Newsletters

Dear Parents and Students of Closed-Up Room 205;                                4-17-20

“Just another day in quarantine”, is how I start my good mornings to my family. We aren’t technically in quarantine as none of us has any symptoms or exposure, but we are pretty much confined to the house as my husband and I are included in the age related at risk group. We haven’t even gone to the grocery store since school shut down. Feeling pretty isolated, but enough about me……………

We Grade 5 teachers attended a Google Meets conference today that was designed to help us get students hooked into a more interactive format for distance learning. I will email each of you individually with a passcode to join my Google Classroom. I am just learning and the students are most likely better than myself at negotiating this new format, but if they can be patient with me, it’ll work out. I am hoping this “classroom” will let me see their writing and let me edit or comment. Lots more to come on this as we/I work through it all.

I wonder if any of the students have tried the spelling lists? They are posted with dates of suggested completion/testing included on my HBSS connected website. You just go to the pull down menu to the left of the HBSS homepage and scroll to faculty, click there and click on my name and my website will pop up.

Next week is vacation week. I hope your family has time and space to make it feel a bit like a vacation. Since we are all stuck at home and if you want to we could still do the Zoom visits Tuesday and Friday. It’s up to you, I could go either way on this.  I know many people are looking forward to unplugging for the week. Maybe you could let me know your feelings on Zoom for next week? Thanks.

Haven’t heard from many of you, so don’t forget that I am here!  If your child wants to take the initiative and launch a private or small group Zoom with me, that’s fine. They can just invite me through my school email and they can be in charge for once! J

Best to all; miss you;      Ms. Greene

 

Dear Parents and Students of closed room 205;               4-10-20

I was so saddened by the announcement yesterday that the schools would not open til next fall. I was hoping beyond hope that we might get back in for at least the last two weeks. But, I see that is not to be the case; sad face.

What has changed in the district with the announcement is the amount of online learning and teaching that will take place. The classrooms are all going to a format called “Google Classroom”. I am sending a bit of information in the form of a link to help at least set up any Chrome books that some of you have borrowed from the school: http://www.brunswick.k12.me.us/distancelearning/chromebook-tutorials/.  If anyone would  like a laptop from school, please call the school and they will make that happen.

As far as using Google Classroom, I can’t help much there at this point as I am getting trained in it next week. Knowing how savvy my students are w/technology, their learning curve will be much, much shorter than mine. They could begin investigating tutorials and/or playing around with the Google Classroom format. When we are all up and running with this program, I will be able to see and edit their writing pieces and help in other ways as well.

Other than above, I will continue to hold twice weekly Zoom meetings on Tuesday and Fridays at 3pm so that we can connect face to face and interact w/each other as a group.

I expect that the students are working away on their paper or online packets. I often email sites that HBSS teachers have found that might be helpful or informative for you to decide whether to use or not. I think it would be a good time to get back to weekly spelling tests. To this point, I have listed the next 10 weeks worth of spelling word lists on my webpage; http://www.brunswick.k12.me.us/hgreene/spelling/

For today’s meeting, and sorry for the late notice, I would like the kids to send me a couple of adjectives describing themselves. It is so that we can play a game that was suggested during our Zoom time. For the game, Ms. Greene will write up the descriptors in the chat box and kids can try to guess who the adjectives describe. And for today, it would be fun if everyone wore a funny hat. Plus, our librarian, Mrs. Martin is going to join us at our meeting.

If any of you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to email. My job as your child’s teacher still exists and I make it my mission to help in any way I can during these unsettling times.

Best to you and yours; til next;     Ms. Greene

 

Hi All;                           3-5-20

 
I know I had stated that I would get report cards out to you by tomorrow, but it now looks like that won’t happen until Monday.
I am waiting on a Chemistry wrap – up assessment that I had planned for today, (Thursday), but the students voted to have it tomorrow (Friday) even though they have a spelling test on the same day and with the Science Discovery Night prep, it’ll be a crazy day!
 
The Science Discovery Night is going to be an excellent event and a good time for all involved.
 
It’s been a busy week with prep for SDN and an Informational Writing Assessment, but the kids have persevered in fine form.
 
