Pledge Forms are due Tomorrow Wait there is more.

This week at a glance...

• October 14-18 No Spelling SO... Edit your "Lincoln in the Dark" personal narrative. 

• Tuesday, Oct. 15th, Tomorrow All Pledges forms are due. These pledges will cut the cost of all fifth graders going to Mountain School. Each student is responsible for at least 10 cents/ hour in pledges and a minimum of 10  hours of community service within your home and our local community. Once again All proceeds for the Help-a-Thon go to help bring down the cost of Mountain school.Here is the link for Mountain School NCI http://ncascades.org/

• Wednesday, Oct 16th TEAM Lesson by MVPD in our classroom at 1:45PM

• Thursday, Oct. 17th 
• 5th grade Parent Meeting at Lincoln 6PM  concerning our students as sixth graders possibly moving to Middle School next year. 
• Please pick up the Apples and Bulbs that you sold and deliver them. Thank you once again. Our class won the class prize and Jacob and Grace Cole were the top sellers in our school. 

• Friday, Oct. 18th Rough Draft for Lincoln in the Dark is due. 

• Saturday, Oct 19th 8 am -noon Lincoln Work Party with PTA and community. Earn three hours of the needed 10 community hours at school on Saturday. Please come with your parents or guardians. 

• Thank you.

Our Class This Year 2013-14

Here is our wonderful class of 23 students. They are extremely entertaining and energetic students. Thank you for sharing them with me. 

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 Fundraiser is Due and We walk to Pan the Play at Lincoln THeatre Downtown Rain or Shine.

We are participating in the Global Read Aloud of Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper

Here is a link to the map of all the schools participating.
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=204302368158238966785.0004e3d6ec96bb45694c1&msa=0

What is Global Read Aloud all about? Here's a link.
http://youtu.be/GJwBL1CzDus

Start of the 2013-14 Year is off to a great start.

We have had a great start to the school year. Thank you for being so responsible and returning all of the signed papers on time. Thank you also for taking the time to fill out the survey about your child. It was heart warming to see the responses and love that each child has in the classroom.

We have organized ourselves in our notebooks and Language Arts binders. I hope your child can see that organization of materials and assignments is a big deal in fifth grade.

We have also had fun getting to know each other as well as our new principal Mr. K. He has been in our classroom and others each and every day.  He has made some great changes to Lincoln. We look forward to his leadership.

Even higher expectations have been put in place with the adoption of Common Core Standards. http://www.corestandards.org/ Some of the Math Standards that were at sixth grade have come down to fifth grade. One of those is Volume. We are working on finding the volume in Math class. We are currently using cubic measurement of solids. Making sure that your child has a solid idea of area and volume would be helpful. It is assumed that at fifth grade your child has mastered multiplication facts through 12's. I know that not all students hold onto these facts as easily as others. It is important to review the math facts with your child. Area and Volume continues this need to know your facts in order to work efficiently.

In reading we continue with Common Core ELA (English Language Arts) Goals. http://www.corestandards.org/ We are starting this year with Story Elements. We have started a unit on Taking A Stand in our reading textbooks.

An FYI: School rules include not flip flops for safety reasons. This came as a surprise to some kids. See the school website for more changes. http://lincoln.mountvernonschools.org/

I hope this finds you settling into a routine that will get comfortable soon. All homework is handed out on the Friday before the week so that students can start working on the assignments as soon as needed. They need to have discussions with your about our expectations and family activities that might need them to plan ahead and start homework earlier. This year we have an additional requirement of read and respond. This form is not finalized and we are still signing the planner for RAH. Thank you for your patience as we iron out the glitches in this written response paper. RAH is a requirement of the district of 20 minutes five nights a week. We sign on the week due dates. Read once over the weekend and sign on the Monday due date. Then read Monday night sign on Tuesday's due date. It will be checked each morning.

In fifth grade there are two additional signatures for Exercise a week that are graded in PE. Our PE is on Mondays. Please have your child write in the exercise and time on the dates that he or she has exercised at least 20 min.These signatures affect the outcome of the students grade. Mrs. Scott will put a flier explaining the policy in your child's notebook.

Thank you for lending me your child. I love this class already.

Sincerely,
Gracie Johnston

Any questions please call
428-6135 or email
gjohnston@mv.k12.wa.us

Little Mountain Photos

Last Day Of the 2012-13 School Year is Tomorrow. Wow. Where did the year go?

Dear Parents,

I have enjoyed your children. I wish I could tell you all how each child has touched my life, taught me many things, and made my days filled with happy memories. Thank you for sharing them with me.

We have learned many things this year. Most of all we worked on being our own advocate, taking initiative, setting goals and accomplishing them, organization, and all the other academics of fifth grade. In Socials Studies we studied Colonial Times through the Revolutionary War Time Period in America. We did state reports. Reported on Biographies of Famous people in those times. We studied Inventors and inventions. We even advertised our own inventions that would fill a need or want. In Language Arts we wrote our own "Lincoln in the Dark" stories and read them to our classmates in the auditorium by flashlight. We did many Power Point Presentations: Biographies of Historical Characters PP, Biographies of Inventors, State Report PP, and Science Fair PP. In Science we were able to continue the FOSS Science Kits of Land Forms, Variables, and Environments. We were able to attend Mountain School in the North Cascades as well this Spring. It was a wonderful experience and next year's Lincoln fifth graders are signed up to go. Hopefully we can find supportive volunteers like we had this year. A huge thank you to all of you that chaperoned from our class and others. In reading we continued in the Reading Curriculum at the fifth grade level. Please encourage your child to read all summer. The dip in reading abilities severe if a child stops reading all summer. There is a summer reading form that came home in your child's folder today. In math we used the state standards and math curriculum, as well as Accelerated Math to aid us in the learning of Math this year. If your child has earned a 3 and met standard that means  that he or she proved that they know the concept with at least 3-5 pieces of evidence in each category. Accelerated Math was a way for the kids to show what they knew on an independent level and at individualized pace. A few students are still struggling with their fact knowledge or the concepts that we studied. These concepts are listed in the portfolio under Math. Please see the highlighted list of 113 objectives  in Accelerated. The objectives not mastered would be a great place to start working to review or catch up on the skills needed for a smooth transition into sixth grade. There is a great amount of on line resources to help your child maintain what was learned this year.

We also had many students participate in this year's I Can Fly Production "Rock Around the Block", band, orchestra, extra curricular activities and sports. Some also participated in the Science Fair, Art Auction, Hike to the Top of Little Mountain, Talent Show, Egg Drop, and Play Day. Whew. What a great year. I have sure  enjoyed the memorable moments with this class.

Once again thank you for your support.
Enjoy your summer.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Gracie Johnston