HOLIDAY GREETINGS

Hello All

We have been very busy in the month of December. We have been working away on the music program which turned out to be very successful. They did a wonderful job. I know that it was a lot of work and practice.

During reading class, we are finishing our literature circles. Ask your child about the book that they are reading and finishing. I have seen a good deal of learning and discussing about the books that we are reading. I see that the students want to find out what happens in their books.

Microworlds and microscopes are being studied in the science class. We have looked at non-living items and living items including volvox, blepharisma, and vinegar eels. They have all enjoyed using the microscopes to see small items. We will continue with some use of the microscopes after the holiday break.

During Social Studies, we are studying about the American Revolution. We will continue to study the U.S. History.

In Math, we are continuing to work on place values of numbers. They are testing Unit 3.

The holiday party is on Tuesday, December 22nd.

NO SCHOOL FROM WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23RD TO JANUARY 3RD. WE BEGIN SCHOOL ON MONDAY, JANUARY 4TH.

HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY BREAK!

MS. HAGEN

Email from Carol Gorman, author of Chelsey and the Green Haired Kid

Hello, Ms. Hagen and students!What a great email from you! I loved reading your comments about CHELSEY,and I'm so happy you liked the book!I'll answer your questions below:
Derek:how long did it take to publish Chelsey and the green haired kid?
Derek, the book was published a year and a half after I sold it toHoughton Mifflin.
Chloey:why is Jack so mysterious?
Chloey, Jack is mysterious because the book is a suspense novel, and mysterious people are interesting. :)
Harry:where did you come up with taco pizza?
Harry, when I wrote the book, taco pizza was my favorite!
Lauren:do you have other books related to Chelsey?
No, Lauren, CHELSEY AND THE GREEN-HAIRED KID is the only one of my booksin which Chelsey appears. Sorry! I enjoyed spending time with her, too!
Genessa:why did you name the wheelchair the Blue Streak?
Genessa, I thought Chelsey was the type of girl who might name her wheelchair, the way some people name their cars.
Emerson:what inspired you to write the book? Emerson, I wanted to write a suspense novel in which a murder wascommitted in a room full of people, but only one person witnessed it. Chloey:what would be your advice to someone who wants to get started writing?
Chloey, read as much and as widely as possible. And start writing storiesof your own. But don't fall in love with your words because writers alwayshave to revise and change and improve their writing!
Olivia:Why did you put a river at the end of suicide hill?
Olivia, Suicide Hill is a real place (but it's isn't called that!) in IowaCity. If you're ever in Iowa City, it's the Market Street hill that slopesdown toward a silver building. When I was young, there was no building atthe bottom, just a parking lot and the river beyond. So in my mind, Imoved the parking lot and river closer, so Chelsey and Jack could zoomdown the hill and coast until they were at the river's edge.
What is our favorite book you ever read?I have a lot of favorite books! I can't pin it down to just one.
Kailee:Have you thought about continuing the story of Chelsey and the green haired kid?
Kailee, I submitted a proposal for another book to Pocket Books. They published the paperback, and the editor liked it. But the publisher said,"Oh, we don't need any more mystery novels." So they didn't buy it.
Lauren:why did you make Jack smith's hair green?
Hi, Lauren. I grew up in Iowa City where I saw lots of interesting people.Jack's hair is his way of telling people, "I'm me, and I don't care what you think." I saw students on campus when I was growing up with purplehair or words shaved into their cut. I also saw a girl wearing a long gownand combat boots.
Emerson: how did you come up with the characters?
Emerson, Chelsey is a braver version of myself. Jack was a young versionof my husband Ed! Trystan:how did you come up with the book idea?
Trystan, I just used my imagination.
Liam:why did you have a character in a wheelchair?
Liam, it's scary to be a target, but even scarier if you can't run away fast!
Harry:why is Jack so bad?
Harry, he isn't bad. He's a normal kid who has had a tough life and madesome poor choices. Brianna:why are there no chapter names?
Brianna, I've never written chapter titles. For some reason, I don't likethem!
Whitney:how did you think of Suicide Hill? Whitney, see above.
Emma:why did Jerry Fields die in this book?
Emma, if Jerry Fields is killed, the bad guys seem more dangerous.
Lauren:why are Mac and Ron so mean?
Lauren, because this is a suspense novel, and they're the bad guys! :)
Liam: why did you make the book?Liam, I'm a writer, and a writer writes! :)
Omar: which book did you write first?
Omar, CHELSEY AND THE GREEN-HAIRED KID was the third novel that I wrote(after a book that didn't sell and T.J. AND THE PIRATE THAT WOULDN'T GOHOME), but the first novel that I ever sold.
this note is from Kailee>> I was wondering if you could make another Chelsey and the green haired> kid,because at the end of the book Jack said "This is the beginning of a> beautiful friendship".We were wondering since he did say that, you might> make another Chelsey and the green haired kid book. When our teacher> said to stop reading, we didn't want to stop.Kailee, that's exactly why I wrote that ending, so I could continue Chelsey's and Jack's story. I was hoping I could write more adventures for them.

