Happy Sunday Morning!
It's great to have a sunny day after a little rain. I hope you are all enjoying the weekend and things like Good Ol' Days in PG or maybe attending the fantastic last performance of The Jungle Book at the Golden Bough to cheer on Eva and Libby and a good number of ISM students. They all put on a great performance. The last show is today at 2:00pm. The first ever ISM Book Sale will be taking place this week. Thank you to all who donated books to this event. Any books you buy this week will help to support the library. Exhibition Projects Everyone is working hard on their projects with only a little bit of dissension in the ranks. Sometimes we learn more about ourselves and how to work with others than the topic at hand. There has been a great deal of learning and teaching going on with exhibition and it's very gratifying to see how far all the students have come. That said, the projects will be due in class on Thursday. They'll have time for some final touches then present them to each other on this Thursday and Friday. Feedback received from others will hopefully lead to edits and improvements in the projects. On Monday, April 17th, our class will present their projects to 5B and they'll present to our class to receive feedback. On Tuesday, April 18th, sixth graders will be the audience to both classes, again to give valuable feedback to the teams. Thursday, April 20th is the big day. The 5th graders will set up their projects in the multiuse room and library from 8:30 to 10:30 for ISM classes to come visit. Parents are welcome to attend, though we also hope you can make it in the evening. The students will need to be at school at 5:30pm on Thursday evening to set up their projects. Parents and community members (you can invite others that might be interested) will meet in the multiuse room at 6:00pm for and introduction and then visit the exhibits and teams until about 8:00pm. We'll have some snacks at the end of the exhibition to celebrate all the students' hard work and accomplishments. Student-Led Conferences Student-Led Conferences are coming up. They'll take place on the afternoons of Wednesday, April 26th and Wednesday, May 3rd. I'll send out a Sign-up Genius form for you to sign up for the time that works best for you. Your child will be leading the conference, so their attendance is mandatory. Please plan to spend about an hour (or a little longer) for the conference including visiting art, Spanish and PE. Math The timing is not the best, but we are nearing the end of the math unit this week and will need to have an assessment of skills. This will most likely take place on Wednesday unless it seems we need to put all the focus on the exhibition projects. We'll review the unit in class this week as well. Monterey Symphony Field Trip Thank you to many of you who have already filled out the permission slip for the Monterey County Symphony field trip on the morning of Monday, April 24th. We do still need drivers for this morning field trip if you can help. Thank you in advance. Enjoy the week ahead! Ms. Welsh
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Welcome Back!
I trust you all have had a great two weeks of spring break. I know it's been nice for me to have a chance to do some other things and see family and friends. I hope the same has been for all of you. I'll keep the update short, so as not to take too much of your time on this last day of spring break. Exhibition 14 work days to go! The 5th grade exhibition is looming closer and closer. Please save the evening date of Thursday, April 20th to come to the students' exhibition projects. I'll give the students as much time as possible in the next two weeks to work on their projects together in class. I have tri-fold boards for each of the teams to use and some colored paper to jazz up their displays. Any special colors or designs the students want may need to be brought in by the students. The projects will actually be due in class on Thursday, April 13th so that they can present them to the class and still have plenty of time to make changes or add to the projects before the public presentations. Math and Language Arts We'll continue working on fraction multiplication and division with whole numbers this week. We'll also jump back into reading the novel Flush and see how the characters are managing to find the culprit of polluted waters in Florida. Book Sale Bring in your used books in good condition this week for the ISM book sale. It's a great time to go through your books and pass on the ones your family is done with and make space to buy some new ones. Upcoming Symphony Field Trip ISM 4th and 5th graders have been invited to attend the Monterey County Symphony school performance on the morning of Monday, April 24th. Mr. Marine has set this trip up for the students. I'll send out field trip forms and more details as soon as I can. If you can join us to drive and attend the symphony, we'd love your help. You can sign up on the field trip permission slip. Have a wonderful week ahead! Ms. Welsh Happy Beautiful Sunday!
