Ms. Tovey's Blog

Week of February 6th

2012-02-04T14:01:23Z

5th Grade English
The test on adjectives will be Tuesday of this week. A review sheet should come home on Monday to help you study with your child. Later in the week, we will begin the next chapter on pronouns.
The children will also work on a figurative language unit this week which will cover onomatopoeia.

6th Grade Math
Due to last week's celebration of Catholic's Schools Week, we did not cover near as much in math as I had anticipated. So the concepts for this week will be multiplying fractions using the shortcut method and hopefully at the end of the week multiplying mixed numbers will be introduced.

Week of January 30th

2012-01-27T12:25:37Z

5th Grade English
This week the children will wrap up the chapter on adjectives and work on different activities each day to review all that they have learned.
The test is scheduled for Tuesday, February 7th. A review sheet should come home on Monday to help you study with your child.
Writing - The children will finish up their "Homeless Veterans" paper on Monday and go to the lab on Tuesday and Wednesday to type their final copies. A rubric has been distributed to each child, if you would like a copy ahead of time please email or ask your child to ask me for one.
Later in the week, the children will work on outline and timeline making as way to help organize a paper. We did cover both of these concepts last year so this will mostly be review.
Below is a letter from Mrs. Swift, our student teacher.
Dear Parents,
My name is Kathy Swift, and I am completing my teaching certificate at Dominican University in River Forest. I am student teaching full time in the 5th grade English and science classes until the end of April. I am working closely with Miss Tovey and Mrs. Hughes to plan and teach lessons in the classroom. They will supervise each lesson that I teach, and making sure it fits in with the curriculum.
I graduated from the College of St. Scholastica (Duluth, MN) with my bachelor's degree in 1993, and recently returned to school for certification. I am excited about this semester, and feel as though all my training and experience has prepared me for this endeavor. I look forward to having your child(ren) in class, and getting to know each one better. I hope that the children will be able to learn from me, as I will be able to learn from working with them.
I am thrilled to be at St. John Fisher this semester and to have the opportunity to work with your children; I know that we will have a great time together in class. If you have any questions you may contact Miss Tovey, Mrs. Hughes or myself.

Sincerely,
Kathy Swift
kathyhkay@yahoo.com

6th Grade Math
The latest homework packet was passed out last week and is due back on Friday, February 3rd; it is worth 183 points.
The concepts for this week are multiplying fractions with and without the shortcut and if time allows, I would like to begin multiplying mixed numbers. Multiplying fractions is a very easy concept, however, multiplying mixed numbers is a bit more difficult and more time will be dedicated to this concept.

Week of January 23rd

2012-01-21T17:49:22Z

5th Grade English
In English this week, we will review the first half of the chapter on adjectives, introduce comparative and superlative adjectives (adjectives that end with er or est), and also begin the section on adjectives that are used to compare using more or most.
In writing, the children will continue to work on their "Homeless Veterans" paper.

6th Grade Math
There is a test on Tuesday of this week. The concepts that will be covered on the test are as follows: place value of decimals thru the ten-thousandth place, writing decimal numbers in word form, rounding decimals to the nearest tenth and hundredth, changing fractions to decimals and rounding the answer to the nearest tenth or hundredth, and adding and subtracting decimals. A review sheet should come home on Monday.
The next homework folder will not be distributed until Wednesday of this week and it will be due back on Friday, February 10th.
We will also begin the next unit this week and the concepts are multiplying and dividing fractions and mixed numbers and multiplying and dividing decimals. Upon completion of the fractions portion, a quiz will be given to allow me to determine if the children are ready to move on.

Hope to see you Sunday at Open House!

Week of January 17th

2012-01-17T10:42:23Z

5th Grade English
The children will begin their week by doing research for their next paper. The topic for this paper is "Homeless Veterans in America." Statistics report that as many as one in three homeless people in our country are veterans.
This will be the first paper the kids write where they will be doing the research by themselves. On the Fisher website , under 5th grade Language Arts are 5 webpages that the kids will use to help them in them in finding information for this paper. Both, Mrs. Swift and I will be guiding the children in their research and helping them to weed out what is and is not important.
We will also continue the chapter on adjectives later in the week. The section that will be covered is comparative and superlative adjectives.

