In your lit journals, you will be writing a series of poems, using them to illustrate alliteration, onomonotopeias, similes, metaphors and personification.
The following sites will be explored:
 I will post a few more to use later. 

In our last selection in the textbook, we are reading "Shutting Out the Sky," and students will need to think and reflect on where their family comes from. We will be writing a short bio-poem that should have some reference to each student's individual heritage and history of immigration. In the selection the main character Marcus, is taken "under the wing" by another Romanian immigrant.  We looked at the phrase and identified the preposition under and began to look at idiomatic phrases.  Idioms are figurative speech or descriptive rather than literal.  But we are going to make cartoon panels showing the literal and figurative meanings. For students who did their classwork and homework, we will be using this site to generate the comics:

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/
or this one:
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/  this one has more characters but less scenes.


This site might also be useful in looking up some of the idiomatic phrases: http://www.idiomsite.com/
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/
http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/omgrammar/expresionesidiomaticas.htm
Game or activity: http://www.funbrain.com/idioms/

A list of prepositions: http://abcteach.com/free/l/list_prepositions.pdf

 https://searchstories-intl.appspot.com/en-us/creator/

Finishing up our project, I will be sending home a short brochure about Indians today and for extra credit, students can watch the PBS episode that we previewed in class at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/the_films/episode_1_trailer  look to download the first episode of about 45 minutes. 

Students have now had three weeks of computer access to research and collect facts about their Native American Tribe.  We have one last week to type and edit our reports.
Students should sign on to http://google.com and sign in as Vesport1@gmail.com with the password vestal123 and select the drop down menu for documents and then select their
name and number and open the document to work on. Open the file that was modified most recently. All changes are saved automatically and they are in my drop box. 


The Native American Research project is connected to the Island of the Blue Dolphins excerpt and our historical fiction unit, additionally we will be using our research as a starting point for the last selection in Unit One of the Scott Foresman textbook on immigration and our own ancestry.  The Reading Street Textbook is available online at http://pearsonsuccessnet.com and students have access at home or at the library to the resources that we are using in class. The weekly selections are in condensed form as in a summary but spelling and vocabulary are available.  Additionally, the spelling and vocabulary are at SpellingCity.com and each student has a password to sign on and use at school and at home.  I tried to be consistent in assigning passwords (my core class uses vpU + their student # and Ms. Bennetts group use vpb + their student #) usually the passwords are the same but some are vestal _ _ _ (zero + student#).


Students who scored 65% or less on the weekly selection test have been assigned the selection test on Island of the Blue Dolphins excerpt to improve your score.  Sign on the http://pearsonsuccessnet.com and use your student number to login.  For Ms. Bennett's group use vpb0 plus your student number in both username and password (make sure you use the number 0 (zero).  For Ms. Byrne's group use vestalvpU# as the password and the username (make sure the U is in caps). If you are not sure if you passed, sign in and the lower screen will say to start assignment.  If no assignment is showing go to the flashcard sites to work on vocabulary:

Use the flashcards to learn the definitions for words found in the first few chapters of each book:
Sing Down the Moon   http://quizlet.com/3208523/sing-down-the-moon-flash-cards/
Walk Two Moons        http://quizlet.com/4904281/walk-two-moons-vocabulary-chpt-1-10-flash-cards/
Sign of the Beaver  http://www.studystack.com/flashcard-48023

At http://SpellingCity.com  students can learn the Geography Vocabulary and we will be taking tests in class.

After reading the assigned novel, students take the Bookadventure test and must score 70% or better, there is a 20 minute time limit and students who do not pass the first time must meet with the teacher to review the book and then have settings changed to allow the test be taken a second time.  Guessing is not suggested. Reviewing the vocabulary links above may help and completing the book is highly recommended and it is suggested that you read the author's notes and or any historical references at the end of the books.
 
Part 2: Research for a 5 paragraph expository essay and possible pop up report.  Students will either choose or be assigned a Native American Tribe to research and study. Using a graphic organizer and internet research, students will collect facts and write five paragraphs about the tribe, its location, resources, housing, food, clothing and customs or traditions.  We will be researching for a limited time in the computer lab and then work for 6 to 7 days at about 20-30 minutes a day. Students may work at home but all parts of the assignment must be completed and turned in for points and credit.  

