Motsenbocker

Boondocks field trip

Fifth grade is going to Boondocks to celebrate the end of elementary school! Parents can drop off at Boondocks at 8:45 and will pick up their kids at 1. A pizza lunch will be included, if your child has dietary restrictions, you may send them in with a sack lunch. No chaperones will be needed. Registration is open!

Grading Policy

Late Work- Late assignments in fourth through fifth grade are marked 10% off if submitted within one school day of the due date and time and 50% off if submitted within two school days of the due date and time. If the assignment is not submitted within two school days of the due date and time, no credit will be awarded.

Curriculum updates

Math- We are continuing with our I ready competitions and Ms. Ericson’s and Ms. Hein’s classes tied and got a joint party so they are now onto their competition number two! This time it is whatever class has the highest number of lessons by a certain date. Two of the four classes will be competing against each other to see who can get to 300 lessons first. As a fifth-grade team, we want to see our students doing I-ready lessons to improve their math skills. Please encourage your child to do these lessons; they can do them at home on their computers or tablets. They just need a log-in badge; students should see their math teacher for a log-in badge. Please continue reading to see what is being learned in each math class:

Ms. Ericson: We just completed chapter 14, perimeter and area, and are now in chapter 17, which is converting units of measure. During this chapter we have a fun assignment, the kids get to cook! They need to half, double, triple or quadruple a recipe and then make it. They should have already come home with information about it. I look forward to hearing what they made!

Ms. Hein: We just finished chapter 8 and will begin chapter 14 after CMAS. We should finish up all of the 5th-grade curriculum by the end of the. Once we finish we will begin working on the move up to the 6th grade chapter.

Mr. Anderson: We have just finished up our chapters on adding and subtracting fractions. This month we will be working on Chapter 11 and 12. These chapters focus on multiplying fractions and dividing fractions. Please continue to work on these skills at home.

Ms. Mitchell: This month, we will be focusing on fractions. We have just finished working on adding and subtracting fractions and will be moving into adding fractions with mixed numbers and then multiplying and dividing fractions. We will be covering chapters 10-11.

Ms. Bambury: Last week marked the beginning of our long journey through the world of fractions. I actually love teaching fractions and look forward to these chapters every year! So, for the month of March we will be completing chapter 9 (adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators), chapter 10 (add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers with unlike denominators), chapter 11 (multiply fractions), and chapter 12 (divide fractions). PLEASE continue to practice mixed multiplication facts with your child so they can be fluent and fast. Also, every student in my class is required to complete one i-Ready lesson each week, and it will be counted as a homework grade.

Literacy- In our literacy class this month, we are continuing to read The Secret Garden. The kids really enjoy looking at foreshadowing, cliffhangers, and inferring. We are continuing with parts of speech, prefixes, and suffixes and discussing the main idea and theme. Please note that most teachers require iReady lessons to be completed for a weekly grade. Please check with your student to see if their class is one.

History- We have started our unit about “Westward Expansion,” which focuses on how the United States went from 13 states to the 50 states we have today. So far we have learned about Daniel Boone, a battle for Ohio, and Lewis and Clark’s adventure across the newly purchased Louisiana territory. Moving forward for the rest of the unit we will learn about the rest of America’s expansion through the Mexican-American War, Mountain Men, the Oregon Trail, and the Transcontinental Railroad. At the end of this unit we will have a test on the 50 states. A quiz tool has been shared on google classroom which can help students prepare.

Science- We are wrapping up the unit “Energy and Matter in Organisms,” we will then move onto “Energy and Matter in Ecosystems.”

Thank you so much to everyone for a successful science fair! The kids did great, I was very proud of all the hard work they put in!

Also, I wanted to give a huge thank you for all the wonderful birthday treats and the Nordstrom gift card that I was given for my birthday. You all made me feel so special and your generosity was so appreciated!! Thank you again!

Specials

Here are the links to the special teacher’s classes. Please open and view to see what your child is working on in Specials.

Sincerely Your 5th-grade team

Mr. Anderson

Ms. Bambury

Ms. Ericson

Ms. Hein

Ms. Mitchell

Upcoming Events

Apr 1, 2024	6th grade stem trip parent meeting 8:30-9:30am Lincoln Meadows for 5th grade parents
April 2-4	CMAS Testing Literacy
April 2, 2024	6th grade stem trip parent meeting 5:30- 6:30 CP Campus for 5th grade parents
April 9-11	CMAS Testing Math
April 16-18	CMAS Testing Science
April 10	6th grade stem trip parent meeting 5:30- 6:30 MB Campus for 5th grade parents attend only one meeting of the 3 choices
Apr 13, 2024	Spring Soiree
Apr 19, 2024	No School Professional development
April 24, 2024 Date	AA Teachers and Staff against the Wizards Legends gym
April 26, 2024	Golf Field Trip

For more event dates, please visit the Event Calendar on www.aak8.org. For questions or concerns about an event date, please contact Michele Quintana.

Friday, March 8, 2024

Dear American Academy Parents,

So I guess March did not come in like a lion, we have been enjoying some balmy weather! We cannot believe it is March already, and we are in the final trimester of the year! Please remind your child to continue to show AA character and manners and we make our push into the home stretch of the school year!