6th Grade Math
This week's concepts are changing fractions to decimals and rounding to the nearest hundredth and adding and subtracting decimals.
The test for this chapter is scheduled for Tuesday, January 24th. A review sheet should come home on Monday.
The current homework folder is due on Friday of this week.

Week of January 5th and January 9th

2012-01-02T14:45:04Z

5th Grade
English - We will be beginning the chapter on Adjectives this week. It begins with a simple review of adjectives and articles; and then it gets a little more complicated. The complications will arise from the vocabulary and not the actual material, in that the children will need to know the following terms: demonstrative adjective, superlative adjective, and comparative adjective. We will spend quite a bit of time in class going over these new terms, but any extra review you can give your child will only help.
Writing - The children who have not yet presented their fairy tales to the class will do so this week and possibly next week, if needed. We will also begin the next figurative language unit this week and continue to work on it next week. The figurative languages that will be covered are idioms and hyperbole.
Starting on Thursday, January 5th, Kathleen Swift from Dominican University will be working with us as a student teacher. Mrs. Swift will be teaching 5th grade English in the morning and 5th grade science in the afternoon.
6th grade
Math - On Thursday, January 5th the students were given back the test on fractions. All 3 classes did wonderfully, beyond what I expected. Today, the children will also be given their new homework packet which will be due back on Friday, January 20th.
Our next chapter or unit will cover the following concepts: place value of decimals, changing fractions to decimals, and adding and subtracting decimals. We will begin this week with a review of place value and then move into changing fractions to decimals. This will be a new concept for the kids and one that I will work on until I feel they have mastered it.

Week of December 12th

2011-12-09T12:22:15Z

5th Grade English
We will be wrapping up the second half of the chapter on Wednesday and the test will be on Friday. This test will be quite difficult because the children will need to identify if the verb in the sentence is an action, linking, helping, or irregular verb. A review sheet will come home on Thursday to help your child prepare for the test.
The children have begun writing their fractured fairy tales and I hope to have those wrapped up this week so the kids can start presenting them to the class.

6th Grade Math
This week's concept is subtracting mixed numbers with like and unlike denominators.
On Thursday there will be a math test which will cover adding and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators and adding and subtracting mixed numbers with like and unlike denominators. A review sheet will be passed out on Wednesday and your child should bring it home to help him/her prepare for Thursday's test.
Homework folder is due Friday - December 16th.
Please continue to work with your child on their multiplication facts. I have noticed much improvement overall and any additional review can only help.

Week of December 5th

2011-12-01T12:34:06Z

5th Grade English
We will begin linking verbs this week which in and of itself is not a difficult concept but now that we have covered helping verbs; the difficulty comes with deciding if the verb is a helping verb or linking verb. Any extra practice you can do with your child would help tremendously.
In writing we will continue on with our Fairy Tale Unit. During the beginning of this week the kids will read some more fairy tales (condensed versions). By midweek, I hope to have the kids start writing their fractured fairy tales.

6th Grade Math
This week we will review adding mixed numbers with like denominators and move onto adding mixed numbers with unlike denominators. If time allows, we will begin subtracting mixed numbers with like denominators at the end of the week.
Homework folder due date - Friday, December 16th.

Week of November 28th

2011-11-29T12:13:46Z

I am sorry this is late.
5th Grade English
We will begin the second half of the chapter on verbs this week. This section focuses on main verbs (action verbs), helping verbs, linking verbs, and irregular verbs. The second half is quite short compared to the first half, so the test on this section will either be at the end of next week or the beginning of the following week.
Writing
This week we will continue the unit on Fairy Tales. The children will be exposed to or in many cases exposed again to some of the more traditional fairy tales. I will also introduce Fractured Fairy Tales to the kids. Sometime midweek, the children will begin thinking about the characters, the setting, and the plot for their own Fractured Fairy Tale. Hopefully, by the end of the week they will begin writing their tale.
The children will be given specific instructions to follow for their story. They are as follows:
1. The children must choose an original Fairy Tale and change the story to create their own Fractured Fairy Tale. How to do this will be discussed in detail during class time.
2. The tale must begin with "Once upon a time" and end with "And they all lived happily ever after. The End"
3. The setting should be described in great detail throughout the story.
4. The characters should be developed thoroughly throughout the story and the children must have characters that are both good and evil.
5. The plot will have to be about good overcoming evil and their story will have to methodically explain how the good won out over the evil.
6. The children will be orally presenting their stories to the class, so it is imperative that read and reread their stories several time before their presentation.
6th Grade Math
A new homework packet will be passed out on Monday and it will be due back on Friday, December 16th.
This week's concept is adding mixed numbers. The students will be taught both ways to do this and those two ways are as follows:
1. Add the whole numbers and then add the fractions, check to make sure fractions are in lowest terms. Improper fractions must be changed to mixed numbers and then combined with the whole number from the original problem.
2. Change all mixed numbers to improper fractions and then add and simplify.
Teaching it both ways allows the children to decide which makes more sense to them. For the test, they will be allowed to use whichever way they are comfortable with. However, class assignments will be divided up using both ways.
Please continue practicing facts with your child as often as possible, thanks.