I'm so glad that you all liked the book and wrote me! I'm sorry that my answers were so short, but I was in CT last weekend to speak at a library,I teach part-time at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, and this is mid-term,and I'm scrambling to keep up!
Thanks again for writing!
My best to you all,Carol Gorman

Safety Patrol

Hello All,
We have safety patrol the week of October 26th.
Have a great week!
Ms. Hagen

October News

Greetings Everyone,
Thank you everyone who attended parent teacher conferences. We have been continuing with a pretty regular routine lately. We are in the midst of the state testing and have completed the Reading sections this past week. We will continue testing the Math sessions on November 3rd and 4th.
For reading class, we did finish the book Chelsey and the Green Haired Kid. We e-mailed the author who responded to all the student questions and comments. It was exciting to see the response of the students. Carol Gorman has a website www.carolgorman.com which the students found interesting. Mrs. Gorman is from Iowa so we talked about her being a Midwest author.
I will post some of the questions and comments at a different time.

This week we celebrated Red Ribbon Week. Thank you to all the students who participated. The culminating event was a student versus staff basketball game.
Just as a reminder, we will be off of school on October 29-30. I hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween.
Ms. Hagen

SAFETY PATROL

OUR CLASS WILL HAVE SAFETY PATROL THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 5TH-OCTOBER 9TH. HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

SEPTEMBER NEWS
MS. HAGEN’S CLASS

Greetings to All,
It is hard to believe that it is the end of September already. We are in the midst of a busy time at school. We have finished some of the assessments including the spelling pretest, writing assessment and reading inventory. In the next two weeks, we will be having MAPS assessment in the areas of reading, language, and math. I hope to have the results to share with you at conference time. We will be scheduling conferences this week.
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Late Start on Wednesday, September 30th. Classes will begin at 9:55. No breakfast will be served at school for this day.
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Conferences will be held on Friday, October 9th, Tuesday, October 13 and Thursday, October 15th. There is no school on Friday, October 9th due to conferences. The book fair will be here at school during conferences.
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Snacks for Milk Break:
Some students bring an individual snack but others are sharing a snack class. Would you be willing to send in a box of crackers, pretzels, or other item to have the class share during milk break? If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know or talk about it at conferences.

Students are enjoying the opportunity to switch classes. They are also enjoying using magnets for science class. In math, they are continuing to work on multiplication math facts. To keep up with the class, you can also keep track of our blog at
http://mshagens5thgradeblog.blogspot.com/

Have a great week! I look forward to seeing everyone at conferences.
Ms. Hagen

First weeks of school

Hello All,
We have had a terrific first two weeks of school even with the summer weather coming now.

We have been busy working on making classroom rules and routines. We have also been taking a pretest of spelling words for the year.

In reading, we are reading a class book called Chelsey and the Green Haired Kid. We are learning how to use the smart board and have done some basic activities on the smart board. We will continue with our learning and exploring.
In Science, we are working on our Friendship and Feelings unit in health. Math is working on a review of math and working on arrays, area, equal groups, and combinations.

Some reminders are:

• Please keep money in your child's lunch account
• If you are dropping off or picking up your child, please park in the parking lot and let them walk into school using the crosswalk.
• Your child may bring a water bottle to have in class. If it becomes a distraction, I may take it away.
• Please check to see if the assignments are being completed.

Ours class starts on safety patrol the week of September 14th. The students will know if they have duty during the week. They should all have their belts at school in case they need to fill in for another patrol. We will have patrol every 3 weeks from next week. Everyone will not be on the schedule every duty week as we need to rotate duties.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Hagen

Welcome to the 2009-2010 school year

Welcome to the 2009-2010 school year! Where did the summer time go? I am sure that we all have more that we thought that we would get done or some other place we wanted to go. The summer went by quickly. I am looking forward to another school year. We will be using our smart board on a regular basis. This year our class will be switching classes for math and social studies. It will be an exciting year with many things to learn. Open House is on Thursday, August 20th from 5-7 pm. I hope to meet some of you at the open house.
Have a great rest of the summer! I will see the students on September 1st.
Ms. Hagen

