SPRING BREAK!!!

     We made it to Spring Break!  This year is really flying by so quickly.  We can't believe that it is time for the last quarter of this school year.  (The weather outside has made it really hard to believe!)  This last quarter of school will go very quickly and have a lot going on.    This last quarter we will have the LEAD program, our trip to Notre Dame, another round of ISTEP, our end of year celebrations, and much much more!  We hope to end this year strong!
     We have been working this week on giving presentations on what makes different people "champions" or what makes them "great".  The students all gave oral presentations on their chosen people.  Some used an iMovie, some used Keynotes and some just used their Venn Diagrams to aide in their presentations.   The students have done a great job and it has been neat to see what they find out and what characteristics they determined makes someone a champion.  We have also been able to see the students defend their choices on why they picked the people they did.  It is amazing how students at this age are learning to do things that we did not learn until high school.  They are really getting the point that we can all be "champions" and we can all be "great".
     We had the opportunity on Thursday to Skype with some Bethel Women's Basketball players.  These five young ladies talked to us about being athletes and students.  They answered all of our questions and were very nice.  Their coach was very excited to have this opportunity with our students.  We hope this is the start of a great relationship between our team and his team! 
     We have been finishing things up this week in all of our classes.  Be sure to ask your learner what they did their individual learning path on.  We have seen some very interesting posters, Keynotes, iMovies and speeches on a lot of different topics.  Also, ask your child to share their story they wrote on a geometry topic using Story Jumper.  They had a lot of fun doing this and their stories turned out very well. 
    When we get back we will be going into phase two of our "Champion" project and the students will be working on researching different colleges.  We have paired each college in the NCAA tournament with one of the most commonly checked out book form our library and as the teams progress throughout the tournament the books will as well.  We hope that this inspires the students to read some different books as well as talk about the books they have read.   We will also be having a college fair at the end of this unit and we will invite other classes to visit our displays. 

     We hope that your family has a wonderful Spring Break!  We look forward to ending our year with a lot fun activities. 

 Our two spell bowl participants.  Great job!

 The fifth grade spell bowl.

 Skype with Bethel Athletes

Spring Fever!

    This has been another crazy week.  Spring we think is trying to hit.  The kids are a definitely ready for nice weather and so are we!  Our new project is on it's first stage and the students are working on finding out what makes someone a "champion" or makes someone "great".  It has been neat to see who they have chosen as their "champions".  We have had some chose their parents, business people, teachers not just athletes or famous people.  They will be giving short speeches before spring break about their chosen champions to satisfy the individual oral presentation part of our report card.  Once they have finished this first part they will get to chose the college they will be learning about for our college fair after spring break. 
     This week we had the opportunity to meet with other PBL facilitators from across Northern Indiana at Plymouth High School.  We were able to share ideas and get new ideas for our PBL learning teams.  We had two of our students participate in a panel discussion.  There were three Riverside and three Lincoln students who answered questions from facilitators.  Our two did a fabulous job articulating what they know and like about PBL. 

   

     We have had a few of our students post on the school's 180 Days of Learning Blog in the past few weeks and those links have been shared.  This week another of our students posted about Twitter.  It is neat to see our students branching out and learning from all sorts of people.  Here is the link to the latest post.  If you have not seen the other student posts just scroll through.  There are a lot of great posts about things going on in our schools!

http://pcsc180daysoflearning.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/5th-grade-student-joins-twitter-chat/