Supply Refill

As we know, supplies get lost very quickly or have been used up. Please check with your students to see if they need to do a supply refill. The most common items they lack are pencils, highlighters, glue sticks, scissors, and headphones. Headphones are imperative for your student to have for CMAS and iReady. Every student needs to have headphones every day at school.

Boondocks field trip

Grading Policy

Curriculum updates

Math- We have started a team competition in math across the fifth grade. The competition revolves around I-ready lessons. Ms. Ericson’s and Ms. Hein’s classes tied and got a joint party so they are now onto their competition number two! This time it is whatever class has the highest number of lessons by a certain date. Two of the four classes will be competing against each other to see who can get to 300 lessons first. As a fifth-grade team, we want to see our students doing I-ready lessons to improve their math skills. Please encourage your child to do these lessons; they can do them at home on their computers or tablets. They just need a log-in badge; students should see their math teacher for a log-in badge. Please continue reading to see what is being learned in each math class:

Ms. Ericson: We just completed chapter 11, multiplying fractions, and are now in chapter 12, which is dividing fractions. Please continue to support them in these. Also, our I-ready competition has really heated up and the classes are neck to neck! We are looking forward to celebrating Pi day next week!

Ms. Hein: We just finished chapter 11 and quickly moved through chapter 12. We are diving deeper into fractions, and the class is doing amazing. We will continue to work through the chapters and then work on covering topics that will be on CMAS. They have also done a great job with the iReady competition. I am so proud of how hard they are working.

Mr. Anderson: This month we have been working on Chapter 9, 10, and 11. These chapters focus on adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, finding common denominators, and multiplying fractions. Please continue to work on these skills at home.

Ms. Mitchell: This month, we will be focusing on decimals, whether it be adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing. Then it will be time for some fractions, so there could be many questions on homework; please help them. We are continuing with our class competition for I-ready lessons. All students should be doing 1-2 lessons a week, depending on how long the week is.

Literacy- In our literacy class this month, we have started reading The Secret Garden. The kids really enjoy looking at foreshadowing, cliffhangers, and inferring. We are continuing with parts of speech, prefixes, and suffixes and discussing the main idea and theme. Please note that most teachers require iReady lessons to be completed for a weekly grade. Please check with your student to see if their class is one.

History- We have started our unit about “Westward Expansion,” which will focus on how the United States went from 13 states to the 50 states we have today. So far we have learned about the impact of the Revolutionary War and the Triangular Trade System with Europe. Moving forward we will learn about Daniel Boone, a battle for Ohio, Lewis and Clark’s adventure across the newly purchased territory, Mountain Men, and the Oregon Trail. At the end of this unit we will have a test on the 50 states. A quiz tool has been shared on google classroom which can help students prepare.

Science- All the students are back together again after the trimester of splitting for STEM! We are diving into Energy and Matter in Organisms, which is great for this time of year when all the plants and animals are starting to come out!

We also have our 5th grade Science Fair on March 13th! The students have been working really hard putting the scientific process to use developing their own testable experiment. I appreciate all the support you all have been providing at home!

The Science Fair will be the 13th at 5:00pm, students need to arrive at 4:45 to set up. They need to dress nicely; no hoodies, torn jeans etc. School uniforms are also appropriate. This is part of their grade so if they cannot make it I need to be notified by the parents in advance.

Thank you again for your support!

Specials

Here are the links to the special teacher’s classes. Please open and view to see what your child is working on in Specials.

Sincerely Your 5th-grade team

Mr. Anderson

Ms. Bambury

Ms. Ericson

Ms. Hein

Ms. Mitchell

Upcoming Events

Mar 13, 2024	Science Fair 5-6pm, students arrive at 4:45, in 5th grade hallway
March 16-24	Spring Break!!
Mar 29, 2024	Dress of choice

For more event dates, please visit the Event Calendar on www.aak8.org. For questions or concerns about an event date, please contact Michele Quintana.

Friday, February 9, 2024

Dear American Academy Parents,

Well hello, February, so the groundhog did not see his shadow, so that supposedly means spring will be here soon! Thank you for coming to winter conferences, it was so nice to see all of you. Just a heads up that our spring conferences in May are student led and they will be running the conference. Valentine’s Day is soon approaching and that means our Valentine’s party is also approaching. Students will have academics before we leave for Skate City and when we come back we will be sharing valentine’s with each other and judging valentine boxes. We also have a 4 day weekend next week, we will not have school on February 16 or 19. Have a great weekend with your families.

Valentine's Parties

Our Valentine's parties are next Wednesday. We will be spending most of the day at Skate City. When we return the students will pass out Valentines to their classmates and we will have a Valentine-themed snack. Please ensure that your child has one Valentine for each student. We will not be handing out class lists. The students will also decorate a Valentine’s box at home that they can bring in. There will be prizes in each homeroom for “most Valentine-y,” “most creative,” “best use of recycled materials,” and an honorable mention.

