MRS. SMITH & MRS. MCVAY'S NEWS & VIEWS

Monday, May 9, 2011

Smith May 9-13

Parents and Students:

Fifth Grade Play
This is the week of our Fifth Grade Play, "Happily Foreverafter." We look forward to performing for you. This play is a blessing!

Performance for Lower School: Thursday, May 12, at 9:00 A.M.
Performance for Parents: Friday, May 13, at 9:00 A.M.

Memory Boxes:
This week we will be working on some items to put into our Memory Boxes. We will not seal them at school in case you have some additional items to add when the boxes are returned home.

Note other special events:
1. Semester Celebration: Monday, May 16, at 8:15 A.M.
2. Fifth Grade Moving Up Ceremony: Monday, May 16, at 9:15 A.M.
3. Report Cards: Pick up from homeroom after the Moving Up Ceremony, May 16.
3. Field Day/Pizza & Popsicle Party: Tuesday, May 17 at 9:00 A.M.
4. Last Day of School: Tuesday, May 17!

Fever 1793
We will be enjoying this story throughout the week!

Have a great week!
Gidget Smith



Monday, May 2, 2011

McVay May 2 - 6

I hope everyone enjoyed the American Village. It was a beautiful day and a fabulous learning experience.  Our students were so well behaved and participated appropriately. The students received an 'A' from "Mr. Wyeth" for beautifully reciting the Preamble at the Constitutional Convention!


Math - 
Chapter 17 lessons 1 - 3 daily grade on Tuesday. 
We will begin Chapter 25 on measurement.  We probably won't take any grades on this chapter.  We will however, brush up on our measurement skills!


Social Studies - 
Chapter 9 Lesson 1 - 3 Daily grade on Friday.
I will send home a grade sheet for the combined Social Studies project in the Monday folders, May 9.  I am still grading the oral presentations and the keynote presentations.


Science - 
Weekly Reader grade on Thursday.


"Happily Forever After"
Practice on the fifth grade play is going well. The dates are as follows:
Thursday, May 12 - Fifth Grade play for Lower School at 9:00 A.M. in Willett Hall
Friday, May 13 - Fifth Grade play for Parents/Guests at 9:00 A.M. in Willett Hall


May 16  - Semester Celebration 8:15, 5th grade moving up ceremony 9:15- church attire - report cards go home - 5th grade may leave after the moving up ceremony or stay until 11:30 for early dismissal.

May 17  - Field Day - 9 a.m. followed by pizza and popsicle party. This is the last day of school - early dismissal 11:30


Have a blessed week!
Karen McVay

Friday, April 29, 2011

Smith May 2-6

Parents and Students:

We enjoyed our wonderful trip to American Village today! The weather was great, and fun was had by all. The presentations brought the American Revolution to life! Thanks to all the Dads, grandfathers, and uncles who attended the trip and helped with lunches this morning.

Wordly Wise Lesson 14 grade on Tues., May 3

Spelling Lesson 35 grade on Wed., May 4

English
Pronouns Lessons 4-5 (P. 222-227)
Lessons 4-5 grade on Wed., May 4

Bible
Lesson 31 "Esther Becomes Queen"
Scripture: Esther 1-2
Bible guide Pages: 110-112
We have come to a beautiful story in the history of God's people. It is the story of Esther. Esther was a Jewish girl who became queen in the kingdom of Media and Persia. As queen she was able to help her people when they were about to be destroyed. The wicked Haman requested permission from the king to kill all the Jews, but God had placed Esther as queen in the palace so that she could plead for her people. The scripture says, "But who knows that you have come to royal position for such a time as this." God's plan is perfect.
Lesson 31 grade on Thurs., May 5
Memory: Jeremiah 29: 11-13 due by Fri., May 6

AR Testing: The final day to test for this nine weeks is Fri., May 6.

Fever 1793
We will be reading and discussing the rest of the story over the next two weeks. There will not be any more grades taken on this novel.

