**Every Monday - Thursday, your child begins math class with Warm Up problems. After completing these problems everyday, we go over them. On Friday, a quiz is given with similar problems. I have noticed that some students are beginning to not take these quizzes seriously and their grades are reflecting this. These quizzes have math problems that are correlated to the 5th grade curriculum. They are given to help students have a constant review of all standards all year. Please review these problems daily with your child. Part of their math homework is to take their math notebook home and look over their warm up problems.** 

Yellow Group -- Working on Dividing Decimals. This includes decimals in both the dividend and the divisor. We have worked with decimals in adding, subtracting, and multiplying. Will be finishing up and moving into Fractions.

Blue Group -- Working on Whole Number Division. This includes dividing with one and two digit divisors. When we're finished with division, we're going to Order of Operations and then Decimals.

Red Group -- We just finished adding and subtracting decimals. We're now going to begin multiplying with decimals and then dividing with decimals. Those two will keep us busy until Christmas break. In January, we'll begin working with Fractions.

Important Dates to Remember: December 8th ~ Winter Concert 6:00 in Neuse Charter Gym December 20th ~ Early Release 11:45am December 21st - January 6th ~ Christmas Break January 12th ~ Science Fair January 13th ~ Report Cards go home January 16th ~ Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday January 20th ~ Awards Assembly PTO

Boxtops Thank-you so much for a wonderful first half of the school year! We have collected over $1350.00 worth of box tops so far. During Dec. and Jan. we will be having our second annual Elementary Box Tops Snowball Fight. For every 25 box tops, whether on a collection sheet or in a bag, your class will receive a "paper" snowball to throw at the classroom “directly” across the hall. Because the first graders do not have a room across the hall, the class with the most collected will win. The winner from each pair of classrooms will win a pajama day! Bring your sheet in by Dec. 14th and receive a Howell movie coupon. The elementary class that collects the most overall during the contest will also have hot chocolate and cookies on their pajama day. So start collecting now and remember to ask grandma, grandpa, aunts and uncles for all their box tops over the holidays and we'll see you next year.

Getting Over Your Fear and Anxiety of Mathematics Parent Night

Math does not have to be intimidating or boring. Guest speaker, Dr. Maria Droujkova of naturalmath.com will be joining us on Tuesday, December 13th for a K-12 interactive and engaging session on how parents can make mathematics more joyful for both themselves and their children. She will speak about steps to take to address your worries and how to make the learning experience fun for everyone. This session is intended for parents and will include a hands on activity followed by Q&A. Books will be available for sale at the event. Students will be entertained via board games and non-electronic activities. Pre-registration for this event is requested as capacity is limited. You can sign up at: Unplugged - Get Over It! PTO meeting will proceed the presentation.

Thank you to all parents that were able to attend our Cardboard Challenge Arcade on Friday, October 14th!! Students in Grades K-4 attended and seemed to enjoy playing the games created by our 5th graders. Everyone put in hard work creating their games and it showed!! Here are a few pictures

                    


We are in school on Halloween. Students are allowed to wear a costume, however, it must relate to academics. The costume must be appropriate. It must not have any gore and can not be gross. No masks and no clown costumes will be allowed.

Unplugged! Get Over it!   Getting over your fear of Math
Tuesday, October 11, 2016  5:30 - 7:00. Cost is free. Sponsored by NCS PTO
**All attendees will be eligible for a door prize drawing with a  value of $50**
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unplugged-get-over-it-tickets-27603221980?aff=es2

All classes have finished place value, rounding decimals, and powers of ten. We are now working on the multiplication algorithm and the division algorithm. Students love calling this "the old fashioned way!"

We will soon be moving on to Order of Operations. Remember PEMDAS (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally)? Then Operations with Decimals ~ adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. And then Fractions. We will add and subtract fractions with both like and unlike denominators. We will also multiply and divide fractions.

Thank you to everyone that went with us on the field trip to the Heritage Center and to Bentonville Battleground!

October 3 - 7 Stomp Out Bullying Week

Monday ~ Wear your Blue Shirt

Tuesday ~ Wear your Boots

Wednesday ~ Wear Silly Socks

Thursday ~ Wear Team Shirts

Friday ~ Wear Shirts with Positive Messages

• October 14th ~ Early Release
• October 17th ~ Teacher Workday
• October 18th ~ Teacher Workday
• October 20th ~ Report Cards go home
• November 4th ~ Elementary Awards Assembly
• November 11th ~ Veterans Day Holiday
• November 15th ~ Symphony and Art Museum Field Trip
• November 23rd - 25th ~ Thanksgiving Holiday

I do not use my blog to keep parents or students updated on homework assignments. My blog is used to keep you updated on the math topics that each group is working on the present time in class. Students write down homework assignments in their agendas on a daily basis. My blog is also need used to let you know dates concerning upcoming quizzes or tests. This information is also written down in student agendas.

