It's been a GREAT start!!

I have enjoyed getting to know your child this year. Friday we buried the word can't and finished reading a book about bullying. This week we will talk about being positive and kind to others. We will read the book Have you Filled a Bucket Today?

Please continue to help your child be successful in 5th grade by:

-It is very important that your child reads 30 min. every night to improve comprehension and fluency.

-Check your child's assignments and review homework to see if it is correct.

-Sign homework logs every night.

-Help your child pass of math facts in 5 minutes. (add, subtract, mulyiply, divide)

-Look for progress report slips every Friday.

-Book orders are due on September 13th.

Thanks,

Mrs. Farmer

Supplies

I have had questions about what supplies to bring? The following items would be helpful but are certainly optional:


Three ring binder- (1 1/2 inch-2 inch size) I will supply pocket folders to help organize the different subjects.

1-2 boxes of tissues- Our class usually goes through a lot of tissues throughout the year.

*highlighter
*red pen
*Pencils
*markers
*crayons
*glue stick
* I will have all of these available to use. These are items that you could buy if your child wants his/her own to use.

Getting Ready for School!!

I'm so excited to get back to school. I have had a great summer in Idaho biking, hiking, reading, and relaxing; however, I am lost without my daily interaction with my students!! I hope you are all eager to learn and become great 5th graders!!

The class lists are on the front window of the school. The first day of school is August 24th and back to school night will be on the 23rd at 6:30.

I can't wait to meet or say hi to all of you at back to school night!!

Ramsey & Champ

Island Park, Idaho

I just spent a week at a Singapore Math Conference.

This past week I was in Las Vegas at a Singapore Math Conference. I learned and reviewed strategies to help students understand and use different ways to problem solve. There's a lot of ways to make numbers easier to work with.

What is Singapore Math? by Anni Stipek, Singapore Math trainer

You may be wondering what Singapore Math is all about, and with good reason.

What you may not know is that Singapore has led the world in math mastery for

over a decade; its students become competent and proficient mathematicians at very

early ages. Even better, they grow to be capable problem solvers who think mathematically with ease. Wouldn’t it be nice if your child could enjoy the same success with math?

First, you need to know that Singapore Math takes a slightly different mathematical

approach than what you may be used to. It revolves around several key number‐

sense strategies: (1) building number sense through part‐whole thinking, (2)

understanding place value, and (3) breaking numbers into decomposed parts or

friendlier numbers, ones that are easier to work with in the four operations

(addition, subtraction, multiplication and division).

Second, Singapore Math does something dramatically different when it comes to

word problems. It relies on model drawing, which uses units to visually represent a

word problem. Students learn to visualize what a word problem is saying so they

can understand the meaning and thus how to solve the problem.

Third, we have mental math, which teaches students to calculate in their heads

without using paper and pencil. Sure, your child will still need to commit facts

to memory, but mental math will teach him or her to do calculations using proven

strategies that don’t require pencil and paper.

Fourth, the strategies taught in Singapore are layered upon one another. One

strategy is the foundation for another one. For example, students need prior

knowledge of bonding in order to be successful at strategies they will learn later on

(like vertical addition).

Last, Singapore Math teaches students to understand math in stages,

beginning with concrete (using manipulatives such as counters, number disks, dice, and

so on), then moving to pictorial (solving problems where pictures are involved), and finally

working in the abstract (where numbers represent symbolic values). Through the

process, students learn numerous strategies to work with numbers and build

conceptual understanding.

Goodbye 5th Graders-Welcome New 5th Graders!!

I wish all my 5th grade students a great summer and a great year in 6th grade!! I will miss you!

New 5th Grade Students-I am excited to get to know you all! I'm not sure when the class lists will be out?

I will be taking classes and planning in the month of June. I will be

learning and planning for the New Common Core in Math and Language Arts.

Please remember to read this summer to avoid the Summer Slide.

What is the summer slide? Summer slide refers to the loss of reading skills that results when students slip out of the practice of reading over the summer (see "Three Ways to Prevent Summer Slide"). It is suggested that students who read at least six books will not regress over summer vacation. So, how do we prevent the summer slide? We engage them in summer reading programs.

If you need to e-mail me, please contact me at:

jan.farmer@loganschools.org OR....

jlovetoteach@gmail.com

Only 5 Days LEFT!!!

I can't believe how this year is flying by?

Here is a list of what we will be doing our final week of school.

Week 3 LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL
Monday-Fun Run Leave school 10:15 a.m.
Everyone did great at the Fun Run

Congratulations!! Damian (3rd), Kelsey(1st), Kobe(2nd), and Adrian(2nd), for placing. We broke a Bridger record this year!!

Tuesday-USU Field Trip

Leave school at 8:45

Arrive back to Bridger at 1:15

Wednesday- Class store/Auction
Morning Honor Day for zero missing assignments
1:00 Surprise??????
Kick Ball with school 1:30-2:30

Thursday-5th grade Awards 9:00-10:00 Parents welcome!!

.........Reading Swim Party 10-50-2:30 Bring towel, swimsuit, and sunscreen.
Friday-LAST DAY-SCHOOL DISMISSED @ 12:00

MAY IS HERE!!

Our president reports went very well. Thank you parents for coming to see them. Your support is so important to your child's success.

We will continue reviewing and working hard up until testing, which is the third week of May. Then we will have only one week of school left.

We just finished our geometry unit and grades were sent home today.

Science and Social Studies grade notes have also been sent out and are due back this week.

Book orders are due on Friday.

The Nova Lagoon Day was last Saturday. Because of the weather, they will accept the passes this Friday, May 7th.

PRESIDENT PRESENTATIONS THIS WEEK!!

Parents,

You are invited to come see all the hard work and research your child has done on his/her president report.
Date: Wednesday, April 27th
Time: 1:30-2:30
Place: Gym

SCIENCE
Finish you mealworm experiments before they change into a pupa.
This week we will continue learning about Learned Behaviors and Instincts.
We will also learn about animal variations and specialized structures.

MATH
We will continue learning about surface area then volume.
We will have a test on this unit Friday.
REMEMBER-We have math club Tuesday and Thursday if you do not understand.
This week we will review for the test.

LAGOON
Detective Bird e-mailed saying that next Saturday April, 30th is NOVA Lagoon Day.
If you want to go you must get your own ride. It is not sponsored by Bridger Elementary. The tickets are discounted (around $24.00 plus tax), you can buy up to 7 tickets. He will be giving us more information this week.

MATH CHALLENGE-Go to the Math Tab-You choose the reward!! Prize, extra credit, or missing assignment make up!!

ONLY 6 WEEKS LEFT (30 DAYS) LEFT OF SCHOOL!!

We still have a lot of work to do in the next 6 weeks!!
Our President Reports were due last week. Those students who finished will start putting their presentation/pizza boxes together.
We will be presenting these to the whole school on Wednesday, April 27th between 1:30-2:30. Parents are invited to attend to see all the great work you have done!

SCIENCE-Heredity Unit
We will continue learning about traits.
We will also be learning about instincts and learned behaviors. Each student will receive a meal worm to use with their experiments.

MATH-We will continue learning about Area and Perimeter of rectangles,
triangles, parallelograms, and trapezoids.

F=Black f=white What trait is dominant?