August 8, 2008
Hi parents -- welcome to the new school year!
In preparation for our first science unit, please save your CLEAR, two-liter bottles. Making them label and glue free would be a great help. I’ll let you know when to bring them in late September (or whenever).
Also- Just wanted to let you know the salt & pepper composition books do not need to be black and white, they can be any colors, but should be bound, composition books, not spirals, tablets, or looseleaf.
I'm looking forward to meeting you all very soon!
Mrs. DiPasquale
DiPasquale Discoverers
December 14, 2007
Greetings moms and dads!
What a busy week! The field trip to Wilmington went well. No one got lost, much to my relief! I hope you are surviving this holiday time. So much to do.
A couple of reminders:
1. For Science I would like students to bring in labels of foods high in cholesterol, fat, sodium or sugar. We will have a little competition between the classes to see which can rack up the highest numbers in those categories. The point being they will recognize these as are foods to avoid.
2. In Language Arts, please make sure your child is reading at home, and keeping track of the numbers of pages every few days on their Book-It form. Please sign the Book-It form at the END of the month, attesting that your child actually read the pages they claimed.
NOTE: I need a couple of volunteers to bring in some whole grain bread on Tuesday, December 18, and some real whipping cream (the kind in the milk-type container, not the spray-foam kind) on the same day. We are going to make butter, and they will do a taste comparison between real butter (with lots of saturated fat) and olive oil, with unsaturated fats. I’ll reiterate this in my email to all the classes.
This weeks reporters are: Colin Powell for Science, Rachel Marcin for Social Studies, Julian Kurych for Math, Ana Games for Language Arts and Lauren Benson for Entertainment and Events.
Next week’s reporters are:
Mackenzie Richardson for Social Studies, Luke Ulbrich for Science, Serena Pinckney for Math, Ryan Connell for Entertainment and Events and Andrew Powel for Math.
Email me if you have any concerns or questions, as always: Jackie.dipasquale@mot.k12.de.us and Jackie.dipasquale@gmail.com
Have a terrific weekend!
Math
Math Reporter, Julian Kurych
This week in Math was hard. On Monday we started a new unit and went over our homework. Tuesday we did book work on division with base ten short hand and regular division problems. On Wednesday we had a test on ordering fractions, mixed numbers to improper fractions and improper fractions to mixed numbers. On Thursday we had a field trip and we did not have Math. This week in math was fun but challenging.
Social Studies
Hi! I'm Rachel Marcin, reporter this week for Social Studies. This week we got back our tests. Mostly all of us got 90s, 100s and other good scores. We also learned about Economics. We got to watch a video all about Economics. We did worksheets about goods, services, primary resources and other resources, too. That's it for news on Social Studies. Bye!
Rachel Marcin, Reporter
Language Arts
Hi! My name is Ana Games and I will be this week’s L.A. reporter.
On Monday we worked on our spelling words, sorting them into groups and writing them down. Some of us took tests on them. I got them all right!
On Tuesday, Mrs. DiPasquale read the poem The Night Before Christmas to us, and then we had to answer the questions Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How so that we could gather information to write an article. We are pretending to be reporters writing an article about an event.
We also watched The Miracle on 34th Street, and stopped the movie right before the trial of Kris Kringle. Then on Thursday we went to the play in Wilmington and saw the trial in person. Then when we got back, we watched the rest of the movie, but this time in color. The very next thing was we compared the play to the movie which was fun. Finally we did the story elements about the book and the play.
This is Ana Games, signing off!
Science
You maybe wondering what we have done in Science this week. Well, we have been making skits about our health and nutrition. We are also watching Super Size Me. It is about what is in what we are eating at fast food restaurants and in our school lunches, too. In my opinion I don’t like fast food. I prefer high quality (gourmet). I can actually cook! Not long ago, I made biscuits from a French cookbook. Anyways, you should be going now.
Colin Powell, reporting.
Events and Entertainment
Hello fellow students and staff, also parents and teachers. My name is Lauren Benson and I am the Events and Enertainment reporter for this week. I am going to tell you everything that happened, but I am also going to ask you what do you think, or know what happened? Great answer, but for the people that do not know it is my job to tell them.
For this week’s entertainment taken place was a special event in the auditorium. Our WINTER CONCERT !! It was great and I had a blast, but I do not know about you. Plenty of people were there and parents. Even the Amazing DiPasquale! Many people dressed up and others didn’t, but the crowd glanced and glistened. The soloist was good, even though we had an accident with one soloist. It all turned out great! Also on Thursday we had a wonderful time at our field trip and enjoyed it, so children be nice nor naughty because Santa Claus is coming to town. If you have any more questions, see me. Lauren Benson, lovely princess.
DiPasquale Discoverers
November 2, 2007
Hi families:
I hope this newsletter finds everyone well. Our reporters this week are: Rachel Marcin, Science; Colin Powell, Social Studies; Bryce Lamers, Math; Mackenzie Richardson, Language Arts; and Maddie Kennedy, Events and Entertainment.
Next week:
Don’t forget the field trip next Wednesday and Thursday to the Aquatic Resources Education Center.
Email me if you have any concerns or questions, as always: Jackie.dipasquale@mot.k12.de.us and Jackie.dipasquale@gmail.com
Have a terrific weekend!