April News

Hello One and All,
Some of the class are off on the Safety Patrol trip to Washington DC. We hope that all have a safe and fun trip. The students who are staying back on working on individual projects. We will be taking a field trip to the Movie Theater on Friday.
The students are enjoying learning more on the smart board. They are becoming great users of the equipment. I see that they are all trying to do their best to learn.
We recently had a visit from Mrs. Frost, the Middle School Counselor, about signing up for classes for next year. Please check with your child to make sure you received the information. Forms need to be turned back in by May 1st.
In health, we are working on learning about diseases and we will be making a brochure about a disease or health condition.
We will be attending the 6th grade health fair on May 5th. This will also be the day of the Fun Run. The Wisconsin Dells trip will be on May 15th for Safety Patrol.
Mr. Chuck Amundsen has started as our Junior Achievement volunteer. We look forward to having him come.
Have a great day and hopefully spring will stay in the air!
Ms. Hagen

March News

Hello Everyone,
Our classroom door has been decorated by the students with a Spring Break Theme. We have received the best beach theme. The students enjoyed celebrating the week with dress up days and a game of volleyball between the teachers and student teachers. They also enjoyed having a juice bar treat on Thursday.

WOW! We are all excited about our new technology in the classroom. We now have a smart board in our classroom. We have been using it on a daily basis to teach many skills and enjoy adding to our learning. The students will be using it more as the year continues on. Thank you to Mr. Fischer for letting us get this technology in the room.

In reading, we are working in our lit circle groups and also learning about natural disasters. Science is all about types of animals. In Social Studies, we are learning about the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. We are also working on our state books. We are studying fractions in Math. See if your child can tell what fraction of something they are getting like pizza or pie.

Math Groups are now part of our end of the day on two days per week. The students go to other classrooms for intervention/enrichment activities on the subject of geometry. We will then be switching to another topic soon and they will be going to a different teacher.

Happy Spring:)
Ms. Hagen

Last Week of February

Greetings Everyone,

READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY ---------MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2009

PLEASE COME AND JOIN OUR CLASS FOR A READ-IN FOR (2009 seconds) or 34 MINUTES IN HONOR OF DR. SEUSS’S BIRTHDAY in D107.

Come and enjoy reading along with the students. Bring a favorite Dr. Seuss book or children’s book to share or we will have some available to read. Please join us for morning meeting at 8:00 am and then we will have 34 minutes of read time starting at 8:20 or so.

Parents and special loved ones are the best reading role models!

Reading is something that can be celebrated on any day and at any time! After we are done, we will have a treat with the class during milk break.

Take time together every day to read together for 20 minutes.

Please fill out the form below by Wednesday, February 25, 2009 so that we can plan ahead with milk break.

Any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Ms. Hagen.

We are busy starting our state books. We are researching a state. It will be fun to discover many states. We are beginning our study on catastrophes. In math, we are working with fractions. In health, we are working with the food section. We will have a guest speaker on Wednesday, our food service director, Mrs. Thesing. We will be discussing how she develops a menu and what we need in the food groups for a balanced diet.

Conferences are coming home so that we can start scheduling.

Sundae Sale on Friday, February 27th. Cost is $1.00

Have a great week!

February News

Hello Everyone,
We can tell that the weather has changed and some are wishing for an early spring. Our class has been busy with holding spelling bees and getting our representatives chosen for the spelling bee. Our representatives were Trygve, Kiana, Amanda J., Jacob V., and Sugey. Congratulations to the five for going on to the school bee. Congratulations to Trygve and Jacob for continuing to the next level.
We have now finished our session for MAPs assessment for winter and the writing prompt. I am proud of how the students all worked and put their best effort into their work.
In Reading, we have just finished reading the Rosa Parks story and were able to see a video about Rosa Parks' life. The students were very touched by the story and realized how far we have come in treating everyone with respect. We are now beginning to work in literature circles in reading. Please ask the students about the book they are reading.
We have been very lucky to be reading the newspaper on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 5 weeks. Our focus has been on the Abraham Lincoln story but of course we take time to read the comics and other articles. We would like to thank Viterbo University and Western TC for sponsoring our paper on February 12th in honor of Lincoln's birthday. It is a nice way to teach reading skills.
Our class will have a friendship party on Friday, February 13th in the afternoon.
There is no school on Friday, February 20th.

Have a great day!
Ms. Hagen

January News

Hello Everyone, Happy 2009!
We had our holiday party the first day we were back from the holiday break. It went very well. The students enjoyed the time together. We have been working on many things since we have returned from the break. We are working on learning how to make a power point presentation and learning how to add information from the research that we are doing about the presidents. They will be sharing these in the classroom as soon as we are finished. They are enjoying how to use the program and tools that are available. They are even teaching me some new skills on the program.
We are beginning a story about Rosa Parks. I want them to learn about the history and begin to understand some of the challenges that others have faced. We are watching the video called Our Friend Martin about Martin Luther King, Jr.
We will starting the tryouts for the spelling bee. We also had some students test for the Math Knowledge competition.
Thank you to all who attended the winter concert. The students did a terrific job!
Have a great day!
Ms. Hagen