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Mrs. Papelian

5th Grade

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October 30, 2009

For the weeks of :
November 2nd – 6th and November 9th – 13th

We have had a very productive week this week with lots of fun and inspirational events strewn in between!

We hope to have another productive week next week even though I will not be here. My husband and I will be flying to New York this weekend, where my husband grew up and his family still resides. My mother–in–law has recently been diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer. We are looking for any opportunity to go out and see her. This weekend is also my husband’s best friend’s wedding in New York. Thus, we thought it would be a great time to fly up there.

My substitute will have full and complete lesson plans and will conduct school as per usual. I will be checking my email periodically while away. If you have any questions or concerns, please email me, and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

The annual Book Fair will be conducted Nov. 2nd- 6th as well! Students may come home asking to buy new books. It's a great way to get them excited to read!

This will be our Friday Letter for the next 2 weeks!

~STUDENT CORNER~
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Fun and Complex Life of a 5th Grader ~ By: Kayla Cabaday (Class Historian)
This week exhibits the fun and complex life of a 5th grade student! Spiritual Emphasis week was a great success! Spiritual Emphasis week proves to kids that we all need to grow in Christ. On Thursday we had a concert with Rob Biagi! Rob Biagi is a Christian singer that sings about God and his plan for us on the road of life. We all need to pray for him and his family. His daughter is battling a case of cancer called leukemia. Rob Biagi also is battling the same cancer.

Besides Spiritual Emphasis week, this week we created foldables: construction paper folded into four sections with the map of the United States on top. Within the foldables, we outline each of the lessons we learn each day. They are a great study tool for kids to learn from and to help learn about the formatting of outlines. Nayeli will show you the inside scoop on our History so I won't give too much away.

We can't forget about the wonderful cereal boxes. All the kids had well thought out commercials and very informative commercials. I actually wanted to eat some of them. I think everyone had a fun time with that book report.
These wonderful weeks have past by so quickly.

History ~ By: Nayeli Figueora
History is my favorite subject. We just recently finished our foldables. A foldable is an outline that shows what we have read and the study guide for our upcoming test.

Indians made winter counts a long time ago and we finished our winter counts on Wednesday. Indians made them to keep track of important events each year and they were made out of buffalo hide. We did not have buffalo hide to make our Winter Counts so we used construction paper. To make the paper look like buffalo hide, we all crumbled it up, flattened it out and turned it in to the teacher. We each created symbols to represent important events for each year of our lives.
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Important Test/ Project Dates for the Next TWO Weeks:
Monday, Nov. 2nd: Science Project Due
Tuesday, Nov. 3rd: Language Sentence Caricature Project Due
Friday, Nov. 6th: Spelling Test on List 14

Monday, Nov. 9th: Social Studies Test on Ch. 2*; Math Pretest (up to and
including Ch. 25)
Tuesday, Nov. 10th: Ella Enchanted Reading Comprehension Quiz on the
last few chapters; Math Test
Thursday, Nov. 12th: Bible: “Heroes of Faith” Project due
Friday, Nov. 13th: Spelling Test on List # 24

* Note: I am comfortable giving the Social Studies Test on Monday, Nov. 9th, because we have already read all of the lessons in this chaptee, answered the questions, completed the chapter review, and corrected it all this week ( Oct. 26th - 30th). Students will complete extra review packet with the substitute teacher and correct it with her. Students will also be given a study guide to prepare for the test.

~Head's Up~
Nov. 5th: Report Cards are mailed
Nov. 9th: 5th grade is invited to attend a special Chapel with the Middle School and High School @ 8:35 a.m.
Nov. 11th: NO SCHOOL – Veteran’s Day
Nov. 23rd: NO SCHOOL - Non – Student Day
Nov. 25th: Minimum Day
Nov. 26th-27th: NO SCHOOL – Thanksgiving Break

Thank you for raising such wonderful kids! God Bless!
Love, Mrs. Papelian

October 23, 2009

Dear Parents,

Iowa Testing went very smoothly. Thank you for bringing your kids on time with very few absences! The kids handled this very busy week very well! They also did fabulously on their Science Tests!!!

