Merry Christmas!

Have a great Christmas and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! Read, read, please read something every day.

NPR links improved brains structure with intensive reading instruction

Aquathon Results

Check out the results on

http://sites.google.com/site/iaelementary6thgradepe/pe-3-5-1/announcements/aquathlonresults

Reading MAP Test Tomorrow

Sleep well and come in refreshed!

Native American/Pioneer Museum a great success!

The verdict is unanimous. Students did a GREAT job. Thank-you parents for your support.

5th Grade e-book

Check out your child's writing on the 5th grade e-book! (I know there's a problem with the photos in Internet Explorer. I'm wording on that. Just click on this link: http://livebinders.com/edit?id=3940

Math Failure

I totally blew it! I got some bad news from the states that I was totally preoccupied with and taught two days of geometry incorrectly. I apologize. We've rectified things with a special class and I think know the concepts well.

Parents

You are Invited
to the
Native American/Pioneer Museum

Friday, December 4th
12:30 - 1:30

(Have your students bring their projects to school in the morning!)

You've got to try this!

See the full PicLit at PicLits.com

An English Language Learner’s Word of the Day: rigorous

Function: adjective
Comparative and superlative forms: more rigorous; most rigorous
Meanings: 1 : very strict and demanding

Rigorous is a great adjective to describe our new math program--Everyday Math. Some of your children are having trouble bridging the gap from our old program to the new one. This program demands a lot of critical thinking. If your child is having trouble, you may want to spend extra time working with them at home or have a tutor work with them. I am already differentiating and trying to fill holes as best I can, but this may be something we need to work on together to have success.

The math tests were sent home on Friday to be signed. I hope you saw them.

National Honor Society is organizing IA’s Annual Christmas Food Drive. We would like the IA community to have an opportunity to show our great appreciation for everything that the IA janitorial staff does to keep our campus beautiful, safe, and well maintained. NHS is asking for your help in collecting non-perishable food to present to the janitors before our Christmas holidays. Please encourage your child to bring any donations to their classroom before December 16^th. We appreciate your support and help as we try to make this year’s food drive a great success!

The CLO office will be hosting a holiday bazaar at InterAmerican Academy on December 5^th from 11-4 PM. All Consulate employees and their families, as well as the school staff and students’ families and friends are invited to attend!

Please note that all attendees will need to show a photo ID to enter the grounds. Obviously, this does not hold true for children.

Please note that those attending the bazaar will only be able to enter through the second gate (not the main entrance by Puerto Azul #3, but the other gate.) Please make sure that everyone is aware of this, since many of the school’s students will be taking SAT’s and cannot be disturbed.

Listening Grade

As of today, students are receiving a listening grade for the sentence dictation section of their spelling test. We're really working hard on this as a skill.

MAP TEST CHANGE!!!

The dates for our MAP test have changed. We will have our tests on Thursday, December 10th, Monday, December 14th, and Tuesday, December 15th. It is important that your child attends school on these dates so we can have an accurate measure of progress.
Thanks!

MAP tests coming soon!

We'll have our second round of MAP testing starting December 3rd. We have testing on December 3rd, December 8th, and December 10th. It will be interesting to see if there is improvement.

Food Drive Starting: Let's Be Super Generous!

Hello everyone!

NJHS is starting their annual Christmas Food Drive for the janitorial staff. We would like to have a class competition to see which class can bring in the most non-perishable food. We will be going by items per student to determine which class will be the victors!

This is a great way to show the janitorial staff how much the IA community appreciates all that they do for the school. Please encourage your students to bring in non-perishable goods to show their appreciation. Teachers can bring in goods as well to count towards their class total.

Boxes for the food will be brought in for the student donations on Monday of next week. I'm also sending out an announcement for next week's newsflash.

We are going to be giving the food to the janitorial staff on December 19th. We will be holding the drive until December 17th.

NJHS and NHS would really appreciate your support.

The winning class will be awarded a pizza party!

Thanks,
Danielle Richert

A message from the Yearbook Sponsor

Both class and individual pictures will be taken in the morning and outdoors on November 25th, so we can use our beautiful campus for the background, and perfect, not “right in your eyes”, sunlight. We took two photo tests outside and they both look lovely. The Yearbook crew has the best intentions to make you look glorious, but if your children are in a grumpy mood about having your pictures taken, we just can’t make any promises or miracles. So, “smile, although your heart is aching” and inspire your students to feel confident, relaxed and happy as well. If you guys come to the photo session with a “I am gorgeous and I love to have my picture taken” attitude, I am sure you will look just like movie starsJ

Are we selling the pictures?