See you tomorrow night and for conferences next week;  Ms. Greene
 

 

Dear Parents and Students of Room 205:                       2-28-20

This week we spent a great deal of time fine tuning our Science Discovery Night presentations. Some students have opted to practice presentations of the younger grades here; this practice is optional, but a good idea to help with any nervousness related to presentations. Ask your student for details.

Some of you have made appointments for conferences. Some of you may be waiting to see the report cards to decide if there is a need for discussions. I will try to get the report cards to you by next Friday; 3/6 to help with this. I am sending home the conference schedule as it stands so far.

For math, most classes are still on Chapters related to fractions (and some decimals); multiplying, dividing, adding and subtracting them.

For Reading, most of us are reading a couple of books by Andrew Clements; “Frindle”, “No Talking”, “Report Card” to name a few.

Please keep up the Weekly Reading Logs; some students have fallen behind on this requirement, so be sure to check in with your student on progress.

We will slip in some Informational Writing pieces (next week or the following) that are required by all fifth graders. They get to type them, so that helps. J

Coming up:

Friday, March 6th  —  Science Discovery Night;  6-8 PM
“Friday, March 6th  — Walking trip to Thornton Oaks; 1:15-2:30
Month of March  — MEA testing and Parent/Teacher Conferences
Thursday, March 12th — 1:30  Puberty Video for all Grade 5
Friday, March 13th  —  No School – parent teacher conference day
Wednesday, March 18th – Early Release Day
———————————————————————————
Thursday, April 16  — Early Release
April vacation —  4/17  –  4/21
Thursday, April 30th —  Ms. Greene’s Class goes to Challenger Center in Bangor
            (this is an all day trip – no dates at this writing)
———————————————————————————-
Wednesday, May 6  —  Early Release
Monday, May 25  —  No School Memorial Day
———————————————————————————–
Friday, June 12  —  Old Brunswick Day
                                                                                                   Til next;  Ms. Greene

               

 

 

 

 

Hello Parents and Students of Room 205;        1-31-20

This week we did the usual Reading. J

This week for math, most of Grade 5 is on Chapter 4 = multiplying and dividing fractions.

For Science, along with some chemistry study, we started to talk about the upcoming Science Discovery Night; which is 6-8PM, Friday, March 6th. The students can self-chose a topic to display and teach for that night. They may work alone or in groups up to 4. Making slime or goop has been discouraged as that is something we are going to do here in class. Discussions have just started here in class, so it is in the brainstorming stage. Any discussions or reflections that can be done at home would further the process. Most of the work/prep will be done in class, but some could be done at home as well. More to come on this.

We did a writing piece about winter as well as review of an informational writing that has been completed. We used a common to Grade 5 rubric to self-evaluate progress.

Spelling is the usual with the addition of “challenge words”. Challenge words are presented on Mondays with the expectation that the student learn at least one of the five presented. Students may take all five should they chose to really challenge themselves.

The students took two Star 360 tests this past week in math and reading. The results of these will be shared at conference times in March or before if you would like to see them ahead.

Coming up:

Friday, Feb. 7th   —  Walking trip to Thornton Oaks
               (to talk Senior friends about Chemistry; 1:15-2:30)
Friday, Feb 14th  —  Class Valentine’s Day Party; 1:45-2:45
                 (feel free to send in any and all not too sweet treats, please)
February Vacation —  2/17 to 2/21
——————————————————————————
Friday, March 6th  —  Science Discovery Night;  6-8 PM
Month of March  — MEA testing and Parent/Teacher Conferences
Friday, March 13th  —  No School – parent teacher conference day
Wednesday, March 18th – Early Release Day
———————————————————————————
Thursday, April 16  — Early Release
April vacation —  4/17  –  4/21
Thursday, April 30th —  Ms. Greene’s Class goes to Challenger Center in Bangor
            (this is an all day trip – no dates at this writing)
———————————————————————————-
Wednesday, May 6  —  Early Release
Monday, May 25  —  No School Memorial Day
———————————————————————————–
Friday, June 12  —  Old Brunswick Day
                                                                                                   Til next;  Ms. Greene

               

 

 

Dear Parents and Students of Room 205:            1-24-20

 

It has been awhile since last newsletter……..I hope your students have been able to keep you in the loop for what has been happening in class.

Signing the Student Planner each night is definitely a help in staying up with what’s happening in class, so keep that up, please.