I hope you all are out finding many ways to enjoy this beautiful weekend. We had a great time reading with our 1st grade buddies on the field on Friday. Thank you to Layla's mom who spent time with us on Friday morning to help us understand the effects of drugs on our health from a doctor's perspective. Here are a few things for this week ahead. Exhibition is the main focus of the week. We'll use as much time as we can to continue to work on gathering information for each of the group topics. I don't think I shared the topics covering in our class yet. Here is the list:
Ms. Beletti and I will be finalizing the format of the exhibition presentations this week. After spring break, students will be focusing on creating the presentations. Students are not required to work on their exhibition projects over the break, though they can if they want to. Once we return from break there will be about 1 1/2 weeks before the projects will be due in class (April 13th), so they can practice presenting and fine tune their projects for the final presentations on April 20th. On Tuesday, we'll attend an assembly on water and wise water use by the musical group called Zun Zun. We're looking forward to this informative and educational performance. Wednesday is Wacky Wednesday. The theme is Vacation Day. "Dress as if you are going on a vacation! (i.e. Tropical Vacation, Winter Vacation, Touring the City...)". We'll continue reading Flush this week. Students will be working on some comprehension and analysis for the chapters read. We will continue with math and focus on fraction and decimal multiplication as well as comparing numbers. There will also be spelling homework as usual each night with a test on Friday. Wishing you all a fun and restful spring break starting on Friday at 3:10pm (in case you're counting)! Ms. Welsh Dear Families,
I hope your weekends are going well and you're enjoying a one more shot of rain and moisture this morning. Exhibition is gaining momentum in grade 5. We had very informative presentations this week. Dr Josephson, an ISM parent and board member, helped this students understand how the immune system works and fights disease. Taylor's mom was with us and brought her dental assistant, Theresa, to help the classes learn about dental health and it's role on healthcare. Andres and Emilio's dad gave us a great presentation about environmental hazards in the home and work place. It had the students looking around campus for hazards :). Thank you to all of you for helping us learn and understand more about different aspect of health. The students have all really benefited from this time together. Almost all the groups have met with their mentors for an initial meeting this week and will begin meeting on a weekly basis with them. So far, the mentors have had great reports about their meetings and the team they are working with. The mentors are an integral part of this process as they help to guide and encourage the group in their goals and process. We appreciate these ISM staff members giving up their prep time to do this for the classes. This week, we'll have a presentation from Layla's mom, a doctor, who will help students understand some of the medical side of health and healthcare. We're looking forward to her visit. Judah's aunt, a nurse and nursing instructor at MPC will also be with us soon as well. We'll continue with converting fractions and decimals and solving multi-step problems in in math. Reading over the word problems several times, it very important in understanding the question asked and the parameters involved. We'll continue reading Flush by Carl Haaison and students will have comprehension and analysis work for the each chapter. This Friday, March 10th, ISM will celebrate Read Across America Day. Student's can come to school in pajamas and will need to wear appropriate school footwear. Students may also bring a favorite book to read to their 1st grade buddies. We'll have a whole school read together on the lower playground at the end of the day. Have a great week ahead! Ms. Welsh Dear Families, I hope you all are soaking in some sunshine today. The sun has been lovely! We're off! 5th grade PYP Exhibition has begun! Thank you to so many that were able to make it to the Parent Information night last Thursday evening. We appreciate your support and clarifying questions. This week, we'll be sorting out the exhibition groups by topic interest. Most students have chosen 3 topics that interest them the most and we are grouping them the best we can. There will be some shuffling around in the next day or so, and the groups should be settled by Wednesday. We'll have two guest speakers this week. Dr. Josephson will be with our class tomorrow to talk about the immune system and communicable diseases. On Wednesday, Mr. Vizcaino will talk to both classes about environmental hazards in the home. We are sorting out mentors for the two classes and meeting times. The plan is to have the groups meet with their mentors this week for their first meeting. I gave the mid-module math assessment back to about half the students on Friday. Some forgot to pick them up after SEM. Please check the test over with your child and sign it and have them return it to school. We'll continue reading Flush this week and begin some book work with the book. Enjoy the photos below from the last unit. Have a great week ahead! Ms. Welsh Dear Families,