Yes, we are selling the pictures for the parents, in order to offset the expense of hiring a professional photographer. I will send a letter home to the parents on Wednesday.

The students should be wearing school uniform and they should bring a brush or a comb. If they have PE classes, they should still bring the white shirt in their backpacks.

Swim Unit Starts Next Week

Dear Parent/Guardian:

This is a reminder that your daughter/son will be commencing 3 weeks of swimming lessons during their P.E. classes. Swim lessons will begin the week of November 23. Please make a note of this so students do not miss their swim class. Also, please send us a note if your son/daughter can not swim on any of these days.

Swim classes will be held for three weeks:
(November 23 to Dec. 11)

Students will require the following:

 Bathing suit
 Towel
 Bathing cap for students with long hair
 Footwear- rubber thongs/sandals or gym shoes
 Gym Bag or plastic bag to keep wet clothes after swim


We also recommend the following:

 Sun block be applied before coming to school
 Swimming goggles be worn

Please contact Ray Domingo or David Richert if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you.

Seeing Stars??

If you notice stars on the math journal pages, they are marking problems and/or pages that are assessing particular skills in math.

Science Switch

Since we can't seem to get the sun to shine, we're going to do the Solar Energy Unit at the end of the school year and begin the Food and Nutrition Unit now. It's a fun unit with laboratory testing of fats, Vitamin C., acids, etc. Our culminating project will be lunches that are balanced according to a formula of carbohydrates, fats, etc.

Reading Response Letter for Guided Reading

This assignment is very important and is for a test grade.
Students are to write a response letter to their guided reading book.
The first draft is due Monday.
The final draft is due Tuesday.
I suggest they type the letter so it is easy to make changes.

This letter is more involved than previous letters. It has three parts:
1. Identify main ideas and important details and interpret the meaning of the book.
2. Make connections between the characters and other texts, experiences, issues or events in the community and the world.
3. Examine the author's ideas, writing skills, and techniques in order to evaluate the selection.

The students have a full rubric, but here is the rubric for the three parts in order to get a 3:

Section 1:
The responsetells what the selection is about (main ideas) with details about plot, setting and characters.
Section 2:
The response:
•shows an understanding of what the author indirectly or subtly states about the characters.
•draws conclusions about events and characters and predicts future events based on some evidence from the characters.
•makes connections between the characters and the reader’s experiences.
•relates the characters and events contained in a characters to other texts, movies, television, music, etc. with some explanation.
•relates the characters to things happening in the community or world at large, using some examples.
Section 3:
The response:
•identifies the author’s purpose and provides some explanation of the techniques the author uses to accomplish that purpose.
•provides a basic explanation of how character, plot, and setting contribute to the effectiveness of the selection.
•uses some evidence from the text to evaluate the author’s skill and the selection’s theme(s).

Dear Parents,

The students are going to start having homework assignments on our school Voice Threads account. It is a safe online program. In order for them to complete their homework, they need to set up an account. In order to set up an account they need to have an e-mail account if they don't already have one.

Would you please help your child set up an e-mail account of your choice before next Monday, so they can create their Voice Threads accounts in the computer lab using their e-mail accounts. Don't try to set up the Voice Threads account, as we need to be sure to set up an educational account through the school where the children are protected.

Thanks,
Sue

Speaker in the class yesterday!

Catalina's mom, Magdalena Del Pino, spoke to us this morning about the bathing suits she developed in Chile. She was the first person to develop suits that protect you from the sun in Chile. It was fascinating, from her search for certified material, designing the suits and t-shirts, and opening a shot. The idea is to change the culture of how people think about going in the sun. She'd like to do the same thing in Ecuador. Thanks so much for her presentation.
I would love for any of you to come in and share about your jobs and/or your passions. It's a way to open the student's eyes to new interests.

Thanksgiving Musicians

Mrs. Morris would like you to remember to send in your permission slips for your child to perform at the Thanksgiving dinner. She really needs to know ho many students she will have performing. So far we've received 4 responses. Thank you for those.