Math by Bryce Lamers
This week in Math, we worked with mixed numbers and improper fractions. We finished our quiz from last week. We used blocks to help us solve a problem from our textbook. We used the white boards to answer questions that Mrs. Lomas wrote on the board. Finally, we did a little learning target practice paper. Then we went over the answers.
Science
No report submitted
Social Studies
No report submitted
Language Arts
No report submitted
Events and Entertainment
Hello fellow students of Mrs. DiPasquale’s homeroom class! This week for Events and Entertainment I will be reporting to you. There are a couple reminders that you should know about. We are having a social studies test on Monday on 16 vocabulary words. We have had a sub in Social Studies because Mrs. Rogers-Newman's aunt is in the hospital and is 96 so she doesn't have long to live. It’s sad. We had comfy cozy Friday today and had a few treats. We also got our tests back in science. We had a couple grade notes for kids that had a low score, but I didn't. I got a 100!! We had a little “bonfire” in language arts and read scary stories for Halloween. (BOO!! ) Mrs. DiPasquale brought in some mistletoe to show how it grows on a tree, but a few rude boys took it off the log it was on. We have been presenting our science projects. They all look so good so far. Well I think that's all for now.
Maddie Kennedy
October 26, 2007
Science
Due November 1 and 2 (next Thursday and Friday)
Science Partners for short 5-minute presentation on a pollutant:
(Options: Power point or poster)
Period 1:
Anthony and Colin
Haley A. and Madyson Salt
Morgan and Mackenzie
Parth and Paul and Lucas
Konark and Sam and Tristan
Derek and Ryan and Brandon
Over-Fertilization
Kylie and Sadie
Tess and Caroline
Jaycie and Hallee Acid Rain
Adaeze and Raven and Michaela
Julian
October 26, 2007
Science
Due November 1 and 2 (next Thursday and Friday)
Science Partners for short 5-minute presentation on a pollutant:
(Options: Power point or poster)
Period 2:
Shane and Jared
Nick and Andrew Salt
Ana and Marti
Jenna and Sydney
Brendan and Bryce
Zach Over-Fertilization
Jay and Billy
Mackenzie and Dominic
Brianna
Serena and Sarah
Victoria and Erin Acid Rain
Maddie and Sammie
Michael and Ryan
Rebecca
October 26, 2007
Science
Due November 1 and 2 (next Thursday and Friday)
Science Partners for short 5-minute presentation on a pollutant:
(Options: Power point or poster)
Period 3:
Jamie and Emily Salt
Laiken and lauren
Tanvi and becca
Sama and Brice and Adam Over-fertilization
Sarah K., Jessica and Zoe
Andrew and Mark and Ryan
TJ and Luke and Evan
Alan and Logan Acid Rain
Jessica and Bria
Rachel and Laura
DiPasquale Discoverers
October 19, 2007
Greetings moms and dads!
I have enjoyed another week in the company of your children. They seem happy as well. Our room has extra decoration at this point, because we have 35 ecocolumns that the kids made. They are really impressive looking, I think. If you can, stop in and take a look. We will be polluting them next week¡K so they won¡¦t look so impressive after that.
Just a couple of reminders:
ľ For snack time, please send HEALTHFUL snacks, not candy or chips.
ľ Kids can only have water in their bottles, not Crystal Light or other drinks.
ľ Make sure students have their supplies. Some are running out of paper, pencils, never had colored pencils, markers or glue sticks. We actually do use those things, so they need to have them at school.
ƒæ Remember to monitor their reading, and sign their ¡§Book-It¡¨ form at the end of the month. They should read no fewer than 200 pages. Preferably more.
Email me if you have any concerns or questions, as always: Jackie.dipasquale@mot.k12.de.us and Jackie.dipasquale@gmail.com
Have a terrific weekend! ļ
Math
Math Reporter, Jessica Cwiertniewicz
No report filed
Social Studies
On Monday Mrs. Rogers-Newman told us we were going to be doing a project on Christopher Columbus. A three paragraph paper on the Native Americans point of view and the Europeans point of view and what we think of Columbus. We started doing a
worksheet on the yellow text book. Then on Tuesday we finished the worksheet on the
yellow text book and started the worksheet on the book History Alive. If you didn¡¦t
finish the two worksheets it was homework. On Wednesday we talked about the
yellow and blue books. Took notes on them while Mrs. Rogers-Newman talked
about the books. Then we had to do a worksheet on the green book for homework.
On Thursday we shared our worksheet on the green book. And added something¡¦s
we might have forgotten. Then we talked about the green book in class. We didn¡¦t
have homework unless you need to add more to our worksheets.
This was your Social Studies Report by Kylie Childers
Language Arts
Hi this is Ryan Connell.
I am writing about language arts. Over the weekend we finished Hoot. It was a very good book. It is about a boy named Roy and a bully named Dana. But Roy, Mullet Fingers and Beatrice try to save the owls but Curly tries to block them off. And Mullet Fingers puts snakes in and the rotweilers get scared. But at the end they do save the owls.
On Monday we started mystery stories. I think this is the best writing piece so far. Some are scary and fun. Some I don¡¦t get. Others are kind of boring. I chose Under the Rug. It is scary and really fun.