Skate City Field Trip

The fifth grade team has set up a field trip to Skate City on February 14, 2024. We decided this because this particular group of students did not get to go to Skate City in third grade. That was a COVID year, and Skate City was not offering field trips that year. So, we have attached links to this newsletter for you to sign your child up. You may be asking what our schedule will now look like. We will have academics until the bus comes to pick us up. We will head to Skate City around 10:00 am and be back around 2 pm. There is a separate sign-up genius to sign up for lunch at Skate City. When we return, we will have students exchange valentines and have a snack for their Valentine's Party.

The sign-up link for the field trip is below, followed by the link to order lunch. Your child must bring in $5 by Friday 9th if they choose the Skate City meal.

Lunch: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805054BA5AB2EA0FB6-47302874-skate

Supply Refill

As we know supplies get lost very quickly or have been used up. Please check with your students to see if they need to do a supply refill. The most common items they lack are pencils, highlighters, glue sticks, scissors, and headphones. Headphones are imperative for your student to have for CMAS and iReady. Every student needs to have headphones every day at school.

End of Trimester/Grading Policy

The end of the next Trimester is February 23, 2024. The last day for teachers to accept late work is the 21st. The teachers need time to grade and update their grades for report cards.

Curriculum updates

Math- We have started a team competition in math across the fifth grade. The competition revolves around I-ready lessons. Two of the four classes will be competing against each other to see who can get to 300 lessons first. As a fifth-grade team, we want to see our students doing I-ready lessons to improve their math skills. Please encourage your child to do these lessons; they can do them at home on their computers or tablets. They just need a log-in badge; students should see their math teacher for a log-in badge. Please continue reading to see what is being learned in each math class:

Ms. Ericson: We just completed chapter 7, multiplying decimals, and are now in chapter 8, which is dividing decimals. Please continue to support them in these. Also, our I-ready competition has really heated up and the classes are neck to neck!

Ms. Hein: We just finished chapter 9 and are moving on to chapter 10. We are diving deeper into fractions, and the class is doing amazing. They have also done a great job with the iReady competition. I am so proud of how hard they are working.

Mr. Anderson: This month we have been working on Chapter 7 (Multiplying decimals). Once we are finished with Chapter 7 we will move on to Chapter 8 (Dividing decimals). Please continue to work on these skills at home.

Ms. Mitchell: This month, we will be focusing on decimals, whether it be adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing. Then it will be time for some fractions, so there could be many questions on homework please help them. We are continuing with our class competition for I-ready lessons. All students should be doing 1-2 lessons a week, depending on how long the week is.

Ms. Bambury: Currently we are working on multiplying decimals. Next week we will begin dividing decimals. After we complete the decimal units we will begin our long journey through fractions. Please keep practicing i-Ready math lessons at home.

Literacy- In our literacy class this month, we have finished Mid Summer’s Night Dream and we're off and running to study black history month and will be diving into Secret Garden shortly thereafter. We are continuing with parts of speech, prefixes, and suffixes and also talking about the main idea and theme. Please note that most teachers require iReady lessons to be completed for a weekly grade. Please check with your student to see if their class is one.

History- We have started our unit about “European Exploration.” This unit is even more action-packed with countries in competition with each other to find ways to get to the Spice Islands. This leads to explorers finding new land, interacting with new cultures and new people. For most of this unit there will be many engaging stories about European Explorers. We will conclude this unit with a small group project that will task the students with researching an explorer to share information about them with the rest of the class. After this unit we will begin our unit on “Westward Expansion,” which will focus on how the United States went from 13 states to the 50 states we have today.

Science- The first group has completed the Matter unit and are now in STEM and I now have the STEM kids. We are having a great time with the hands-on activities such as “salt dissolving,” and seeing the reaction between baking soda and vinegar.

We will be learning all about the states of matter, what matter is, and conduct some fun experiments! Talk with your child about what they learned. You can also quiz them by asking them how different things can change into a different state of matter, ex. water.

STEM NEWS-January 12th

Fifth graders are doing a fantastic job of coding their EV3 robots in STEM. The first group in STEM will be finishing on Jan. 19th. The second group will be in STEM from Jan. 22nd through Feb. 23rd. What an exciting opportunity to have small class sizes for more small-group teaching and in-depth discovery!

The unit started with EV3 robots for the first 4 weeks. These robots are a Lego Education product and the students continue developing their block coding skills on the EV3 platform, while using the sensors on the EV3 robots. There are mini challenges within the EV3 Space Challenge. (Group 1 is wrapping up these mini space challenges this week and it is so rewarding to see students having such huge success with their coding skills and cheering classmates on as they succeed!!!!) The last week of our STEM unit in 5th grade we will introduce Electrical Circuits to students. This will be beneficial for all of their projects in Middle School STEM. I am really enjoying your students in 5th grade and watching them learn and grow!

Specials

Here are the links to the special teacher’s classes. Please open and view to see what your child is working on in Specials.

Hein: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F49ADA72AA7FBC25-47164951-mshein

Sincerely Your 5th-grade team

Mr. Anderson

Ms. Bambury

Ms. Ericson

Ms. Hein

Ms. Mitchell

Upcoming Events
Feb. 10, 2024 Daddy/daughter dance
Feb. 14, 2024	Valentine’s Day/Skate City field trip
Feb. 16, 2024	No School
Feb. 19, 2024	No School
Feb. 23, 2024	Dress of Choice
Feb. 23, 2024	End of Trimester

For more event dates, please visit the Event Calendar on www.aak8.org. For questions or concerns about an event date, please contact Michele Quintana.

