Seventh Week Tidbits

We are looking forward to welcoming our grandparents and grand-friends to Grandparents' Day this coming Thursday beginning at 12:45pm in the gym, followed by an "open-house style" time to visit students in their classrooms until 2pm.  After that, we will resume our normal day until dismissal at 3:11pm.

Today the girls from our class enjoyed the first of four "Friendship Group" lunches with Mrs. Throop.  This is a great opportunity to dig into what it means to be a friend and deal with conflict and other friendship issues.

Please check with your fifth grader to be sure they have earbuds or headphones at school.  I don't have enough spare pairs for the students who need them.  Thanks!

Parents are needed for our trip to Calvin College on Monday, November 5.  This is a full day field trip filled with an author visit and a tour of the Planetarium. If you are interested in joining us, please email me by Thursday, October 11, and I will confirm the list of parents in next week's blog post.


The highlight of our field trip to Calvin College will be our visit with Newbery Honor winning author, Gary D. Schmidt.  He is the author of our current read aloud, Wednesday Wars.  In the past, Professor Schmidt has always been so generous with his time and - after he shares about the writing and publishing process - has agreed to autograph books for the visiting students.  He has authored many middle-grade novels should you want learn more about them and perhaps order one for your student to have autographed when we visit with him. Learn more by visiting his author website: http://www.hmhbooks.com/schmidt/
As we continue on in our study of decimals, your fifth grader may benefit from watching the following two videos. The first one is more of a review of this week; the second gives them a sneak peek into where we are headed next week:

Math Antics Decimal Place Value Video

             Math Antics Decimal Arithmetic Video

Looking Ahead:
  • October 12 is the end of the first marking period. 
  • Report cards will be sent home on October 19.
  • Parent-Teacher Conferences will be October 22 and 23 from 4-8pm.  Watch for an email alerting you to sign-ups being open.  I look forward to meeting with each of you!
  • LEARN TO DIVE DAY AT HOLLAND AQUATIC CENTER! October 13 from 10:00-11:00am is your chance to learn a little bit about competitive springboard diving, and it's FREE!!!   Use the link below to sign up.  Mrs. Riemersma will be there, along with other local high school coaches and Jean Luc Mirealda (the club coach at the Aquatic Center).  https://hcac.recdesk.com/Community/Program/Detail?programId=801