Thursday, December 8, 2016

December 8, 2016

December is passing faster than ever.  You can feel the excitement building around the school.  Our school play was an amazing success, as was the winter concert!  The students are buzzing with anticipation for the holidays.

But wait you might hear me say.... There's still 10 days to go till our Christmas break!  There's just so much to do and so much to learn!!!

5th grade will be finishing up a phenomenal book, "The One and Only Ivan", written by Catherine Applegate.  Looking for a thought-provoking book to read!  Our class is sure to recommend this one. The students found themselves analyzing the treatment of animals, conservation, and the preservation of our environment.  Who ever said animals can't think or that they don't have feelings.

6th grade is reading "Al Capone Does My Shirts."  We have been exploring the different themes of the book.  Set on Alcatraz Island in the 1930's, this book is providing our class with a look at a time period very unfamiliar to them.  No cell phones, computers, or even televisions back then!  We are learning time reflective vocabulary as well.  As we "closely" read each chapter we learn that an underlining theme is the power and love of family.  As Moose struggles to understand what's best for his "special" sister, Natalie, we become aware of the advances that have been made in understanding disabilities such as autism.  We even went on a mini-field trip to Mrs. Pettinelli's classroom, to view first-hand the program and classroom we have right here at OCS to support students with autism. Mrs. Pettinelli added much background information to the questions of the class.  The class has now decided they want to give up free-time to lend a helping hand when needed.

Grammar finds us continuing our study of nouns.  From proper and common to singular, plural, and possessive, they're keeping us busy right up until the holiday break.

Reading tests will continue for the next two weeks on the books we are reading (Fridays).  The final test will be scheduled depending on progress of pages read.

Mrs. Carr's infamous "100 Word Spelling Test" is scheduled for December 21st.  Will your name find its way to our "Wall of Fame?"

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all the OCS families.  Have a happy (and CORRECT) holiday season.  Just had to throw that in:)  Mrs. Carr

Thursday, September 15, 2016

September 12 - 16, 2016

The new school year is up and running.  Excitement is running high about new classes, new teachers, new friends, and first-time ever Chromebooks!  We are working hard to become familiar with all things new.

5th Grade ELA:  This week we continued to explore the many resources available to us this year. Our "Family Leaf" projects are hanging on the tree in the classroom, while the "Superhero" essays are displayed in the halls. We will be having our first spelling test of the year on Friday.

Just a reminder:  Summer reading books and projects can still be turned in through September 23rd. Please remember to bring back the book.


6th Grade ELA:  Our week has been packed full of discussing new procedures and practices, reviewing our new materials, and learning about our Chromebooks.  I have every confidence that these new tools will help us soar to new heights in language, reading and writing.  Our first spelling test is this Friday.

Monday, April 18, 2016

Week of April 18, 2016


As I look out the window and see the sunny skies and trees ready to burst into flowers its hard to believe we are about to wrap up another school year.  

This week will have our schedule reworked to accommodate the different grade-level PARCC testing.  6th grade began last week and will finish up this week; 5th grade began today and will also be finishing up this Friday.  Today's testing went well and this year the students are approaching "the PARCC" with optimism and confidence.

I will not see the 6th grade Math class at all this week and have left them with a packet of assorted material that we have covered.  My ELA class will meet only for one class period this week.  We will be finishing "Holes" and working "review" spelling words.  Hopefully, if time permits we will be able to view the movie and complete a compare/contrast activity.
Friday's assessments will include spelling and a reading test on Chapters 43-50 in Holes.  

Spelling words:  knowledge, plumbing, ghost, against, accident, possible, column, steady, daily, alley, mystery, busier, breezier, prettiest, noisier, categories. 


Holes vocabulary:  summoned, precarious, scurried, flinch, strenuous, legitimate, incarcerated, jurisdiction, evicted, and tedious.

Until next time, 
Mrs. Carr

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Is Spring Finally Here???

     Can you believe it?  It is the fourth marking period.  The year has certainly gone by quickly.  We are now approaching one of our even busier times of the year.  Spring Break is over and fast approaching is PARCC, year-end field trips, and all our other traditional activities as well.

    Mathematics:
     We have just begun a unit where we are analyzing division.  We will be learning about vocabulary that we need to know when talking about division; we will learn 1-digit, 2-digit division.  We will learn about real-life situations where we will be called upon to use division.  Class and homework will come from both our practice and textbooks.  We will continue to work on division throughout PARCC.

