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It's here! A new year! With it come new goals and many life changes. Quarter 2 is coming to an end, which means that we are halfway done with our year. Wow!
This is a great time to talk with your child about goals that they have for themselves personally and academically. We will be setting our new goals and testing our progress on our old goals for the next couple weeks. Please follow up at home with how your child plans on reaching their goals. For example, if they want to grow a reading level or raise a grade, what are they going to do at home to ensure their success? If they want to spend more time exercising, what choices will they have to make to carve out the time? If they have a skill they are working on, when are they going to practice it? This is also the time that we start ramping up preparation for middle school. It will be here before we know it! The best way to help is to encourage your child to have a set schedule for school work, reading, and extra-cirriculars each night. As well as opening up time to talk about the changes that are coming their way (socially, academically, and physically). This is an exciting time and I am thankful to be able to partner with you as we look towards the last half of the year. If you have any questions, concerns, or just want an update, please reach out to me any time! [email protected] Much love, Courtney Massengill
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It is hard to believe that we've been together for 9 weeks and are 1/4 of the way done with the year. It has been a time of growth and learning one another. There have been ups, downs, celebrations, and serious talks, but through it all, I am so thankful for all of the kids that I have.
We've had some cool opportunities to discuss and learn about human rights. One of which was when Jill McElya, who is the founder of the Invisible Girl Project, came to talk to our kids about how her organization is fighting for the rights of little girls in India. It was powerful to hear the kids connect with her stories and I encourage you to ask your kids to show you the response they did in their leadership portfolio. We have also started our bi-weekly clubs. Please ask your students about the clubs they are in and what they are learning! We celebrated reading at our reading night and are so thankful for all of the families that were able to come. We hope to see more of you next time! Heads-Up as we Wrap-Up:
In the Positivity Project, we are studying perspective. It would be great for you to challenge your student to look at situations from different perspectives as you encounter them throughout your day! In love, Courtney Massengill [email protected] Parents,
Please know that students were given the opportunity to make test corrections on the most recent math unit test. It was our first “big” test of the year and we wanted to make sure that students know that they have an opportunity to grow from their mistakes. We gave the students the test, graded it, gave it back, and offered guidance as students make corrections. We applaud the hard work and persistence that most students displayed! If your child did not make corrections, please know that they were given the opportunity. This will be a policy on future unit tests and I would appreciate your support going forward as we strive to help students see that failure is not final and we can all improve! Thank you! -Courtney Massengill ([email protected]) I hope that you and your family stayed safe during the storm this weekend. I hope you enjoyed some great family time and created lasting memories. I am so thankful that the damage was not nearly as bad in the Triangle as they predicted.
That being said, it did cost us a lot of school days! It is a bummer and throws our schedule into upheaval, but, of course, I agree that safety always comes first. Please see below for some important make-up dates. The best place to follow along is on WCPSS Twitter (linked here). They always report out first. There is school on October 31st to make up for Sept 13th. September 28th and October 19th have been extended to full days (they were early release). Let's keep our fingers crossed that nothing else will change! Wow! It has already been two weeks of school. It is hard to believe. The first two weeks have been primarily focused on community development within our classroom and learning how to use the 8 habits. We have engaged in group STEM activities, started our first unit of math, and dove into force and motion. Next week, the normal 5th grade schedule begins. This means that we will have more frequent assessments, and homework may be going home. Homework will not be every night, but it will be often. We are also beginning our new EL curriculum and starting to explore human rights! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about our progress so far and I hope to see you at Open House on the 11th (Tuesday) at 6:45. Restaurant Nights: Monday, September 24, 12 PM to 9 PM is our Menchie’s night located on Creedmore Rd. Tuesday, October 16, 5-10pm is our Milton’s Pizza and Pasta Night on Six Forks rd. Thursday, November 1, 5 PM to 8 PM is our Mcteacher night at the Celebration Station Six Forks location. Welcome to 5th grade, students and parents! I am so excited to have you in my class this year! I know that we are going to create great memories and learn so much from each other.