And we are having a retest on possessives and plurals. Most of us did not do very well on the first test. We will be having that next Tuesday.
By Ryan Connell, Mrs.Dipasquale¡¦s class
Science
Hello ladies and gentlemen, classmates and friends,
For the people who may not know me, my name is Lauren Benson, your reporter for this week.
I did Language Arts last month, but this month, October, I am bringing science.
For science, what we did for the past week is, we worked on our poster about Biotic or Abiotic which means Living and Nonliving things. We also had homework, but luckily not too much. Soon our Science teacher, Mrs. DiPasquale, who is wonderful, may I say, told us that we have a test coming soon. Better study.
We also compared two living things to decide what it meant to be living. Alright folks, this is your report for today by Lauren Benson, 5th grade. If you want to know more, just go to www.LABchannel4 or call 302-598-0597. Thanks for watching or reading. Tune in again and get more reports by other students in Mrs. DiPasquale¡¦s homeroom.
Events and Entertainment
No report filed by reporter Mackenzie Feehery
Tonight, October 19, is the PTO Fall Family dance at 6:00 P.M. Be there! Or be square!
Next week¡¦s reporters are:
Julian for Science; Caroline for Social Studies; Tristan for Math, Luke for Language Arts, and Jay for Events and Entertainment.
Oct. 16, 2007
Field Trip permission slips and $3 charge:
I am still missing 9 permission slips and the $3 fee. If you haven't submitted that yet, please do as soon as possible.
Thanks-
Jackie D
Language Arts, 10/16/07
I have scheduled a retest for next Tuesday for plurals and
possessives for those students who would like to improve their
scores. I gave additional sheets for practice today and told every
student to write the assignment in their agenda book. I hope this
helps.
Thanks-
Jackie D
FROM: "Mrs. DiPasquale"
TO: [To the entire class]
DATE: 10/16/2007 12:03:35 PM
SUBJECT: Science homework
Homework tonight is to read pages B 34- 39 from the Science book
(which I have copies of for them so they don't have to carry the
book) and complete a sheet on two different types of food chains
(front and back).
Due tomorrow.
Thanks
Hi Parents -- This did not go out on Thursday as planned. It's quite nice-looking with clip art, but the hard copy will have to greet you when your kids return on Mnnday. Here's the text. Have a wonderful weekend.
Mrs. DiPasquale
DiPasquale Discoverers
October 11, 2007
Hello moms and dads ¡V
It¡¦s a short week this week. Our star reporters are: Adam Glazewski (Math), Alan See (Events and Entertainment), Ana Games (Science), Anthony Soucy (Social Studies), and Andrew Powel (Language Arts).
For homework this long weekend, I would like students to finish our wonderful book, HOOT. As of Thursday, many students were about half-way done. Others are already finished. These pages can be counted toward students¡¦ monthly reading goals for the Book-It sheet that they should be filling out, as well.
Students began writing stories this week prompted by their choice of a picture from the book, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg. There are some terrific ideas already in the class.
Reminder from Senora H: there is a Spanish exam on Monday.
Email me if you have any concerns or questions, as always: Jackie.dipasquale@mot.k12.de.us and Jackie.dipasquale@gmail.com
Have a great weekend! ļ
Math
Adam Glazewski: Math Reporter
Hello Class,
It is great to have Mrs. Lomas a.k.a. Ms. Hahn back from her honeymoon in Florida. Our substitute, Mrs. Soucy was very nice and helpful. In math we are working on Base 10 Shorthand multiplication. Homework was out of the textbook and our math workbook. We worked on an assessment worksheet today. Have a great long weekend. ļ
Social Studies
In Social Studies This Week
By Anthony Soucy
In Social Studies this week we learned about many things.. On Monday, Mrs. Rogers-Newman talked about Christopher Columbus and some of the things he had done.
Tuesday Mrs. Rogers-Newman, she read us a book about Columbus. We learned he traveled across the Atlantic Ocean when everyone thought the world was flat and he was going to fall off. We learned that he was brave. On Wednesday, we talked about our experience in voting and how lucky we are to vote. Only 45 percent of the population actually votes! To sum it up, we learned all about Christopher Columbus and his accomplishments and voting.
Language Arts
(no report filed)
Science
Hi, my name is Ana and I will be your reporter for science this week. On Monday, we began doing posters on biotic and abiotic things about nature. Continuing on Tuesday, we worked on our posters. Starting our connections on Wednesday, and also starting to put our aquarium and terrariums together. So on Thursday, we finished putting our connectors on the aquariums and terrariums. So now you know what happened in Science throughout the week.
Thank you and have a great weekend.
Your reporter, Ana Games
Events and Entertainment
Hello fellow student and parents,
On, October 10, 2007, the school voted for president, treasurer, and many more. Also we had to pick our favorite food and color. Perris Drew won for president. Taylor Soucy won for vice president. The favorite school lunch was pizza, and the favorite color was blue.
We will get off on Friday because of Christopher Columbus, or A.K.A Cristobal Colon.....
What is as light as a feather, but even the strongest man can't hold it for more than a minute?
-his breath
When is four half of five?