     We have started something different in math this week.  We have been having short classes on and off during the year due to PBL and this week students started coming to math twice.  Once in their "class" and once in a small group.  Some groups have been coming twice for a long time for either interventions or for the Digits group.  The rest of the class has been coming to their class and then when needed.  We have been trying to be flexible with our schedule and are trying this out.  Students come to their small group during PBL work time for about 30 mins.  They are doing stations and one is working with Mrs. Dennie on problems.  We have been discussing how to read the problems and find out what we need to do to solve them.  Most of the problems have many ways to find the solution and we have been discussing these together.  This has been working out very nicely and we are seeing more confidence in their math skills each day.   
    In science this week the students have been working on the human body and did a fun experiment where they taped up their fingers and had to try and go about their day without being able to bend certain joints.  Ask your child about this.  They had a good time and had some "ah ha" moments. 
    In language arts students have been working on their individual learning path.  They filled out goal sheets and started to learn about a wide variety of items.  They have really enjoyed this and are working hard. 
    In math this week we have been working on writing our own geometry stories using Story Jumper a really cool online program.  Ask your child to show you their online book. 
     One week until AR goals need to be met!   Some are working very hard at this.  Please encourage them to get this done.  Also, encourage them to read over spring break to get a jump start on the next goal!  The last nine weeks goes very quickly!
     Have a great weekend. 

ISTEP Week

    What a crazy week.  With ISTEP this week and a snow day on Wednesday, it has been a very different week.  We are very proud of the students and how hard they have worked on the ISTEP test.  This first round requires a lot of writing and they have done a very nice job.  Due to the day off on Wednesday we have one more day of testing on Monday. 
     We kicked off our latest PBL project yesterday with an entry event that involved watching some clips and having a great discussion about what makes a champion and what makes someone "great".  These kids are on the ball and have had some great ideas.  They really drew the conclusions we were wanting them to and it did not take much on our end.  We are excited to see where this project takes up.  Hopefully, your students will have things to share with you about this project.  This project will have some different parts to it.  Before spring break students will give short presentations on two people they feel is a champion or is great/ 
     This week in our classes we have been working on coordinates in math, in language arts we have been finishing up our verb tense work and talking about our goal/learning plan for the last nine weeks.  In social studies/science we have begun looking at the human body and the skeleton system.  We have also been discussing the southern colonies. 
      With two weeks left before spring break students need to make sure they have their AR goal.  Some are very close and some have a long way to go.  We hope to get a lot done these next two weeks.  Don't forget to change your clocks Sunday morning. 
    Have a great weekend!

WOW, it is already March 1st!!

     I feel like I have been saying this all year but I can't believe it is already March.  This year is flying by so quickly.  This is such a great group of kids who, for the most part, have been so good about being flexible as we all learn about PBL together.  We have not been working on a project this week and the kids are asking when our next project will be and when it will start.  We love the enthusiasm they have for these projects.  It helps us so much to plan new projects when the kids are excited.  The excitement is contagious. 
     We are very excited that a lot of the students with us this year have decided to continue to learn in a PBL environment next year.  We have all three become big believers in this type of learning.  Not only are the kids learning the standards but they are learning so much more.  This team is a family, we might now always like or agree with each other but we can work together to figure things out.  The kids really have taken on this belief and they are really learning how to work things out. 
    This week we have gone back to a more traditional schedule and in math we have been reviewing things we have learned this year as well as learning about symmetry.  The students were able to make their own symmetrical creations using pattern blocks and they had a fun time. 
    In social studies we have been working on learning about the colonies.  We have also continued to work on states and capitals.  We will be getting back into science for the next few weeks.
     In language arts we have been working on verb tenses in our writing.  Students have been able to work on a bundle in My Big Campus.  This has allowed them to review things they are unclear on.  We also took a writing prompt this week. 
     Next week is the first round of ISTEP so please encourage your student to get good rest, eat a good breakfast and do their best.  They are prepared they just have to have confidence in themselves, take their time and do their best.
     Here are some photos of some of our wonderful works of symmetry!