5th grade is a big year. The content we learn is fascinating and challenging. We are also beginning the process of preparing these students for the jump into middle school. We expect a lot out of our 5th graders, but I have every confidence that they will rise to the occasion. This year, one of my big goals for myself is improving parent communication and involvement, so I welcome your feedback and suggestions on how I can keep you in the loop on your child's education. Thank you for partnering with me and I look forward to getting to know you more. A Quick Heads-Up: * Our ELA curriculum is changing and we starting a program called EL. I am so excited about this, as we get to study really deep concepts with our kids and use AMAZING books! I want you to know that I have heard that the first quarter is a learning curve for the kids, so grades may be lower than expected, but this EL curriculum yields fantastic results! * Math is heavy in 5th grade, so the biggest thing you can do at home is utilize this website and other online sources to help your kids review key concepts at home. Also, reading every night for at least 20 minutes is HIGHLY recommended. I am excited about this year! Please contact me at [email protected] and follow along here and on Twitter @clmassengill2 for our classroom adventures! Much love, Mrs. Massengill Well, it has been an eventful weekend! I hope that you and your loved ones were safe during Hurricane Matthew! Since we had no school on Monday, we WILL have school Oct. 31st. Happy Halloween...
Just a few reminders: Oct. 11: Family Academy Night at 6 pm. Oct. 12: Picture Day!! Oct. 14: Field Trip Money Due!! Oct. 18: Readers are Leaders Night! Please come join us at 6 pm. October 20: McTeachers night from 5-8 pm. Oct. 21: Early Release and Fall Festival! Oct. 28: End of Quarter 1 I also wanted to update you on some of the events that have been going on in our classroom. We just finished a unit on decimals in math and are moving onto multiplication of multi-digit numbers. Please use the resources on the math page to help your child review decimals. We still need to work on that skill so that we can be ready for the EOG's. We are deep into our estuary research and gearing up to go on our field trip. Our class needs at least one more chaperone, so if you are able to do that, please email me! ([email protected]). In ELA, we are learning about cause and effect and beginning to jump into reading groups. I am so excited to begin our book study! The end of the quarter is fast approaching. I would recommend that you encourage your child to continue to work on multiplication fact fluency and reading comprehension. If you need any resources, I am more than happy to provide them! Please enjoy some pictures from our last week! Have a safe, joyful, and cozy week! -Mrs. Massengill School is cancelled tomorrow for all of Wake County! Please be careful and I will see you on Tuesday!
Hello parents! This year is marching on so quickly. We are into my favorite time of year, Fall!!
As we passed the halfway mark of the Quarter 1, I wanted to fill you in on some of the grades you saw on the Progress Report. Thank you to all of you who signed it and turned it in so promptly! This year is rigorous and difficult academically. We intentionally do that to help prepare our students for the transition into Middle School and to push them to do their absolute best. Every week we take a reading comprehension assessment that we call Read, Relax, Respond. We will do these every week to track the students' growth throughout the year. We choose passages that will challenge the students to read carefully, make inferences, and explain their thinking. This is great practice for the EOG's! These assessments are not meant to be easy to pass. This is not to trip students up, but to show them what they are capable of learning this year! On the Report, if there were low grades, it is most likely those assessments that many students were receiving low grades on. When looking at the Report, I encourage you to look at the final grades and remember that we have a whole year in front of us! These grades only reflect a few assessment and projects. I am fully confident that every single student in our class will grow so much this year! The children that are in our class are hardworking, dedicated, and talented students. By partnering with you, I know that this year will be a great one! Happy Fall everyone! If you have any questions, please email me or comment on this post. I cannot believe how fast time is going! Three weeks of school are gone! I am proud to report that every teacher that has visited our classroom has had nothing but great things to say! They are impressed by the community feeling in our room and the rich, academic vocabulary that the students are using. What can I say? Our room is full of some amazing children.
A few quick updates: Monday Folders go home every Monday to be seen by you. This week, there will be very important forms for the field trip in there. Please turn them in as soon as you can. We NEED chaperones. If you are willing and available to help, please register by the end of this month. Helpful Home Activities: We just completed our second round of weekly timed Multiplication Tests, which are used to track your child's math data. Any activities that you can do at home to help your child become more fluent is much appreciated (flash cards, songs, charts). If you need any resources or ideas, I am happy to help. We are also pushing using academic language and speaking in complete sentences. Our weekly challenge is for the students to use their words in conversation with other people. If they do this, there are rewards in the classroom! I appreciate you staying up-to-date on classroom news! Enjoy some pictures from this week! |
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October 2018
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