Grade 5 - Ms. Mitchell

Home

Welcome to Fifth Grade! My name is Sally Mitchell. I am looking forward to my seveth year teaching fifth grade. If you have any questions or concerns, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Ms. Mitchell teaches Science to all fifth and sixth grade students. Before that, she was a Special Ed. Asst. / Instructional Asst. in Londonderry for five years. She has four children -- the oldest is also a teacher and the youngest just graduated from community college.

February Features From 5M

What an interesting winter we are having this year. You can thank a "La Nina" year for that. Watch out, next year could be "normal". We are getting a lot of work done because it has not been interrupted by snow days like last year, an "El Nino" year.

Catholic School's Week is still in process and so far so good. We are looking forward to spending time with our buddies in 2W. Unfortunately Mrs. Walley will not be able th join us due to her recent accident. She is doing better and is at home healing. 5M students wrote a story for their buddy and wiil be giving them on PJ day which is Friday. And to cap it all off there will be skating on Monday, February 6. We will be leaving at 9:30 and arriving back about 12:30 for lunch.

The students have finished a chapter about plants, photosyntesis, tropisms, parts of flowers, and seeds. We are still growing some seeds to see if the way they are planted affects the roots and stems. We are also learning about how the sun affects the direction in which the leaves face (phototropism). Next the fifth grade will be learning about the environments that plants and animals live in. They will learn about the tundra, taiga, deciduous forest, rainforest, grassland, desert, and ocean biomes. They will have a lengthy project to do. It is not hard but they learn a lot about the organisms in these biomes. The directions will follow soon.

On Valentine's Day the students will exchange cards during the day. I will send home a list next week of the students in 5M. There will not be a party, just decorating a lunchbag and exchanging cards.

Don't forget about spellingcity.com to help with Spelling. We will be doing lesson 23 through 30. Speaking of spelling Tucker MacLellan in 5M did an awesome job in the Spelling Bee. He came in second. That is a great accomplishment for him and Michael Meads the winner of the Spelling Bee.

Lent begins on February 22. Mass will be at 9:15 and we hope that you will be able to join the children. 5M will be leading the Stations of the Cross on Friday February 24 at 2:15 and we hope that you will be able to join us for those also.

Have a great vacation, see you in March,

Mrs. Mitchell

Happy New Year from 5M

Welcome to the New Year of 2012! What a great year 2011 was and we have so much to look forward to. We will get right down to business by preparing for Catholic School's Week activities. The students will start rounds for the Spelling Bee which will lead a St. Chris student to the first round for the state championship. Poetry will be on the top of the list for writing so the children can do their best for the Poetry Slam. We all have skating to look forward to also for the jam packed week. Please make sure that you save time to join us for Mass on January 30th at 9:15 AM. It will be the first event for the whole week.

Plants will be the upcoming topic of study for the 5Th grade. They will look at how they grow, how they produce their own energy, why they look the way they do, the parts of all plants, and they will dissect a flower. They will be able to find the pistil, stamen, etc. They will learn the difference between a monocot and dicot seed. They will learn about the different types of roots and their functions. Plants will lead us to interactions in ecosystems, which includes energy pyramids (different from food pyramid), food chains and food webs, and onto environments and worldwide biomes.

The 6th grade will be finishing their unit on weather by making a "TV broadcast" in Computer class. They will use all the information they have gathered and create a weather, news, sports program. They will edit, add credits, and put music in the "show". They will work in groups of 3 or 4 and have different jobs such as writer, commentator, or director. Watch for more details.

Don't forget to check out spellingcity.com to help with Spelling lessons 20 through 23.

Happy New Year,

Mrs. Mitchell and 5M

Drifting into December

November has gone out a lot calmer than it came in. The weather doesn't know what it wants to do and it plays havoc with all of our plans indoors and outdoors. Hopefully it will become seasonal as we get ready for Advent and Christmas.

5M prepared the prayer service for Thanksgiving and did an outstanding job. Thanks to all the parents that were able to make the service. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed being with your family and friends. Now it is time to get back to work.

In Religion we will be learning more about the sacrament of Confirmation, Advent, and the Christmas story. I will be reading a story to them titled Mary's First Christmas. It is the story from Mary's point of view. It is a lovely telling of the story so familiar to all of us.

Do you know those labels on your food, well the fifth grade is going to learn the importance of those labels and more. We will be covering the food pyramid (now the plate), eating healthier, exercising, and getting enough sleep. We will also learn about the prevention of drug and alcohol abuse, smoking, and also about choosing good safety habits (helmets, seatbelts, etc).

The sixth grade will be working on a weather unit that will lead them to creating their own weather broadcast. They will work in Science and Computer to accomplish this activity.

The book report for December is reading a poetry book and finding one that they really like. We will do an activity in the classroom January when we come back from Christmas vacation.

Don't forget spellingcity.com to help with the students spelling. We will be covering lessons 16, 17, 18, and 19 .

The fifth grade will be preparing for their Christmas Concert which is on December 15 at 10:00am. We hope to see you there.

Our Christmas party will be on Thursday, December 22 at about 1:30. Details will come later. And Friday December 23, will be an early dismissal at 12:30. Due to this early release there will be no after care.

5M and myself wish you all a very Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Mrs. Mitchell

More Articles...

St. Christopher School