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I can hardly believe it is spring already; a time for flowers, warm weather, and MCAs! Okay, so the last one isn't the most fun, but it is reality, and our fifth graders are currently showing me what they know! This past week students have been performing and MCA dress rehearsal. They are moving through five different stations to show what they know, and maybe what they need to refreshed on. That is the glory of a dress rehearsal...its still practice! In the next week or so students will then move onto the state practice packet, and finish up with an MCA field day of sorts (this I am really looking forward to)!
Along with the MCAs spring brings some exciting other events in fifth grade. For example in May Mrs. Haglin and myself will be bringing a group of fourth and fifth graders to the Young Author, Young Artist conference at St. Ben's where they will get to advance their writing and art skills. Fifth grade will also take its annual field trip to the Science Museum in May. Although there a lot of fun things coming up it is important for students to remember we are still in school, and there is learning that still needs to be done. There will still be homework and reading that needs to be done at night, even when the weather is nice! So until next time remember to keep READING! :o) 

Perfect Spellers for Trimester 2

No Homework Alerts/Incidentals for Trimester 2

MCA Dress Rehearsal

Student of the Month (Patience)

Long time, no see! I'm not sure where I have been, but it has been awhile since I last posted and I apologize for that. Winter is fully upon us and in reading we are deep into our reading skills. I attended a workshop in December with the author of the book The Book Whisperer, and some of my focus has changed for my Wild Readers! I am really focusing on giving them time to read in class. After all, if I can't make the time in school how am I supposed to expect them to make the time out of school! It is a partnership that the kids have really taken off with, and they are reading more than ever. They are also reading some really great books...many which they have shared with me, and I have read! My most recent recommendation was The Boy On The Wooden Box. It is a memoir about a Jewish boy who lived in Poland during WWII. I highly recommend this to parents to read as well as any high readers or readers who have interest in history. It was a great read!

Along with lots of reading this winter many students participated in our annual Battle of the Books. The kids always impress me when it comes to this competition, and I truly think it is a great way for kids to explore new books at a variety levels in a variety of topics and genres! This year was no exception to the amount of great competition. Congratulations to the Hadler girls for taking first place, and to all the contestants for all the great reading they did!

With winter almost half over that also means we are getting closer to that time of year that everybody loves (or nobody) testing time! Although this is not my favorite time of year, I do find value in seeing what my kids have accomplished this year. If you are looking for some ways for your students to brush up on their reading skills I have some reading apps that I would like to recommend to you. The first one many of the students have played in my class, and it makes reading review fun by putting it into a game show similar to Jeopardy. Take your student on in Language Arts Game Show. The other app. is one that students can practice their test taking skills as well as their reading skills and it is called Reading Comprehension Prep. Well, that is all I have for today. See you soon! Hopefully!

 Battle of the Books

 Look How Focused They Are?

 But not so much they can't take a picture!

 Concentrate

 2015 Champions

Greatness Student of the Month (Organized)

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Wow, it went from fall to winter real quick here! Although I hate driving in snow, it does make me get into the Christmas spirit! Today fifth graders went to our Club's Choice fund raiser kickoff! This fund raiser helps our school earn money to do and have some fun things, like the climbing wall we earned last year. The fund raiser begins today and goes through December 1st. 
Currently in reading we have started our first round of Book Clubs! Students were given eight books to choose from. Once they made their choices they were put into groups with students whom chose the same book. Now they are reading and discussing these books. I have been so impressed with their discussions and their level of discussions! This may have something to do with the fact that each week one group is chosen to be the "fish bowl" group. These students have their discussion in front of the entire class. The rest of the class listens and looks for things that the group did well and maybe some things they can work on. Then the rest of the groups take those helpful hints and go have their own discussions. This is working out great! We will be working on these for the next couple of weeks. 
In December we will begin our poetry unit...this is my favorite of the year! Just a reminder that the end of the trimester is November 26th, and report cards will be coming home soon after this date. Ask your child if they are caught up on everything they need for this trimester so it doesn't sneak up on them! One last note, we have finished our read aloud, One for the Murphys, and will participate in our last Skype session for our Global Read Aloud next week! Have a great rest of your week and remember to keep ReAdInG!!!

