Christmas Blues

Is anyone out there feeling a little blue since Christmas is over?  If so, I have a prescription for those blues....  Go rent or buy the game Michael Jackson's Experience.  For real!!!  I got this game as a gift this Christmas and it is GREAT FUN!! I am sure I look silly dancing along with the great Michael Jackson but it has been a blast pretending I am the King of Pop!!  LoL!!

Can't wait to see all my students and fellow teachers at Highland on the third. I hope all of you are gearing up for a great start to the new year. I know I am!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!!

WOW!! What a day!!

Friday was sooo much fun at Highland. We started the day off with our holiday breakfast party which was amazing. My homeroom brought in an abundance of breakfast items that made our breakfast fantastic!! I want to thank all of the parents, grandparents and other family members who helped make our party a huge success. Then we participated in the Holiday Basketball Classic. We lost our first game but we watched all the other games and cheered on our 5th grade classmates. The basketball tournament was great!! Huge thanks to Mrs. Witcher for organizing this event. It is a highlight at Highland and the students loved it!
I also want to wish everyone at Highland a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

GOOD TIMES AT HIGHLAND

Friday students at Highland participated in an anti-bullying program. Before the show the presenters got the crowd pumped up by singing and dancing to Justin Bieber. As you can see, 5th grade students had an awesome time.

Theories of "The Lost Colony" at Roanoke Island 12-10-10

Students have been learning about the mysterious disappearance of "The Lost Colony at Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina in 1587. Historians have various theories on what happened to these colonist as John White returned with supplies and found they had all disappeared. The only evidence found was the word Croatoan carved into a tree near the settlement.  After researching this event students had to make a journal entry explaining what theory they believed in the most. I recorded some of these below. Enjoy!

December 6th

Deck the Halls of Highland was a great success thanks to the hard work and support of our students, parents, volunteers, faculty and staff.  Deck the Halls is always an exciting way to kick off the holiday season.  I would like to personally thank the 5th grade elves who volunteered their time to work in the cafe, lead games, and run errands for Santa. All of you did an outstanding job and took your elf duties serious.

This week in Social Studies we continue our study of European Explorations to the New World. We are focusing our learning this week on the reasons these explorers took such a risk in order to make it to the Americas. All of the different countries in Europe had different reasons for coming. The 5 main countries who sent explorers that we are studying are Spain, England, France, Denmark, and Portugal.

We will be focusing on the interactions of the Europeans and the Native Americans. Some of these interactions will be friendly while others will bring on conflict between the two groups.

We have already learned the reason each country listed above was so interested in the Americas and now we are beginning to discuss specific first settlements such as, St. Augustine, FL. This was the first European settlement in the Americas settled by the Spanish. Then we will learn about Roanoke which was England's first attempt to build a colony, but were unsuccessful. The English try again with the settlement of Jamestown in Virginia. With the cooperation of Pocahontas, John Smith and the settlers of Jamestown barely make it through their first year.

TRIVIA??? What is the origin of the word  AMERICA?

Happy Thanksgiving!!

It is hard to believe that the Thanksgiving holiday is upon us. I would like my Highland family and students to know how truly thankful I am to work in such a great school with such great teachers and kids!! I wish you and your families the best Thanksgiving ever!!

This week we finished our unit on Native American Cultures and then on Tuesday we compared our Thanksgiving traditions today to those present at the first Thanksgiving in 1621. I believe most students were surprised to learn that the first Thanksgiving was not in November and there were no turkeys to eat on the dinner table. The only birds mentioned in the diaries and journals of the pilgrims were water fowl which were thought to be duck, pigeon,or swan. The kids were also surprised that venison, or deer meat, was the main dish along with, lobster, mussels, eel, and fish.

As we compared how our Thanksgiving is similiar to the first we found that giving thanks was at the top of our list along with eating a huge meal coming in second.Other similiarties were the kinds of vegetables that were shared on that day and playing games with one another.

One thing we all can agree on is that Thanksgiving is a time for us to remember our blessings and be thankful . If the Native Americans and Pilgrims could be thankful after the horrible year they had endured, then surely we can find something or someone in our lives to be thankful for.  