Dear Anonymous

To the person who has been asking me questions in the comment section:
Would you please send me an e-mail at sstevens@interamerican.edu.ec, and I will be happy to answer your questions. When you comment, I don't know who you are and I would prefer to answer you privately rather than publicly.
Thanks.

Chicken Pox P.S.

If your child is in 5th grade and was in school last week then they were exposed to chicken pox. Probably it will stop here as most of our students are inoculated against chicken pox and it is rare that someone gets chicken pox when they are inoculated.

Chicken Pox

One of the students in 5th grade has chicken pox even though she had the innoculations. Since Chicken Pox is contagious for two days before the rash occurs, please keep an eye out for the symptoms of chicken pox.

Here's somc information on Chicken Pox according to Nemours Clinic. http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/skin/chicken_pox.html#

Chickenpox causes a red, itchy rash on the skin that usually appears first on the abdomen or back and face, and then spreads to almost everywhere else on the body, including the scalp, mouth, nose, ears, and genitals.

The rash begins as multiple small, red bumps that look like pimples or insect bites. They develop into thin-walled blisters filled with clear fluid, which becomes cloudy. The blister wall breaks, leaving open sores, which finally crust over to become dry, brown scabs.

Chickenpox blisters are usually less than a quarter of an inch wide, have a reddish base, and appear in bouts over 2 to 4 days. The rash may be more extensive or severe in kids who have skin disorders such as eczema.

Some kids have a fever, abdominal pain, sore throat, headache, or a vague sick feeling a day or 2 before the rash appears. These symptoms may last for a few days, and fever stays in the range of 100°–102° Fahrenheit (37.7°–38.8° Celsius), though in rare cases may be higher. Younger kids often have milder symptoms and fewer blisters than older children or adults.

Sign of the Beaver Reading Letter

Please write a letter in your reading notebook about Sign of the Beaver. Please include answers to the following questions with text evidence to support your opinions.

• What did Matt learn from Attean?
• What did Attean learn from Matt?
• Who gained more from the friendship?
• Whose land is it???
  

Spelling Words

Students have new daily homework of studying their personal list of spelling words each night. We brainstormed a lot of study methods:

• Look, say, and spell the word out loud.
• Think spelling the word over and over.
• Get someone to test you on the word.
• Trace and write the word over and over.
• Draw a picture to help you remember.
  

Letter from Author Joseph Bruchac

On Oct 26, 2009, at 11:06 AM, Jordan, Matthew, and Camila E. wrote:

Dear Mr. Bruchac,
We are some students of the 5th grade classroom at InterAmerican Academy in Guayaquil, Ecuador. We're reading Sacajawea and we had a question. We enjoy the diary parts and the story parts at the beginning of each chapter.
We were wondering if all the diary parts are true and if so where did you get them? Are the story parts fully true? How did you get your information for the book?
Thank you,
Jordan Kreis, Matthew Intriago, and Camila Escobar
(and their teacher Sue Stevens)

Hi Jordan, Matthew and Camila,
Thanks for your e-mail. I'm glad you enjoyed
the book!
Whenever I write historical novels I always turn to
primary sources for information and attempt to be
absolutely accurate and true to those sources.
I used the Journals of Lewis and Clark as the direct source
for the diary entries in SACAJAWEA. The stories in the
sections that are Sacajawea's all come from the oral
traditions of various tribal people--such as her own
Shoshones.
I got my information by reading--not just the journals
of Lewis and Clark, but thousands of pages of writing
by others about their great expedition. I also read hundreds
of books about the American Indian nations Lewis and
Clark encountered and spoke to many different tribal
elders who shared stories and history with me.
In addition, over the course of several years in different
trips, I traveled the entire route of the lewis and Clark
journey.
And I belong to the Lewis and Clark Trail Association.

Peace,
Joe Bruchac

Open Music Class PowerPoint

Open Music Class P Point

View more presentations from mssstevens.

Slight Halloween Schedule Change

1:00-1:30 Assembly in the cafeteria (I still need presentation times from the Character Ed group and 2nd grade.)
1:30-1:45 Halloween parade.
1:45-2:15 Party in the classroom on your own.

Sitton Spelling

Sitton Spelling

View more presentations from mssstevens.