Friday, January 12, 2024

Dear American Academy Parents,

Welcome to January of 2024! Wow, it's hard to believe we are starting the second half of the year! We are so excited to hear about how the kids’ break went. This month we will have Martin Luther King Day off-No School. We also have conferences on January 31st and February 1st. Please sign up below for your conference time. Conference sign ups will be available until January 26th. Reminder, only sign up with one teacher so that everyone who wants a conference can get one!

As we get back to curriculum our math and literacy classes will be in competition for the most i-Ready lessons between now and the end of the trimester in February. We are also setting goals for the kids to help them grow this next half of the year. Please join us in helping them make a goal for their classes, whether it be getting work in on time, focusing on their classes, being respectful, or achieving a certain grade. Please make this attainable so your child can feel successful at home and in the classroom.

Winter Conferences

We will be having conferences at the end of this month. The signups are available. Please click on the teacher you would like to visit with. Just to give you a heads-up, our spring conferences will be student-led. So, this one we have at the end of the month will be teacher-led. Conferences will be on January 31st and February 1st. Conference sign up will close on January 26, 2024, so that teachers can prepare for the conferences.

Anderson: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E44A5AA2DA7FBC70-47191175-winter

Bambury: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090F45ABAD2CA6F49-47164541-winter

Ericson: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805054BA5AB2EA0FB6-47178792-winter

Mitchell: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409094FABAE22A1F85-47173946-winter

Valentines Parties

I know we are a little aways from our Valentine’s party, but I am sure it will sneak up on us very quickly. So get your Valentine’s early. We will give you more information about the party as soon as it is figured out!

Skate City Field Trip

The fifth grade team has set up a field trip to go to Skate City on February 14, 2024. We decided this because this particular group of students did not get to go to Skate City in third grade. That was a covid year and Skate City was not offering field trips that year. So we have attached links to this newsletter for you to sign your child up. You may be asking what our schedule will now look like. We will have academics until the bus comes to pick us up. We will head to Skate City around 10:00am and be back around 2pm. There is a separate sign up genius to sign up for lunch at Skate City. When we come back we will have students exchange valentines and have a snack for their Valentines Party.

Lunch: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805054BA5AB2EA0FB6-47302874-skate

Winter Months

As we are getting into the colder months of the year please remind your students to bring their warm clothing for recess outside. We continue to go outside if it is not below 20 degrees.

Grading Policy

Curriculum updates

Math- We have started a team competition across fifth grade in math. The competition revolves around I ready lessons. Two of the four classes will be competing against each other to see who can get to 300 lessons first. As a fifth-grade team, we would like to see our students doing I-ready lessons to improve their math skills. Please encourage your child to do these lessons, they can do them at home on their computers or tablets. They just need a log-in badge, students should see their math teacher for a log in badge. Please continue reading to see what is being learned in each math class:

Ms. Ericson: We are starting chapter six, learning how to multiply decimals and whole numbers. We will then continue to learn how to multiply decimals in chapter 7. Continue to encourage your child to do I-ready at home. Especially good for nights that they don’t have much homework!

Ms. Hein: Before the break we ended chapter 5. We started Chapter 6 on multiplying decimals. We will continue multiplying decimals through Chapter 7. Please continue to work on multiplication and division facts at home.

Mr. Anderson: This month we are working on Chapter 5 (adding and subtracting decimals), which also has a focus on the sequence of decimals and adding and subtracting money. Once we are finished with Chapter 5 we will move on to Chapter 6 (multiplying decimals and whole numbers).

Ms. Mitchell: This month we will be focusing on finishing up volume and then moving into decimals. We will start with placement of the decimal and then move into adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimals.

Ms. Bambury: Before winter break we completed our geometry and volume chapters (15 & 16). This month we will be working on Chapter 4 (Place Value and Decimals) and Chapter 5 (Decimals and Fractions).

Literacy- In our literacy class this month, we will be focusing on MidSummers Nights Dream by William Shakespeare. We will be focusing on literary analysis for this book. We are also working on prefixes and suffixes in place of conventional spelling tests. It will be different for each teacher, so make sure to talk with your student. Please continue to watch Infinite Campus for missing assignments. The students are supposed to check IC for their grades every day.

History- We have started our new unit about “The Golden Age of England.” This unit is very action-packed with family feuds, kings and queens threatening each other, ship battles, an English Civil War, and many changes in England that have a large impact on the rest of Europe during the time period. Although this unit is short, there will be many engaging stories about England that the students will likely want to tell. We will conclude this unit with a small project that focuses on drawing an event from the unit, writing a short summary of the event and why it was important. After this unit we will begin our unit on “European Exploration.”

Science- We are starting our Matter unit, this will continue through the whole trimester. Half the students will be with me for science and the other half will be with Ms. Jones for STEM, on January 22nd we will switch.

In my class we will be learning all about the states of matter, what matter is, and conduct some fun experiments! Talk with your child about what they learned. You can also quiz them by asking them how different things can change into a different state of matter, ex. water.