                                     

               

   

     

  
   

Opening a Success

     On Tuesday of this week we had our "Opening" reception for our Civil Rights Exhibit at the Marshall County Historical Museum.  We had between 50-60 people there to view the students work and to watch some of their multimedia projects.  Those that attended were very excited and happy with the results and enjoyed the cookies and punch!  The project (that do not require the computer) will be on display until the end of March.  If you did not get a chance to come to the opening please take some time to visit the museum.  They have some very interesting exhibits.  They are open Tuesday-Saturday 10-4. 
     We are finishing up our Civil Rights PBL project and we have seen some really great items.  The stories the students are writing are wonderful and the use of the green screen has been very cool.  We have enjoyed the excitement about this project.  We are planning our next project now!  The kids are already asking. 
     Next week we will go back to a traditional schedule as we prepare for ISTEP.  ISTEP will begin March 4-8.  We will test each morning.  We will run a different schedule for our entire building where everyone will be testing at the same time.  It is VERY important that if you have to pull your child out for an appointment that week that it be after 10:15.  This helps the students and the school.  Makeups are hard on us and on the kids.  Make sure your student has a good breakfast, gets lots of sleep and is prepared and ready to go. 
     This week in addition to our project we worked on learning our helping verbs, we learned how to find surface area and we tried some new food with Professor Popcorn.  Students have been working on states and capitals as well as working on Achieve 3000.  Our team has won the Achieve 3000 spirit stick for many weeks and we are very proud of the achievements in this program.  We also have an incentive program for math IXL encourage your child to work on these at home. 

     Have a great weekend.  

 Photos of Museum Opening

Short Week---Long Weekend?

     Another busy week here at Riverside.  We are still working on our Civil Rights projects.  Acuity testing and Explorations have slowed down the progress a bit.  We are still very happy with the progress and the discussions that are going on with our students.  They are really doing a great job.  We have had some visitors in our classrooms recently from subs to administrators and they have had some great comments about out PBL projects.  One said that she was impressed with the amount of independent learning that is going on.  Students have done a great job explaining to our guests what we are doing and why we are studying this topic.  These students have really taken hold of this project and are really working at finding out things they need.  They come to us and through questioning are able to figure things out on their own.  They have the power and it is remarkable the conversations we are having and hearing. 
     We know that after school is a very busy time and our kids are very involved but we hope that as many students as possible are able to attend the opening of our Civil Right's Exhibit on Tuesday at the Marshall County Historical Museum.  The opening will begin at 3:30 and run until at least 4:30 (the museum is staying open later for us)  Even is students have practice and can't come until 4:15 please still have them come so they can at least be a part of it for a little bit. 
     We had our second round of Explorations this past week and as always it is a favorite of the kids.  We will be having the first round of ISTEP in a few weeks and we hope that you will encourage your students to do their very best on these tests.  Also, encourage them to practice their skills on the sites we have provided them.  This first part is not on the computer so they will be writing and answering question on paper. 
     We just finished our third week of the nine weeks.  Be sure to ask your child how many AR points he or she has.  We would love for everyone to make their AR goal. 
     Have a wonderful long weekend and we hope to see many of you at the museum on Tuesday.

Busy Week!

     This week has been a big blur!  Students have been working very hard on the Civil Rights project.  The students have really been doing some great things.  The first projects are looking good.  Some groups spent some time refining their original projects and they are taking ownership and pride in their work.  The second set of projects involve using their computers and filming something.  We have figured out how to use a green screen and it has been so neat to see the groups helping each other figure things out with out having to ask us for every little bit.  They are becoming self directed learners and we are becoming true facilitators.  It is a very neat time.
     Some exciting news!!!  We are going to have a Civil Rights exhibit at the Marshall County Historical Museum.   We will be setting it up next week and they are going to have an opening day reception on February 19th from 3:30-4:30.  Students will be able to come and show their computer projects as well as their hanging displays.  We hope to have as many students and parents come as possible.  We know that time may be tough for some of you and we understand that.  The exhibit will be on display until after spring break.  The museum is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10-4.  We are very excited about the opportunity.  There are going to be refreshments at the opening so the kids were very excited about that!!
     We are entering the toughest time of the school year with ISTEP coming and the winter blahs kicking in.  Please help us by encouraging your child to try their best each and every day.  We want to end this year as great as we started.
     Have a great weekend!