 

Reading; Still reading different genres according to personal preferences. Sometimes a compromise is reached when partners can’t agree on next titles, which is a good life skill to learn. Hopefully you have seen some of the reading comprehension papers filled out at the close of a book.

Math; Most all of Grade 5 is on Chapter 3/Fractions and soon to wrap that chapter up to move onto Ch. 4, which is multiplying and dividing  fractions, with some decimal work added in.

Science; Chemistry. They are compiling folders with some “lab sheets” from experiments done in class. We will concentrate more on choosing topics for the Science Discovery Night ie; Grade 5 Science Fair. That night is on Friday, March 6th, which is on the heels of Feb vacation, so we will need to have our ducks in order before Feb break. Some work for the night is done at home and some at school. More to come on this.

Writing; mostly informational writing lately. The students need to produce their polished piece by early March. We are duly practicing til then.

Social Studies; We watch CNN10 about 3 times a week to stay current and gain an awareness for global affairs.

Future Dates;
Monday, January 27;  Grade 5 Fundraiser at Five Guys, 4-8PM
Friday, February 14; Valentine’s Day Party, 1:30-2:10
            (feel free to send in vegies,  snacks and not too sugary items)
Friday, March 6;  Science Discovery Night, 6-8PM  
Friday, March 13; No School = Parent Conferences
Thursday, April 30; All Day trip to Challenger Center/USM Planetarium 
                                                 (in Bangor)
Friday, June 5; Possible Date for Old Brunswick Days

 

Til next;    Ms. Greene

 

Dear Parents and Students of Room 205;     10-25-19

Reading;  We have broken up into small groups, partners and some solo workers to complete “chapter books” of varying genres. Please ask your student for details.

Math:   All classes are on Chapter Two, Multiplication and Division. Any and all practice with long division at home would be very helpful. It is not new math, but, indeed the same way you learned in school.

Writing;  The students have been doing lots and lots of writing; pretty much daily. I will be able to share their work with you at conference time.

We took the History Assessment this week and have now moved on to a Science Unit; Human Body Systems.

The biggest news of late is that Parent Teacher Conference time is coming and I will need everyone to sign up for times.

Here is what I am offering for times and dates. Please let me know if none of these work for you and I will try to find alternate times.

It will be first come first serve on sign ups. Just shoot me an email or give me a call at school to sign up.

Thanks for all you do at home for us here at school;   Ms. Greene

  1. The school is woefully without and/or low on playground balls should you decide to donate some. It would be greatly appreciated by the kids. J

PSS. I am sending home a hard copy of what the Grade 5 Report Card looks like.

Nov.  14  Thurs.    3:40, 4:00, 4:20, 4:40, 5:00, 5:20

Nov.  19 Tues.       8:00 AM         &           3:40, 4:00, 4:20, 4:40

Nov.  20  Weds.      8:00 AM

Nov.  21  Thurs.     8:00 AM       &      3:40, 4:00, 4:20, 4:40

Nov.  25   Mon.     3:40, 4:00, 4:20, 4:40

Nov. 26    Tues.    2:00, 2:20, 2:40, 3:00, 3:20

Dear Parents and Students of Room 205:                10-4-19

The Explorer Reports are excellent! Really proud of how all of the students rose up to the challenge and were able to speak and present in front of the class. J

The usual Reading block was used up be reading and speaking from the Galileo scripts. I hope many of you can come to their performance next Thursday.

For writing, we wrote and shared pieces about the new season of Fall. We type all of our stories after writing them free hand and are compiling a Writing Folder which will stay with them throughout the school year here in this class.

All of the Grade 5 math classes are starting Chapter 2 in the Math in Focus books. Chapter 2 covers multiplication and division up to 2 digits by 4 digits. Any practice at home would be super. Can you remember the steps for long division? That’s what we will be hitting toward the end of the chapter.

Coming up:

                Oct. 5th, Saturday  — Grade 5 Fundraiser Car Wash
                                            8:30 – Noon  —- Come Help!

                Oct.10, Thurs.  —  Our class performance of
                             Galileo’s Crime; 2-3:00 —Come Watch!