STEM NEWS-January 12th

Fifth graders are doing a fantastic job of coding their EV3 robots in STEM. The first group in STEM will be finishing on Jan. 19th. The second group will be in STEM Jan. 22nd through Feb. 23rd. What an exciting opportunity to have small class sizes for more small group teaching and in depth discovery!

The unit started with EV3 robots for the first 4 weeks. These robots are a Lego Education product and the students are continuing to develop their block coding skills on the EV3 platform, while using the sensors on the EV3 robots. There are mini challenges within the EV3 Space Challenge. (Group 1 is wrapping up these mini space challenges this week and it is so rewarding to see students having such huge success with their coding skills and cheering classmates on as they succeed!!!!) The last week of our STEM unit in 5th grade we will introduce Electrical Circuits to students. This will be beneficial for all of their projects in Middle School STEM. I am really enjoying your students in 5th grade and watching them learn and grow!

Specials

Here are the links to the Specials teacher’s classes. Please open and view to see what your child is working on in Specials.

Sincerely Your 5th-grade team

Mr. Anderson

Ms. Bambury

Ms. Ericson

Ms. Hein

Ms. Mitchell

Upcoming Events
Jan 15, 2024	Martin Luther King Day - NO SCHOOL
Jan 31, 2024	Conferences
February 1, 2024	Conferences
Feb 2, 2024	PD Teacher Development - NO SCHOOL
Feb. 14 , 2024	Valentine’s Day
Feb. 15, 2024	No School

For more event dates, please visit the Event Calendar on www.aak8.org. For questions or concerns about an event date, please contact Michele Quintana.

Weekly newsletters to come...

Monday, December 4, 2023

Dear American Academy Parents,

Welcome to a new month, December! The leaves have fallen from the trees, leaving us with a snowy, winter wonderland. We have just returned from Outdoor Ed and had a fantastic time together. Last month was full of fun and exciting events and content in each class, and that fun will continue into this month as well. There are many cheerful and amazing things happening in the month of December, please continue reading to see the exciting things fifth grade will be doing.

Start of new Grading Period

We are off to a great start for our 2nd trimester. This is a great time to remind your kids to make sure things get turned in on time and do their missing work from being absent. Please encourage your son or daughter to come get make-up work when they come back, they can either talk to their teacher during class time or study hall. Thank you for all the support you are giving your kids to advocate for themselves. They are doing great!

Winter Parties

Winter parties will be held on December 21, 2023. We look forward to these parties and we appreciate all the help we receive from the parents. Each classroom will be having their own winter party, so please talk to your children and look for emails from room parents about the parties in each classroom.

Homeroom Secret Santa

In our homeroom classes we are doing Secret Santa gift exchanges. This is completely voluntary and the gifts should not be more than $10. If they choose to participate they need to bring a wrapped gift on the 21st. They will be coming home with how their homeroom teacher is running it.

Toy Drive

The fifth graders wanted to do something for those less fortunate and came up with the idea of doing a toy drive! If you want to donate please send in a new, unwrapped toy with your child on or before December 19th. All toys will be donated that weekend to area women/family shelters.

PTO Staff Holiday Fund and Gift Giving Tree

This is a reminder that the Staff holiday fund and Gift Giving Tree is still open for families to donate to if you wish. The donations will be accepted until December 8th. Please give only cash.

Winter Months

As we are getting into the colder months of the year please remind your students to bring their warm clothing for recess outside. We continue to go outside if it is not below 20 degrees.

Grading Policy

Curriculum updates

Math- In math we will be starting our winter diagnostic testing through iReady and HMH before learning any new content. As a fifth grade team we would like to see our students doing I-ready lessons to improve their math skills. Please encourage your child to do these lessons, they can do them at home on their computers or tablets. They just need a log-in badge, students should see their math teacher for a log in badge. Please continue reading to see what is being learned in each math class:

Ms. Ericson: We are starting chapter four and learning about place value, we will then move into chapter five where we will be adding and subtracting decimals. Both chapters will be done before we leave for winter break.

Ms. Hein:

Mr. Anderson: This month we will be finishing up our unit on volume (Chapter 16) before moving on to decimals and place values (Chapter 4). Due to our winter testing this month there will not be much homework given.

Ms. Mitchell: This month we will be focusing on classifying geometric shapes mainly triangles and quadrilaterals, then moving into volume. The students will have intermittent homework because of the math testing. Please make sure your child is doing their I ready lessons each week.

Ms. Bambury:

Literacy- In our literacy class this month we will be focusing on the book “Little Women” we will be strategizing literary concepts that revolve around point of view, setting and how to change the end of a story. The students will be taking their I ready literacy test along with their writing benchmark over the next few weeks. We are so looking forward to seeing how much your student has grown over the last couple of months.

History- We will be wrapping up our unit about “The Reformation" by designing our own cities, coming up with rules for our cities, and convincing the rest of the class why our city is the best one to live in. So far we have learned about Martin Luther and his “crazy accusations,” Ulrich Zwingli and his “fight” with Luther, King Henry VIII, and John Calvin and his rules for Geneva. We will finish out our content for this unit with Reformation Scientists: Copernicus and Galileo. At the end of this unit we will have a group project in which we will create a newspaper about the Reformation. This will be a large grade and it will be important that we follow the directions and schedule that will be in Google Classroom in order to be successful with this assignment. Once we finish up this unit we will move into learning about “The Golden Age of England.”