I will start today with a big thank you to all the parents that came out to conferences! It is with your help that makes each of our students so successful. Thank you for entrusting us with your children and helping us to make their educational experience the best it can be. 
Next, let me just say how fun Tuesday was in the world of reading. Each class performed readers' theaters, and they all did a fantastic job. It makes it so fun for me to see how excited they get about performing these. I had everybody from Harry Potter to Farmer Brown in my classroom and it was so fun to watch. 
Last week two of the three classes finally got to meet their Global Read Aloud partners. We visited Manitoba, Canada and Waco, Texas. The kids had a great time Skypeing with these classes and learning a little more about them and where they are from. We have continued reading One for the Murphy's, and when we return from break we will be discussing with our partner classes parts that we have read so far. Mr. Brown's class will also, fingers crossed, finally get to meet their connecting class in one way or another. There have been some technically difficulties and timing issues on their end that have prevented this from happening as of yet. 
When we come back from break students will also start meeting one-on-one with me to discuss what books they have reading and we will look at non-fiction. I hope everybody has a great, long weekend! See you Monday!

*Here are some pictures from our Skype sessions and Readers' Theater!

Global Read Aloud

Wow, it is already October! Where does the time go? Sorry I have been a little detained lately. I forget how busy the beginning of the school year is, and how every year I think it gets a little busier. Some exciting news is happening in the world of reading in fifth grade...this week we are starting our Global Read Aloud! You may have read this in last week's Chalk Talk, but let me explain a little more about it. Mrs. Haglin and I have been working together to start a connection with three other fifth grade classrooms somewhere in the world. All of us (our classrooms and theirs) are going to be reading the same book, One For The Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. We are then going to use a few different ways to communicate about what we have read with these other classes. This Friday each class will meet their connecting class through Skype (video conferencing). We will do a round of 20 questions to see if we can figure out where in the world the other class is located. Earlier this week students paired up to think of questions they could ask...for example: are you in the United States? Are you near an ocean? Do you live in the mountains? And so on. The students will have a paper map on their desks on Friday so that as they answer our questions we can cross areas off and hon in on where they are located. I am so excited for this! It's a lot of work, but we will be so worth it and the kids are really looking forward to it. 
In other news; new reading logs went home today. These will be due October 31st. Your child should be reading 5 nights a week for minimum of 20 minutes. I will end with a picture of a little visitor we have had in our classroom the last few weeks. My son Jackson goes to ECFE here at Maple Lake on Tuesdays and helps Mrs. Kath in the library on Wednesdays and he can't resist stopping by to see the big kids! They love it too, and he eats up all the attention! Thanks for a great first month. I will let you know how our fist Skype goes after Friday! 

(Jackson and his daycare mama, Fran)

Yea for a normal day! Today was our first normal schedule of the school year. We rotated for all of our classes for the full times and it went swimmingly. We even had a semi-normal PM Switch. If your child is still on the fence about being in band please consider attending the informational meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) night from 6:00-7:30 in the Elementary Cafeteria. Band will start up next week! Along with a normal day students received their first spelling list and reading log. Please make sure your child is studying their spelling and reading a minimum of 20 minutes, 5 days a week, and recording it onto their reading logs. I am looking forward to another great week with these kiddos. They are a lot of fun. 

A reminder that tomorrow is Late Start and students should wear their Irish Pride shirts. Speaking of Irish Pride our PBIS team will be doing a fundraiser to help support our Irish Pride programs before the Homecoming game. Check out the flyer below!

Friday, September 26th 5:45-7:00 on school grounds near the game entrance

Maple Lake community cookout

Maple Lake School staff will serve dinner before the homecoming game.

$4 meal includes hotdog, chips and water
(extra hotdogs $1 each)

Come after the homecoming parade, before the big game or just to help support a good cause.

Proceeds from this fundraiser will go towards the Irish Pride programs in the elementary and high schools.  Irish Pride is the school-wide positive behavior program implemented with help from the Minnesota Department of Education to increase academic achievement as well as decrease problem behavior and bullying.  Hope to see you at the cookout!

*Book Orders will be also be due on Friday, September 12. Have a great evening!