                Oct. 11, Fri.  – No School / Professional Development for teachers

                Oct. 14th, Mon. — No School/ Indigenous People Day

                Oct. 16, Weds.  –  Field Trip to Maine Maritime Museum
                                     10:30-1:30
               

                Nov.5, Tues.  –No School / Election Day
                Nov. 8, Friday  —  Puberty Video shown to all Grade 5; link for this coming home soon so that you can preview at home.
                Nov. 11, Mon. — No School / Veterans Day
                Nov. 22, Friday  —  1st Trimester Ends
                Nov. 26, Tuesday  &  Weds. 27  — Parent Teacher Conferences; slots for this coming soon.

Thanks for all you do at home for us here at school;        Ms. Greene

 

 

 

 

Dear Parents and Students of Room 205:        9-27-19

 

This week we did a lot of our reading in the form of script reading for our Spirit Series play. Please ask your child for details. There are some high level vocabulary words embedded in the play that we have been talking about (the script booklets include a glossary).

 For Math, we finished up Chapter 1 with an assessment given today. Corrected tests will come home next week. Chapter 2 starts up next week; “Whole Number Multiplication and Division”.

We wrote short stories about our field trip on Tuesday (which was awesome!) and stories from the imagined perspective of one of Columbus’s crew.

We started work on our Explorer Reports; to be finished up by Oct. 3. I would like to see some research work done at home as well as in school, but I realize that some students might not be able to get on the internet from home. I don’t think anyone uses encyclopedias anymore, do they? I trip to the Curtis Library might be fun and educational to help have access to research materials. J

Grade 5 students are expected to read for at least 30 minutes each night. To track this reading and to check with comprehension, most of the Grade 5 classrooms use the Weekly Reading Log. It gets sent out of Fridays and/or Mondays and is to be passed in all filled out on Fridays. Thanks for your help getting your child used to this routine.

Coming up:

           

Oct 2nd, Weds.  —- Picture Day

                Oct. 5th, Saturday  — Grade 5 Fundraiser Car Wash
                                            8:30 – Noon  —- Come Help!

                Oct.10, Thurs.  —  Our class performance of
                             Galileo’s Crime; 2-3:00 —Come Watch!

                Oct. 11, Fri.  – No School / Professional Development for teachers

                Oct. 14th, Mon. No School/ Indigenous People Day

                Oct. 16, Weds.  –  Field Trip to Maine Maritime Museum
                                     11:00-1:30
                Nov.5, Tues.  –No School / Election Day
                Nov. 11, Mon. — No School / Veterans Day

           

Thanks for all you do at home for us here at school;
                                Til next;    Ms. Greene

 

 

 

Dear Parents and Students of Room 205:                           9-20-19

Reading took about the same format as last week; some history, some free choice, some shorter assigned stories w/reading comprehension papers. You should see the rdg comp pages coming home.

Writing has centered around prompts for writing from the perspective of Christopher Columbus and more.

Math; numeration, place value and rounding/estimating. Rounding with multiplication.

Social Studies; History w/concentration of explorers and maps.

Big news is the many events current and coming up. We took our first walking fieldtrip to Thornton Oaks to hear a talk by a real live Explorer. It was interesting and the children asked many questions. Some of the questions had to do with what gets eaten on explorations and whether Big Foot exists! J

Coming up; Fieldtrip to Merrymeeting Bay to discover as an explorer might, the natural resources of a wild area and why these resources are important. Our class and two other Grade 5 classes are going; Brescia and Colson classes.

For the Bay Day field trip; We will go unless it is raining steadily. There will be no rain date as it is made available by volunteers who have planned this for months and a reschedule would be too difficult.

Please have your child dress in long pants, long sleeves and either boots or sneakers; no flip flops, shorts or t-shirts. Bug spray is recommended but not mandatory; it should be applied at home to avoid someone spraying around others at the Bay and I believe they are opposed to spraying pesticide in a nature preserve for the safety of the pollinator insects that live there. A light rain coat or sweatshirt with a hood is highly recommended in case of light rain/mist.

Please pack a snack and a lunch for your child.  We leave school at 9:00 and return at 1:30.

Next week we start a 3 week, daily (one hour) program called Spirit Series. A notice went home last week about this program. It is a program we have to pay for and the note going home asked you to let us know if you are able to contribute $20.00 or if you need a scholarship to cover this cost. Thanks for letting us know either way.

As you can see from above; we are a very busy classroom!