11-29 to  12-3
This week we will begin our study of the first Europeans to journey to the new world and their interactions with the Native Americans.

Pictures from our Frankfort Field Trip 10-27-10

These class photos were taken at Daniel Boone's gravesite.

November 15th, 2010

This week we will be continuing our unit on Native Americans.  We are studying various groups that inhabited North America. We will study the Eastern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, and Northwest cultural regions and the people who lived there.  This will lead us to the first interactions between the Natives and Europeans.

Veteran's Day

I just wanted to say thanks to all of those students and teachers who helped with our program this year. It was perfect. We have such talented and helpful people at Highland that makes it easy to pull together and show our Veterans how truly appreciative we are. Our program was student driven as the kids sang songs, read letters and learned about freedom.  We mailed out over 500 letters to veterans this week. I hope in some small way that they know someone out there does care and thinks they are a true hero.

11-06-10

This short week was jammed packed with fun and learning for the 5th grade here at Highland Elementary!!  After returning from our break we have been writing Veteran's Day letters. Each student at Highland is working on a friendly letter that will be sent to veterans in the VA hospitals in Louisville and Lexington. The purpose of these letters is to thank these brave men and women for their service in the military. My students have been working extremely hard trying to put down in words how thankful they are for what these service men and women do for our country. Honestly, some of the letters are written with so much love and thanks that it brought tears to my eyes. I hope by sending these letters we can make many veterans feel loved and appreciated as we prepare to celebrate Veteran's Day.  Highland will have a Veteran's Day program Thursday, November 11th during morning procedures.

Also, this week we went on another field trip to the Louisville Science Museum. It was amazing!! The kids had so much fun they didn't even realize they were learning many difficult science concepts. Hats off to Mr. Lindsey for planning such a fantastic trip!!

Next week in Social Studies we will begin our unit on Native Americans!

PEACE AND LOVE

Just wanted to give a shout out to my 60's lovin, hippie friends that dressed up in hippie attire today for Halloween. Mr. Woodward, Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Bunch, several students and myself all become flower children for the day. It was fun guys!!  Peace Out!  Thanks KO!

WE DID IT!!!

Well, we did it! We made it through a very busy and exciting week in the 5th grade at Highland. First of all, we celebrated Red Ribbon Week which incorporates many activities for the students as we promote being drug free. Various guest speakers shared information and personal stories during morning procedures with the students. Each day the students could dress up to a certain theme created by our FRC coordinator, Mrs. Honeycutt.
Second, we took our annual field trip to our capitol city, Frankfort, on Wednesday. It was a great day and we couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous autumn day to spend touring our state capitol and strolling through the Frankfort cemetery to Daniel Boone's grave site.  We left at 7:00am and rode two charter buses to Frankfort where we toured the old and new capitol buildings.
Third, IT WAS HALLOWEEN PARTY DAY!  This year 5th graders were encouraged to dress up in their favorite costume. We had a parade of costumes in morning procedures, which was a blast! The teachers got in on the fun as well. The 5th grade teachers and I  dressed in the decades from the 50's to the 80's. Everyone looked great. In the afternoon we all celebrated with a Halloween Party full of fun and treats. In my homerooom we played musical chairs while listening to "Thriller" as we ate yummy cookies and cupcakes.

In Social Studies we have focused our attention to the upcoming elections. The kids researched which offices are up for grabs in the 2010 vote and analyzed what level of government the cadidate would be working in. We will review the results as we go back to school on November 3rd.  I sent home with all 5th grade students a current ballot to share with their family to try and persuade family members to exercise thier civic duty and VOTE!!

So, as you can see, we have had a Totally Awesome week here at Highland thanks to all faculty and staff. It takes all of us to make such an incredible week happen!!  I want to also say an extra thanks to my team along with Mrs. Dakin and Mr. Harper for their flexibility and willingness to help on our field trip. It was a success due to such a great team!!

FRANKFORT FIELD TRIP!

