Pier 20 Press Mrs. Jenkins’ Fifth Grade Newsletter

Volume 4 Issue 5 September 22, 2014

From the teacher’s desk…. Beginning our fifth week with your children in Pier 20, I think we are getting fairly comfortable and knowledgeable about our practices and procedures. Sportsmanship PE and our REACH program help students to understand the necessity of respect and community. One way students learned about both this week is when they had the opportunity to clean the restrooms! It appears that some students (I really don’t believe they are in our class) have found it amusing to throw wet towels on the ceiling of the boy’s restroom in the upper hall. As teachers and administration, we decided the most effective recourse for such behavior was to give ALL students a chance to clean the restrooms. After all, we ALL respect our school or we ALL learn the lesson. Thus, last Friday our class led the effort by donning gloves and armed with cleaning towels they cleaned both restrooms. Each class in the school (except kindergarten and first grade) will be giving this learning opportunity. We will continue the student cleaning until we see an end to the behavior. Town hall elections will be held this week for JA Biz Town!! Students interested in running for Mayor, Town DJ, or Environmental Specialist can hang posters on Monday. Primary elections will be held on Wednesday, with a debate and presentations along with the general election on Friday. The following week (Sept. 30) we will hold job interviews for all of the positions in Biz Town. Watch for an email asking for volunteers!

Full Steam Ahead!!

Language Arts In our continued and deepened learning of Human Rights and using close reading, we will explore a first-hand account of a Nepalese man who fought for education in his small village. We will begin a short video to introduce students to Nepal, followed by a close reading of the account. We’ll take advantage of the technology in our classrooms (thanks, DonorsChoose!) and create a digital puppet show depicting the account using the Puppet Pals app.

Math During the next few weeks, our math class will be learning about dividing three-and four-digit whole numbers. We will also learn how to interpret remainders. You can expect to see homework that provides practice with division of three- and four-digit dividends by one- and two-digit divisors.

This Week’s Spelling Words

Important Contact Information Email: mjenkins@canyonrimacademy.org Website: http://jenkins5th.wordpress.com Cell: 203.640.3375

This Week’s Vocabulary Words Word of the Week: passage

instinct mutation inherit inherited behavior learned behavior organism

Upcoming Events Sept. 22 Biz Town Posters Up Sept. 25 Biz Town Primary Elections Sept. 26 Room Parent Tea Sept. 30 Biz Town Interviews Oct. 13 – 14 Parent Teacher Conference

Science and Social Studies Think about a camel and a llama. Even though they seem fairly different, they share many similarities. This week students will begin creating a blog comparing and contrasting adaptations of two similar animals of their choosing. Additionally, students will be able to access the blog site at home as well if they wish to work on it there. Leonardo da Vinci will be our target of study this week in Social Studies. A true Renaissance Man, da Vinci was a scientist, an architect, a musician, a sculptor, a mathematician, and, oh, a fantastic artist as well. Unusual facts about Leonardo: he was a vegetarian, he dissected human cadavers, and he was left-handed.

Remember….easy ways to enhance the budget at Canyon Rim Academy! Smith’s: Ask Customer Service to add CRA to your account using this bar code. Every time you swipe your card your children get more advantages! Amazon: Shopping through Amazon? Sign in to Amazon through smile.amazon and choose CRA as your selected charity. Boxtops: We will continue to collect box tops. The winner at the end of the year will earn a fabulous reward!

BLUE subway combine propel enable subset company promote encourage submarine companion propose entrust subtotal compound protect endanger subtitle compress provider enforce submerge comrade progress enlarge

GREEN dancer bigger actor beggar dreamer sooner longer smaller driver farmer burglar traitor fresher jogger younger writer older sailor smoother swimmer brighter tutor shopper voter

YELLOW watch small thought walk salt wash though calm bought wand talk stalk bald wasp fought swap chalk stall ought swat brought cough also almost