Social Studies--Encounters

We began a new unit on Encounters between Europeans and Native Americans today. We'll also be learning how they survived with so much less than we did. The Guided Reading is connected to this social studies unit. As a class we're reading Sign of the Beaver, which presents the viewpoint that the Europeans had much to learn from the Native Americans. Three guided reading groups are reading books about how the Cherokees and Navajos were shamefully relocated. One guided reading group is reading a book about Sacajawea--a Native American who led Lewis and Clark. This book shows how some people tried to have positive and honorable encounters with the native Americans or First Nation Peoples.

Guided Reading

We started a new guided reading unit today. Students created calendars for their reading in their groups. I've posted a master calendar on the sidebar so you can check reading progress.
Students should show their thinking while they read, by jotting down notes on sticky notes and putting them in their books. They can include such things as:
Clunks and how they solved them.
Questions they have.
Sentences they thought were well-written.
Connections they made while reading that helped them understand the book.

Schedule for Halloween

12:20- 12:45 Students change into costumes before the assembly
12:45- 13:30 Assembly.

13:30-13:45 Costume parade in the covered area.

13:45-2:15 Class Parties plus 5 mins for clean up.

2:20 Dismissal

Report Cards and MAP Test Results

Hi! Report cards and MAP test results went out today. The sign up forms for conferences will be up on the door Monday morning. Don't forget to sign up for conferences either the evening of the 28th or the morning of the 29th.

Narrative Stories and Persuasive Letters

We've published our first book and it should be on the way home to you today! Look for the book that contains the personal narratives and persuasive letters and ENJOY!

Spelling Kick-off Tomorrow

I'm so excited about this new spelling program! I spent the weekend studying it and we're ready to lift off!

Social Studies Test Friday

Students have been given a list of important North American countries and geographic locations that they need to be able to place on a map. To get a "4" on the map portion of the test, they can also memorize and place all of the Central American countries on the map.

They also need to know the answer to the following questions about the Revolutionary War:
Who fought in the Revolutionary War?
Why was the war fought?
What is the Declaration of Independence and why is it important?
Who won the war?
Do you think the Americans should have revolted? Why or why not?

Please check the art site

Wonderful new work has been posted which was done by 5th grade artists. They looked at samples of Georgia O'Keeffe's work and then created work in her style. Some are quite impressive. Thanks, Ms Carcache!

EveryDay Math

Lucky us! 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade are piloting Everyday Math two weeks ahead of the other classes, so we can report on how it's going and pass on tips to the other teachers.

It looks like a GREAT curriculum. It'll be a lot of fun.

Room Parent Volunteers!

Yippee! Yahoo! We have room parent volunteers! Thank-you to Janis Fahy, Ana Beatriz Escobar, and Zonia Campos. I'll get in touch with you, but there's not much until we organize the end of the year promotion ceremony.

Research sites

Of course, the old faithful www.google.com is a great research tool. But why don't you try http://en.eyeplorer.com It's a visual research tool that is wonderful. Please watch the little video on the page to help you get started.

New Link to PE site

There's a new link on the sidebar to Mr. Richert's PE site. Check it out for announcements periodically. Mr. Richert sent me an e-mail today: For the next couple weeks, your classes will be working with the soccer balls on the grass field during PE. I have talked with your students and encouraged them to bring sun screen and a hat. Please parents, help us out. Send your children sunblocked and hatted on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Italian Dinner for Only $5

There will be a Spaghetti Dinner

6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 2

InterAmerican Academy

School Cafeteria

All proceeds will be donated to "Mujeres de Lucha"

and the

IA Physical Education Department

Powerpoint About Next Week's MAP TEst

Next week we will have MAP testing. We will have Reading tested Monday morning at 7:30, Language Arts test is Tuesday morning at 7:30, and the Math test is Thursday at 7:30. Please come to school well-rested, well-fed, and with your brain on high speed. Check out this SlideShare Presentation: (If the presentation doesn't show in the window, please click on the link, go to slide share, click on Get file, and then watch the presentation.)

Map Student ppt

View more presentations from mssstevens.

Doctor-to-be

My doctor-to-be friend from Quito visited our class today and talked about studying medicine and answered a flood of questions from the kids. As usual, they were a great audience!

Guided Reading Book clubs Start Today!

Students chose the books they wished to read for their non-book club today and created a calendar for their reading. As soon as my browser stops crashing everytime I go to google, I'll create a master calendar for the reading groups and post it online.

