Mission Statement

As members of the Saint Pius School Community, we strive to follow Jesus as we Study, Pray, and Serve.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Weekly Newsletter for March 29th

Dear Parents:

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend! March is reading month and we are collecting new/gently used books to give to the children’s ward at Beaumont Hospital in Troy. Also, Tuesday is wear words on a shirt or hat for a dollar day! Wednesday is Pajama Day. Please look over the new book orders that went home, and remember you can order online using our class code. Reminder* Position Papers are due Tuesday morning along with our weekly reading log.

Reading: This week we are reading, “Grandma Essie’s Covered Wagon,” from our reading books. Friday, I will ask for a retelling of the story. March is reading month, and I am sending home a reading log. Students will keep it throughout the week logging the amount of time they read. I will collect the log each Monday to graph our progress. **Also, students are to read an AR book of at least 4 or 5 points, test on the book and write a one page summary.

Math: I will be encouraging students to bring their math home every night. If you have time please have your child explain the concepts to you. We are reviewing information on triangles and quadrilaterals this week. We will review Tuesday and Wednesday and have a Geometry test on Thursday.

Science: This week we will begin our new unit on animals. We will learn about their physical characteristics and learn about their environments. There will also be an animal research paper that our class will develop over the next few weeks.

Social Studies: This week we will focus on the Revolutionary War. We will understand cause and effect and sequence of events leading to this war. In addition, my sister will be telling our class next week about Fifth Grade lessons taught in England. She will speak to the class about citizenship and historical landmarks! I hope they enjoy this mini lesson!

English/Writing: Spelling is from our workbooks this week and will align with the story “Grandma Essie’s Covered Wagon.” Our spelling test is on Friday. We will cover finding resources for research papers, how to use quotes, and commas in writing!

Religion: Students will see Ms. Piechoki for religion.
Centers: There are no centers this week, please make sure your child is reading and logging their time.
I hope everyone has a wonderful week! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via email.
Miss Blanton

Monday, March 21, 2011

Newsletter- March 21, 2011

Dear Parents:
March is reading month and we are collecting new/gently used books to give to the children’s ward at Beaumont Hospital in Troy. The auction is this Saturday, and I am auctioning off a day at the park with Coney, my dog and me! 4th Quarter has begun, and the reading requirements will go home this week.

Reading: We have finished our novel today, and will have a short quiz Wednesday. Students are working on creating board games for “Mixed-Up Files.” We will also be reading from our reading books this week. March is reading month, and I am sending home a reading log. Students will keep it throughout the week logging the amount of time they read. I will collect the log each Monday to graph our progress.

Math: I will be encouraging students to bring their math home every night. If you have time please have your child explain the concepts to you. We are focusing on triangles this week. We are classifying and measuring angles within triangles.

Science: We finished our unit and partner project on Body Systems, and we are going to begin a unit on heredity this week. We will discuss the difference between inherited and acquired traits that we each have. We are working on family tree traits and watching Elf. We will decide which traits Buddy, the Elf inherited and acquired. There is a short quiz on traits on Wednesday.

Social Studies: We will be continuing in our books with our chapter 7. We will discuss events leading up to the French-Indian War.

English/Writing: Spelling is from our workbooks this week and will align with the story “Paper Dragon.” Our spelling test is on Friday. The position paper will be due Tuesday, March 29th.

Religion: Students will see Ms. Piechoki for religion.
Centers: There are no centers this week, please make sure your child is reading and logging their time.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via email.

Miss Blanton

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Natural History Museum Field Trip
















Our Field Trip this past Monday was so much fun! I would like to thank all of our fourth and fifth grade parents for chaperoning our trip. The museum visit was split into two parts, first we toured the Prehistoric Era, which included: fossils, dinosaurs, and many other animals of this time, and then we went to the planetarium. We had very engaging tour guides who taught us many new facts!