Til  next; email or text any questions or concerns;  Holly   207 751 8445

 

 

Dear Parents and Students of Room 205;                                          9-13-19

 

I promised I would write a newsletter every Friday (both to you and to myself!), but just looked at the clock here on my lunchbreak and realized I have 15 minutes to get it done before kids come in from recess. So, I’ll try to make it brief.

Reading; still shorter stories, some history reading.

Math; still numeration, place value

Social Studies; Explorer reading and discussions

Writing; The kids at least two stories so far, along with a letter to me and 2 pages of “get to know ya” topics. It is quite remarkable that some of the students have forgotten sentence structure ie; starting with capitals and ending with periods, when I know that these skills have been taught in lower grades. Just gives me more fodder for my opinion/position that year round school is a good idea (with breaks of course!).

The kids have typed up their stories and they are being kept here at school in their newly formed writing folders. I will send copies home sometime soon so that you can see them as well.

We have our first walking field trip next Weds. We are going to Thornton Oaks to meet a group of residents there that we will interact with on an every other month basis, hopefully; as well as to hear a talk by a amateur explorer who has traveled to the Arctic or Antarctica (I can not recall which).

In ten days (9/23)we start a once a day for an hour workshop with Spirit Series group to produce a play on Galileo. More info to come on this.

On 9/24, we go with two other Grade 5 classes to Merrymeeting Bay to learn of the natural resources (like explorers looking for treasure!). Permission slip is going home today for this.

As you can see; we are a very busy group in here!

Thanks for all you do at home for us here at school; please call, email or text anytime w/questions or concerns;      Ms. Holly Greene    207 751 8445

 

 

Dear Parents and Students of Room 205:                              9-1-19

Welcome!

It has been a great get to know ya week here in Room 205. We have 9 girls and 13 boys.  I am so happy to be here and be their teacher!

I hope to write a newsletter every Friday to let you know what we did over the week and what is coming up in the near future. I will do paper copies for the first times until I get email addresses down and then would like to go to emails to you if that is OK with you. It will cut down on paper and cut down on my running to the photocopier. You can let me know what you prefer; either way is fine. I also put a copy of the newsletters on my web page, which is connected to the HBSS  website. You click on faculty and staff at the left pull down menu and then scroll down to Grade 5 teachers to find me and my website.

Thank you for signing your child’s Student Planner each night. They write in their planners every morning. The two – three sentences mention tests or fieldtrips or just what we are doing daily. Having conversations at home about what happens at school is an important tool in making student’s see the importance and connections created between home and school. It reminds them of work done and work coming up (homework, projects, etc).

For reading we will all be reading “chapter” books of different genres and levels. Please ask your child for details on what he/she is reading. In most cases, the children are reading in pairs, either silently or taking turns reading aloud to each other. You will see reading comprehension papers that they complete at the end of each book read. 

For social studies, we will be learning about European Explorers of the early Americas. There will be a project on individual explorers in the next weeks. More details on this to come.

For math; all Grade 5 math classes are progressing through the Math In Focus program, starting with Chapter one which is “place value”. There will be math homework so check with your child and/or check the Student Planners for details.

For Science, we are going to the BJHS stream to collect and observe water striders. I am thinking that this will be the afternoon of Sept. 12th; more details to come.  I will send the completed worksheets home . It will be #1 a good walk, #2 a good time to practice observation skills and #3 a good time to bring work back from away to be completed in class. In essence, it will be fun and educational!

For writing; I am watching for the mechanics of writing; capitals, periods, penmanship and spelling. More written stories to come soon. Some of the students need to develop those small motor skills in their fingers to make their writing more legible, especially after a summer of not writing. If you can get them to copy your grocery list or write notes to one another in the family, etc. that would help build up the small finger muscles.

For Spelling, our school often uses Sitton Spelling Program. I will send home a list to study on Mondays and the test will be on Fridays. The spelling list can be adjusted to fit the needs of individual students if needed. I offer 5 challenge words for those students who are ready for more challenge. I also would like the students to self select individual Vocabulary words for them to know, learn and use each week.

Feel free to email me at any time by using my school email found on the HBSS webpage.

Also, feel free to text or call me at 207 751 8445.

Thanks for all you do at home for us here at school; Ms. Holly Greene

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

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