BACK TO SCHOOL!

SCHOOL SUPPLIES
* One flash drive (at least 1Gb)
* Zippered pencil pouch for binder
* Three-ring binder
* Two spiral notebooks(Single subject-wide ruled)
* Binder paper
* Black erasable pens
* #2 pencils
* Eraser
* 2 Pencil Sharpeners
* Emergency Lunch sealed in plastic bag
* Box of Kleenex
* Scissors
* Low-odor Dry Erase EXPO Markers and a sock (for math white-boards)

Supply Check will be on Friday, August 14th


OUR THRIVING LIFE LAB GARDEN

Please bring these supplies to class the first week of school:

What a great year!

It has been quite a memorable year! Hopefully, we'll see you at the beach party fundraiser on Sunday, June 14th at Platform Beach in Aptos at 3:00 p.m.
If not, enjoy your summer in the best place in the world...Santa Cruz County!

WEEK 38

Dear Parents,
As the end draws near A LOT is happening in Room 12!
* This week we are finishing Thief Lord and this book will give each student 13 A.R. points. Next Wednesday, June 3rd, will be our last day to take quizzes. A.R. makes up 20% of the reading grade.
* Olympic Day will be this Friday. Dress appropriately.
* The Rio Rockers will be opening for Mr. Sweet's band, The Wild Rovers, on Friday at Don Quixote's at 8pm. Come by because all children are welcome with a parent.
* Book Projects are due next Monday, June 1st.
* Tuesday, June 2nd will be the 13 Colony Musical Play performances from 8:15 am-10:00am.
* Thursday, June 4th we will go to the Boardwalk.
Let me know if you have any questions,
Mr. Sweet

HOMEWORK TUESDAY
Reading-Finish Thief Lord by Friday
Study Spelling
Finish 13 Colony State project for play
Book Projects due next Monday

WEEK 37

CIVIL WAR LIVING HISTORY AT ROARING CAMP











Dear Parents,
There are only 13 days of school left! Here is a quick list of important info. for these last couple weeks:

* This Wednesday, May 20th, is Open House. It will be from 6:30-8:00p.m. I will be showing our class DVD at 7:15 p.m. You will love it.

* The last round of Family Life will be tomorrow discussing Puberty.

* Our field trip is this Thursday and we will leave immediately at 7:55 a.m. We will not be back to school until 3:30 p.m. because of the train ride. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR CHILD IS ON TIME. Otherwise, they will not be able to come. Drivers, please be here at 7:40 a.m. to go over the details of the trip. They need to bring a lunch and put on sunscreen too.
Students had to pay $28 each and luckily they only charge $11 for 5 parent drivers. Consequently, I have only 5 drivers. Thank you SO much for all of the parent volunteer drivers. I chose the parents with the largest vehicles. Any parents that would like to come are invited, but they will need to pay. If you are driving, please bring a check for $11 written to Parent Alliance. Otherwise, non-drivers will pay there. This is truly a memorable trip with:
Military Drilling, Weapons and Uniforms, Artillery, Candlemaking, Spinning/Weaving, Gold Panning, Civil War Games a train ride and so much more.

Here are the drivers:
Kelly Gaeckle (5 students with seatbelts)
Tara O'Boy (6)
Colleen Rastatter (6)
Linda Feldbrugge (5)
Jennifer Ursino (5)
Emergency Subs: Diane Hildebrand, Deb Dorney, Nikki Harris
Please let me know if your plans change and you are unable to drive.

* 13 COLONY MUSICAL PLAY PERFORMANCE-Tuesday, June 2nd(Cast #2)8:30am for K-3rd(Cast#1)4th-6th Grades. PARENTS ARE INVITED. Check with your child to see which cast they are in. Please make sure your child has a costume by this Friday.

That's it for now! See you all at Open House and remember to bring your child. They will show off their beautiful writing portfolios with some memorable works.

We were a great team this year! I am sure going to miss your children.
Mr. Sweet

WEEK 35

Homework Monday
Read Chapter 26
Math Daily Routines Workbook-p.5,6 & 10
Practice Songs, Get costume
Book Project
Practice your lines/songs for the play
Put together a costume for the play

Dear Parents,
Here is a quick overview of what is happening in Room 12:
* We are resuming math review and reading Thief Lord.
* Students chose their book projects + books so they should be working on these.
* We are learning about the Bill of Rights and the Civil War right now in Social Studies.
* Our class is rehearsing the play and their acting and singing skills are amazing!
* In writing our class is doing animal poems along with art. I think you will love these ;>)

TESTS WEEK #2

CLASS ART PROJECT

Dear Parents,
This is a quick e-mail to remind you of a couple things:

As many of you know, I decided to do an end-of-the year Beach Party for the Online Auction. The $20 for each child that comes will go to the Parent Alliance. On Sunday, June 13th at 3-6pmish, we will play sports, a tug-of-war, parachute games, water balloons, pizza/ s'mores and we will go in the water, (with parent supervision along with Scott and Denise Russo, who just so happen to be professional swimmers), If you are unable to make it to the Golf Tournament to get your slot at the party, you can let Denise know before Sunday, June 13th and we'll plug you in. Parents, of course, are invited too along with other 5th graders.

On Thursday, May 21st we are short drivers for the Roaring Camp trip. This is probably the best field trip of the year so hopefully we can get enough drivers.

Tomorrow will be our first day of Family Life/Sex Ed. I will ask her for a copy of her materials and will have them on hand for parents that are curious. I need them because it looks like 5th teachers will be doing this next year because of budget cuts with nurses.

This Friday we will have our Science Test of Structures of Living Things. I sent home the study guide last Friday. I will post to the blog for the 5th graders who mysteriously lose things.