Newsletter- March 14, 2011

Dear Parents or Guardians:


March is reading month! Our fifth grade class is in charge of collecting new/gently used books from our school to donate to the children’s ward at Beaumont Hospital in Troy. Our March book order is due March 28th, you may also order online from Scholastic’s website. Wednesday students may wear green for a one dollar donation. There is no school on Friday this week.

Reading: We will finish reading, “Mixed –Up Files of Basil E. Frankweiler.” We will focus on setting, main idea, and sequence of events. March is reading month, and I am sending home a reading log. Students will keep it throughout the week logging the amount of time they read. I will collect the log each Monday to graph our progress.

Math: I will be encouraging students to bring their math home every night. If you have time please have your child explain the concepts to you. This week we will continue our Geometry unit. Students will need to study and understand ideas and terms used in geometry, and will need to take notes in their math notebooks. We are focusing on angles, circles, and polygons.

Science: We finished our unit and partner project on Body Systems, and we are going to begin a unit on heredity this week. We will discuss the difference between inherited and acquired traits that we each have.

Social Studies: We will be continuing in our books with our chapter 7. We will discuss events leading up to the French-Indian War.

English/Writing: Our spelling this week will come from our new chapter book, “From the Mixed-Up Files of Basil E. Frankweiler.” There will be a quiz for these words Thursday. We are working on irregular verbs and verb review. Also, we will be preparing for our next paper, a position paper.

Religion: Students will see Ms. Piechoki for religion.

Centers: This is a center week*

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via email.

Miss Blanton

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Science- Human Body Systems

Noah and Andrew brought their digestive systems on a sleep over!
Kelsie Flynn's dog napping with her digestive system.


Ava Messisco's system is all wrapped up in a good book!

Tracing for our body systems project.










Our fifth grade class had a wonderful time learning about the systems in our bodies! We found the lengths of each part of our digestive system(about 5 times your height all together) and then spent the weekend with them! I had so many great pictures of the class' traveling digestive systems.
We also worked in partners to find how two systems work together in our bodies! This was an informational and fun way to assess the end of our unit. We wrote about the system we chose and described how it functions in our body. Well Done Class!







Measuring each piece of the system even gave us a chance to integrate Math with Science!


Weekly Newsletter- March 7, 2011

Dear Parents or Guardians:
I would like to begin by saying all of the book reports were wonderful! I really enjoyed each student’s individual creativity! I am very proud of their presentations as well. Here are the reminders and lessons planned for this week. Students have a half day Thursday, Grandparents day. March is reading month and we are collecting new/gently used books to give to the children’s ward at Beaumont Hospital in Troy. Our March book order is due March 28th, you may also order online from Scholastic’s website. Our field trip to the Museum is Monday. The fifth grade class is in charge of the “Baker’s Basket,” if you could, please donate an item that relates with baking.

*THERE IS NO GYM WEDNESDAY (Mass replaces our gym time) PLEASE SEND STUDENTS IN UNIFORM.*

Reading: We will continue reading, “Mixed –Up Files of Basil E. Frankweiler.” We will focus on setting, main idea, and sequence of events. There will be a quiz on Wednesday over chapters 1-7. March is reading month, and I am sending home a reading log. Students will keep it throughout the week logging the amount of time they read. I will collect the log each Monday to graph our progress.

Math: I will be encouraging students to bring their math home every night. If you have time please have your child explain the concepts to you. This week we will begin our Geometry unit. Students will review ideas and term used in geometry, and will need to take notes in their math notebooks.

Science: We finished our unit and partner project on Body Systems, and we are going to begin a unit on heredity this week.

Social Studies: Our test will be pushed back to Friday over chapters 5 and 6 this week. We will work this week to finish chapter 6.

English/Writing: Our spelling this week will come from our new chapter book, “From the Mixed-Up Files of Basil E. Frankweiler.” There will be a quiz for these words Friday. We are working on subject verb agreement and contractions in grammar. Also, we will be preparing for our next paper, a position paper.

Religion: Students will see Ms. Piechoki for religion.

Centers: Make- Up Center week.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via email. I look forward to seeing you at the Spring Fling.

Miss Blanton