"Happily Forever After"
Practice on the fifth grade play is going well. We look forward to sharing the talents of the students with on the following dates.
Thursday, May 12 - Fifth Grade play for Lower School at 9:00 A.M. in Willett Hall
Friday, May 13 - Fifth Grade play for Parents/Guests at 9:00 A.M. in Willett Hall

Have a wonderful week-end!
Gidget Smith



Thursday, April 21, 2011

Smith April 25-29

Parents and Students:

Fever 1793 Ch. 1-5 grade on Tues., April 26
Students should study the 10 vocabulary words. They also have a Ch. 1-5 question sheet which they may want to review to check their knowledge of these questions. The students own their books so they may highlight in them if they wish. It is also quite helpful for them to reread the chapters. After testing on Ch. 1-5, we will begin reading Ch. 6-11.

Spelling Lesson 34 grade on Wed., April 27

English
Students will do lessons 1-3 (P. 216-221).
Lessons 1-3 grade on Thurs., April 28

Bible
Memory: Romans 12: 9-11 due by Thurs., April 28
We will not have a Bible Lesson grade this week due to the American Village trip on Friday.

Note the following:
American Village Trip on Fri., April 29
1. Arrival Time at Trinity: 7:10 A.M. We depart promptly at 7:30 A.M. We must leave on time so students should be in their homerooms by 7:10 A.M.
2. Drop all students off to come to their homerooms. Then proceed to the parking lot behind the guests bleachers on the Lower School end of that parking lot. We will take roll and bring the students with carpool lists, directions to the Village, and day group information.
3. Some dads have been asked to bring a cooler. Those dads need to go by the kitchen in Willett Hall to pick up the lunches. If adult lunches and students lunches have been labeled separately, please load those lunches separately into the coolers. Each cooler should have a label on the top reading "Trinity". Meet us at the back parking lot as indicated in #2. When we arrive at American Village, the coolers should be brought to the gift shop entrance and set outside. The Village will see to it that the coolers arrive at the picnic area. A note with all of this information will be in Monday's folder.
4. Students are expected to participate when asked during the presentations. Dads, make sure that all cell phones are off or on silent during the presentations. When the presentations are over, and everyone has eaten lunch, you may take you child to visit the chapel, wax museum, and oval office. These visits are certainly worth the time. We just ask that you carefully monitor the children in these areas as teachers cannot be everywhere at once.
5. The gift shop should be the last visit. Students may purchase souvenirs of the American Revolution time period! They have some fun and interesting gift items.
6. Everyone should be returning to Trinity by the end of the school day. All students may leave with their dads at this point. If you drive with just your child and have no need to return to Trinity, you may go home from the Village.
**Please look for complete information in Monday's folder!

**Please remember to be packing special items in those "Memory Boxes".

Have a wonderful Easter week-end! Christ has risen!
Gidget Smith





McVay April 25 - 29

Christ Has Risen Indeed!  
I pray your Easter weekend is full of His blessings.

Here's what is happening in room 123...

Social Studies - 
We will travel back in time this week to the 1770's as we get a chance to meet the heros of the American Revolution.  During class we will listen to and learn more about the roles different characters played in making our country a home of the free and the brave.

Each child drew a date on which to present his/her character.  I have 6 presenting on Monday and 5 presenting on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  On the day of your presentation, Mrs. Smith's homeroom may come to school dressed in costume with a change of clothes in a bag.  Mrs. McVay's homeroom will bring the costume in a bag to be changed into during P.E.  Each speech needs to follow the guidelines on the rubric.

Make the character come to life, the more familiar you are with your speech, the more entertaining it will be for us.
This will be the final piece of your 4 part project on the American Revolution, let's make it great!!!

Our week of role play will be enjoyed at the American Village, where the characters come to life.
Field trip on Friday; details will be in the Monday folder.

Math - 
Chapter 17 Adding and Subtracting fractions
We will try to cover lessons 1- 4.  How far we get will be determined by how much time we have left over after oral presentations, and play practice.

Science -
If we have time we will finish up Chapter 14, lesson 3.