Thank you to the parents who will help me with the play. Thursdays-Linda F. at 1:00-2pm, Friday - 11:15 - 12:15pm (Kelly Gackle w/child), Mondays 1:00-Denise Russo?, Tuesdays starting next week: Linda F.?
I'll have one group while the other parent will work with the other cast of characters.

That's it for now...let me know if you have any questions.

See you at school!
Mr. Sweet

UNIT 2 STUDY GUIDE-The Structure of Living Things
Test: Friday, May 8th.

Vocabulary
transpiration vascular tissues lungs cells tissues
photosynthesis kidneys cellular respiration organs

Systems
Circulatory Respiratory Excretory Digestive

What does the small intestine do?
What is the most important organ of the Excretory System? Why?
What is the purpose/product of cellular respiration?
Why do cells work together as tissues and organs?
What is the difference between vascular/nonvascular plants?
How is the heart involved in the respiratory system?
What organelles make up a plant/animal cell? How are they different?
What is the difference between a dependent/independent variable in an experiment?

ESSAY
Understand and be able to explain the parts and processes of each human organ system

How are photosynthesis and cellular respiration alike and different? How do they work together to keep plants and animals alive?

TESTING WEEK #1

HOMEWORK MONDAY
Reading-Ch. 12-THIEF LORD
Math-p.83, 195, 213 HW WKBK
Choose book for final book project
Testing starts Thursday

TUESDAY
READING-Ch.13
Math-p.127,167+239 in HWBK
Science-L5 of packet
Practice Songs/lines for play

WEEK 33

THE NEW 3-D Glasses
Dear Parents,
Wow! What a wonderful spring break! I hope you and your loved ones enjoyed time off and time together. My family went to San Francisco to celebrate Hilary's birthday by going to a fancy restaurant. We saw Monsters vs. Aliens while she went shopping. Next, we went to the CA Science Academy, which was busy, but amazing. Finally, Josiah and I just got back from a father-son fishing trip w/a couple buddies. He caught 9 Bass while I caught 17. It was a wonderful vacation and I am excited to be back.

As we transition back to school, many exciting things are happening in our class.
* Over the break I found a great play about American History entitled: 13 Colonies by BadWolf Press. It involves a lot of characters, humor and singing, which is right up this class's alley. We will be practicing this week and giving out roles. The class will perform the play at Open House.
* This Friday, April 24th, our class will be going to the Santa Cruz County Courthouse for a mock trial about stolen cookies. This field trip gives us a wonderful opportunity to learn about our legal system in action. I NEED DRIVERS ON THIS TRIP. PLEASE REPLY TO THIS E-MAIL if you can drive. We will leave at 11am and return at 1:30pm. I will send home the permission slips on Monday.
* As many of you know, it is the magical time of testing coming soon. Therefore, our class will be reviewing the next two weeks. Specifically, we will focus on Science, Math and Language Arts.

More to come!






Mr. Sweet

HOMEWORK MONDAY
Read Ch. 2 of The Thief Lord
Math=p.186, 191 HW Wkbk
13 Colonies Play-Review script and choose your top 3 roles
Sign and return Courthouse Field Trip Permission Slip


HOMEWORK TUESDAY
Read Ch. 6 of The Thief Lord
Math=p.192-194 HW Wkbk
VOCAB Due Friday-Word, read sentence, guess in (), write definition #1-10


HOMEWORK WEDNESDAY
Read Ch. 9-11 of The Thief Lord
VOCAB Due Friday-Word, read sentence, guess in (), write definition #1-10
BRING LUNCH AND STUDY COURT SCRIPT!

WEEK 32

SPORTS DAY
Passover Quote
“Passover affirms the great truth that liberty is the inalienable right of every human being” Morris Joseph

Easter Quote
Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there. ~Clarence W. Hall

Dear Parents,
It's hard to believe that it is already Spring Break starting this Good Friday! Spring has certainly sprung and the teacher, I mean the class, is definitely ready for Easter
Break! ;>)

* Last Friday our class had a wonderful "Sports Day" Party w pizza, ice cream and soda. The trifecta of health!
* Our class is almost finished with recording our 3 Things project. Thus far, they are very touching and creative.
* As you know, in Science we are studying cells and the basic structures of living things right now. This coming Thursday each student will present their 3-D/Edible Cell to the class.
* In Geography we will be starting to learn all of the states and capitals together. I'll be sending home a packet they can work on at home.
* We will continue to study graphing on a coordinate plane this week which, in this new curriculum, is basically algebra w/out the slope.
* Our class wrote these amazing 5-paragraph essays to their future grandchildren. I will laminate them and hand them out at Open House in May.
* In other news, I was able to purchase a new document projector for our classroom. Check it out the next time you come by!

See you at school!
Mr. Sweet

HOMEWORK MONDAY
Read 20 min.
Math-p. 253+254
Spelling-Right a sentence with each vocab word (p21-30 on pre-test)
3-d/Edible Cell due Thursday

HOMEWORK TUESDAY
READ 20 min.
Math-p.622-623
Spelling-Sentences due Thursday
Plant/Animal Cell Due Thursday

HOMEWORK WEDNESDAY
READ 20 minutes
PLANT/ANIMAL CELL

WEEK 31

Homework Monday
Read 20 Minutes
Write a paragraph about a virtue and why it is important to you.
Create a story/skit to explain the virtue

Homework Tuesday
Read 20 minutes
Math Wkbk-Daily Routines p. 273-275
Begin 3-D cell project

Homework Wednesday
Read 20 minutes
Math finish p. 607-609
Science Packet first page, L1
3 Things Prep.
Begin 3-D cell project

Homework Thursday
Read 20 minutes
Math finish p.611, 612
Begin 3-D cell project
WEAR SPORTS STUFF
BRING SECRET SNACK