Welcome to 5A! 

 
Mrs. Marilyn Stuit
teaches Language Arts & Science to all 5th grade students

Mrs. Stuit's letter of introduction

5A Homeroom Schedule

Contact Mrs. Stuit at MStuit@st-thomasmore.org

What’s happening in Language Arts and Science
 
READING:  We are reading the novel Maniac McGee by Jerry Spinelli.  The students have researched and made a slide of 5 important facts about the author of this book.  They also created a title page and mapped out the detailed setting. We will continue to complete activities as we read the book.
 
The third quarter book report requirement will be a non-fiction book report due March 18th.  The form will be coming home with your child (when they are ready for it) and can also be found on the web site by clicking on book report form – information.
 
ENGLISH:  We continue our study of pronouns.
 
COMPOSTION:  We have completed descriptive writings of our favorite people!  Please check them out when you walk down the hallway.  Our next writing piece will be an expository writing sharing something they know a lot about. They have finished the graphic organizer and are working on writing, revising and editing the rough draft this week and next.
 
SPELLING:  We continue to work with Wilson Spelling.  The irregular words that will be tested for the remainder of this year can be found under the spelling words tab on the website.
 
SCIENCE:  Our weather unit is complete.  We are now studying geology (minerals of earth’s crust and earth’s rocks and soil).  The quiz over lesson 6.3 and 6.4 is pending.  Check the assignment notebooks for the exact date.
 
Every two weeks (on Fridays) your child will be bringing home his/her daily work in a manila folder.  After looking through the work, please send the empty manila folder back to school with them, signed and dated.
 
Thank you for all you do at home to make your child’s education a successful one!

Biome Project

We have begun our biome project planning and it is going very well!  Some students want to have live animals in their biomes and I need to explain how this may be done.  First of all, we do have a budget in science lab and there may not be any need to purchase anything.  Please delay any purchases until we know the final plan in January.

The biome project will take a lot of planning and careful thought by the students.  I calculate that the students will be building and equipping their biomes in January and no animals would be brought in until that time.    Before any group may put a live animal in their biome I will require a contract be signed for the care and upkeep of the animals and parental permission be obtained.  The students will be fully responsible for the care and upkeep here at school during specified times.  Only animals that could be left over the weekend with water and food would be allowed to be put in the biomes.  (I of course would check them over the weekends, but would not be responsible for any food or water as the students would need to record those things on their own.) 

There must also be a plan, as part of the contract, for a home for the animal during spring break and after science night.  I will require this plan in order for me to allow them to put an animal in their biome.  We will work this out over the coming month and a half.  It will be a wonderful learning experience!

Follow our progress, and if you have questions, please contact Aerin Benavides.

Irregular Words Spelling Lists

Students will be learning spelling by using the Wilson Learning System. Each week students will be responsible for knowing a variety of sounds and rules.  The weekly spelling test will include (1) non-sense words using these sounds/rules, (2) real words that use the weekly sounds/rules and (3) irregular words. The irregular words list for each week is listed below.

January 25 spelling words

February 5 spelling words
February 12 spelling words
February 19 spelling words
February 26 spelling words

March 5 spellling words
March 12 spelling words
March 19 spelling words
March 26 spelling words

April 16 spelling words
April 23 spelling words
April 30 spelling words

May 7 spelling words
May 13 spelling words

Student Report & Project Forms

Biography Book Report Form
Information Book Report Form
Fiction Book Report Form
Poetry Report Form

Contests

Creative Communications 2009 - 10 poetry and essay contest: "A Celebration of Young Writers"
      Entry Deadline for poetry:  4/13

     

Extra Credit Opportunities
Except where otherwise noted, extra credit may be turned in any time throughout the quarter.

Extra Credit Opportunities in Language Arts

Reading: Give a report on a book of any genre. Come up with a creative way to present the book (i.e. write and perform a short skit of a part of the book, prepare a diorama of the setting of the book, retell the story in a poem or rap, dress as a character from the book and “introduce yourself”, etc.).

English, Composition, Spelling: Write a poem or a story. Be creative!

Extra Credit Opportunities in Science

Science Niche: Students may make science and nature observations and journal about these in their science niche books. Niche books should be turned in no later than Thursday, March 18.

Science Project: Create a science project using the scientific method (state the problem, gather information, form a hypothesis, test the hypothesis, analyze data, and draw conclusions).

Science Report: Watch a science program on television (Nova Myth Busters, etc.), take notes, and report to the class on what you learned.

Community Service & Prayer Partners

Food for Kids in Need:  5A will be helping to provide food to project TABLE (click for more information).  Please bring in needed items by Friday, March 12.  Click to read TABLE's latest enewsletter. 

Pennies for Peace: When Greg Mortenson was lost in the mountains of Pakistan during a mountain climbing expedition, an impoverished village took him in, fed him and cared for him until he was well enough to leave the village.  During his time with this village, he saw the children gathered outside - as weather permitted - for school using sticks as pencils and the earth to write on.  He promised to build them a school in return for the generosity shown to him.  

The story of his life's work is told in Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Journey to Change the World...One Child at a Time.  During this year, fifth grade children are filling a two gallon jar with pennies to be donated to the Mortenson's Central Asia Institute to help Mortenson continue to build schools and change the world one child at a time.

Change for Haiti:  Students are encouraged to bring in spare change or money earned by doing extra chores around the house to help the Sisters of St. Joseph in Haiti as they help rebuild the lives of our neighbors recovering from the massive January earthquake. 

Our prayer partner class is 6B -- on Wednesday, October 28th we ate and had recess together.