Hello and welcome to the week before break! This week in Theme we'll continue with our student presentations of the Revolutionary War. Students will also meet with their partners in order to begin considering their board games. If you need assistance gathering materials for your student's board game, please let me know and I'll be happy to help. The students took notes on the game board requirements; please meet with your student to go over these guidelines.

In addition, we'll look at the film Liberty! Which documents the occurrences of the Revolutionary War. There will not be any theme homework over the break!

*Scholastic Books Orders are Due on Friday, December 15th!

*I have four parent volunteer openings for our Winter Party on the afternoon of December 21st! If any of your family members volunteered for the Halloween party, please let other families have the opportunity to volunteer for the Winter Party! Please e-mail me if you're interested!

Wow! This month is flying by! This week in Theme we'll begin with building an impressively large list of the significant people, places, and events of the Revolutionary War. Each student will research their chosen aspect of the Revolutionary War and they will then present their research to classmates. This will create one organized and combined list that the students can refer to while creating their board games. I'll send home the specific requirements of the board games by mid-week. A basic overview is that the students can work in pairs and their game can be based on another game concept such as Monopoly or Sorry. It can also be based on a television game show such as Deal or No Deal, Jeopardy, and of course, Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? Original game concepts are also encouraged. Only the "system" behind the game can be similar, the student has to do everything else. For example, you have to create ALL game piece and even the pieces should relate back to the Revolutionar ...

Hello and welcome to December! Well, the first trimester is behind us and we're moving forward into the second trimester nicely. I spoke with each student about their academic and affective grade. During these meetings, I often reminded students that this is the FIRST trimester. It can be a time for students to test academic and behavioral boundaries. The first trimester grades should be considered a starting point for student improvement. I spoke with students about reflecting upon the trimester and where their academics or classroom behaviors could be strengthened. The talks went well and I believe that your students will continue to put their best foot forward during the school day. Alternatively, some students have used the first trimester to truly shine and show all the 5/6 teachers exactly what their capable of. To these students, I recommend a good pat on the back and encourage them to keep up the good work! I also recommend that students make sure ...

I hope you all had an excellent break! Today in theme we'll finally get back to the wilderness, and consider our KSS experience. We'll also consider the end of the Revolutionary War and the creation of a nation. We've completed our trimester presentations and grades for the final product will be posted soon. Our trimester concluded last Tuesday and as a result, the final grades posted this week will be the final grades for the trimester.

This week in theme, the students have been presenting their final trimester projects. Overall, I have been very impressed with both the projects and presentations. Next week, we'll be finished with the projects and life in theme will be back to normal. I hope that you have an amazing Thanksgiving break with family and friends .

I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend! This week in theme we'll continue to work on our final projects. These are due on Thursday. In addition, we'll reflect on our Keystone experience and learn more about the wolf populations of Yellowstone National Park.

Wow! What a week! The students should be very proud of their sucesses at The Keystone Science School. We worked on team-building and looked at the reintroduction of wolves into the Colorado environment. We all learned a lot about how complex of an issue this is.

All students should be hard at work on their trimester projects as the final product is due on Thursday, November 15th. This is only a week away! At this point, all students have completed their twenty fact cards and a rough draft of their bulleted overview. Now, they need to be hard at work on creating the final presentation of their project. please check in with your student in order to ensure that they are on track and have all materials needed for the final product.

Things you need to know:

* Your child must carry what they pack into the lodge! Please take this into consideration!

* Your child needs a lunch for the first day. Please do not pack extra food!

* Please create a day pack (lunch, layers, etc.) and keep it seperate from the larger bag!

PLEASE DONATE ITEMS FOR OUR GALA BASKET BY THIS FRIDAY! WE STILL NEED STAR RELATED ITEMS! YOU CAN ALSO DONATE A CASH GIFT FOR THE BASKET!