I hope you've all have had a good 3-day weekend with all the rain and wind in the area. Here are just a few things to note this week: EXHIBITION! The fifth grade is about to launch into PYP Exhibition this week. Tomorrow morning we'll have an "Exhibition Kick Off Assembly" with the 3rd and 4th graders to help everyone understand what the 5th grade is up to as well as allowing the younger students a chance to see what they can look forward to in fifth grade. On Thursday evening at 6:00pm, Ms. Beletti and I will share slides and information for parents about what to expect for the exhibition. This will take place in the ISM Library. We hope most of you can join us. If any of you have some expertise (or know of someone that might) in the area of health (human, environmental, technology and health) related areas and would be willing to come talk to the students this week or next, we'd very much appreciate your help. We are inviting guest speakers to talk to the students to help them form ideas of what part of health they would like to explore for their projects. Math The students will be taking the Mid-Module assessment for Module 4 tomorrow. We'll go over any questions they have in the morning after they've worked on the practice questions last week. Language Arts For this unit, the class will be reading the book, Flush by Carl Hiaasen. The book is about environmental health and you can find a description of the book here. We'll continue to work on synonyms and antonyms this week for spelling. I hope to see you on Thursday evening. Have a great week ahead! Ms. Welsh Dear Families,
I trust you all are enjoying a little sunshine after so many rainy days. It feels glorious! Here's a few items for the week ahead: This is the last week of our unit Sharing the Planet. Students will be working on a summative assessment this week. Tuesday is Valentine's Day. Students can bring valentine cards if they bring one for everyone. We've had 3 parents volunteer to bring some fruit and juice. Thank you! Wednesday is Wacky Wednesday. The theme is "Passion". Students are asked to dress in a manner to show what they are passionate about and/or would like to be when they grow up. Exhibition: We will begin sorting out ideas for our next unit which will be under the trasdisciplinary theme Who We Are with the subtopic of "Health". Ms. Beletti and I are planning a parent meeting on the evening of February 23rd at 6pm to help parents understand exhibition and what the expectations are. Students should begin looking into different ideas that interest them under the topic of health that have a global view or impact. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Have a great week! Ms. Welsh Happy Super Bowl Sunday! First, an overdo thank you to the drivers for last week's field trip to Santa Lucia Preserve. Without the help of Mrs. Bishop, Mr. Wood, Mr. Gregawy, Mrs. Shah, Mr. Hong and Mrs. Vazquez (who jumped in and filled a last-minute cancellation), the trip wouldn't have happened. So, THANK YOU from all of us in 5A. The students did a great job on the field trip and earned many compliments from the staff/instructors. I hope everyone is having a restful weekend, though I know many students are recovering from illnesses. Whatever has been going around hit me as well, so I'm very empathic to high fever and chills that knock you back a couple notches. We are taking measures in the classroom to disinfect the desks and wipe down surfaces often. Keeping a sick child at home not only helps them, but helps the rest of the class. Given my low energy, the update will be short this week. This week is "Kindness Week" at ISM. Our Vice-Principal, Ms. Shin-Ma sent home information about the week. On Friday, students can wear green or uniform to display their support of kindness. Students will work on their open inquiries this week which will be due on Wednesday. In math, we'll be working on multiplication of whole numbers by decimals. We'll continue to work on detecting facts from opinions in language arts and writing paragraphs stating facts vs.opinions. Have a kind and healthy week, Ms. Welsh Dear Families,
I hope you are all enjoying a beautiful sunny weekend outdoors. Wow! It's amazing especially after the storms. Thank you to those of you who hosted Columbian students. They had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the interactions with our students and families. Congratulations to all the talented students out there. The talent show was very successful. Here's just a few things for the week ahead. One Tuesday, we'll head to the Santa Lucia Reserve in Carmel Valley for the morning to look at how energy is transferred in the riparian ecosystem there. Parent drivers, I will be sending you a note with details on when to meet. Students can wear free dress appropriate for hiking, with closed-toed shoes. They should bring a lunch and water bottle. Math We'll continue with interpreting fractions with division this week. UOI - Guided Inquiry Students will begin a guided inquiry this week. They will be brainstorming ideas to narrow down what they want to learn about first. These will be due on Feb. 8th. Dear Families,
Happy rainy weekend! I hope everyone is either staying dry or having a great time splashing in puddles this weekend. It’s been an amazing amount of rain in much of California and a treat to hear the raindrops as one sleeps. Here are a few things for the week ahead: Math: The students will have an End-of-Module assessment for module 3 on Tuesday. We'll review the skills from the module tomorrow. Language Arts: As we come to the end of the book Every Soul a Star, students have already begun a book report project. These projects will be due on Wednesday this week. There will be time in class to work on projects on Monday and Tuesday. Santa Lucia Conservancy field trip: I've sent home a "release of liability" with the students on Friday which are required to go on the field trip. Please sign and return have them returned to school as soon as possible. There are 2 students who still need to also turn in their permission slips as well. We have more than enough drivers willing to do the field trip on Tuesday, Jan. 31st. Please let me know if you'd like to cancel. We will need about 6-7 drivers to make the trip happen. Friday is free dress. Have a great week! |
AuthorThis is my tenth year at ISM and fifth year teaching 5th grade. I enjoy working with young people and being with my family. I love being outdoors in nature, on or in the ocean. I look for ways to continue learning and growing. Archives
June 2017
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