Monday, November 28, 2016

News Crew

Calling All 4th and 5th Graders Interested in NEWS CREW

Please click on the link below to apply for a WLE TV News Crew job, if you are interested.   Applications are due December 14th!  Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Mrs. McDonald

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSep7lgxYZBhjdo58lI_whOBYbx-hGNT9ZecE117Vlv4RSISJQ/viewform

Monday, November 14, 2016

November 11th

Blog written by the students in room 14.

We have had a productive week of working together in room 14.  We spent some time working on understanding differences and respecting each other opinions. We learned that we can have friends that do not share the same opinions and views.  We all come from different backgrounds and experiences.  We understand the importance of respecting one another.

Read below to see what room 14 has been working on this week.

Readers' Workshop
By: Alex, Roman, Jordyn, Iker, and Damien
In Readers' Workshop this week we have been working on SWBST.  This stands for somebody, wanted, but, so, then/theme.  This strategy helps us to retell or write a summary of stories we read. We are going to use these summaries to help us write realistic fiction stories of our own.

Writers' Workshop
In Writers' Workshop we have been writing realistic fiction stories.  We have been working on thinking about the setting of our stories and how the setting can affect the characters.  We also learned that authors spend a lot of time researching before writing.  We spent some time researching caves so we could develop a strong setting.

Math
By: Karlee, Caden, Landon, and Carlina
In math we finished unit 2.  We spent some time reviewing to prepare for the upcoming BA.  We reviewed 4 digit by 2 digit traditional division.  We also worked on checking our work by using the inverse operation.






Thursday, November 10, 2016

School Wide Updates

WLE Spirit Wear

Order Your Walled Lake Spiritwear Today!
Show your Tiger Pride and order your spiritwear today! All orders must be placed by MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21st! You may order by simply filling out the order form that was sent home with your child and returning it to the school OR ordering online at the link below!
https://walledlake.itemorder.com


PTA NEWS

PTA NEEDS YOU!  PTA has asked me to find a parent that would be our classroom representative.  As a representative, you would have to attend 1 meeting a month to help the PTA makes decisions about for school community. If you are willing to donate your time as a PTA classroom representative, your child will get FREE POPCORN FOR THE YEAR!  Please let us know if you would be willing to be our classroom rep.

We still need our parents to join the PTA.  Joining the PTA does not require any of your time.  You just need to fill out a registration form and pay the $6 membership fee.  PTA is a great way to get involved in your child's education.

SOCKTOBER CONTINUES: A WLE 5th Grader on a Mission

Check out this incredible video featuring our Fifth Grade students as they support their classmate, Zane. Click here to play…

Zane is collecting warm clothing items for the South Oakland Shelter. We are helping him reach his goal of 300 items. Any donation of new socks, warm clothes can be placed in the box outside Mr. Malonis' classroom. 

Monday, November 7, 2016

November 4th

*Blog written by the students in room 14

We have had a busy week in room 14.  It was a wonderful week that began with our last WLE Halloween parade.  It was different having the parade so early in the morning but we all enjoyed our last Halloween as elementary students.

Important Dates and Reminders:

PLEASE consider joining the WLE PTA. Our class currently has 0% PTA membership. Please support the students at WLE with your membership.

November 8: NO SCHOOL- Parent teacher conferences from 8:00-6:00

November 10: Cookie Dough Fundraiser Pick Up from 3:00-6:00

November 11: Popcorn Sale 50 cents a bag

November 18: Popcorn Sale 50 cents a bag

November 24 & November 25: NO SCHOOL

November 30: Holiday Shop begins

Readers' Workshop
By: Carlina, Caden, Iker, Justin, and Quincy
In Readers' Workshop this week we have been looking for signposts.  The Notice and Note signposts help us think about the stories we read and jot down our thinking.  We have learned about Contrast and Contradiction when a character acts in a way that is unexpected.  We also learned about A-ha moments where a character realizes something. These A-ha moments often times solve conflicts or support the theme of the story.