-when it¡¦s the roman numeral f(iv)e
yyyy u r, yyyyyyy u b i c u r y+y 4 ¡K ?
(answer: wise you are, wise you be, I see you are to wise for....me)
Well I'm off so long, students of Mrs. DiPasquale¡¦s class.
Alan See
Next week¡¦s (October 15 ¡V October 19) reporters will be:
Lauren Benson: Science
Kylie Childrers: Social Studies
Jessica Cwiertniewicz: Math
Ryan Connell: Language Arts
Mackenzie Feehery: Events and Entertainment
________________________________________________
September 28, 2007
Language Arts newsletter
DiPasquale Discoverers
September 28, 2007
Hi folks,
Our reporters this week are Caroline Gordon for Science, Andrew Powel for Math, Colin Powell for Language Arts, Jessica Cwertniewiez for Social Studies and Mackenzie Richardson for Events and Entertainment.
Science
Hello Mrs. DiPasquale's class! I, Caroline, will tell you about what we have been doing this week.
Well, what we have been doing is looking at our aquariums and observing them. So far we have been learning so many things from Mrs. DiPasquale's Science class. We are learning about plants such as elodea, duckweed, and algae that live in the aquarium. In our aquarium we have snails, and guppies and I must say that they are really hard work!
Here's the scoop: on Monday, Julian saw that his fish had been eaten by the other fish in his aquarium. Tuesday we read about algae, elodea and duckweed. The fish and the snails need the elodea for oxygen and food. On Wednesday, we studied for our quiz on Thursday, and looked at our aquariums. On Thursday we had a quiz on elodea, duckweed, and alga. It was called "Elodea, Duckweed, and Algae and Why They are Important." The quiz was a little hard.
So how did you like it? Pretty good, don't you agree? Well enough of my jibber-jabber I have to go to my next report bye!
P.S. If you want to hear more come visit room number 40!
Your Reporter, Caroline Gordon!
See ya later!!!!
Language Arts
Welcome fellow students! I am reporting live from Room 40.
(Ring! Ring!) Excuse me, I have to take this call.
I was told about a paper on apostrophes. It appears that it is one of the many interests of some grammar officials (the Grammar Police.) Several locals claim that it holds the key to ¡§Apostrophes.¡¨
Recently we have info that Mrs. DiPasquale¡¦s homeroom is reading a book by the name of HOOT. Let¡¦s check it out.
This book is about a boy, Roy Eberhart, and his destiny to save the owls of Coconut Cove. What a ¡§hoot¡¨! (chuckle, chuckle!)
That¡¦s all the time we have for today.
Good night,Malibu! Er... I mean MOT Charter School!
Colin Powell, over and out.
Math
Hello, I¡¦m Andrew Powel bringing you the news, so strap in tight!
If you didn¡¦t have our graph assessment yet, don¡¦t worry, because it is EASY! Let¡¦s go to the memory of math since we¡¦re leaving graph number 1, the bar graph.
In math, we laughed, got in trouble, worked with eyelets and pulled tiles from a bag. But now we enter the next day. We¡¦re learning something new, so let¡¦s have fun in math!
We¡¦ve been learning a lot about bar graphs, like the shape and estimating the graph, numbers, and the median. Otherwise, I love math, and I have really had fun.
Recently, we¡¦ve been normal. Just the math adding and multiplying until we take our NWEA, and that was a pop up into the schedule. It got very different ¡V but we could handle it. Then it was regular days for a while, and then more math.
That¡¦s the news from Andrew Powel and I¡¦m out!
EVENTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Hi I am Mackenzie and I will tell you about EVENTS AND ENTERTAINMENT for this week!!
So far on Monday in Science we got to put some fish in the aquarium that we made. We put in two guppies.
In Technology we learned about ecosystems from a cool website.
Then on Tuesday we had to work on computers in social studies. But they were math questions. It was pretty hard, but I had fun solving the problems.
On Wednesday in Spanish, we got to learn Spanish ways of saying things about people. Some of the words sounded very weird, but after you translate it sounded very funny. It was very fun!
On Thursday in Dominic and Ryan¡¦s aquarium, one of the big guppies tried to eat one of the small guppies. Also on Thursday in Math we had a Reading test. It was very hard also, but I got done with the test.
Mackenzie Richardson
No Social studies report
______________________________________________________
First school notes entry, September 17, 2007
Science
Hello parents -- here is the homework for the week. I would like students to spend time outside observing nature:
Science homework, week of September 17-21, 2007
Fifth grade, Mrs. DiPasquale
Spend at least 15 minutes outside, twice this week quietly and carefully observing nature. Just you, your pencil and your Naturalist¡¦s Journal. I want to see two entries by Friday.
Note everything your senses take in: time of day, weather, wind, sunlight, temperature, sounds, smells, creatures and plants that you see. What kinds of animals and plants are there? What are they doing? (Don¡¦t assume they are thinking something. Just observe what they are doing.) What questions come to your mind? Make sure to put the date and your name on each entry. I will make copies of them and take them home over the weekend with me.
Include your thoughts about how at least two of the living things you observe depend on each other, and how they depend on two non-living things as well.