Day 1: Students will look up an internet resource about the tribe and print it out for highlighting and discussion. Make sure that the http address and citing sources are included.

Day 2: Students will collect 3 to 5  facts about the tribe's name, what it means and how they got it or who gave it to them.  The information should be highlighted on the computer print out and additional facts could be searched on the internet or from the Native Encyclopedias available.  Each fact must be cited for the source on the graphic organizer.

Day 3: Students will collect 3 to 5 facts about the tribes location and setting, including where they are located, when they moved, migrated or were pushed there. Facts should include what the setting looked like using geographic terms (from our dictionary) and both general location and specific or exact locations. Facts may also include what resources were available and extra points for relating that to the geography of the area.

Days 4 to 6: Students will collect 3 to 5 facts about each, the housing, food and clothing. Again extra points will be given to making a connection to the geography and resources of the area. Housing should include what it is made out of, how it is made and why, and what it looks like. Food should include seasonal information and preparation and preservation.  Clothing can be related to ceremonies and traditions.

Days 7-8: Complete graphic organizer and brainstorm leads and questions and transitional sentences to guide the writing.

Days 9 -10: Students will write the final draft of the five paragraphs for grading. Those that finish early may have time to type and edit their papers.  

Wikipedia is not a good primary source but will be used as a starting point but all facts must be verified by another source and carefully evaluated.  

Links:   http://www.native-languages.org/languages.htm#alpha
            http://www.kidinfo.com/American_History/Native_Americans.html
            http://www.kidskonnect.com/subject-index/16-history/273-native-americans.html
            http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/natam.html
            http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/41/index.html

 This webpage is located at http://south-portable.vestal.groupfusion.net and you can join as a parent or a student by clicking on the join option. You can also google vestal fifth grade and it will bring up my page. The first 19 students or parents who join get a class cash bonus.

Hello and welcome to the fifth grade here at Vestal.  We are off to a great start. Students received backpacks full of supplies and we have set up a good classroom community supply and also sent home several spirals & rulers. To complete our classroom supply list, I ask that students bring in:
2 boxes of Kleenex 
2 packages of index cards (one may be color).  
2 fine point sharpies for our classroom supply.
A handheld pencil sharpener seems to be a necessity this year (most of mine in the classroom are missing handles?).
One set of headphones for use in the computer lab (should have the personal stereo size plug). (I prefer students to not share hair items).

It appears that we will be learning to play the recorder this year (up until Winter Break). I have enough recorders for each student, but they are getting old and you are welcome to purchase one for your student, a music quality recorder costs about $4 to $5 at a music store. Please feel free to call me here at school, I am usually in the classroom around 7:30 am and leave around 4:00 pm.

Monday - Thursday students should get one math and one language arts sheet.  Both sheets should not take more than 30 minutes to complete.  If your student has to spend more than that amount of time, feel free to write a note at the top or bottom and initial, your student will receive credit for what they have been able to do.  However, please keep in mind that early in the year I try to send home work that is below grade level and should have been covered in previous school years. If your student forgets their work or misplaces or loses it, they or you can create makeup homework. In math we are working on factors and factoring, odd and even numbers and multiples, so practicing any of these skills would be acceptable. Language arts includes vocabulary and spelling and writing, so letters and paragraphs and short stories using any of these elements would be good practice.  Keep in mind, while we are correcting our homework in class, students who forgot, lost or replaced it will need to take notes and participate.  Students who choose to not complete homework will be paying classroom money and losing lunch recess and if they still have not caught up, they will get detentions after school. At lunch and in detention, students are required to complete the work assigned and write at least 25 sentences in cursive "I will remember to bring my homework or I will remember to do my homework etc... Each week, I ask that students read at least a 1/2 hour a day for a total of 4 hours a week outside of class. I will be sending home their weekly bank account statements which includes at the bottom a weekly reading log, your student should list the titles of books that they have been reading, the number of pages and the times of the day that they are reading. Books read at home can be tested on http://bookadventure.com for points in class and this is also a great way to check for reading comprehension.  

Black History/African American

Campaign sites for unit

Homework Generators

Math Sites

Science Links

Science Sites for Plants

Social Studies Election sites

Solar System Links

Spanish Learning

Strategy Games online