Christmas Around the World- Germany

We are very excited to begin a Christmas Around the World Unit for all fifth graders. My group will be focusing on Christmas in Germany. I have many exciting activities planned as we learn about customs, traditions, foods, legends, etc.

Monday, November 29- Create suitcases with map, flag, passport, and plane ticket.

Tuesday, November 30- We will be using this website for a quick over of Christmas in Germany.

http://www.theholidayspot.com/christmas/worldxmas/germany.htm

Wednesday, December 1- Begin reading Christmas in Today's Germany

Thanksgiving

We will be reading a book in class called Plymouth Colony before we celebrate Thanksgiving. The following are some links we will be referring to throughout the Thanksgiving unit. It is important for our students to understand why Thanksgiving is such an important holiday.

First Thanksgiving Letters- http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/letters.asp

First Person Videos-

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/video.jsp?pID=1649964947&bcpid=1649964947&bclid=648832233001&bctid=648467399001

Voyage on the Mayflower- http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/voyage/

Daily Life- http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/daily_life/

The Thanksgiving Feast- http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/feast/

Mysteries of Harris Burdick

To complete our Chris Van Allsburg unit, we will be watching Mysteries of Harris Burdick. We will then choose one of the pictures to create our own story. The following link is the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrCTSNPVhXI

Extra Credit

Students had the opportunity to receive extra credit in Reading by creating a sailboat to go along with the story, The Wreck of the Zephyr. They all had their own ideas and were very creative. Great job to those that took advantage of extra credit!!!

Noun Game Website

Click on the following link to play a noun game for Language centers. You will need to choose Noun Dunk to play.

http://www.yourdictionary.com/dictionary-articles/interactive-grammar-games.html

Monday, September 27

Since we finished reading The Wreck of the Zephyr which had a flying sailboat, we are now going to use our imaginations to create a story. What if the form of transportation you use the most enabled you to fly? How would that change how you get from place to place? Write a story that is 7-10 sentences. Be creative and descriptive. Examples: flying shoes, flying bike, flying car

Mrs. Albrecht's Example-

One day I was driving through Jerseyville trying to get to a doctor's appointment by 3:30. There were cars, trucks, motorcycles, and school busses waiting at red lights, and of course, I was at the back of the line. Just when I thought I was going to be late, my car began to fly. It slowly lifted off the ground and I was soaring high above the other vehicles. My flying car weaved in and out of the buildings, above and below power lines, and over and under tree branches. I could not believe my eyes! The view was awesome and took my breath away.

Saving Websites to Favorites

Click on the following links and add them to your Favorites bar. Click the website, then click the plus (+) by the toolbar. Make sure you save it on the bookmark bar. This will save it to your favorites so you do not have to type the address each time we visit the following sites.

Mrs. Albrecht's Blog- http://www.ngmsalbrecht.blogspot.com/

Brain Pop- http://www.brainpop.com/

Ag Mags- http://www.agintheclassroom.org/060605/teachers/printable/agmags/ag_mags.html

Wordle- http://www.wordle.net/

WeLcOmE bAcK!!!

It's hard to believe summer vacation has come to an end and another school year will begin! Hopefully, everyone had a fun and safe summer. I am very excited about the 2010-2011 school year. I have many new exciting lessons planned for your fifth grade year and am thrilled that each of you will have your own Mac. As you all know, I will not be in the classroom until September 20 because I recently had a beautiful baby girl, Lakely. I'm excited to meet all my students and their families, so I will see you soon! If you need to contact me, you may do so at aalbrecht@northgreene.com. Believe in Yourself!!!

Ken Bradbury

The fifth grade students were excited to spend part of their morning April 14 with author, Ken Bradbury. He came to speak with the students about how to make writing interesting and how to come up with ideas. The students will be competing in a writing contest this week among the entire fifth grade. One of the most important concepts they learned was to write about what you know, not things you have to make up. Mr. Bradbury was excellent with them and everyone enjoyed donuts and orange juice. The majority of the students also got his autograph!

Another Iditarod Newscast

Newscast

Some students chose to do the extra credit I offered for the third quarter. They were to write a newscast about the Iditarod. Here are a few that recorded their casts!

HiStOrY wAs MaDe...

on March 16, 2010 when Iditarod musher, Lance Mackey, crossed the finish line in Nome! This is the 4th consecutive year he has been the first across the treacherous Alaskan terrain to arrive in Nome during the Alaskan Iditarod. It took him 8 days 23 hours to complete the journey and he finished with 11 dogs on his tugline. He won $50,400 and a new Dodge truck. The students have loved watching him move his way to the top! Way to go Lance Mackey!!!

Let The Race Begin!!!

We have finished the Reading ISAT, so let the Iditarod race begin!!! The students have chosen their mushers and are ready to see if Lance Mackey can make history by winning for the 4th consecutive year. It will be an exciting trip over the Alaskan terrain and we are all looking forward to tracking the mushers with GPS and watching some live events. Stay tuned for more about the Alaskan Iditarod!

The Alaskan Iditarod

ATTENTION 5TH GRADE STUDENTS: Get ready to take an incredible journey through Alaska with a musher and his or her dog team. The study of the Alaskan Iditarod was a favorite among many students from last year! I love teaching about the Iditarod and enjoy this unit of study. I can't wait to experience this amazing journey through rugged terrain and bone chilling temperatures with all of you. The official site of the Iditarod can be found here: http://www.iditarod.com/

Other Useful Sites

Curriculum Connections - http://www.wadsworth.k12.oh.us/administrativeDepartment.aspx?aid=40

Glog- http://jacinday.glogster.com/jacindaiditarod/

Thursday, March 4

Iditarod- http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/iditarod-sneak-peek.html

A Musher's Life- http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/iditarod-a-mushers-life.html

Doggy Sweaters- http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/iditarod-insider-doggy-sweaters.html

Friday, March 5

Choose your musher! Lance Mackey will be the musher for the entire 5th grade. We did this last year and he won for the third year in a row! Will he make it four years in 2010? You also cannot choose Mitch Seavey. Mitch is the musher I chose last year, so I am going to stick with the same one! Go to this site to choose your musher and remember to print a picture: http://www.iditarod.com/race/musherlisting.html

Monday, March 8

Mushing Terminology- http://www.iditarod.com/learn/terminology.html

REWARDS, REWARDS, REWARDS

TODAY AT NGMS WAS A REWARD DAY! The students that did not receive a detention in January watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. We also had the no detention reward for the entire 2nd quarter. I had 14 students that did not receive a detention, so their reward was a candy bar and homework pass. Finally, we had our AR reward. The students that earned 15 points for the second quarter were able to wear pajamas to school, play board games, and eat popcorn. Here is a pictures of the students in the pajamas. WAY TO GO TO STUDENTS!!!

ISAT PRACTICE

Students click on the link below to do practice questions for the ISAT you will take in March. In order to do the reading practice, you will have to click on the name of the passage, read it, and then answer the questions.

http://metacat2.com/iltestlinks.html

Ringing in 2010

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday break! We will be kicking off the new year with many activities that will help prepare for the ISAT that the students will take in March. We will be reading numerous non-fiction materials because students seem to struggle more with non-fiction versus fiction.