May 10, 2007
Hi moms and dads -
In my short one day stint in class this week, I gave out the plan for poetry for the next couple of weeks. I wish I could send an attachment here, but I'll have to cut and paste, so no guarantee it will make much sense. Just thought you'd like a heads up.
There was no spelling this week.
There will be next week.
Have a great weekend.
Mrs. DiPasquale
Poetry Unit
May, 2007
Mrs. DiPasquale
Fifth Grade
Activities: developing a notebook, 2 projects and a final celebration of knowledge.
I hope you find this to be a fun and creative way to wind up the school year.
Your notebook: tidy, decorated, organized, complete. Both in class and out of class work needs to be installed neatly inside.
Notebook will contain:
1. Poems you write and illustrate. These we may compile into a separate book for your parents if time permits. Keep drafts that you are working on and add to them as you feel inspired! J
Among the types of poems are these:
Limerick
Haiku
Cinquain
Narrative
Free Verse
Lyric
2. Worksheets on each of the above types of poetry we talk about, and on the poetic devices we cover. These need to be filled out completely and thoughtfully.
Some poetic devices are:
Metaphor
Irony
Onomatopoeia
Alliteration
Personification
Hyperbole
3. Rhythm and rhyme schemes.
4. Any additional activities that we have time for in class.
5. All of the poems I give you, and notes on them.
6. Journal responses to poems that I present to you in class with any notes.
7. A vocabulary section. (Keep a few sheets of paper for this)
8. Project One: Due Friday, May 25
You are a minstrel, and have a chance to present a ballad to entertain the class J
After we have discussed and enjoyed ballads in class, it is your turn to find one to bring to class to share.
Please dress as a minstrel (as much as you can), and present your ballad in a voice clear and keen, reading from your scroll.
As an audience member, you will rate yourself for your attention and participation, and the balladeer (minstrel) on the interest level of the ballad and on their presentation of it.
9. Final Celebration of knowledge, including poets, vocabulary, identifying poetic devices and types of poetry, rhythm and meter, and so on. Estimated date due: May 31
10. Project Two: Due Friday, June 1
Research a poet¡¦s life (with a partner) and present your findings on a poster. Both must work equally hard and be able to answer any and all questions the class or I may pose.
Choose a poet from the following list, or suggest another one:
Shel Silverstein
Jack Prelutsky
Edward Lear
Lewis Carroll
Robert Frost
Robert Louis Stevenson
Ogden Nash
Judith Viorst
Walt Whitman
Eugene Field
Jane Yolen
A.A. Milne
Theodore Geisel
Find out about their life, times, poetry, why they wrote the type of poetry that they did, family, other occupations, interests, etc. I will give you a poster paper to use to present this in an interesting visual way.
April 16, 2007, Language Arts
Hi folks --
Back to schoolwork again. It's been a while!
1. Remember field trip on Thursday -- Aquatic Resources Education Center. Dress for the weather. They will be outside some.
2. Everyone is working on Literature Circles. They are setting their own pace for getting the book read -- but need to be finished with the book, the packet of response sheets and discussion by a week from Friday: April 27. Some are dragging their feet -- need to get cracking. This will be a graded activity.
3. Spelling/vocabulary this week is from page 34 in Building Your Vocabulary. 18 words. We went over them today in class. Test will be the same format -- on Friday, April 20.
4. Spelling story this week (also due Friday)-- a story using the spelling/vocabulary words from page 34. The assignment: write a cute story that has a good introduction, an interesting middle and an unexpected ending, using all of the words so that their meanings are completely clear. If the vocabulary word is a noun, it must be a noun in the story; if it's a verb, it must be a verb, and so on We talked about that today.
If this project seems daunting -- a little idea:
Look through the words, get a feel for their meanings, and for each one, think about how it could contribute to the story. Make some notes. Then try to piece it together. It's not so hard. These are fun words. Most are not unfamiliar.
5. Last, but not least, on Friday, it is the last day for the student teacher, Lauren Hunt. If you can bring something for a little get-together, that would be great. Cupcakes, drinks, snacks. And if you happen to be going to the store in the next few days, I thought it would be nice to give her some teachery things to start her career off: like Sharpies, rubber stamps and stamp pads, stencils, pens, paper, sticky notes, etc. Anything that she might enjoy and remember our students by.
I have also asked students to make a card for her. They had time on the day before Spring Break, but if they did not finishe, they need to complete it at home.
Many thanks for your time. I know this is a lot -- but I just wanted to make sure all was clear. Any questions, contact me:
jackie.dipasquale@gmail.com
Jackie DiPasquale
March 25, 2007
Language Arts
Beyond Book Reports III
Mrs. DiPasquale
March/April 2007
Correction: Due April 4, 5, and 6th (April 9th is during Spring Break)
This month¡¦s project is much less involved than the last two.
We are still reading award-winning books, or books approved by me.
Written part, please include:
1. Student¡¦s name, date, title of book, author, any illustrator there might be.
2. Book Review: a brief summary of the book, and then
your thoughts about it as well. What grabbed you, what did you not like? Did you relate to the book? And so on.
3. Then choose just 15 interesting words (and the sentences and meanings in words you understand). You do not have to do questions.
