Favorite Books of 5th Grade 2013

As this calendar year comes to a close, it's fun to look back and reflect on some of our favorite things.  I asked the class (Miss Benoit and myself included) what their favorite books from fifth grade are and we have compiled a top 15 list.  You might consider reading these favorites yourself, or recommending them to your child if s/he hasn't read them already. 

There was a three-way tie for number 1 between Wonder by R. J. Palacio, The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, and The House of Hades by Rick Riordan.

The rest are all tied as well because they each got one vote.  You know we are a class of great readers when we have such a great diversity of favorite books! 

Here they are in no particular order:

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien 
The Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan
The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan (We really love Rick Riordan!)
School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket
A Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin
The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
Powerless by Matthew Cody

Happy reading!

Happy Friday!

Sometimes Friday the 13th isn't bad luck.  Sometimes it's fun!  A little rain decided to shorten recess today for the fifth graders.  Rather than get bummed out about the weather, they went indoors for a longer lunch.  When lunch was finished, but there was still time on the clock, they knew it was time for an impromptu dance-party.   Click this link to my website to view the clip: 

http://www.claytonschools.net/Page/12564

I know it will make you smile.  :) 
Happy Friday! 

December already?!

First of all, my apologies for neglecting our classroom blog for so long.  I hope you’ll forgive me and offer me your support as I do my best to get back into the rhythm of posting regularly. 

Second, I don’t know if you realize this, but first semester is winding down to a close before too long!  In fact, our winter break is a week and a half away!  What happened?!  The students have been working hard in lots of ways.  We are studying American colonies and the students have been working in regional groups to plan and teach a class to their peers.  The groups have been teaching this week.  The middle colonies went today and I was so impressed!  They were thoughtful, prepared, and even took time to assess their students through a fun skit-making activity.  Wow! 



As the semester winds down, I will be spending time working on our progress reports.  I heard an interesting story on NPR yesterday regarding how we actually structure ours in Clayton.  Many times I field questions about the purpose behind our “standards-based” report card versus the traditional A through F grading system.  I thought this story addresses it pretty well.  Have a listen to the story by clicking the following link:
Common Core Standards Could Knock As, Bs And Cs Off Report Cards

As always, thank you for all you do and I promise to post again soon!