The Book Report Cereal Boxes look great! They are colorful, interesting, and informative. The commercials were funny! I was somehow convinced that if available, I would buy some of these “crazy” types of cereals!

Red Ribbon Week was also a success. Please ask your kids the lessons they learned from Retro Bill!

Next week is Spiritual Emphasis week! We will have special programs on Wednesday (Special Speaker in Free Theater @ 8:45 a.m) and Thursday (Rob Biagi concert in the Gym @ 9 a.m.). Of course, parents are welcome…we hope to see you there! We will not be having our regularly-scheduled School Family on Friday!

Friday is our Harvest Party beginning @ 1:10. Parents are always welcome to our fun-filled parties…We would all be overjoyed if you joined in and showed us some of your dance moves! The entire party will be about an hour long! Students should bring a roll of paper with them this week for the party! :) Furthermore, Mrs. Willis sent home a flyer for our party assigning each student to bring an item. If your family would like to opt out of bringing an item, please do not feel force. We will understand...just please let me know! Thank you parents for all you do for our wonderful class!

Congatulations to Courtney for winning the "Knowledge" award last week and to Claudia for winning the "Faith" award this week! Keep up the great work girls!

~STUDENT CORNER~
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Marvelous Monday ~ By: Mia Sulentic
This week went by so fast! The best day of the week was Monday, which is odd because it is the first day of the week. Monday was 50's day with Retro Bill! We went to the Freed Theater to see and hear him. He gave us good advice about being on the positive channel and dealing with bullies. For example, if someone calls you ugly, tell them they are beautiful. Another example is that if someone calls you short, tell them we're like a hand and I'm the pinkie (shortest finger), and what would you do without a pinkie!?! The most fun part about 50's day is that we got to dress up! Everyone looked so 50ish with all of their poodle skirts, rolled up jeans, big and slicked hair. It was a fun and awesome week!

Testing and Creative Cereal Box Book Reports ~ By: Kiara Moore
This week we did Iowa testing. It was hard and frustrating. We did different tests every day. My favorite was spelling. It is fun because it makes you think. I hope everyone did well.
We also turned in our cereal boxes. It was cool to see all the different boxes. They were so colorful and very creative. I'm proud to be in Mrs. Papelian's class because she is creative and fun!
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Important Test Dates for the Week:
Monday, Oct.26th: Math Test
We only have one scheduled test this week; Nonetheless, we will probably also have an Ella Enchanted Reading comprehension Quiz sometime this week!

~Head's Up~
Oct. 26th – 30th: Spiritual Emphasis Week
Oct. 30th: Our Class Harvest Party with Mrs. Dey's Class. We will have a Mummy Wrap game. If possible, please bring a roll of toilet paper that week.
Nov. 5th: Report Cards are mailed
Nov. 11th: NO SCHOOL – Veteran’s Day
Nov. 23rd: NO SCHOOL - Non – Student Day
Nov. 25th: Minimum Day
Nov. 26th-27th: NO SCHOOL – Thanksgiving Break

REWARD REMINDER: By printing a copy of the Friday letter and getting a parent to sign it, students can be rewarded every week!

Thank you for raising such wonderful kids! God Bless!
Love, Mrs. Papelian

October 16, 2009

Dear Parents,

Iowa Testing will take place Monday through Thursday next week, October 19th – 22nd. Please make sure your child gets enough rest, has a healthy breakfast, and brings healthy snacks to school. Also, if at all possible, please make sure your child comes to school on time with no absences next week. This way we could ensure a smooth, test-taking experience for all.

Book Reports are due on Thursday! Commercials for the cereal boxes will be presented on Friday. Students will not be given much homework this week, which will allow for extra “book report” time. The Science test was postponed to this coming Tuesday or Wednesday to give students more time to study for the test. This will be one of the only homework items for the week. There will not be any Spelling or Vocabulary lists this week! YAY!! :)

Next week is also Red Ribbon Week and we will be having an assembly with Retro Bill on Monday. In honor of Retro Bill, students may dress in 50’s style clothing on Monday only (no free dress otherwise). Students will also be asked to wear red the rest of the week as a reminder to say “No” to drugs.