4. A brief but interesting biography on the author in your own words
5. The five objects that you choose (see below) and why you chose them.
Bring in:
Choose at least 5 objects that relate to the story and bring them in as a kind of "show and tell." The objects need to be different enough from each other that when you are explaining why you chose them, you do not repeat yourself. For example, in my choices for Lunch Money ¡V I would not bring both quarters and a piggy bank. They both would represent that Greg wanted to make money.
For Lunch Money, I could bring:
¡P A roll of quarters -- students had lots of quarters to spend
¡P A bank statement ¡V Greg had money stowed all over the house and his father asked him to put it in the bank
¡P A small comic book, or other handmade book ¡V their marketing idea
¡P A potholder ¡V Maura¡¦s marketing idea that made Greg angry
¡P A necktie ¡V Greg had to dress up to impress the school board to get permission to sell their books as a book club.
¡P Plenty of other options¡K..
Have fun with this. Use your creativity!
March 3, 2007
Math
Hi parents --
This week's homework will be the giant practice packet that I gave students last Tuesday. I would like for them to enjoy doing a sample of the problems from each page. I will check on Thursday to see that they made a good faith effort to do a sampling of the problems. During the week (a four-day week), I may ask them to do an extension of something we do in class once or twice.
This week we are going to quickly go through geometric shapes and angles, which is Unit 6 in the Student Guide. It would be extremely helpful if students were already familiar with the concepts by Monday. If they have their SGs with them, previewing that unit would be very beneficial. It's actually a really fun unit.
Any questions, let me know.
Jackie DiPasquale
jackie.dipasquale@gmail.com
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Hi Moms and Dads ¡V
Just a quick update for language arts/homeroom.
1. The Beyond Book Reports is due March 12, not March 5. I did tell the kids that a while back, but had not provided that information to you in writing.
2. I am missing many books, including several copies of The Phantom Tollbooth. If you have any books that you don¡¦t recall having bought, could you please send them to school with your child?
3. We¡¦re having some problem with organization. Students should have a dedicated folder that they keep in their mailbox to take announcements and graded homework home with them. Just yesterday, I had students clean out their cubbies, desks, and mailboxes. When all students were gone, the trash cans were filled with graded papers and important announcements. Please encourage your child to bring work and announcements home. I spend hours grading papers and I hate to see them in the trash. I know you are interested in what they are doing at school.
4. Everyone needs to have lined paper and whole pencils with erasers every day. I can¡¦t tell you how many kids don¡¦t have paper and pencils.
5. The spelling words this week are from page 33 in our Building Your Vocabulary book. 20 words. Not a difficult list. We won¡¦t be having homework during the DSTP testing week, which begins March 14, and this list is the end of the prefix section in the book. Words are: telephone, telescope, television, transcontinental, transfer, transport, triangle, triathlon, tricycle, ultrahigh, ultramodern, ultrasonic, unabridged, unfair, unfriendly, unicycle, unilateral, unique, vice president, viceroy.
6. Speaking of which, the school will provide a breakfast snack for all students, but is not providing another snack after the tests. I wonder if I could get some volunteers to send along juice boxes and wrapped snacks for each day? Let me know if you can provide something. Thanks.
7. I know some people were having difficulty writing stories using the words from our spelling lists, so I gave the option of writing a short essay from a list of 4 choices that I gave out on February 23. This essay does not have to include the spelling words. On the back is the rubric I will be using to grade the papers. This week¡¦s handout did not make it to the students before they left on Friday, so here are the options in case someone wants to get started over the weekend:
a. Journal: If I were a parent, I would not¡K.
b. Narrative: What is the most interesting trip you have ever taken? Was it exciting, fun, unusual, or hazardous? Write a narrative about the trip. (A narrative is a story ¡V as if you were telling a friend about it).
c. Expository: Find out about tsunamis, such as where they occur, their causes, and their history. Write a newspaper article explaining this natural disaster. (Factual information, explaining something real)
d. Persuasive: Do you think television has had a mostly positive or a mostly negative effect on our society? Write a speech that expresses your opinion. Use specific examples to make your points.
8. I just figured out how to place Scholastic book orders online, and they have a link for parents to be able to place orders directly through them, and then the books come to the school for distribution. It¡¦s very cool. The more books students order, the more points we get for the class, and that adds up to really lots of free books. I have ordered several sets of books to use with literature circles beginning in the next week or so.
I just placed a small order today, but I would like to gather some more orders by March 17. There are some good prices and good titles in this month¡¦s catalog.
Their introductory letter to parents is below, and I will make copies to (try to) send home with your child.
Have a wonderful weekend. I¡¦ll be sending you another note shortly about Math.
Thanks for everything.
Mrs. DiPasquale
Dear Parent,
I have exciting news... You can now place your Scholastic Book Club orders online!
Browse all the great monthly Club selections at low prices and order online - all while helping our classroom earn FREE books, software, and resources.
Here's how it works:
1. Use the information below to access the Scholastic Book Clubs Web site.
2. Browse the titles with your child, and place your order with your credit card.
3. Your order will come to me, and your credit card payment will go directly to Scholastic's secure server. There's no need to send money to school.
