Balance: FUN and Academics!
Everything is in full swing at MTMS! At this point in the school year, we are hitting our stride in the classroom. This is where students need extra supports to ensure they are starting off on the right track. It takes a combined effort to ensure that students are learning to balance their responsibilities, sports, and social lives! Read through to see where we are at with fun and student responsibilities! It takes a team effort from staff, students, and parents to ensure our 5th graders are on the right track!
Recently we had homecoming and a very fun pep assembly! Our students learned the Cadillac Fight Song, complete with a little competition between 5th grade and 6th grade to see who could sing it best. SO FUN! We love building school spirit---GO VIKINGS!!!!
6th Grade (sorry about the video quality....forgot to upload in HD).
For their fist time, 5th graders did a great job with our school song!!
There were some fun teacher vs. student games, too!
Our homecoming spirit week theme was Disney....check out all the fun we had!
Should I call them Mini-Me?!
Leasha looks just like HeiHei, the chicken from Moana!
Oh deer! Mrs. Koenig makes the best Bambi.
We enjoyed a popcorn Friday!!
We had a GREAT turn out for the MTMS section of the parade!!
Hey, there's our very own Amellia!
And Jordynn!
Way to represent, MTMS!!
Although our Vikings didn't come out with a win, we still love our blue and gold!! What a great community event. Homecoming 2018 is in the books.
Back in the classroom, we are continuing to read A LOT! We are building our stamina, reading within our lexile range, and growing our love of reading. The 40 Book Challenge has taken off, and some students have already reached the 5 book milestone! Keep encouraging your scholar to read, read, READ!
We have written a handful of personal narratives and tried our hand at various writing techniques: using dialogue, strong verbs and adjectives, interesting leads, and more! We are moving into writing personal narratives in the form of an opinion. Our young writers are getting better every day!!
You haven't seen any of the writings come home yet, because we are going to publish them digitally on SeeSaw. Be on the look out for that this week! The rest of them will be shared at conferences, or sent home with your scholar then!
We have also been working on reading a variety of narratives and using the texts to meet our 5th grade ELA standards. We have been working on quoting from the text and describing evidence in the texts to support our thinking. So far, we've read excerpts from The Prince of Los Cocoyos, Rosa Parks: My Story, and Hello, My Name Is. Many students did a great job on the name research assignment that went along with the story Hello, My Name Is. We enjoyed hearing the origins of everyone's name, and many students learned a lot---saying they didn't originally know how they got their name, or why, or the origin of their name. Thank you for having those family conversations---they really enjoyed it!
Please encourage your child to work hard at school, and always do their best! We don't send homework home on a regular basis. We value the importance of working hard at school, and then having time for family, fun, and social lives outside of school. Students only have homework if they don't finish it in class. We are giving LOTS of in class time to finish assignments, and many students are still taking things home and not returning them. Many students have shared that they can't do their school work because they have too many obligations in the evenings, such as sports and other extra curricular activities. Students at this level often need extra support from parents and teachers to figure out how to balance un-finished work and sports.
Homework tips:
Set up a comfortable and quiet spot in your home for homework.
Determine the best time to complete the homework: right after school? Before dinner? After dinner? With students getting out of school at 2:30pm, it might be ideal to allow them a short break, then expect that they complete their work before sports that evening.
Have supplies handy - pencils, dictionaries, erasers, paper, etc.
Follow up - ask to see their work. Look at their planners daily.
Conferences
I am looking forward to meeting with my homeroom class for conferences! Please plan to bring your child to the conference if you are in Mrs. Powell's homeroom. I implement student led conferences, in which your scholar gets to lead their own conference! I believe it is a very valuable conversation when students are able to share their strengths, their recent work, and and their goals for improvement. They will also share a bit of academic data from our initial assessments. Putting students in their driver's seat of their education is really powerful. They will work hard to prepare their conference this week, and we look forward to seeing all of you!! Please remember, each family only meets with their child's homeroom teacher at the designated time that was sent home on your conference letter.
We are looking forward to a great week!!! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
