5SJ

The Immune System is our final unit of science study.  To kick off our work, today students explored using the microscopes and making and viewing slides.  Students were initially asked to label the parts of a microscope and “guess” as to the purpose of each part.  All students were also expected to create their own wet mount slides – of the letter “e” and then practice getting the image into focus using the microscopes.  There was lots of excitement and good energy throughout our work period!

All materials can now be found in the lab books.  This will provide an excellent reference for students as we move forward with the unit.  Later in May, with a generous donation from Portsmouth Hospital, all students will be provided with an agar plate and have the opportunity to “grow” germs.  Carol Gammon, a microbiologist from the hospital,will be visiting with the germs and providing students with a scientist’s perspective.  This is just one of our planned activities to help students recognize that everything is made up of cells and germs are everywhere.

Thanks again to all who have been able to minimize the spread of germs throughout our classrom this year through your on-going donations!  :)

To help solidify students’ understanding that fractions, decimals and percents are all different ways to represent the same value, students worked as table groups to help create accurate number lines.  The benchmarks percents of 10%, 50% and 90% were established and then students alternated picking cards from a pile.  Each card contained a fraction.  The challenge was for the student to translate the fraction into a percent and then place it on the number line.  All students were provided with a reference strip to record the results of their work.  These can be found in students’ homework folders for tonight as they work on their MATHO game to be played tomorrow in class.  The MATHO game is a warm-up for a check-in that will be administered on Monday.

All students have now completed and handed in their non-fiction text pages.  We are hoping to get the documents onto the blog on Friday, but, for now, students spent some time sharing with each other.  All students were asked to review the page from at least two peers and provide specific feedback, one fact that stood out and one non-fiction text element that helped to understand the content.  Overall, we are excited by the results of this project as learning how to research and present one’s findings in an easy to read manner is a critical skill.  Please check back on Friday afternoon to see the final results.

As part of our Civil War unit,  dispatches – surprise announcements of the most important events as they occurred during the time of the war – are now being delivered on a regular basis.  Each dispatch includes a headline, date, key facts and the results of this action and typically is delivered by someone in costume, such as Mrs. Tobey letting the ranks know about the bombing of Fort Sumter.  Students will then use this information as they take on their provided character and write letters to someone from the opposite side.  This forces students to interpret the events from at least two perspectives and provides them with an authentic audience. Students will need to write the letters at different times based on whether their character is from the North or the South.  The letters get “delivered” during a roll call.  This will continue throughout the “war”.

The students did another great job this week with Human Growth and Development.  We watched and discussed the video Dr. D. and the Bees.  We also had the students complete anonymous questions and we will begin to discuss them next week. A good resource for parents and youth is www.kidshealth.org.  It has a lot of useful information for parents and children.
Thank you,
Ms. Vas & Mr. Bourgoine

Students have been working on researching a topic of choice to present their findings in a final PAGES document the middle of this week. This project was introduced to reinforce the importance of reading and understanding non-fiction.  The requirements have included using multiple internet sources (Mrs. Wyman in the lab has helped students to become more efficient with their searches) and collecting a minimum number of facts.  Once the facts were recorded, students moved forward to categorizing their facts.  This step is critical in helping students begin to create their writing.  For this project, students are generating between 3-5 paragraphs of text.  By categorizing first, we are having students solidify their understanding that paragraphs need a topic sentence and supportive details to be effective.  We are using the PAGES program to provide template choices.  The class generated a list of non-fiction text elements and, from this, students are choosing which elements will be most effective in presenting their topic.

We hope to have the student work available on  line by the end of the week.  Check back and leave us a comment if you can!

This week in Life Skills the students watched the DVD “You,Your Body and Puberty”  This DVD was also available at the parent night and many of you viewed it at home. The students did a wonderful job handling the topic maturely and appropriately. We shared with them that it is  a lot of information to take in and to understand and that is why we will continue to review and discuss it over the coming weeks. We also discussed where and with whom the topic should be discussed and where NOT to. We are very proud of the students.
Thank you, Ms. Vas & Mr. Bourgoine

As the students in 5SJ are preparing to culminate their fifth grade year, our NHS 8th graders are preparing for the next step in their educational journey.  Please see the documents below to know how you can be an active participant in this process  - get a preview of what will be happening in 3 years for our students!  If you need further information, see our school web site northhamptonschool.org

Eighth Grade Portfolio Review- 2012

A way to celebrate the learning and growth of our youth! 

Come and discuss ideas and share the excitement of learning

with the young adults of North Hampton.

 What is your role in the review session?

You will be matched with an 8^th grader, and then you will sit together to talk and share.  It is as easy as that!    You are giving the student the opportunity to fully explore the learning and growth that they have documented all year.  Students will have questions prepared for you, but you can also ask both clarifying and probing questions that help students share all that they know.   They will have selected areas of personal growth and highlights from their 8^th grade year to share.  They will have plenty to say!  The review will take roughly 45 minutes to an hour in length, depending on the student and on your schedule.  We are flexible and will accommodate for you!

When?

Students are prepared to present on Tuesday, May 29^th from 9:30-2:30, Thursday, May 31^st from 9:30-2:30 and then on Friday June 1^st, from 8:30-2:30.  Please let us know if it is possible for you to come in during any of these times. We know your time is valuable!  If none of these times work we can certainly arrange a time that fits your schedule.  Thank you in advance!

 Sign up:

You can email the 8^th grade team- ldeconstant@sau21.org

This week in math students have been working to solidify their understanding of decimals through playing a game entitled, Smallest to Largest.  This requires students to place different decimal cards upon a board in order.  Playing in groups allowed for much discussion and some need to strategize in addition to the luck of the game.   To continue to explore equivalent values, we have also discussed percentages this week.  To help solidify this understanding, today students took inventory of bags of M&Ms.  The values were represented as fractions, decimals and percents.  This data was then transferred to an accurate circle graph.  We will post those results once they are completed.

Just a quick wish for everyone to enjoy next week.  We will be out of email reach for the week but will post any comments upon return.

When we return to school, students will be continuing to work with decimals (this week we finished up our Decimal Baseball – lots of fun calculations for all), science will move forward with non-fiction research and writing as well as a quick assessment for the Building Big unit.  The mysteries students have just finished reading will be synthesized into movie trailers (oh, more posts to look forward to viewing as these will be posted on our blog!).  Life Skills class will move from hygiene into puberty.

The final 6 weeks goes very quickly.  Can’t believe we are going into our final stretch for grade 5.