     English Language Arts:
     We have had to step up our spelling words this week.  Our class is made up of many "Super-Spellers".  Students are excited to being responsible for more "challenging" words.

Words include:  colony, steady, hockey, starry, movie, duty, drowsy, daily, alley, injury, prairie, fiery, mercy, discover, mystery, single, build, among, faces, friends, grades, missiles, benches, speeches, dresses, Bonus:  lightning, depriving, unconscious

     Our "Holes" reading has become very exciting.  Author Louis Sachar is very clever in connecting Stanley and Camp Green Lake to his ancestor's past.  We have begun reading Part 2.  Assisting us is our "Learning Ally" program.  Learning Ally is truly our friend by providing us with a reading tool that helps us read and reread selections.  Each student in the class has their own personal account set up on Learning Ally and may use this program free of charge at home as well to access over 80,000 titles of digital books (trade books and text books).  Please avail yourselves of this resource.  If you have any questions, please either call Learning Ally or me at the school to help you get set up.

Holes test this week:  Friday, Chapters 29-35
Vocabulary:  delirious, feeble, horizon, refuge and mirage

ELA homework will be coming from many sources; Readers' Notebook, Scott Foresman Spelling & Grammar workbooks.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Valentine's Week

     This week we will be very busy in both ELA and MATH.

6th Grade Mathematics
     We continue our work with fractions.  Noticeable improvement has been realized.  We will have a "fraction test" on Thursday covering addition, subtraction, improper fractions, mixed numbers, regrouping and writing number sentences for finding parts of a whole.

5th Grade ELA
     We are continuing "Holes" from chapter 6 and will begin working in "Literature Circle" format next week.  Students have reviewed their responsibilities me and each other.  We will have an illustrator, a literary luminary, an illustrator, a vocabulary detective, and the discussion director. With each day of reading comes a new job.  Homework will continue in our grammar and spelling workbooks

Spelling test on Wednesday.

Mrs. Carr.

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Happy Valentine's Day!

6th Grade Math-
      Our math class continues to review concepts related to fractions.  This week we will work on multiplication and division of fractions and continue to practice simplifying and regrouping.
Home work will be given Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

5th Grade ELA:
      We will continue with our warm-up and bell-work in our Rebecca Sitton workbooks.  Spelling test will be Wednesday and Grammar will be Thursday.   Going forward students will be graded on effort and accuracy.  
       Grammar- we will address writing responses to fit "directions".  Students are reminded daily to answer all parts of a question completely.  Grammar test (sentence types) is Thursday!
       "Holes" is fast becoming the class favorite literature read.  We are reading chapters aloud and writing responses.  



Tuesday, January 19, 2016

January 19, 2016

It appears that winter has finally found us!!!  There is nothing better to do on a bitter, cold day than to stay warm reading a good book.

And that is exactly what we are going to do..... read Louis Sachar's award-winning "Holes".

   Last week we explored the importance of using your "prior" knowledge to understand what you read.  Our motto is, "You know more than you think your do!".  This is the approach we are going to take as we read through the book.
   We will also become our very own "Literature Circle", complete with daily roles of Discussion Director, Illustrator, Connector, Vocabulary Detective, and Literary Luminary.  Roles will be rotated to insure everyone has a turn at each (several times).  This week we will practice each role so that there are no questions as to what to do.  Our "Lit Circle" will also be responsible for writing individual summaries for each chapter read recording our thoughts as we read.  Holes will be read in school only.
  With our mid-year spelling assessment complete.  Congratulations goes out to Makayla Daubert for receiving 100% for the second year in a row.  Makayla's name, once again with be on the class "Wall of Fame" for spelling.  This week, we will begin working with words that are controlled by the letter "r".  Since we have a short week, the spelling test on these words will not be until 1/27/2016 (Wednesday).
   Grammar and writing will focus on a return to writing complete sentences.  Students will make sure they include both subject and predicate when they write.  No simple sentences!  Fifth grade sentences please, with lots of details.

This week's words include:  army, starve, scar, garbage, argue, apartment, guitar, Arkansas, hamburger, return, purpose, surface, curl, purse, furniture, courage, journal, courtesy, nourish, journey.

Homework:  Rebecca Sitton and Scott Foresman pages that are not completed in class.


6th Grade Mathematics

Fractions, fractions, fractions!  We continue our work with fractions.  Students have learned the importance of studying and knowing their multiplication and division facts.

We are now working on adding and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators.  In addition we will cover fractional parts of whole numbers this week.

Remember to practice your facts!

Homework:  Practice handouts daily