Grace & Peace,
Karen McVay

Friday, April 15, 2011

McVay April 18 - 22

Please refer to the many important notes on Mrs. Smith's portion of this blog!
Short and simple:

Math - 
We will continue to work on Chapter 16
Daily grade on lessons 4-6 on Wednesday

Social Studies - 
We will draw names for which day your student will give his/her oral presentation next week (April 25-29)
Please be working on the oral presentation!  We want to enjoy these presentation, so the more relaxed the students are with his/her character, the more fun it will be for everyone.  Get those costumes and props out of the closet and create a presentation that bring the Revolutionary era to life!


Chapter 8 Vocabulary quiz on Monday, April 18th
Chapter 8.3 Daily Grade on Wednesday


Science - 
Chapter 14 Vocabulary quiz on Tuesday
We will work on Chapter 14 lesson 3 with a possible daily grade on Thursday.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Smith April 18-21

Parents and Students:

What's Up This Week?

Memory: Galatians 6: 1-3 due by Mon., April 18

Wordly Wise Lesson 13 grade on Tues., April 19

Spelling Lesson 33 grade on Wed., April 20

Bible
Daniel's Last Years (Lesson 30)
Scripture: Daniel 5-6
Bible Guide: P. 107-109
Belshazzar, ruler of Babylon, held a banquet in honor of his gods. He used the sacred goblets which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem. A hand appeared and wrote on the wall. Daniel read the writing and told Belshazzar that his kingdom would be destroyed because he did not humble himself before God. Darius became ruler over Babylon. Because Darius favored Daniel, the other rulers, serving under Darius, became jealous and formed a wicked plot to get rid of Daniel. God was watching over Daniel and protected him. We learn that if we do what is right and remain true to our God, He will never abandon us.
Lesson 30 grade on Thurs., April 21

English
Students have enjoyed creating their own endings to Tuck Everlasting. These are being final copied into their creative writing books. Students will be sharing these in class. Their endings are amazing, funny, and very creative! Be sure to have your child share his/her ending with you.
We hope to get to some poetry writing this week! We will choose some Tuck Everlasting characters to describe in a poetic way. These also will go into their creative writing book.

Fever 1793
Students will begin on the last novel of the year. Fever 1793 is by Laurie Halse Anderson. This story takes place in late 1700's when disease swept the streets, destroying everything in its path. Mattie Cook lives above the family coffee shop with her widowed mother and grandfather. Mattie's world is turned upside down when her mother catches the fever. Mattie's mother insists that she leave town with her grandfather, trying to keep them from catching the fever. Mattie and her grandfather leave town, but they soon find out that the sickness is everywhere. Mattie must learn quickly how to survive in a city turned frantic with disease. Quoting The New York Times Book Review, "The plot rages like the epidemic itself."

AR
The last day to test for the last nine weeks period is May 6. All students should have at least two AR books read and tested by that date. Of course, most students read many more books than that. Congratulations!

Note the Following:
The American Village trip is Fri., April 29.
1. We will be putting together carpool groups very soon. Please make sure that you have established who you are riding with. Students should be relaying that information to their homeroom teacher. If you are driving up with just your child, we need to know that also.
2. Students are free to leave to go home with their dads, grandfathers, etc. when our Village Day ends. If your child needs to be at school to be called for carpool, please notify your homeroom teacher. We need a complete list of who will need to be here for carpool pick-up.

Memory Boxes
1. Students will bring their memory boxes to school on May 9. I hope you have been putting items in them all year. We will also be putting some items in them during the week of May 9 at school. Students will bring the boxes back home on May 13 for you to keep for seven years and to be opened only at their Senior lunch/video day as the graduating Seniors of 2018! It is not too late to help your child get his box together.
Here is a list of things that are good to put in their box:
1. pictures of friends, field trips or other events such as birthdays, holidays, sports, dance, class parties, etc.
2. small projects or any special memory from their years in Lower School
3. special writing (stories, poems, etc.)
4. letters written by parents, grandparents, sisters/brothers, or special friends to a fifth grader
**We will also be giving your child all of his special projects/writing in that he/she has done in Language Arts this year.
**Thank you in advance for your effort in helping your child assemble his/her box. I have watched the Seniors open their boxes for the past 17 years, and I can tell you, they all look forward to it! The memory box is a great Senior Event!

Have a wonderful week-end!
Gidget Smith