Summer!

Dear 6th Grade Parents, (I love saying that! WELCOME TO 6th GRADE!)

This will probably my last 'official' communication with you so I wanted to make a little sentimental note to you all.

I hope that you have the chance to continue visiting the BLOG over the summer, I will try to put up videos and pictures which I didn't have the chance to post during the year.

As probably all of you know by now, I am not returning to TMI next year, my wife and I are returning to Oklahoma to be near our grandchildren and children. As much as moving to be near children and grandchildren can bring such excitement, it also brings with it no small measure of sadness. I miss your kids already! This classroom, as I clean off the walls, pack away all my Star Trek Models, and load up my car with all the various memories, is so empty without your children in their seats.

I have had such a privilege to share this year with your kids, from children with parents overseas, to shy, reserved children that came out of their shells, they all made me so rich. I cherish the memories and the successes. I have had the joy of having a part in their lives, to help them grow, to watch them as they made new friends, to experience ups and downs and learn new things.

I have added the links to my family BLOG and my Model page BLOG on my Classroom BLOG now so you can see what is up with me. I would like to keep in touch and welcome emails and tidbits so look forward to hearing more from you.

Take care, know that you continue to be in my prayers and thoughts in the coming months and, in answer to a question from one dear student:

"Mr. A will NOT forget you, you are in my heart forever!"

God Bless,

Mr. A (J.A. Arroyo)

5th Grade Math & Science

Trinity Meadows Intermediate School

Keller, TX

2007-2008

http://tmis-mra.blogspot.com

email: jarroyo@arroyofamily.net

DVD's Almost Done!

Well, the year is winding down and there are just a few more weeks to go. Tell your kids to hang in there, I know it is tough but summer is not quite here yet! They still need to remain focused and enjoy these last few days!

I am in need of some cd or dvd sleeves or cases. If you have some hanging around, send them over. I need a total of about 55 for all the DVD's that I am sending home with your kiddos. I am proud of what we accomplished this year and hope the kids are too. I showed them the videos today so you can ask about them. I put a lot of work into them for you all to have some wonderful memories of this wonderful year!

Take care, I will send another message before the end of the year!

Mr. A

A Few Notes of Interest

Dear Parents;

I thought I would send this home in hard copy as well as email. The year is almost at an end and there is yet a few more things to accomplish. I have sent home a letter for you to sign and get back to me by tomorrow about the HIV/AIDS curriculum. This needs your immediate attention so we can begin the curriculum on Wednesday.

In the meantime, I have also sent home a checkbook Project for the kids’ Math project. The Income and Family needs to be filled out by the parent. I am NOT concerned about the amount in the income column, this is a teaching tool, not an income survey! The purpose of the exercise is to help with budgeting skills and to help the kids practice stretching an income. As you read through the document, you will see that the figures for house payments and car payments are very general so the income can be as well. Help your child with a realistic income figure so they may plan for a house and car that will be reasonable based on the income.

In the section marked Clothing, the complete outfits should be totaled and divided by 12 for budgeting purposes.

Finally, tomorrow is 50’s day and, also, we will be taking pictures of the School and the River. Students are asked to wear or bring their Green Mississippi River T-Shirts. Please also think about the end of the year party and whether you will be able to volunteer to participate or send something for the party. I will be contacting you within the next couple of weeks about this event. I am finishing up the DVD’s and will be sending those home in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for everything!

Mr. A.

J.A. Arroyo
5th Math and Science

Science and Math TAKS Resources

Parents;

By now you know the results of the Math TAKS tests! The kids did AWESOME! Now, we have the Science coming up next week. The same link I posted before will work for practice for that test as well. Practice the interactive Released Science test:

Here is the TAKS website I told you about earlier:
TEXAS EDucation agency - Released tests: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/resources/release/

More TAKS Links

Parents;

I sent this out as a group email but this did not make it's way to the BLOG. Sorry for that mis-step.

Well, here are some videos again for Objective 4 for the Math TAKS review. I cannot begin to stress how important the released TAKS are for the kids.

Provide students with the following URL:http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/studentCenter/index.cfm?cdCode=T8955-BAE9The student will go directly to the Student Center home page with the Assignment Code pre-populated. A student can input his/her name and then complete and submit the assignment. You will receive an email when an assignment has been completed.
I will be sending out more links by the weekend.

TAKS Testing Resources

Dear Parents;

I have been doing some work with getting some more materials online for our students to brush up and review material that we covered last semester. I will be sending out a series of emails over the next few days with links for you to view videos covering materials as well as some quizzes.

Here is the first:

There are two ways to get in, once in, just watch the assigned videos and follow any additional instructions I may have provided for a particular objective.
Students use the following Assignment Code: T8955-5536Your students will need to go to the Student Center and insert the code into the "Assignment Code" input box. Once a student logs in, he/she will need to input their student name and then complete and submit the assignment. I will receive an email when an assignment has been completed.
Provide students with the following URL:http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/studentCenter/index.cfm?cdCode=T8955-5536The student will go directly to the Student Center home page with the Assignment Code pre-populated. A student can input his/her name and then complete and submit the assignment. I will receive an email when an assignment has been completed.
Good luck! The kids did great for their TAKS testing on Wed. I know that it was a tough day but they did fantastic!

Mr. A.

Tutoring Offered By Mr. A.

Parents;

I am sorry I left this out of last night's email. Maybe this is better to be separate, however. I will offer tutoring before and after school to focus on Math starting next week. I will be available on Mon, Tues, and Thurs mornings from 7 AM to 7:35 for tutoring and after school on the same days from 3:00 PM to 3:45 PM after school.

