End of Year Video

Missing everyone already! I hope all of my SIXTH graders are having a wonderful summer!

Check out our new Rachel's Challenge school video!

ROOM 205 SPRING NEWS

Dear Families,

            Happy Spring! Our weather is finally changing and room 205 is learning lots!

Social Studies: Our class is focusing on the time period of colonization and coming to America. We are learning about the 13 colonies and comparing and contrasting the differences and similarities between New England, Middle, and Southern colonies. Further, most recently we studied the Westward Expansion and the  traveling conditions of our early pioneers.

Math: Fractions may be tricky but they aren’t fooling us! We are tackling each part of fractions by making a fraction book. Students have learned already equivalent fractions, and simplifying fractions. We will continue on with fractions for a while! Students are also making great strides on Symphony Math! Did you know that your child can access Symphony Math at home or our other class website that we visit is Xtra Math. These are great websites that are perfect for at home practice on our math skills.

Language Arts: Students haven been working hard in Writers Workshop. We have been learning to create argumentative essays using evidence from reliable sources. Furthermore, we are about half way through our class read aloud “A Long Walk to Water.” This book is extremely exciting and takes us through the true journey of a lost boy of Sudan.

Science: We have been looking at the solar system lately and studying the different elements that our solar system consists of. Students are realizing that Earth is part of a much larger system that involves other planets, stars, comets, asteroids, and moons.   We are going to be narrowing our focus in the upcoming weeks on the different  moon phases. 

Exciting News: Our last three Students of the Months have been Emily, Octavtio and most recently Alyssa. These students continue to show amazing ROAR behavior in and out of the classroom. They are on time every day, ready to learn and include and accept others. Could you be the next Student of the Month?

Our class just recently planted some spring flowers and is hoping to see some blooming after spring break!

Uniform policy reminder! The entire school is going to be reinforcing the uniform very strictly. The policy is that students must be in tan or navy khakis on bottoms, and on top white, green, or navy collared shirts. Students who show up violating the dress code will be given one warning with a letter, the next time after they will be asked to change into a different outfit.

We are hoping to plan some exciting field trips after spring break. Further, we are winding down here in 5^th grade; summer and 6^th grade will be here before we know it! Lets finish this school year strong!

Sincerely,

Ms. Barcelona

Happy November and December!

November is wrapping up and we are getting into the cold winter months! We have been working very hard in room 205!

For language arts we have been using laptops to do research and write persuasive essays about dinosaurs and what it would be like to live in those ages. We are also plugging along in our classroom novel Wonder and searching for different types of figurative language. Further, we have been doing a lot of work with personal narratives and writers workshop.

In math recently we have finished up place value working with numbers as large as ten million and as small as thousandth. We are working hard with multiplication and decimals right now. Students have an understanding of how to multiply multi-digit numbers as well as with decimals. All fifth graders should be studying their multiplication facts up to 12 nightly! Every Friday we do the Mad Minute where students try to beat their score from the week before.

For science and social studies we have been working with planets and continuing work with states and capitals. Furthermore, we have been looking at maps to better our geography skills. Lastly, we are starting to talk about the 13 colonies and how America came to be.


Our first quarter ended nicely with SEVERAL students on honor roll and perfect attendance! Keep up the good work room 205!

Another great event that happened in 205 was our classroom pizza party for getting so many hallway compliments.

Right before Thanksgiving, we invited the first graders up to our classroom to work together to make turkey disguises to go along with the book "Turkey Trouble."

Lastly our school has been working on a school wide project called "Shake It Off." In the video students from every grade role play some of the major conflicts they have with classmates, and just "shaking them off." We are trying to create an atmosphere of letting little things go, learning to not let them bother us!



Click below:

Shake it off Video

Password:    shake

Happy Halloween!!

Our class had a celebration full of games, food, and prizes! We wrapped each other up like mummies and played some fall bingo. Students also got to stick their hands  in a pumpkin in search of familiar items without looking! We had a great turn out and a lot of support on the goodies! Thank you everyone for a fabulous Halloween Friday!!

Happy Fall!

 Dear Families,

            I am hoping everyone is enjoying this transition in

to Fall just as much as I am. This upcoming season is full of wonderful things here in Ms. Barcelona’s class.  To celebrate Halloween, we are having a classroom party full of games, food and prizes. If you would like to help out for this party celebration please fill out the pink form that was sent home with your child last week.  We are looking for some classroom volunteers to help with the games as well as donated baked goods and paper goods.

            Most recently in Language Arts we have been plugging along in our first classroom novel, Wonder by R.J. Palacio. It is a WONDERful book about a boy who has never attended school and has a face deformity. He is just about to enter fifth grade and the book really speaks to a fifth grader about what it is like to have someone so different in the school, as well as what it is like for that unique person.  We are learning about figurative language and why authors use figurative language throughout their stories. Furthermore, we have been looking at nonfiction and text features of a nonfiction articles.  Using text features really helps give an insight of what the article if about, having these skills will be really beneficial when starting our Current Events this week. A current event assignment is due twice per month and takes the place of a reading log day. Instead, they read a nonfiction article in which they summarize who, what, when, where and why of the article. Also coming up is our book report project, students were all given a packet with all of the information about the book report. I will be very excited to see the presentations right before Thanksgiving break.

            For Math we are working on rounding, estimation, and place value. Students are all learning of the different types of place values from ten million to thousandth. Those decimals can be tricky, but our fifth graders are starting to really get the hang of them. We have been playing many math games with cards and dice to formulate the largest number possible against our partner, very similar to the card game War but with place value.  Pretty soon we are going to learn to multiply and divide with these really large numbers.  Speaking of multiplying, please help your child keep up with those basic math multiplication facts. Making flashcards is a great way to remember them! Also on our classroom blog there is a Math Fact tab to help with their math facts.   http://marinbarcelona.blogspot.com

            In Science recently we have started using the Scientific Method for experiments. We are talking about different types of variables and how they affect an experiment.  One experiment that we just completed was our gummy bear experiment. We used different solutions (baking soda, salt water, vinegar, water) and placed a gummy bear in each to see how they gummy bear would react.  Little did we know, it would change size, or take away the color.

            For Social Studies we are working with geography to have a better understanding of how we belong in the world. Mainly, we are working with our 50 United States and how they are apart of our country and where are location is in relation to others.

            Thank you for your constant support. As I always say, having supportive parents and families will help your child be tremendously successful with their education. 

Please email if you have any questions. J

Sincerely,

Ms. Barcelona

cbarcelona@bridgeportedu.net

Our First Class Project

Please watch our video about preventing bullying. Students all worked extremely hard to plan and organize this film. There are a few spelling errors throughout, see how many of our OOPS can you catch!

http://vimeo.com/107213787

Password: Marin