Writers' Workshop
By: Peyton, Roman, Landon, Lamar, and Chase
In Writers' Workshop we have been working on adding figurative language to our writing.  We have been working on adding similes, metaphors, hyperboles, personification, idioms, oxymorons, allusions,  and alliterations. We have also been looking for examples of figurative language in our reading.  Figurative language can help to engage the reader. As we have been working on this we are also working to publish one of our memoirs.

Math
By: Ashley, Jordyn, Damien, and Karlee
In math this week we have been working on division.  We studied the area model, partial quotients, and traditional division.  We looked at the similarities and differences between the different strategies.  We determined traditional division is the most efficient way.  We also learned that we need to memorize our multiplication facts in order to efficiently multiply and divide multi-digit numbers.  Please practice basic multiplication facts at home.

Science
By: Marwan, Nathan, Alex, Shokrukh, and Armani
This week in Science we learned about the water cycle.  We spent time learning about convection currents as well.  We have our first science BA on Wednesday, November 9th.  This week we worked on our science review to get ready for our first BA.  Don't forget to study room 14!

Social Studies
By: Alexa, Faith, Tyler, Leila, and Connor
In Social Studies we have been learning about European Explorers.  So far we have learned about Leif Erikson, Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, Amerigo Vespucci, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Juan Ponce de Leon, Ferdinand Magellan, and Hurnan Cortes.  We found that the explorers we have studied were exploring looking for gold, a shorter route to the Indies, or land.  We had a debate about which explorer deserves their own national day.  We needed to provide a claim and evidence to support our claims.  Ask your 5th grader who he or she believes deserves a national day.






Tuesday, November 1, 2016

October 28th

Written by the students in room 14.

We all survived camp.  We had an amazing time getting to know one another and learning about environmental science.  Please read below to hear about camp from the students in room 14.  

Forest Community
By: Alex, Marwan, and Alexa
In forest community we went on a hike and smelled Sassafras and Wintergreen. We ate wintergreeen.  We also learned about forest succession.  We hiked through the forest looking at intermediate and climax forests.


Pond
By: Caden, Karlee, and Faith
At camp we had a class called pond we did many things there.  We learned that in ponds and streams there are things like insect lavras and other living organisms.  We went to a pond and a stream to find samples.  We took the samples and looked at them under the microscope.  We also learned about the succession of a pond.

Geology
By: Shokhrukh, Jordyn, and Iker
In geology class we learned about 3 types of rock, sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic. After we learned about those rocks we got to go outside to a farmer’s field. When we got there we got shovels and we started to dig to find rocks. When we found rocks we used hammers to break them to see what’s inside them and what kind of rock it was. We got to keep the rocks and bring them home.

Water Cycle
By: Nathan, Chase, Roman
In Water Cycle class, we learned that we can find little animals in streams. If you use a microscope, you can find little insects that are really small in the pond/streams.   We found pollution in the stream. Water pollution can affect your body. The pollution in the water can kill the animals that lives in the water. We also learned ways that we can help save water and protect the watershed.

Evening Fun
By: Tyler, 
We did string tricks and it was hard to make the tricks and also we did Legos where we had to build something  about what you learned when hiking. We made bookmarks  with leaves in them. We had to find leaves  outside. We also did a camp print on a shirt.

Dorm Life
By: Peyton, Justin, and Ashley
At fifth grade camp we all had breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the camp cafeteria. We had assigned table groups.  We were responsible to get our own food and clean up when we were done. We also watched a movie each night and took showers in the dorm. It felt good to get the dirt off. Then we would write in our camp folders. After we finished writing we were able to hang out and talk in the dorms.  We really liked the dorm life.

Owl Pellets
By: Leila, Carlina, and Connor
At camp, the grossest thing that we did (by far) was dissecting owl pellets (throw up).  We had partners and each pair of partners got an owl pellet.  We had different tools.  We had 1 toothbrush, 2 pairs of tweezers, and 2 paintbrushes.  The owl pellet felt like a hairball from a cat.  As we pulled it apart, we found skulls and bones from different rodents and other small animals.