Happy Friday!

It has been such a fun week at Concord while we celebrated the great accomplishment of becoming a Blue Ribbon School!

In science we started stations for our new chapter on classifying organisms.  The kids are really excited that there is so much information on animals in this chapter and can’t wait to learn even more!

In writing the kids spent this week researching various topics in history with their research groups.  We wrapped up researching today and will begin organizing and drafting our pieces next week.  The kids have done AMAZING with this and I can’t wait to see the fabulous pieces they create.

In math we have started our next chapter on multiplying and dividing decimals.  We started off by multiplying whole numbers and decimals and today we started multiplying one decimal by another decimal.  The kiddos seem very confident with these concepts!

In reading we are working on reading informational pieces which blends well with our unit on informational writing.  We have been practicing paying close attention to choosing nonfiction resources and deciding which ones would be best to use with various types of research.

Today the kiddos watched a movie in the morning with Dr. Stryjewski and Dr. Mariscal, got a special BLUE treat at lunch, and got to enjoy an hour of reading around the school from 2-3.  It has been one big blue ribbon celebration today!  What a great way to end our week.  

Also, please remember to send items in for adopt-a-family if you can!  Any donations are much appreciated!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Thank you,

Meredith DiFranco

Good afternoon!

It has been an exciting and fun week here at Concord.  Our Veteran’s Day assembly was a great tribute to the men and women who serve our county.  We also watched a live feed of Dr. Stryjewski receiving our Blue Ribbon Award in Washington D.C.  What an amazing school we have!  

In science we have started a new chapter on classifying organisms.  We will start up our science stations with lesson 1 on Monday.  We are very excited about this chapter because of all the new and interesting information we will be learning.

In writing and reading we are continuing units on nonfiction study.  This week the kids spent time researching various events in history and voted on ones that they are most interested in.  I will be putting them into research groups to find more information on the topic they decide on.  They will then create an informational piece on their own with the research information they have found as a group.  They have shown great enthusiasm about this piece and I am very excited to see what they come up with!

In math we finished up chapter 5 in which we learned how to add and subtract decimals.  We had our test today and I am confident that everyone did FABULOUS!  They showed great understanding of the concepts throughout the chapter.  I hope that we will have the same confidence as we enter our next chapter of multiplying and dividing decimals!

In social studies we have been presenting our PowerPoints that we created about the Native American tribes we chose for our projects.  The kids have been leaders in our classroom as they presented.  They are very knowledgeable and had no problem answering questions that their peers asked.

I hope you have a great weekend of relaxation.  I can’t believe there is only one full week of school left until Thanksgiving. Time flies when you’re having fun!

Next week is Blue Ribbon week and we are going to celebrate with themed days.  A note went home about this last week and each days theme is listed in Dr. Stryjewski’s email sent today.  Monday is a Lindbergh spirit themed day so please send your kiddos in their green and gold! Next week is also cleaning supply week for adopt-a-family. Please send any cleaning supplies to donate to our family.

Thank you for all you do,

Meredith DiFranco

Our assembly this morning was a wonderful tribute to all of our veterans on Veteran's Day!

Happy Friday!

I hope you had a wonderful week.  We had a fun-filled week of learning in 5^th grade!

This week in science we spent time reviewing our chapter on weather and precipitation.  We filled out our study guide and then played jeopardy to quiz ourselves!  The kiddos took their test on Thursday and will be getting them back at the beginning of next week.

In writing we continued researching and taking notes for our informational piece about a Native American tribe.  The kids have been doing such a great job with this and I can’t wait to see their finished piece.  Today was their first day of drafting and they will continue into next week.  We will celebrate our hard work on Wednesday!

In math we started our new chapter on decimals and have been learning to round, estimate, and add them.  They have really impressed me with what they already know!  We will continue working with decimals throughout next week.  Our chapter 5 test will be on Friday, November 14^th. 

In reading we have been working on mapping out nonfiction books by looking at the table of contents.  We created road maps using a nonfiction book which was really fun!  We also talked about how we can use what we already know about nonfiction books to make a plan for when we read a new nonfiction book.  As always, the kiddos in our class continue to amaze me with how much they LOVE reading!

In social studies, as I’m sure you know, we turned in our Native American dwelling models.  WOW, I was so impressed with what all of the kiddos created.  They are now on display in our library for everyone to enjoy.  :)

Next week it is paper products week for adopt-a-family.  A note came home with the kids today.  We are collecting paper towels, baby wipes, toilet paper, and all other paper products to donate to our families. 

Thank you for all of your support!

Have a fabulous weekend,

Ms. DiFranco

Yesterday we went outside and used the anemometers we made in science to measure wind speed. We had a blast even though it was very cold! Brrrrrr

We had so much fun at our Halloween party last week! Thank you to all the parents who donated and helped out on Thursday!

Happy Thursday!!


Here is a quick reminder from the eNote sent earlier this week from Dr. Stryjewski in case you didn't get a chance to read it:

Adopt-a-Family is our service-centered annual campaign that supports CONCORD families.  Each year, families are "adopted" and supported by collecting food items, household items, personal care items,  and holiday gifts.  We ask students to participate each week in our collections to support these great families.  To help kick off this year's campaign, we will have our popular "Jingles for Jammies" this Friday, November 7th.  Students are asked to bring in donations of change (or anything amount you'd like to donate) and they can wear their pajamas.  Money collected is used to purchase Ameren and grocery gift cards for our families.  Please help support this wonderful campaign.


Thank you for your support! :)