The National Honors Society is sponsoring a food drive for Orange County Rescue Mission next week. If a student brings in 5 or more cans of food they will receive a wrist band. Then on Thursday (the 22nd) they may wear jeans if they wear the wrist band with it. They must wear their school shirts however!!!!!

STUDENT CORNER
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Our Favorite Topics ~ By: Kayla Cabaday (Class Historian)
Wow! This was an exciting week! We are learning so much and having so much fun! Writing is a topic I think that every student loves. We are learning how to write an introduction. I had no idea that you could start it in so many different ways. All the students have picked wonderful topics and are now writing perfect introductions.

Ella Enchanted is another subject that all the kids love! The kids enjoy this book so much! They talk about it all the time. No wonder Ella Enchanted is called "Enchanted." It puts all the kids under a magical spell! The discussion groups are more of an advantage too! But I won't give that away because my great friend, Victoria, is talking about discussion groups!

Math is another topic the kids love. We learn new things by the minute. We all can't wait to figure out the many math games we will learn. There are so many math problems that are easy to all the kids! We can multiply fractions, divide fractions, and even add fractions!

I think the favorite topic that is in our classroom is our teacher! She is the one that makes this all fun for us! Creating games for us and making sure that they teach us something is ingenious! She gives us an option on our spelling, our writings, and even our reading!

Reading Groups ~ BY: Victoria Miller
In class we have been reading a book called Ella Enchanted! We have special reading groups that we form into and talk about the chapters we read! We all do literature sheets such as summarizer, word detective, discussion director, literary luminary, and connector. We all look forward to the next chapters. We all can't wait to discuss our reading sheets and read the summary of the great chapter(s)!
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~Head's Up~
Oct. 19th - 23rd: Iowa Testing and Red Ribbon Week
Oct. 22nd: Book Reports are due
Oct. 30th: Our Class Harvest Party with Mrs. Dey's Class. We will have a Mummy Wrap game. If possible, please bring a roll of toilet paper that week.

REWARD REMINDER: By printing a copy of the Friday letter and getting a parent to sign it, students can be rewarded every week!

Thank you for raising such wonderful kids! God Bless!
Love, Mrs. Papelian

October 08, 2009

~STUDENT CORNER~
Instead of hearing my boring old "teacher perspective" all the time, it may be more interesting to hear the "student perspective." So...if you want the students' side of the story, you have come to the right place! Each week two students will be writing about the events of the school week and their paragraphs will be posted here…__________________________________________________________________

Writing~ By: Mia Sulentic
In class we are learning about writing. Mrs. Papelian says we are going to write many 5 paragraph essays. I am so excited because I love to write. We're learning about topic sentences and concluding sentences. Soon we are going to write personal narratives. I hope that we do a lot of writing this year. Not just just 5 paragraph essays, but lots of stories because I think it is really fun to make up fictional stories or write about things that already happened. I am so excited about fifth grade because of the writing we are going to do. I hope I am not the only one!

Science Time ~ By: Lillian Tomlinson
Today we did an interesting experiment related to plants. We worked with partners. It was fun! Mrs. Papelian gave us Lima Beans and we opened it up and looked at the embryo inside that was ready to become a seedling. Mrs. Papelian came around the class with iodine and put it on the open seed. We went to lunch and came back and all the beans had turned black. We found out that iodine turns starch black. The cotyledons store the food inside the seed and that food is starch. All the kids recorded what happened to the seed. It was the best first experiment.
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Important Test Dates for the Week:
Wednesday: Language Test (Ch. 2)
Thursday: Ella Enchanted Reading Comprehension Quiz on Ch. 16 - 18
Friday: Spelling Test (List 4); Science Test (Ch. 4)

~Head's Up~
Oct. 9th: Non-Student Day: Teacher Work Day
Oct. 19th - 23rd: Iowa Testing and Red Ribbon Week
Oct. 22nd: Book Reports are due
Oct. 30th: Our Class Harvest Party with Mrs. Dey's Class. We will have a Mummy Wrap game. If possible, please bring a roll of toilet paper that week.