Week of November 14th

2011-11-12T23:45:36Z

5th Grade English
The test on verbs has been postponed until next Tuesday, November 22nd. We will wrap up the last part of the chapter this week which is on using commas correctly and review for the test next Monday.
The kids will finish up their November 11th papers on Tuesday and we will spend Wednesday and Thursday in the lab typing the papers. Please remind your child to have their flash drive in school on these two days. Any papers that are not completed on Thursday will be due to me on Tuesday, November 22nd.
The next type of writing the kids will work on is Fractured Fairy Tale writing. I have prepared an entire unit on this topic which will begin with a slideshow on the parts of a fairy tale. We will then read together many of the famous fairy tales which have been rewritten in a more concise version. Next, fractured fairy tales will be introduced and I will share a few with the kids. Upon completion of the unit study, the children will then choose their own favorite fairy tale and rewrite it to create a fractured fairy tale of their very own.
I know your kids are kind of big for this, but if you have any fairy tale books at home, maybe you can strategically place them around the house for your son or daughter to look at. The more fairy tales they are exposed to, the better their final story will be.
6th Grade Math
The math tests were handed back on Monday and overall they were very good.
Quite a few children are struggling with knowing which fractions need to be reduced. The ability to be successful at this concept comes from having a solid grasp of the multiplication facts. Please continue to do flashcards with your child as often as possible.
The concepts for the next chapter are adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers. We will begin with adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators on Monday and move on to unlike denominators on Tuesday. I will then spend the rest of the week on this concept.
Fractions are the most important concept of sixth grade math. It is so important that the kids master all operations with fractions in sixth grade so as to make seventh grade math much easier. Any extra help you can give your child as far as review and practice will greatly help your child.
On the date the last math packet was due, we had an unusually high number of children go home sick. These packets are assigned two or three weeks in advance and need to be turned in on the date they are due. If your child goes home sick on any date a math packet is due, he or she must give their completed packet to me or their homeroom teacher before leaving. Unfortunately, if they do not follow through with this, I will have no choice but to view it as a late assignment and issue half credit for the assignment.

Week of November 7th

2011-11-04T11:32:19Z

5th Grade English
The next test in English is scheduled for Tuesday, November 15th. I have cut the chapter on verbs in half because I felt it was too much information for one test. The test on Tuesday will cover the first ½ of the chapter which deals with actions verbs. The pages in the book that will be covered on this test are 168 - 179.
We began the next writing assignment last week. The topic is November 11th and its importance in our country. On Thursday and Friday of last week, the children watched and took notes on a short slideshow about World War I.
This is going to be a difficult paper to write because the information they are learning is all new. To make this easier for the kids, I will cover one topic at a time and then they will write the paragraph that goes with this topic.
On Monday, the kids will finish up their paragraph about World War I and we will begin the slideshow on The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This will take 2 classes periods to get through and then the kids will write this paragraph. At the end of the week, the kids will learn about the history of Veterans' Day and then write this paragraph.
Once the 3 paragraphs are written, we will go back and I will guide the children in writing an introduction and conclusion for this paper. If all goes as planned, the children will be typing their paper next Wednesday and Thursday in the computer lab.

6th Grade Math
We will be reviewing improper fractions on Monday and also starting mixed numbers. The test on divisibility rules, prime and composite numbers, factor trees, improper fractions and mixed number will be on Friday. Each child will be given a review sheet to take home on Thursday to help them prepare for the test.
Each week, I am more and more impressed with how good the kids are doing in Math. Their recall of their facts is getting better and better. Please continue to do flashcards with your child as often as you can.