STEM NEWS

Fifth grade starts STEM in the second trimester. There are a few changes to the structure of STEM this year. Your student will have STEM for ½ of trimester two. Their science class will be divided into two groups and ½ of the students will be in science while the other ½ is in STEM. Students will begin the split of Science/STEM on November 27th. The first group in STEM will be 11/27-1/19. The second group will be 1/22-2/23. Each group will have both individual and partner assignments to deepen their understanding of coding, robotics and the Engineering Design Process. The most exciting part of this change is that your student will have 14 students (on average) in their science and STEM classes for the whole trimester. What an exciting opportunity to have small class sizes for more small group teaching and in depth discovery!

The unit will start with EV3 robots for the first 4 weeks. These robots are a Lego Education product and the students will continue to develop their block coding skills on the EV3 platform, while using the sensors on the EV3 robots. There will be mini challenges within the EV3 Space Challenge. At the very end of our STEM time in 5th grade, we will introduce Electrical Circuits to students. This will be beneficial for all of their projects in Middle School STEM. I am so excited for STEM this year and it will be so fun to see the growth from last year.

Specials

Here are the links to the Specials teacher’s classes. Please open and view to see what your child is working on in Specials.

2324 MB - Grd 5 Stone Canyon - FULL PMT OPTION

Sincerely Your 5th grade team

Mr. Anderson

Ms. Bambury

Ms. Ericson

Ms. Hein

Ms. Mitchell

Upcoming Events
December 1-10	A Christmas Carol - The Musical (Parker Schoolhouse Theater)
December 3	Ms. Hein’s birthday
December 4-8	Book Fair
December 8	Parent’s Night Out
December 21	Talent Show
December 21	Winter Party (1:15 pm - 2:45 pm)
December 22-January 8	Winter Break

For more event dates, please visit the Event Calendar on www.aak8.org. For questions or concerns about an event date, please contact Michele Quintana.

Dear American Academy Parents,

What an amazing fall we are having, except for the one snow storm which is getting us ready for winter. November will be a busy month for the 5th graders as they will be finishing the 1st trimester, going to Outdoor Education, participating in Veteran's Day and our food drive for Parker Task Force.

Scholastic Book Order

Book orders are due on November 26, 2023. Books make great holiday gifts! Order now for delivery before winter break! Our class code is TQPQK last name Ericson

Stone Canyon

Final chance to sign up! Sign ups are due by Nov. 10th! Again make sure to sign-up on the school store and through Stone Canyon.

We will be going November 29-December 1st.

You must also register through Stone Canyon, student registrations are now live and can be found here.

Parker Task Force Food Drive

Starts up November 6th. Please drop off non-perishable food items during AM carpool. A huge thank you in advance for helping those in need! I believe there will be a competition between grades if not classes for who can bring in the most food. So, let’s go, fifth grade!

Grading Policy

Trimester 1 will come to an end on November 24, 2023. All assignments for all classes will be due by Friday, November 17, 2023, before we go on Thanksgiving Break.

Curriculum updates

Literacy- In the last couple of weeks we have been working writing an informational paper on bats and ghosts. It has been fun to see what the students have learned about each topic and what they chose to put into their papers. Over the next two weeks we will be starting a novel study about The Adventures of Don Quixote. This will lead us up to Thanksgiving break or there about. When we return from Thanksgiving break we will be starting our next round of diagnostic testing for trimester 2.

Math- In math we are learning all about the wonderful world of geometry in chapter 15, and about how to find the volume of prisms in chapter 16. We are all starting to work at different places so depending on which class your student is in will depend on where they are. As a fifth grade team we would like to see our students doing I-ready lessons to improve their math skills. Please encourage your child to do these lessons, they can do them at home on their computers or tablets. They just need a log-in badge, students should see their math teacher for a log in badge.

History- We recently finished our unit about “The Renaissance" and have started our next unit about “The Reformation.” This is a period of time where countries all over Europe are changing due to the spread of ideas from the Renaissance. Some of these changes are good, while others will cause significant problems. While this unit is not as “action packed” as some of our other units, there is a great emphasis on cause and effect. In this unit we will learn about the impact of Martin Luther, mini wars, fist fighting in the streets over religious ideas, and much more. At the end of this unit we will have a group project in which we will create a newspaper about the Reformation. This will be a large grade and it will be important that we follow the directions and schedule that is laid out in Google Classroom in order to be successful with this assignment. Once we finish up this unit we will move into learning about “The Golden Age of England.”

Science- We have wrapped up our Space Systems unit; they had a blast learning all about our Sun, moon and how they move through space. It was absolutely amazing that we had a solar eclipse during that unit! I loved hearing from all the kids who were able to witness the eclipse first hand! Last week we started our Earth Systems unit. We are learning about the 4 spheres of the Earth; biosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. That unit will take us up to winter break. In the second trimester we will be starting the matter unit and STEM. Half the students will go to STEM, and the other half will be with me, then half way through the trimester we will switch. More information will be coming about that in the next newsletter.