REWARD REMINDER: By printing a copy of the Friday letter and getting a parent to sign it, students can be rewarded every week!

Thank you for raising such wonderful kids! God Bless!
Love, Mrs. Papelian

October 02, 2009

~STUDENT CORNER~ Each week two students will be writing about the week and their paragraphs will be posted here… If you want the “student perspective,” you have come to the right place! (P.S....I promise I didn't give Kayla any extra incentives to speak nicely about her teacher this week!)
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Interviews and Our Classroom Economy! ~ BY: Kayla Cabaday

This week was both fun and exciting! I didn't think Mrs.Papelian would have so much planned for us! The topic I want to talk about is the classroom economy! In our classroom economy we have jobs and have to pay rent. My job is historian. As historian I write a letter on what we have done for this week. There are many other jobs at Cathedral City. Cathedral City is where we all live. We all have to pay rent for our chairs and desk.

As you all know we had our interviews already and are settling into our new jobs. As a parent you are probably excited to hear that we are learning how to take care of our work space,learning respondsibility, and how to handle money. If we don't take care of our work spaces, we will get fined.

Mrs.Papelian will be a great fifth grade teacher to all of us because she has a sweet, caring, loving, and tender heart. I know that she will always be there for all of us. This year is going to be the best year ever!

Morning Meeting ~ BY: Alexis Galvez

Hello my name is Alexis Galvez and I'm going to explain to you what morning meetings are! Morning meeting is the time where we all come together and talk about our weekend, about new changes in the classroom, activities, and our problems. At the end the prayer worrier prays for everyone and all the prayer requests that are in her prayer box. If we can't do morning meeting time then we do it at the end of the day. Like Kayla said Mrs.Papelian always has something new planned for us. If we have time we play games. Such as the most popular game Cooked! When we play Cooked we are learning skill and analyzation. As you can see this is why everyone in our class loves morning meeting time. I think it is important to have morning meeting time because that is a time to express your feelings and have fun!
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Congratulations to Nayeli for the Industriousness Award. Nayeli is a hard-working and well-rounded student and child who is not afraid to try her hand at anything…Keep up the great work Nayeli!

Important Test Dates for the Week:
Wednesday, Oct. 7th: Math Pretest; Vocabulary Packet due

Thursday, Oct. 8th: “Ella” Vocabulary Test, Math Test

~Head's Up~

Oct. 8th: Progress Reports mailed: All students will receive Progress Reports this time only
Oct. 9th: Non-Student Day: Teacher Work Day
Oct. 19th - 23rd: Iowa Testing
Oct. 22nd: Book Report due
Oct. 30th: Our Class Harvest Party with Mrs. Dey's Class. We will have a Mummy Wrap game so, if possible, please bring a roll of toilet paper that week.

This week’s Vocabulary words:

Vocabulary Words Harvested by Students from Ella Enchanted
(These are some of the words that the word detectives did not understand in their reading. Thus, they each defined and discussed these words in their literacy groups…)

vast: p. 65 very great in area, immense

wince: p. 49 to draw back or tense the body, as
from pain or from a blow; flinch.

relish: p. 59 to be pleased or gratified; to take
pleasure in; enjoy

fleeting: p. 53 passing swiftly; vanishing quickly

remnant: p.58 a remaining, usually small part,
quantity, number, or the like; a fragment or scrap; a trace

deprive: p.59 to remove or withhold something from
the enjoyment or possession of (a person or persons)

clench: p. 51 1) to close (the hands, teeth, etc.) tightly
2) to grasp firmly; grip

ooze: p.37 to move or pass slowly or gradually, as
if through a small opening or passage

ferocity: p.40 a ferocious quality or state; savage
fierceness

voluminous: p. 33 of ample size, extent, or fullness

loathe: p. 36 to dislike greatly and often with
disgust or intolerance

aqueduct p.44 an artificial channel for conducting
water from a distance, usually by means of gravity

REWARD REMINDER: By printing a copy of the Friday letter and getting a parent to sign it, students can be rewarded every week!

Thank you for raising such wonderful kids! God Bless!
Love, Mrs. Papelian