Our annual trip to Frankfort is just a week away. That's right, next Wednesday Oct. 27th all 5th graders with a signed permission slip will be traveling by charter to our state capitol, Frankfort, KY. We will be touring the old historic capitol building/museum and our current state capitol building. This trip helps students understand more about the framework and purpose of our democratic government. Students have received an information sheet, itinerary, and permission slip for this trip. If you have any questions please call Highland.

Halloween parties are coming up on Friday, October 29th!!   5th grade gets to join in the fun and dress up in your best costume. Remember no masks!  If you want to help, call your homeroom teacher and help plan the best Halloween party ever!!!

October 18, 2010

In Social Studies this week we will be covering 2 new lessons titled "Early American Cultures" and "Rise of Empires"  These lessons can be found in the Social Studies textbook on pgs.60-71.  In both of these lessons the students will be introduced to the cultures of 6 early American groups. The groups are Moundbuilders, Anasazi, Inuit, Maya, Aztec, and Inca.  Students will work in small cooperative groups to create a poster describing the culture of their group.  Students will also be writing a half to a full page summary of the group they are researching.  Our main goal is to learn the aspects of the early american's culture and be able to do an informative summary of the information learned throughout the project.
On Thursday all classes will complete an open response question that will assess what they have learned about these early American cultures. We will be learning how to make our answers complete, correct and clear so all students can reach the highest score of a distinguished.
On Friday we will reflect on the open response and review our data. Also, on Friday we always watch NewsQuiz on KET. This is a 15 minute news show for kids. This is one way students stay current in what's happening in our state, country and world.
As you can see we have a busy week full of new information to be learned!!! Bring it on!!!

10/13/10

Well, we are halfway through the week and I am just excited about the progress we are making in 5th grade.  Today, we completed another Writing Wednesday and dedicated our morning to practicing our communication skills through writing.  The students are working hard on being clear and specific when writing about what they have learned while using vocabulary from their core classes to enhance their writing. 
     Today, we focused on a Social Studies Open Response Question and finding absolute location using latitude and longitude.  The open response question was about natural resources and how they are vital to our surivival . In writing the students will be assessed in content, structure and conventions. So it is necessary that they use descriptive details and vocabulary, organize their ideas logically, and edit their work properly for grammatical errors. One thing that makes the Social Studies open response question more challenging is the students must pull information they have learned in their previous classes to use correct information to achieve their goal of a proficient or distinguished score.
    In Social Studies we are beginning our unit on the first Americans!  Learning about the people who inhabited our country before Christopher Columbus helps form the building blocks for which the understanding of the beginning of our nation will be built upon. I love this unit! I hope the students do too!!!!

Happy Fall Break!

Hope all of you are having a very fun and relaxing fall break! You deserve the break after all of the hard work you have been putting in here at school. Sadly, the week will be over before we know it so enjoy the time off and get charged up and ready for school. Have a safe week!!!

The Wizards basketball team visited Highland this morning and really got the day off to a great start.  They are so talented and we all had a great time! Our very own Mrs. Brown and several 5th grade students got to play a game on the court with 2 members of the Wizard's team. Hilarious!!!!!!!!!!

Monday in Class we read our Scholastic News edition for this week. The articles are  really interesting to kids and the magazine is a fine example of excellent writing. Today, we read an article about the first man to walk the length of the Amazon River in South America. The kids were amazed at what this man lived through. Plus, we examined how the author wrote this article and how the lead paragraph really got us hooked! We also used a physical map of the world and located the Amazon. The Scholastic News also integrates science and math into the many activities on the back.

September 29th is Writing Wednesday. Get ready for another jumbo session of writing skills for success!This week will be doing a math open response question.


In Social Studies there is a vocabulary test coming up on Friday. Students will be given a practice quiz and study guide on Wednesday.

Ask your child what they think of News Quiz.  This is an educational program provided by KET. Each week the students are involved in a 15 minute news show that quizzes them on current events as they listen. It is a fun way to stay on top of current events involving our state and our world. Each week we watch the show on Friday or Monday.

All students have been working diligently on mastering the many vocabulary words from the overview unit. We will finish the unit on Wednesday and have a vocabulary test on Friday. Students will receive a study guide on Thursday.  On Monday morning we are having a special visit from the Harlem Wizards. They will be talking to us about heroes. Also, Highland Heroes will be announced in morning procedures Tuesday.  Have a great weekend!!!