We will be working on TAKS Math skills. I will need a note from you so that I know that students will be able to attend (and I can know that they are not expected to get off the bus instead!). I will also need advance notice for those attending in the morning so I can give them a pass to attend.

Thank you!

Parent Homework - Thanksgiving

Dear Parents:

By now, you have probably, hopefully, heard that I have sent home "Parent Homework" again!

The response was so encouraging and exciting from the last time. I will post some of your incredible answers from the last time on the web site during the course of this week. Studies have shown that retention increases up to 90% when a student teaches the information that they are required to learn. Your child will be teaching you throughout the week and will be giving you a four question 'test' which they will make up on, or about, Thursday.

The assignment for this week is for your child to teach you about Math and Science! You and your child will have a choice of which class to test from. In Science, your child will be teaching about Matter and it's states. In Math, they will be teaching you about Median, Mode, Mean, and Range. In this letter, I will be giving you an outline of what you can expect to learn as well as some links to information to suppliment your child's teaching.

Math Vocabulary

• median - The middle value of an ordered set of values.


• mode - In a set of numbers, the one that occurs the most.


• range - The difference between the largest and smallest numbers in a set of data.


• mean - the average number in a range of values


• Dividend The number to be divided


• Divisor The number used to divide another number


• Quotient The answer to a division problem


• Divisible A number is divisible by another number if the remainder is 0 after dividing


• Remainder The number that is left after dividing


• Division Sharing equally, making or finding equal groups from a single group.
  

Science Vocabulary

• matter anything that has mass and takes up space


• solid the state of matter that has a definite shape and definite volume


• liquid the state of matter that has a definite volume but no definite shape


• gas the state of matter that has no definite volume or shape


• mass amount of matter in an object


• volume the amount of space an object takes up


• density concentration of matter in an object


• weight measure of the pull of gravity on an object


• melting/ freezing point the temperature at which a substance changes from a solid to a liquid or a liquid to a solid


• boiling point the temperature at which a substance changes from a liquid to a gas


• mixture - combination of two or more different kinds of matter, each of which maintains its own physical properties


• solubility ability of a substance to be dissolved


• solution a type of mixture in which one substance dissolves in another

classify matter based on its physical properties including magnetism, physical state, and the ability to conduct or insulate heat, electricity, and sound;

• Including: Physical Properties - Color, Shape, Texture, Mass, Weight, Volume, Density (relate to buoyancy - does it float?)

Here are some examples of questions that your student may use:

• What did you serve on Thanksgiving that was a solid, became a liquid, and gave off gas?


• Was there a part of dinner that had the most volume inside?


• Is weight and mass the same?


• What was soluble? Explain.


• Was anything served that was 0 Celsius?


• Was anything served that was 100 Celcius?


• Did anything served start at 0 Celcius and go to 100 Celcius?


• What solids were combined with Liquids?


• What did it make?


• What Mixtures were served?


• How were ingredients measured?


• 
  
  Did you measure Mass, Volume, or weight?

Here are some ideas for Math problems:

• How many people came to the Thanksgiving celebration of your family? What was the Range of their ages? What was the Median age? What was the Mean age? What was the Mode?


• How far did they travel? What was the Range of the distance traveled? What was the Median? the Mode? the Mean??

I hope that helps. The idea of this exercise is for you and your child to enjoy each other's company. I know that the children really enjoy the "Parent Homework" and it has the added benefit of helping them to learn the material and enjoy learning it! I hope that this exercise will be something that helps you enjoy this holiday break even more.

From my family to yours, Have a wonderful break and Thanksgiving Holiday! Your child is a big part of why I am so thankful this Thanksgiving!

Mr. J.A. Arroyo

5th Grade Math and Science
Trinity Meadows Intermediate School

Habitat Projects are finally in

Well, the Habitat Projects are in and they ranged from the incredible to the "Hot Dawg!". There was some misunderstandings on the how to's and the "Was I supposed to actually READ the Instructions?" Yes, always a good idea to read the instructions!

The 9 weeks are over and final scores are in for the Quarter. Hopefully, with this 9 weeks on the way, we will fill in a lot of the holes and get many on track for those CBA's in Jan of 2008!

I hope that all of the kids had a safe and fun Halloween and we will be doing some more projects in both Math and Science in the weeks to come!

Question of the week:

What is the average weight of the boys in your class?

What is the Average height of the boys in your class?

and, how about the girls in your class?

Have a great weekend, enjoy the slide show....

Mr. A

Yeah! End of the 9 Weeks!

Some may not have had an email from me before so I wanted to send out a quick update.

Thanks to all of you that were able to donate pumpkins for our pumpkin experiments this past couple of days. We wrapped up the experiments yesterday but this information will keep coming back to 'haunt' the students over the next few weeks! The fun thing about numbers is that they stay FRESH, unlike the pumpkins that produced them!

We will be working on averages, some statistics, and, since your child has brought home seeds, you should be watching them GROW! In the meantime, next week we will work on some of the weak areas identified with the testing that went on last Thursday during the next week or so.

I encourage you to ask your child to tell you about what they discovered about Pumpkins during the last two days in the lab. Don't let them off easy with a "I don't know!", they should know how many seeds their pumpkin had, what the average number of seeds were for the class, how
much they weighed, and, the really COOL question, "Does how much a pumpkin weigh or how big it is tell you how many seeds it will have?"

Have a great weekend and I look forward to meeting with you during the Conferences today and tomorrow!

Pumpkins!

Here is a slide show of Tuesday's Pumpkin lab. Wednesday will be working with the numbers and observations.