4. After I submit the entire class's order to Scholastic, your order will be delivered to our classroom for your child to take home.
www.scholastic.com/parentordering
Class User Name: MrsDiPasquale
Password: MOTroom40
Remember, placing your online credit card order is completely safe and secure.
Ordering online is the most convenient way to use Scholastic Book Clubs. You can order anytime, right up until the online order due date. And this month, our class can earn additional FREE books, just for trying this online ordering service.
If you have any questions, please don¡¦t hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely, Mrs. DiPasquale
February 15, 2007 Math
Hi Parents --
Since many students were absent today, Thursday, Feb 15, I did not
give the 8s multiplication and division quiz. Postponed to Tuesday,
Feb. 20.
Also, homework that was due today, Feb. 15, will be checked on Feb.20.
Here is next week's homework:
Please note I am getting crabby about late homework. Students are
disregarding it, and then saying, "Oh, I'll do it at recess." Among
other excuses. So -- no more. They need to walk in the door with
their homework done and ready to check or turn in.
Math Homework Sheet
February 20-23
Fifth Grade, Mrs. DiPasquale
Parents, please make sure your student does this homework and brings
it with him/her each day to class. I will not accept any late
homework this week. No homework = zero. Many students have been lax
and it is getting out of hand. Students who are absent should bring
their homework with them when they return. They have the assignments
ahead of time.
These pages are all from the DAB (Discovery Assignment Book), and the
SG (Student Guide).
Finishing up Unit 7 this week. Please review as necessary.
DUE these days:
Tuesday, Feb. 20 DAB pp 105-108
DAB pg 77-78
SG p. 237
Wednesday, Feb 21 SG page 241, # 12 top of page, and # 2-6
SG page 242 # 7-10
SG pages 244 (Explore) through 246
Any questions, please contact me at jackie.dipasquale@gmail.com
Thank you.
February 11, 2007
Language Arts (Math follows)
This week's spelling words are from page 30 in Building Your Vocabulary. Story due Thursday, Feb 15. Spelling test will be the same day, if possible.
Here is the hand-out students are receiving on Monday, February 12 outlining what to do for their book report due March 5.
Language Arts, February 12, 2007
Mrs. DiPasquale, Fifth grade
¡§Beyond Book Reports II¡¨
Book report on Newbery award or honor book
Due March 5, 2007
A visual and physical representation of parts of the story
Similar to last month, you will have the opportunity to extend your chosen piece of literature visually. Please take care to make an excellent final product.
Although a Newbery award or honor book or author is still my first choice, I will accept certain other books that have received literary acclaim. Check with me.
For all books:
1. Choose your project (ideas below) and how you plan to do it. Make a rubric showing what you think is involved in a great product.
2. As you go through your book, locate at least 30 words or phrases that strike you ¡V either as new to you, or as words you would like to use in your writing. Write the word, the sentence, the page number and the meaning of each word in the context you found it. ¡K¡KOR¡K¡K
3. Write at least 30 thoughtful questions about the chapters and answer them. This means questions that ask why, or help you understand the character¡¦s feelings or motives, or ask you to relate the circumstances to your own life. ¡K..OR¡K¡K.
4. You can do a combination of the two ¡V 15 words and 15 questions.
5. Choose a favorite passage and copy it so others can enjoy it. What did you like about it?
6. Good readers make judgments about the characters, story, and the author¡¦s writing. As you read, evaluate the author¡¦s ability to help you understand how the characters feel. Describe an event in the book that helped you understand a character.
7. Find out about the author. Make a one-page biography telling a little about his or her life, and showing a picture of him or her. List other books he/she has written.
Here are a few ideas for your visual project: (Whatever you choose to do, it must be on poster board to be able to be put into the hall.)
1. Keep a journal as if you are the character throughout the book. After reading each day, write a journal entry that tells your thoughts about what happened.
2. Create a scrapbook for one of the characters in your story.
3. Create a story trail: on a large piece of construction paper, in a maze-like format, create a picture and a short summary for each chapter. Along the way, add details that represent the story line.
4. Draw a character web to keep track of the characters and their relationships.
5. Create a few more chapters after the end of your book. What happens next?
6. If your story is a fantasy, create a map or your own mythical country near to the country in your story. What happens there?
7. Write newspaper articles about characters and events in the story and arrange them on a piece of poster board.
8. Create a different picture for each chapter and retell the story briefly while hanging the pictures up in sequence along a clothesline.
9. Make a chapter quilt. Each chapter has a picture and a summary, arranged neatly on a poster board looking like a quilt.
10. Make a family tree of the characters, if this applies. How do they relate? What happened between them?
11. Retell parts of the story in a comic book form.
12. Make a compare and contrast poster with the movie version.
13. Make a 3-D replica of the main town of the story, showing where characters live and events happen.
14. Make a poster that compares characters within the story.
15. Read another book by the same author, or another book in the series and compare and contrast the two books on a poster.
16. Any other ideas are welcome. Let me know what you are thinking and we can flesh it out.
17. Make a tri-fold travel brochure attracting people to visit the location and read this book.
February 10, 2007
Math classes:
Hi Moms and Dads --
This is the math homework for next week:
DUE on these days:
This week we are using the DAB (softcover Discovery Assignment Book) quite a bit. It has some pages for computation practice. No Math at Home sheet.