Every Monday - Thursday your child has four warm-up math questions that are correlated to the 5th grade curriculum. After the completion of these questions everyday, we discuss these questions and go over how to answer them. The correct answers are given for each question everyday. On Friday, they are given a quiz that relates to the warm up questions for that week. 

Yellow Group --> The yellow group has completed place value, rounding decimals, and powers of ten. We are beginning to work on the multiplication algorithm and the division algorithm. This simply means the "old fashioned way" of multiplying and dividing. After working on those two concepts, we will move on to working with decimals: adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing.

Blue Group --> The blue group has completed rounding decimals and is beginning powers of ten. Parents, this is the first time most students have seen powers of ten and worked with powers of ten, so please be patient with them at home. They will understand this and it will begin to make sense to them. Once we finish powers of ten, we will review everything we've worked on this year and take a place value test. Then begin multiplication and division with two and three digits. And then we're off to decimals: adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing.

Red Group --> The red group has completed powers of ten and is getting ready for their first test containing everything they've worked on since the beginning of the year. Once we've taken that test, we will begin multiplying and dividing two and three digit numbers. Then we'll work with decimals: adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing with them.

Important Dates

• September 15 ~ Progress Reports go home
• September 23 ~ Teacher Workday
• September 30 ~ Field Trip to Heritage Center in Smithfield and Bentonville Battleground

October 3 - 7 Stomp Out Bullying Week

• October 3 ~ Blue Shirt Day ~ Unite Against Bullying!
• October 4 ~ Wear Your Boots ~ Give Bullying the BOOT!
• October 5 ~ Silly Socks ~ SOCK it to Bullying!
• October 6 ~ Team Shirts ~ TEAM up against Bullying!
• October 7 ~ Wear Shirt with a Positive Message ~ WORDS have the power to stop Bullying!

All groups are working on rounding decimals. We have learned a poem to help us.

Find your place

Look next door.

Five or greater

Add one more.

Four or less

Let it rest.

We have always used a number line to help with rounding numbers. 

We'll have a quiz this week. Then begin working on Powers of Ten. After completing Powers of Ten, it will be time for our first unit test. This unit test will consist of everything we've covered so far place value, rounding decimals, and powers of ten. 

We will then move along to decimal operations: adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing with decimals. 

Sept 5th is Labor Day Holiday/No School

Sept 12th is Fall Picture Day

Wish List

copy paper (white)

copy paper (colored)

pencils

glue sticks

Scotch tape

new or gently used books for class library

new or gently used board games

index cards

post its

Welcome to 5th Grade

The fifth grade team is looking forward to a great year!

Open house is Thursday, August 11th 3:00 - 6:00

First Day of School is Monday, August 15th

Win Prizes with IXL’s Study in the Sun Usage Contest!

The contest runs from June 1 to August 31.

Our annual Study in the Sun contest is back; let’s see who can answer the most questions on IXL this summer! The three students in each grade band (PreK–4th, 5th–8th, and 9th–12th) who answer the most questions between June 1 and August 31 will win an iPad Mini 4.
To keep kids motivated, we’ll post leaderboard updates with the top rankings on June 30, July 29, and August 19. Winners will be announced on September 7.

Since this is an individual contest, students on site or classroom licenses should be registered individually by their parents. Please instruct parents to visit the link below to register their student for our summer contest!

https://www.ixl.com/summer-contest

**Remember the first day of school for students is August 15, 2016!**

EOG Proctors are needed!!

Sign up

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b44eaba82da64-proctors

xtramath.org ~ Students need to be working on addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. Right now only 21 students have mastered their addition facts, 10 students have mastered their subtraction facts, 2 students have mastered their multiplication facts, and 1 student has mastered their division facts. Two students have mastered multiplication twice ~ the first time in under three seconds and the second time in under two seconds. They are now working on division for the second time!

mobymax.com ~ Students should also be working on this. At the beginning of the school year students took a placement test. They have been working and moving up all year! Let's keep growing!

ixl.com ~ Parents you paid a subscription for this at the beginning of the year. When on this website, your child can tell you what we are working on in class and then work examples. Their goal is a score of 100. We have earned a Certificate for answering 35,000 questions. Our goal is now to answer 40,000 questions. Several students have earned certificates and they are on the wall in my classroom. Every Monday morning a Top 5 is posted. This lists the top 5 students in 5th grade at NCS that have answered the most questions correctly.

Ask your child about Math SuperStars. This is given to them on Monday and is turned in to me on Friday. It is great word problem practice.

Also, ask them how many stars they have earned. Most 5th graders have their pictures on the "Brightness Counts" bulletin board. Once 25 stars are earned, their picture is placed on the board.

