Room 5 Update
2009
Dear Parents,
Don’t forget that Student Body
Elections are Tuesday, November 3rd.
Students who are running for office will
be giving their speeches at 8:30a.m.
Voting will take place after and the
students will find out results by the end
of the day. Please come and cheer on all
of our fabulous candidates.
Have too much Halloween candy?
Mr. Stoll will be collecting excess candy
to distribute to homeless shelters. Please
bring in you candy this week.
November is District Assessment
month! Students will be taking
assessments in Open Court, Math and
Science this month. In Open Court,
students will take an assessment which
covers all concepts taught in the Risks
and Consequences unit. In Math, students
will be tested on place value,
multiplication and some algebraic
expressions. In Science, students will be
taking an assessment about magnetism
and electricity.
Dates to Remember
• Nov. 3rd Election Day! Student Body
Elections
• Nov. 10th Monthly assembly
• Nov. 11th Veteran’s Day – No School!
• Nov. 26th – 27th Thanksgiving Holiday
• Dec. 1st School picture make-ups
• Dec. 7-11 Student Led Conferences
The children will be taking the
District math assessment this week. It
will cover place value and multiplication.
Practice with your child place value:
standard form, expanded form and
rounding. Practice multiplication facts
and problems.
We will begin our next unit on
division. Students will be learning to
recognize multiples and factors. In
division, the children will be learning long
division as well as multiplying and dividing
with decimals.
If your child still does not know
his or her facts quickly and by rote,
please practice DAILY!
We have just finished our unit
on Risks and Consequences and will
begin our unit on Dollars and Sense.
This is a very exciting unit where
the students will be reading stories
about people starting a business.
 We will learn what it takes to start
a business and the students will be taking
their interests and building a simulated
business. They will do marketing
research, design a plan, look at their
expenses, write a letter to the bank and
design logos for their business.
We would love for parents who have
started a business to come in and speak to
the class about how you started your
business and the steps you went through
to get your business started. Please let
me know if you are interested in coming
in and speaking to the class.
In our grammar books, we are
learning about types of sentences
(independent clauses, simple & compound),
capitalization rules, end punctuation, and
when to use commas, quotation marks,
semi-colons, colons and parentheses. We
are continuously working on writing, using
topic and supporting sentences.
Study Skills
1. Listen in class while a lesson is being
taught.
2. Use the textbook (highlighted words &
titles in bold or in color are important)
3. Use the Study Guide (always given
before a major test); all concepts on the
test are on the Study Guide!
4. Make flashcards for vocabulary words
& practice them!
5. Read each question carefully (check
the directions!)
6. Check your answers when done with
the test (for errors & for completion)

We are in the process of finishing Ms. Dempsey has been teaching our
our unit on California Geography.
unit on Magnetism and Electricity.
Students have been studying about the
different regions and reasons for why Students have discussed magnets,
people live in the areas they do. Have your compasses and properties of
child continue to practice by naming magnetism. They have begun to
states or countries in the world. investigate electricity through the
We are starting a new unit on building of circuits to light a bulb
California Indians, Chumash, Miwok,
and run a motor. Students will be
Cahuilla, Yokuts, Gabrielino, Mojave and
Hupa. Students will be working in
making an electromagnet as well.
cooperative groups to become experts in a
particular Indian tribe from the different
regions of California.