Workday

Friday, Feb. 10: 4/5 Grade School Spelling Bee

Monday, Feb. 13: Book Fair Opens, Special Friend Day in Specials (10:10-11:00)

Tuesday, Feb. 14: 5^th Grade Valentine’s Day Party in the Gym

Friday, Feb. 17: No School-Conferences

Monday, Feb. 20: President’s Day-No School

Friday, Feb. 24: School PJ Day

Oobleck Recipe:

1 Cup of Corn Starch

½ Cup of Water

Stir until there is a gooey consistency. Add food coloring to water if you want it to be colored. 

Parent Teacher Conferences

Please visit this link to sign up for a time for parent-teacher conferences. They are just around the corner!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090f4baaa828a5fc1-parent

Biztown and other updates!

Another quick week has come and (almost) gone! We are excited to embark on our field trip on Monday to Biztown we have been preparing for. Here are a few things to know:

• Students may bring something to do on the bus...an electronic device (students will not be able to use the internet, text, etc. Devices will remain on airplane mode), drawing paper, notebook, markers, book, magazine, etc. All items need to fit in their backpack and they will be responsible for them.
• Everyone needs to bring a lunch labeled with his/her name. We recommend keeping your lunch in a paper/plastic bag that can be thrown away. Do not bring a drink...drinks will be available from Biztown.
• All children will need to be picked up from RBE at 4:30...buses will be gone and everyone will need a ride home. Please make arrangements with other parents if your child will be riding with another family. If you are riding home with another family, you must have a note.
• We will be leaving quickly in the morning. Be sure that students are on time to school that day.
• If you are a parent volunteer, you will meet us at BizTown. If you have not received a training email, please let me know ASAP so I can contact the volunteer coordinator at BizTown. Students must ride the bus TO BizTown, but you have the option to take your student home with you at the end of the day. You may take another student home as well, but you must have a signed note from that parent giving you permission to take their child. You will have to sign your student(s) out before you leave.

A list of this information will also be in your student’s Friday folder.

Aside from preparing for our field trip, we have been working on:

-Math: Improper fractions and mixed numbers, equivalent fractions

-Writing: We are still working on our informational writing about colonial jobs. We started drafting our body paragraphs this week. We also did AIMs progress monitoring this week.

-Reading: Remember our book projects are due next Friday, January 27.

Lastly, please click the link below to sign up for a February parent-teacher-student conference. I will be having student-led conferences again this round, so please choose a date that you and your child can attend if possible.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090f4baaa828a5fc1-parent

As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns!

-Mary Sanders

Wednesday's Field Trip

Parents, 

Here are couple of things you will need to know about the Fine Arts Extravaganza on Wednesday:

1.)    Looks to be an all-day trip where we spend the morning at Rock Bridge High School and the afternoon at Jesse Hall on MU Campus.  We should be back to RBE by 2:00.

2.)    It also looks to be a warmer day than we’ve had, so perhaps dressing in long-sleeved shirts/hoodies/light jackets will be easier to keep up with all day rather than a large winter coat.

3.)    We are encouraging everyone to wear a Rock Bridge T-shirt to show school pride and help us keep our crew together.

4.)    Lunch counts have been taken already and e-mailed to our lunch preparers.  Ask your student what they signed up for!

5.)    If you are bringing a lunch from home, you are encouraged to use a paper sack with the student’s name on it so that it can all be thrown away.

6.)    Students may also bring a small drawstring backpack for the day – to keep lunch in.  Large backpacks will stay in the classroom.

If you have any questions, please let me know!! J