Next Week

Next week we are beginning new units in ever subject area except science where we continue to teach wood and paper to the kindergarten:
Writing: Persuasive letters
Reading: Reading and writing non-fiction
Social Studies: Revolution! (US, Mexican, Cuban)
Math: Division concepts
Word Work: Working with verbs

Computer Class Site

As we at IA continue to improve communication, the specialist teachers are also online with their sites. Note the addition of the computer class link to the sidebar. You can check there to see what your children are doing.

Math Tests

Hi, I sent you the results of last week's math fact tests. I'll be giving math fact tests every three weeks. I don't give a lot of homework, so that while we are working on mastering the math facts the students have time to work on learning the math facts.

Substitute

Dear Parents,

I will be absent Thursday and Friday as I will be working with teacher scoring teams to score the 6-Traits of writing assessments that the students wrote a few weeks ago.

Fortunately, we have a great sub--Mrs. O'Hara--an experienced teacher who came in today so that she would totally understand what we are doing.

Thanks,
Sue Stevens

Link to art blog

The art teacher, Ms. Carcache, would like you to check her blog every two weeks or so. She is uploading photographs of student work every time they finish a project.
http://sites.google.com/site/theiaartsite/home/grade-5

Spelling and Math Websites

You can get more information about our new spelling and math programs on the following sites:
http://www.sittonspelling.com/ Has practice papers you can do at home!
http://www.epsbooks.com/dynamic/catalog/program.asp?seriesonly=1886M Has information about the spelling program.

http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/ Has Information on the new math program.

Exponents . . What do those little numbers do?

Today in math we continued our work with exponents, expanded notation, and expanded notation with exponents. The following video may help you with your work!

TODAY

Math Assessment: Related arrays and constructing arrays
Writing: Word processing our narratives
Reading: Continued with Dr. Goodreader, assessments during Independent Reading
Science: Taught Science to Kindergarten
Social Studies: learned how to locate places when given latitude and longitude
Reading: More independent reading while students were assessed

OPEN HOUSE Reminder

Elementary Open House is this Thursday, September 3rd at 6:30 pm.

Please come, I really want to meet those of you I haven't met, and want to explain what we are doing in 5th grade.

Making the World a Beautiful Place

Sunny, Camila E., and Camila A. are working together on a project that Sunny's Dad's company (LG) is doing to benefit a special needs school in Guayaquil. They are collecting used clothing, shoes, notebooks, and coloring books for this school. Please send in your donations. These three girls receive the Miss Rumphius Award for this week.

AAAWWUBBIS

Today we learned about the mnemonic AAAWWUBBIS. It stands for As, Although, After, While, When, Unless, Because, Before, If, and Since. When you begin a sentence with an AAAWWUBBIS word, you most likely are going to need a comma. You simply need to listen to where the sentence needs a pause, and insert a comma. Try this: Because we are in 5th grade we need to learn how to write clearly and well. Where is the pause? Right after the word "grade". Also AAAWWUBBIS (Ah-woo-bis) is kind of fun to holler when you are writing!

Please sentence stalk a sentence that begins with an AAAWWUBBIS. Write the sentence in your writing notebook. You may also post it as a comment on the blog.

Today

• Continuing with "George Washington's Socks" as a prelude to our study of REvolutionary War.
• Preparation to teach Kindergarten. (Watched video, gathered supplies)
  
• Worked on three strong possible leads for our stories. Continued revising our drafts.
• Art (painting)
• Further work on Concentration Cockpit.
• Math--related rectangles. (concepts of doubling, tripling, quadrupling, halving, and describing relationships of arrays)
  

Today

My gosh we had a whirlwind day today! From starting a new book-- George Washington's Socks-- to map work of North America, working on our personal narrative, and teaching Wood and Paper to the kindergartners. Ooohh, your children are doing a GREAT job with the kindergartners. (You know you learn the most when you teach something.)

Friday, Catalina's Dad is going to speak to us about wood.

Half Day tomorrow

Tomorrow is a half day for students. Please pick up your child at 11.

Speakers in the class this morning!

This morning, my cousins, Walter, Sharon, and Sarah Goss came in to talk to the class about their blueberry and raspberry farm in Maine. Sharon is a middle school math teacher, Walter is an engineer, and they run the berry farm in their "spare" time with the help of their four children.
We learned a lot about how the work of a berry farm is year round: planting, fertilizing, pruning, tying up canes, picking (both by hand and using machinery), and marketing and selling the berries. You can even become a fan of Goss Berry Farm on Facebook!