Specials

Here are the links to the Specials teacher’s classes. Please open and view to see what your child is working on in Specials.

Hein:https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F49ADA72AA7FBC25-44596983-hein

MB Elementary Art News | Ms. Strobel

Sincerely Your 5th grade team

Mr. Anderson

Ms. Bambury

Ms. Ericson

Ms. Hein

Ms. Mitchell

Upcoming Events
November 6	Parker Task Force Food Drive (All Week)
November 10	Veterans Day-students may wear red/white/blue/American flag top with uniform bottom
November 15	PTO staff appreciation lunch-Thanksgiving feast
November 17	Dress of choice
November 20-24	Thanksgiving Break
November 24	End of trimester one
November 29, 30 and Dec. 1	Outdoor Education
December 1,2,3	Christmas Carol-Parker Schoolhouse Theatre go to Parkerarts.org for tickets

For more event dates, please visit the Event Calendar on www.aak8.org. For questions or concerns about an event date, please contact Michele Quintana.

Friday, September 25, 2023

Dear American Academy Parents,

Time sure is passing by quickly in 5th grade. We are full into content learning in all of our classes. The excitement the kids have for each subject has been fantastic. We have a few things happening before we head into fall break, hard to believe that it is in less than a month. We have a field trip, conferences and once we come back from fall break it will be time for our fall parties.

Supplies

Please make sure that your child has headphones at school. They are essential to have at school every day. We have noticed that some students have already lost or broken theirs. Please also check with your child to make sure they have enough pencils at school in their pencil pouch. Some students have been asking daily for pencils.

The blue bags we have in class to carry out computers have been getting holes. If your student asks to bring a reusable bag to school to use it would be a huge help to use if they could do that. We are working with PTO to see if they can replace them but in the meantime we will need a reusable bag if theirs gets torn.

Fall Conferences

Fall conferences are here! They are October 11th and 12th. You can sign up for one conference for 5th grade. You will choose the teacher that you would like to meet with. Please do not sign up for multiple teachers. Below are the links:

Anderson: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E44A5AA2DA7FBC70-44584626-fall

Bambury: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090F45ABAD2CA6F49-44615661-fall

Ericson: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805054BA5AB2EA0FB6-44559825-ericson

Mitchell: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409094FABAE22A1F85-44557443-parent

Field Trip to Lone Tree Performing Arts

We are excited to let you know about our first field trip of the year! Fifth graders will be going to see a play at the Lone Tree Performing arts on September 26, 2023. The name of the play is “ A Noble Journey, a Box Named Freedom.” As you are aware, we are not able to provide district buses or transportation, and you will be responsible for providing transportation for your child to and from our field trip destination. You will need to drop your child off at the Lone Tree Arts Center at 11:30am. It is imperative that you are on time, as we must have all students in the theater and in their seats by the start of the performance. Please plan on picking up your child by 1:30pm.

Although our field trip days are experiential learning days, we would like to provide you with the option of having your child attend school during the morning. Please know that if you are planning on having your child attend school for the morning, the hours will be from 8:05 am to 10:45am. We will not be providing lunch prior to the field trip, so you will need to plan accordingly. Understandably, the morning will be non-academic and will be structured with additional enrichment activities relating to the field trip.

If you choose to have your child attend school for the morning, you should plan to pick up your child from American Academy at 10:45am, allowing enough time for both teachers and students to arrive at the Lone Tree Arts Center. Please fill out a quick form, letting us know if you are planning on having your child attend school for the morning.

2324 MB - Grd 5 Stone Canyon - FULL PMT OPTION

Fall Parties

Our Fall parties will be held on October 27, 2023, starting around 2pm. Students will be able to be in costume all day if they would like, or they can change after lunch. It is suggested that costumes relate to our core knowledge themes. Room parents will be in touch with details of what we need.

Stone Canyon

You all should have received an email now regarding Stone Canyon. This is such a highly anticipated trip that the students talk about for the rest of the year! It is amazing to watch them learn and grow in this incredible out of class environment. The bonds they develop I have seen last through middle school!

Please see the email from Ms. Ericson for the links to register! I have also attached the links below for your convenience. We will be going November 29-December 1st.

The payment plan link will expire at midnight on 9/15. The full payment option will expire at midnight on 11/21. Please note that payment 2 for the payment plan option will be pulled on 10/16, as 10/15 is a Sunday.

2324 MB - Grd 5 Stone Canyon - PAYMENT PLAN OPTION

You MUST also register through Stone Canyon, student registrations are now live and can be found here.

The parent Zoom meeting will be on Tuesday October 3rd at 6pm.

Parent Presentation Zoom Link

If you have any questions please use the link below to submit them to Stone Canyon prior to the meeting.

Stone Canyon OE Program Question Form

Grading Policy

Absent Work

If your student is absent from school it is their responsibility to talk to the teachers about the work they missed. They need to talk to them on the day they return to school. They get 2 days for every day they missed to complete the work.

