St. Christopher School

We are in full swing here in 5M.  The students are busy getting aquainted with the routine in the fifth and sixth grade.  Open House was a big success and many parents got to read about the the students Favorite Pair of Shorts.  Check them out right outside the classroom.

We have started learning about the classification of organisms in our world in both the 5th and 6th grades.  They have been using the eno board to practice the difference between vertebrates and invertebrates.  It is very challenging to only have 45 seconds to recognize which category to put the animals in.  Ask your student about how well they did at the board.  The 5th grade also used a dichotomous key to classify seeds recently in a hands on activity.

After learning about the six kingdoms and using graphic organizers to put all the information in a easy to study format, the students will have a test in the fifth grade on September 28, which is also picture day.   You can help the kids by going over the notes they have taken using the graphic organizer. After classification the 5th grade will move to learning about the parts of cells and the different types of cells in animals and plants. Then we get to learn about the human body.  We even have a guest speaker ( Dr. Sullivan, a teacher of anatomy at Nashua Community College) come in with lots of fun things for the kids to touch.  That will be some time in October.  I'll keep you posted.

The 6th grade got to "classify" some interesting objects (jelly beans) by color, spots or no spots, and then they named their new discovery. They used a dichotomous key.  Ask you students what that is.  The ultimate part was eating them to see if they were correct in their discoveries.  Then the 6th grade is going to learn about the earth, its layers,  and what it is made of.  Then the natural rumblings of the earth will be explored along with how to predict earthquakes or volcanoes.

The students will be reading in their Storyworks magazine about a very poisonous jellyfish from off the coast of Australia .  It is really a great story and I will relate my own jellyfish story.  They can be very painful !  Also the magazine offers Reader's Theatre, fiction, poetry, grammar, and vocabulary.  They will learn many things from this magazine.

Don't forget to also check out spellingcity.com to help your student study for Spelling.Their tests are on most Fridays before Art with Mrs. Landry.  We will get up to Lesson 13 or 14 before the first report card.

We have had our first meeting with our budddies in 2W.  The students shared a getting to know you paper and then we all went out to play on the playground.  Fun was had by all:)

If  you have any questions just contact me by e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or you can send in a note if it is really important.

Happy Fall

Mrs. Mitchell