VOCABULARY
culture
ideal
ethnic group
census
immigrant
democracy
republic
constitution
citizen
private property
economy
free enterprise
profit
supply
demand
export /import
consumer
entrepreneur
region
geography
agriculture
irrigation
climate
precipitation
natural resource
mineral
fossil fuel
renewable and nonrenewable resource
conservation
environment
pollution

Today was our first Writing Wednesday. Writing Wednesday's are when we combine two homerooms together and we practice on how to effectively answer open response questions and other writing tasks. Today went great! My homeroom teams with Mr.Lindsey's class and we worked diligently this morning until our entire team received a 4 on their reading open response question. We really targeted how to organize our thoughts through the use of a T-Chart which is a graphic organizer we use to attack the question and answer it correctly, completely, and clearly. Each Thursday morning we will recognize students from our team as an MVP and a D to the 4 which means they were dedicated and didn't give up. Ask your child what they thought of Writing Wednesday.

Another Great Week at Highland!!

     We have had a great week in Social Studies!!! We finished collaging our journals and I will be taking them home this weekend to laminate. All students did an outstanding job personalizing their S.S. journal. During all the collaging we also studied about American people and our culture as well as our national motto "E Pluribus Unum". 5th graders think Latin sounds pretty weird but we learned why this was a good motto over 200 years ago and still is a good motto for us today. Ask your child if they remeber what is means and why it is a good motto.
     On Friday we celebrated Constitution Day by reading an article titled "3 Supreme Court Cases Every Kid Should Know" The kids loved hearing how these cases changed our laws in education. The three we read about were: Brown V. Board of Education (1954), Tinker V. Des Moines Independent School District (1969), and Hazelwood School District V. Kuhlmeier(1988). In all of these cases our Supreme Court had to interpret the laws we follow in our Constiutution and made a decision based on what the Constitution says. If you are unfamiliar with these cases google them, it's worth the read or ask your 5th grade student what they were about.
     Next week we will continue in our overview unit as we learn about our Government, Economy and Regions of the U.S. We will also watch our first episode of NewsQuiz which is a 15 minute television program sponsored by KET that airs weekly. The students listen to the news and then are quizzed over what they learned. It is a lot of fun and it keeps us informed about what is going on around the state and the world!!!

9-13-10 What's happening in S.S.

Today we began learning new vocabulary words that we will be using in our Overview Unit. This unit begins on p. 6 in the textbook and ends on p. 38.  There are 5 lessons in this unit. We will finish the vocabulary tomorrow and begin discussing the first lesson titled "The American People" on Wednesday. In addition to this new unit, we are also collaging our S.S. journals so that they are more personal to each student. Plus, collaging is a very cool art technique that we all seem to enjoy! If you have extra magazines that you want to get rid of, we definitely will use them.

We remember 9/11

Today in class we learned about the horrible events that took place 9 years ago on 9-11-02.  My students were very young then and don't have a lot of memories of this event and I wanted them to learn about what happened and how even in a tragic event Americans can  unite together for the common good. Through our Scholastic News magazine I was able to share some personal stories from people who were there at ground zero and we learned how citizens from all over the U.S. came together to help one another. Today we want to remember 9/11 as a day of service in honor of those who died and those who came to help at the Pentagon, Ground Zero, and in Pennsylvania. I have challenged all my students to do something for someone else Saturday, September 11th 2010 as we remember this day as a day of service instead of just remembering the destruction that occurred. I believe if we teach our children to build a tolerance for others differences and promote peace we can change the world one child, one family at a time. I hope you will join me tomorrow in the spirit of service and reach out and do something for someone else. It will set a good example for your children and make you feel good inside. Have a safe and happy weekend!!

Peace,
Denise Howard

WELCOME!!

I am so excited to start my first blog with students and parents of Highland Elementary. If we haven't met then I hope we will soon. I teach 5th grade Social Studies and would like to use this site to share what's happening in my classroon along with some cool photos. I look forward to a fun and exciting year at Highland. Let's chat!!

Denise Howard