All of this work is paper and pencil computation, I believe. Students can use calculators to check their answers. But they must do the work by themselves first.
Monday, Feb 12 Mental Math, Lesson 19 "Think
Quarters" given out last Thursday to
everyone who was not absent on that
day.
AND DAB page 101 (added last Friday)
Tuesday, Feb 13 DAB pages 43, 71 (part 2), 72 and 73
Wednesday, Feb. 14 DAB page 46.
Do the whole page, showing your
work.
Choose one of the problems on that
page to write out in clear GMC
form. You don't have to have the
handout (GMC form) if you don't
want to. Just use your own paper.
Remember to restate the question
draw a picture, clearly explain
your procedure for arriving at the
answer.
Thursday, Feb 15 (I know it's our field trip. I
think we do have some time in class,
though)
DAB pages 97, part 1 if needed.
Definitely do part 2.
DAB page 81, part 2 and
DAB page 98, parts 3 and 5.
We'll have our quiz over the eights multiplication and division either on Thursday the 15th or the next Tuesday, Feb 20. Nines will be on Feb. 23rd.
Let me know if you have any questions
Jackie DiPasquale
jackie.dipasquale@gmail.com
January 26, 2007
Math classes:
Again, a few changes to Math at Home, due Tuesday. Schedule of homework, except for DAB is at end.
Name: Class #: Parent signature verifying that this work
Date: was checked & discussed with child:
Math at Home Due Tuesday, January 30
Please give clear, full examples using numbers, words, and pictures, where appropriate. Use your imagination. J
1. Measure 3 different sized items using metric measurement: One each in millimeters (mm), centimeters (cm), and meters (m). Name the items, indicate the size of each, and include the unit of measure.
2. Measure 3 different sized items using standard measurement: One each in inches (in.), feet (ft) and yards (yd). Name the items, indicate the size of each, and include the unit of measure. When measuring in inches, please find something to a fraction of an inch.
3. Tell the time elapsed on something you did. Time began to time ended is the time elapsed. Show how you got your answer.
Note: Make this more than 3 hours. Make your answer include some minutes as well. Not an easy ¡§1 hour¡¨, or ¡§5 minutes.¡¨
4. Show a way that you used and understood money. Use number operations (adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing) to explain the situation.
5. Find the mean of something you are familiar with this week. Could be sports scores, numbers of hours of sleep, etc. Write your data (the numbers), add all the numbers, then divide by the number of items in your data collection. Show your work. (Refer to p.123-4)
6. Find the area of something in your house. A room, a table, whatever. Tell what it is. To get the area of a rectangle, you measure the length times the width in feet, inches, centimeters, whatever units you choose, then multiply those two numbers. (You can use a calculator). Your answer should be in square units. (Refer to p. 102)
7. Write a 9-digit number and circle the digits in the 100 millions¡¦ place; the one hundred thousands, and the thousands place. (Refer to p. 30)
8. (Please refer to page 60) If I multiply 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 x 5, I get 56 or 5 to the 6th power, which equals 15,625 (not 5x6=30). The exponent shows that the number is multiplied by itself that number of times.
Multiply a number times itself several times and show the exponent you would need, and the product if when you multiply all the numbers out.
9. Choose a number with at least 7 digits (with just one zero) to write in expanded form. Expanded form is numbers added together, not words.
(Example: 3,709 standard form
3,000 + 700 + 9 in expanded form (this one has no tens)
Recap of homework due week of January 29-February 2
Due Monday, January 29 Mental Math, Lesson 17
Due Tuesday, January 30 Math at Home
Due Wednesday, Jan 31 GMC. From pages 116-117 in the SG
Choose a word problem from either page.
Due Thursday, Feb 1 Make up your own word problem. Make up a story problem using one of the problems numbers 4-9 on page 116.
Note: Mrs. DiPasquale will not be at school. Mrs. Souci will substitute. I have high expectations for your superlative behavior.
Friday, February 2 Quiz on multiplication and division of Sixes.
January 24, 2007
Math classes:
Hi parents --
FYI -- I assigned pages 49-50 in the DAB as homework tonight as well
in math. They are quick. Just area.
That's in addition to making up their own word problem concerning area.
Jackie DiPasquale
jackie.dipasquale@gmail.com
Language Arts
Homework:
Spelling story (I will accept sentences one last time -- they must be long enough to truly show the meaning of the words)
Pretest Thursday. Quiz Friday.
Hi parents in Language Arts class--
I have received many of the $8 trip field cost for the trip to the Hotel DuPont Theater on Feb 15, from students but still there are a few who must have forgotten. So far I have received the payment from: Gary, Dalton, Kristy, Mariah, Ceara, Ashley, Alex J., Paige, Matthew, Daniel, Jamie, Reann, Heather, Josh, Emma, and Anna. The rest of you please get those in asap. This week would be good.
Just checking in with the spelling words for this week. Accidentally handed them out last week, so you may or may not have them still.
We will agree on a 24th word as a class to make it even.
Thanks. I hope this helps to know the words in advance.
Jackie DiPasquale
jackie.dipasquale@gmail.com
Math Update, Fifth Grade
January 5, 2007
Welcome back, Moms and Dads!
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