Week of October 31st

2011-10-28T10:07:05Z

5th Grade English
We began the next chapter in the English book late last week. This chapter is on action verbs and is a very short chapter. This week, I hope to cover pages 172 - 175 in the book.
The children will continue to work on alliteration during the beginning part of the week.
At the end of this week, the children will watch a slide show on the importance of the date November 11th in our country (end of World War I, opening of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Tomb of the Unknowns, and the celebration of Veterans' Day). They will take guided notes from this presentation and then write a five paragraph paper on "The Importance of November 11th."
6th Grade Math
We will review, prime and composite numbers, factor trees and prime factorization at the beginning of the week and improper fractions will be introduced mid week. We will spend a few days on this concept.
The children are getting better and better every week at their facts. Any extra practice is appreciated and can only help.

Week of October 24th

2011-10-21T11:29:36Z

5th Grade English
The English test on Nouns will be on Wednesday. A review sheet should come home with your child on Tuesday. On Thursday, we will begin the chapter on Action Verbs.
The children will continue to work on alliteration this week.

6th Grade Math
The concepts for this week are the divisibility rules with 2, 3, 4, and 5. The children will also learn prime and composite numbers and if all goes as planned, we will begin factor trees to find the prime factorization of numbers later this week.
The next homework folder is due on Friday, November 4th.
Please continue to do flashcards as often as possible with your child.

Week of October 17th

2011-10-14T11:06:22Z

5th Grade English
We will continue on in the Chapter on Nouns. This week, I hope to cover pages 94 - 101. The topics are common and proper nouns, capitalization of nouns, and singular possessive nouns.
The children wrapped up their mystery papers on Friday and they will present them to their class this week. A rubric was passed out to each child on Friday which details how their papers will be graded.
Next week,, I hope to also begin the next section of the figurative language unit which is alliteration.

6th Grade Math
The math test has been rescheduled for Thursday, October 20th.
On Monday, we will review comparing fractions and also ordering fractions will be introduced. Tuesday, we will work on ordering fractions as well. Wednesday a review sheet will be handed out and we will go over it as a class. Please remind your child to bring this sheet home to help prepare them for Thursday's test.
The children seem to be getting better at their facts. Please do flashcards with your child as often as possible. Thank you.

Week of October 11th

2011-10-07T11:13:12Z

5th Grade English
The English tests on Chapter 1 have been passed back and the grades were terrific. If you have not yet seen your child's test, can you please ask him or her for it?
This week we will continue on in the second chapter which is on nouns. I do not anticipate having to spend a lot of time on this chapter because at this stage of the game, the kids should understand what nouns are.
The children will also continue to work on their mystery paper this week. This is not a formal writing assignment but rather the kids will read their stories to the class. Grading will be based on following directions (each child received a direction sheet) and oral presentation. I hope to have the kids begin presenting next week.

6th Grade Math
The concepts for this week are: finish up reducing fractions and comparing and ordering fractions. The second math test is scheduled for Tuesday, October 18th. A review sheet should come home with your child on Monday, so that you know exactly what the test will cover.
Please continue to do flashcards with your child. I have seen a huge improvement in some of the kids. It is truly imperative that all facts are rotely memorized so that children can be successful in math class.

Week of October 3rd

2011-09-30T11:34:05Z

5th Grade English
The English test is scheduled for Wednesday of this week. A review sheet will be given to each child on Tuesday. Please remind your child to bring this sheet home to help them study for the test.
We will wrap up the short unit on similes in the beginning of this week, and then later in the week the children will be given the topic for their second writing assignment. This assignment is entitled, "What Happened to the Shrouds?" and was described in detail in my blog for the week of September 19th. There will not be a formal paper handed in for this assignment, but rather the children will be reading their final papers to the class. They will be graded on following directions and oral presentation.

6th Grade Math
This week's concepts will be greatest common factor, reducing fractions to simplest form, and comparing and ordering fractions. To date, the children are doing wonderfully in Math. As a group they are attentive and eager to learn.
However, I am still concerned about the multiplication facts. If you get a free moment, can you please do flash cards with your child? Pretty much everything we cover from this point on is contingent upon those multiplication facts.