Welcome 2011

WoW! It is hard to believe the first semester is over. I hope everyone had an excellent holiday break. I enjoyed spending every minute with our daughter. She will be six months old already on January 24. Over the next two months we will be working very hard to prepare for the ISAT. February 28 will be here before we know it! I really enjoy my class and hope they continue to keep up the good work.

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!