All math groups are working on measurement ~ both customary and metric systems. Geometry is next.

We will then be reviewing for End of Grade. This review will consist of all 5th grade math standards and a practice EOG.

Some Measurement Activities to try at Home:

1). Unpopped vs. Popped

  How do popped and unpopped popcorn "measure up" when compared? Ask an adult to help you pop one-third cup of popcorn. Allow the popcorn to cool before measuring it again.

One-third cup of unpopped popcorn ________ cups of popped

        popcorn

2). Uncooked vs. Cooked

  Does pasta get heavier when it is cooked? You can compare the weight of uncooked and cooked pasta. Use a scale to measure two ounces of elbow (or any other type) macaroni. Cook and drain the macaroni. Cool completely and weigh the macaroni on the scale again.

Two ounces of uncooked macaroni equals _______ ounces of cooked macaroni.

**Both of these activities were taken from the book A Taste of Math. Written by Sue Mogard & Ginny McDonnell

 Important Upcoming Dates

• Thursday, May 5 --> Progress Reports
• Friday, May 20 --> Science EOG. This will be online.
• Monday, May 23 --> Reading EOG
• Tuesday, May 24 --> Math EOG
• Monday, May 30 --> Holiday
• Friday, June 3 --> Last Day of School ~ Early Dismissal

Cake Fest is Friday, April 15

For Tickets visit ncsptocakefest.weebly.com

EOG Proctors are needed!!

Sign up

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b44eaba82da64-proctors

xtramath.org ~ Students need to be working on addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. Right now only 21 students have mastered their addition facts, 10 students have mastered their subtraction facts, 2 students have mastered their multiplication facts, and 1 student has mastered their division facts. One student has mastered multiplication twice ~ the first time in under three seconds and the second time in under two seconds. She is now working on division for the second time!

mobymax.com ~ Students should also be working on this. At the beginning of the school year students took a placement test. They have been working and moving up all year! Let's keep growing!

ixl.com ~ Parents you paid a subscription for this at the beginning of the year. When on this website, your child can tell you what we are working on in class and then work examples. Their goal is a score of 100.

Ask your child about Math SuperStars. This is given to them on Monday and is turned in to me on Friday. It is great word problem practice.

Also, ask them how many stars they have earned. They received an email from me last week stating their total for the end of the 3rd quarter.

All math groups are working on measurement ~ both customary and metric systems. Geometry is next.

We will then be reviewing for End of Grade. This review will consist of all 5th grade math standards and a practice EOG.

Some Measurement Activities to try at Home:

1). Unpopped vs. Popped

  How do popped and unpopped popcorn "measure up" when compared? Ask an adult to help you pop one-third cup of popcorn. Allow the popcorn to cool before measuring it again.

One-third cup of unpopped popcorn ________ cups of popped

        popcorn

2). Uncooked vs. Cooked

  Does pasta get heavier when it is cooked? You can compare the weight of uncooked and cooked pasta. Use a scale to measure two ounces of elbow (or any other type) macaroni. Cook and drain the macaroni. Cool completely and weigh the macaroni on the scale again.

Two ounces of uncooked macaroni equals _______ ounces of cooked macaroni.

**Both of these activities were taken from the book A Taste of Math. Written by Sue Mogard & Ginny McDonnell

 Important Upcoming Dates

• Friday, April 29 --> Teacher Workday
• Thursday, May 5 --> Progress Reports
• Friday, May 20 --> Science EOG
• Monday, May 23 --> Reading EOG
• Tuesday, May 24 --> Math EOG
• Monday, May 30 --> Holiday
• Friday, June 3 --> Last Day of School ~ Early Dismissal

EOG Proctors are needed!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b044eaba82da64-proctors

Cake fest is April 15th. For more information visit ncsptocakefest.weebly.com   You can also purchase tickets from this website.

5th grade will be donating a "Picnic by the Pool" basket. More information will be going home about this.

Remember: Math SuperStars are sent home on Monday and due back on Friday.

Yellow and Red Groups are working on line plots and measurement. This includes both customary and metric units.

Blue group is working on dividing fractions.

Proctors are needed for EOG!! If you are able to help, please go to the following website and sign up http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b044eaba82da64-proctors

Every Monday all 5th graders are given a Math SuperStars. These are to be worked on at home and are due back to me by Friday. Your child can earn stars for every problem answered correctly. Encourage your child to complete this weekly!!

Yellow Group ~ We have completed multiplying and dividing fractions and moving into measurement! Measurement includes solving problems involving information presented in line plots. This information will be given in both whole numbers and in fractions. Students will be converting among customary and metric measurement systems and using those conversions in multi-step real world problems. We will also be recognizing volume measurement. Doesn't all of this sound fun?

Red Group ~ We are in the process of completing multiplying and dividing fractions. Then we will begin measurement. Fifth grade measurement involves line plots, customary and metric unit conversions, and volume. All of these are applied to word problems.