Curriculum updates

Literacy- We have begun our first novel Mr. Tucket by Gary Paulsen. The students are really enjoying the story and learning about Francis and Mr. Grimes. Spelling began on September 11th. Students will be given the words and homework on Monday’s. The homework and the test will be on Friday. Every teacher this year will be having students put all homework in their red folder and writing what the homework is in their planner. They should be bringing those two items home every night. Ms. Hein and Ms. Mitchell will assign one or two iReady lessons per week that need to be passed. Students can complete them at home by following these steps and having their QR code:

Go to www.aak8.org
Click on quick links, students, iReady Clever
If it logs them into the wrong Clever account they must log out and go back to the link and click it again.
They need their QR code and a camera.

Math- In math we completed Chapter 1 Place Value and some classes are almost through Chapter 2 Division. If your child is struggling with the homework or forgot their homework, they can access lessons and the work by going into ED through the AA Clever Portal on a home device. Most classes will be getting math homework Monday through Thursday. Again, the homework will be in the red folder and written in the planner.

History- We have completed our first two units, “World Lakes and Geography,” and “Mayan Civilization.” In our next unit we will be focusing on the Renaissance, first by learning about where and when it happened, and then seeing what life was like during the time period. All of this leads up to one of the greatest inventions of all time - the Gutenberg Press (printing press). During this unit we will also learn about many amazing inventors and their inventions, as well as artists and their artwork.

Science- We finished the unit “Engineering and Technology” last week and are now moving onto “Systems in Space” which is one of my personal favorites! During this unit the students will be completing a moon journal outside of school. I highly recommend putting it on the fridge so it does not get lost! This is a great way to observe how the moon changes over the course of a month. We will also be learning about gravity, the Sun. eclipses, and Earth’s place in the solar system.

Specials

Here are the links to the Specials teacher’s classes. Please open and view to see what your child is working on in Specials.

MB Elementary Art News | Ms. Strobel

Sincerely Your 5th grade team

Mr. Anderson

Ms. Bambury

Ms. Ericson

Ms. Hein

Ms. Mitchell

Upcoming Events
September 26 September 29	Field Trip to Lone Tree Performing Arts 11:30 Muffins with Moms
October 11, 12	Fall Conferences
October 13-22	Fall Break!

For more event dates, please visit the Event Calendar on www.aak8.org. For questions or concerns about an event date, please contact Michele Quintana.

Friday, September 1, 2023

Dear American Academy Parents,

Wow what a great two weeks we’ve had. We have really enjoyed getting to know your children and all the things they can do. We have finished up with beginning of the year testing and are well on our way to learning, new curriculum. We have many events coming your way in September so please continue reading to see the exciting things fifth grade will be doing.

Back to School Night

Please join us on September 7, 2023 for Back to School Night at 6pm. During our Back to School Night, you will have the opportunity to follow your child’s schedule, experience what their day looks like, and hear from each of their 5th grade teachers. This parent-only event is a great time to get to know the teachers and find out what your child will be learning this year. Please ask your child for their schedule.

Scholastic Book Order

Book orders are Due on September 8, 2023, please order your books soon! Our class code is TQPQK last name Ericson

Field Trip to Lone Tree Performing Arts

We will need 5 chaperones for this field trip. The first five parents to email Ms. Mitchell will be our chaperones.

2324 MB - Grd 5 Stone Canyon - FULL PMT OPTION

Stone Canyon

Please see the email from Ms. Ericson for the links to register! I have also attached the links below for your convenience. We will be going November 29-December 1st.

2324 MB - Grd 5 Stone Canyon - PAYMENT PLAN OPTION

You must also register through Stone Canyon, student registrations are now live and can be found here.

Grading Policy

Curriculum updates

Literacy- In the last couple of weeks we have been working our beginning of year testing. We have also worked with the books the students have read over the summer. Next week we will begin our first novel Mr. Tucket by Gary Paulsen. Spelling will begin on September 11th. Students will be given the words and homework on Monday’s. The homework and the test will be on Friday. Every teacher this year will be having students put all homework in their red folder and writing what the homework is in their planner. They should be bringing those two items home every night.

Math- In math we completed our beginning of the year testing and have moved onto Chapter 13, Numerical Expressions, in Go Math. Most classes will be getting math homework Monday through Thursday. Again, the homework will be in the red folder and written in the planner.

History- For the last few weeks we have been working on finding out why we study history, learning about geography, and about lakes. We will be taking our first vocabulary quiz on Friday, September 8, this will also be our first grade. Please keep in mind that this is still the beginning of the school year and more grades will be put in soon. In the coming weeks we will start a "Passport" project where we will "travel" to all of the major lakes in the world. Once we are done with our Lakes and Geography unit we will spend a week learning about the Mayan civilization before we start learning about the period known as the "Renaissance."

Science- We are starting out the year with the unit “Engineering and Technology.” During this unit they will learn about how to brainstorm ideas, develop prototypes, and how finished products come into being. We will be learning how engineering and math go hand in hand as well as how technology affects our society. We will also be learning about lab safety and what it means to be a scientist.

We are using a new curriculum this year, it is the same platform that GoMath is on. I am so excited to share this new curriculum with your students!

Specials

Here are the links to the Specials teacher’s classes. Please open and view to see what your child is working on in Specials.