Blue Group ~ We are dividing fractions. We'll be using visual models along with expressions to solve these problems.

Upcoming Dates to Remember

March 23 ~ Early Release

March 24 - April 1 ~ Spring Break

April 8 ~ Field Trip to Wilmington

April 14 ~ Awards Assembly 9:00

Math Websites

www.ixl.com

www.mobymax.com

www.xtrmath.org

Your child has an active username and password for the above websites. We work on these in class every Thursday and sometimes they are assigned for homework. But your child can also work on them at home every night or at least three to four times a week. On the ixl website, the skills match what they're working on in class. On the Moby Max website, every student took a placement test at the beginning of the school year. Moby Max placed them accordingly; they're working on lessons to improve their math skills. The xtramath website helps students with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division fluency. To master a skill, the problems have to all be answered in under 3 seconds. Once addition has been mastered, your child is moved on to subtraction; then multiplication; then division. Once division is mastered, there are higher math skills for your child to master. As of right now, 13 students have mastered addition; 4 students have mastered subtraction; 2 students have mastered multiplication. Everyone should have mastered addition and subtraction by now ~ the 3rd quarter of school.

• Book Fair is week of February 22 - 26
• Ident-A-Kid ~ Thursday, March 3
• Jump Rope for Heart ~ Last day for money donations is Friday, March 4. Students will be participating during scheduled PE class.
• Spring Pictures ~ Tuesday, March 8

Yellow and Red Groups dividing fractions. They're dividing fractions by whole numbers, mixed numbers, and fractions. Ask them about Keep, Change, Flip. The hardest part when reading a division fraction word problem is deciding which fraction represents the total and which fraction represents the part to be divided. We are working on this in class daily so that your child will be able to tell the two fractions apart.

Blue Group is multiplying fractions. Our test will be Friday of this week. This test will cover multiplying a fraction by a fraction, multiplying a fraction by a whole number, and multiplying a fraction by a mixed number. The test will also have a couple questions and the answers will be coded in a gridded response format.

Image from:   Google Math Imageshttp://ms.hastingspublicschools.org/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=135438

Thursday, February 11th is Pajama Day for my homeroom!!

Yellow Group -->  We are dividing fractions. Ask your child to explain Keep, Change, Flip. Also ask them why the total number has to be written first in the problem. They can explain both of these to you and their answers are not "Because Ms. Creech said so!"

Red Group --> We're multiplying fractions, whole numbers, and mixed numbers. We'll be finishing this up within the next week and begin dividing fractions.

Blue Group --> We are multiplying a fraction by a fraction using both area models and multiplication. I'm sure your child has a preference in the way they prefer to solve the problems. We have also started multiplying a fraction by a whole number and will soon multiply a fraction by a mixed number.  


Friday, Feb 12  Teacher Workday
Monday, Feb 15  Teacher Workday

Yellow Group --> Multiplying fractions. We just started multiplying mixed numbers. Continue to work with your child on reducing fractions. All answers have to be given in simplest form. We'll soon be moving on to dividing fractions.

Red Group --> Finished adding and subtracting fractions and now beginning multiplying fractions. We will multiply fractions by whole numbers, fractions, and mixed numbers. All fraction answers have to be written in simplest form!!

Blue Group --> We are working on subtracting fractions with regrouping. And will soon be moving on to multiplying fractions. Remember all fraction answers have to be written in simplest form! We are continuing to work on this in class.

**Reminders**  Feb 3rd Symphony and Art Museum Field Trip
                           
                           Feb 5th Awards 9:00

WELCOME BACK!!

Hope everyone had a restful break

because

We have lots to learn

from now until the end of the year!

Yellow__> We have started multiplying fractions. Right now we're using models to find the products by shading in the fractions. The overlapping areas are helping students find the product. Students are trying to figure out how the multiplication is working. Don't show them how to find the answer using the algorithm!!

Red --> We're concluding adding and subtracting fractions. Students will be having their test by the end of this week! Then they'll begin multiplying fractions.

Blue --> We're adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. Use least common multiples to find like denominators. A multiple is a number that is the product of a given number and another number. Remember when simplifying fractions, find the Greatest Common Factor. A factor is a number that is multiplied with another number to get a product.

Important Dates to Remember

Thursday, January 14 ~ Early Release 11: 45

Friday, January 15 ~ No School ~ Teacher Workday

Monday, January 18 ~ Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday

Tuesday, January 19 ~ No School ~ Teacher Workday

Wednesday, February 3 ~ Field Trip ~ NC Symphony & Art Museum

Friday, February 5 ~ Awards 9:00

Friday, February 12 ~ No School ~ Teacher Workday

Monday, February 15 ~ No School ~ Teacher Workday