Parent Homework Q&A

Dear Parents:

One of the parents brought up a great question so I thought I would send it to everyone:If my child would like extra credit, what can we do if we did not travel. Many children remembered some of the travel examples.

We have been working on fractions. Your child can make fractions of things like how many gifts did he or she get out of the total gifts? (example, 5/25 = 1/5), what is the fraction of gifts children received out of the total?
Adults gifts over the total, etc.
The examples of fractions are really endless but those are a few.

We have not arrived at percentages yet so that can be tough. However, we are changing from large fractions to the least common denominator, hence the 5/25 = 1/5 example. They will need to change fractions such as 6/12 to 1/2 or 4/12 to 1/4 etc.

As for science, we have been working with magnets lately so that may be something that you will think about. For those of you that received electronic gifts, you might identify any gifts that use a magnet and tell how it uses a magnet. This would definitely be a bit tougher, since you will need to do some research on this subject.

If you are planning on doing this, it will need to be in your science journal.

I hope this was some help.

See you WEDNESDAY, Jan. 3, 2008

Mr. A

Happy Holidays

Wishing you the very best this holiday season!

Thank you all for all your well wishes with my family's recent loss. The outpouring of concern and sympathy was incredible and very heartwarming. I will be posting many more pictures of the Reindeer Games and our Holiday party in the classroom. Thank you parents for your help with the party today!

Field Trip Coming Up

Dear Parents;

I am providing additional and repeat information from a flier that went home last week. The field trip must have permissions turned in by Wed for your child to attend.

All 5th grade students in Keller ISD have been given the opportunity to hear the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra on Tuesday morning, December 11th. This field trip is FREE OF CHARGE! In this posting, I will include links to inquire about various parts of the field trip. Click on the links for more information.

The field trip will be in the morning, leaving campus around 9 AM and return sometime at or around noon. The concert will be held at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Keller.

Your children should wear nice school clothes. Due to the distinguished nature of the activity, we ask that all students wear their shirts tucked in for the duration of the trip. You do not need to send your children with a sack lunch, they will be returning for lunch at the school cafeteria.

Each homeroom needs FIVE Parent Chaperones for the field trip! Between Mrs. Schwartz and I, we will need TEN parents on this trip. We can have Too many, but not too few chaperones. If you have not submitted to a background check for the safety of our children, please ask me or Mrs. Schwartz about the forms necessary.

Thank you for your patience in receiving these little updates. Your interest and participation in your child's education is what makes everything I do possible!

Mr. Arroyo

GradeSpeed Information

Parents;

If you have not signed up for Gradespeed, I would like to encourage you to do so. A bit about it:

Gradespeed is a means by which you are able to access your child's grades via the internet. There are 2 forms that must be completed before you can access the Parent Connection.

1. Complete the Online Application:
go to https://kellergs.kellerisd.net/pc Click on the CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP link.
make certain you enter a accurate email address since all Gradespeed communication will be handled by email.
You will need your student's ID number to add them to your account

2. Complete the form from the office and return it to the campus with a PICTURE ID.

I hope that you find this helpful.

Have a great weekend.

Mr. A.

Catching up after the Holidays

Dear Parents;

By the way, we Need GERM-X and Dry Erase Markers! Also, the TOY DRIVE is going on and some kids are counting on our classes to provide a new, unwrapped toy for Christmas. Please help out. My homeroom goal is 26 Toys. I will keep you up to date on the progress toward that goal.

I wanted to commend you all for your hard work over the holiday break. I know that you have studied hard with your children as they taught you about all the "M and M's" (Matter, Mass, Median, Mode, Means, etc.). Great job on the test results!

For a bit of seriousness, we have some new students over the past few weeks to welcome to the Mustang Family! In the next few weeks, we will be working hard to cover some Geometry in Math and new concepts in Science. I want to remind you to keep up to date by going to the website at http://campus.kellerisd.net/tmis and going to Faculty Contacts and clicking on my page, Mr. J.A. Arroyo's page and keeping up to date on the News page. This information is also on the BLOG page, http://tmis-mra.blogspot.com/ . For parents that are new to my emails, my past news is on these pages.

There will be some more "Parent Homework" to come, so stay tuned.

I also wish to commend your students. We started a new behavioral sheet that goes home every week (I will be sending mine home tomorrow, I am sorry for the delay). They MUST be signed and returned the next day. Students that do not return them will end up trading their recess for a "Study Hall" so it is important for your student to remember. We have seen TREMENDOUS progress since starting this just 4 weeks ago! I look forward to celebrating in some way the progress soon.

Well, I have a PTA meeting to go to, I hope that I will see some of you there!

Take care!


J.A. Arroyo
5th Math and Science

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

Toy Drive

I would like to pass this information along about our 'competition' between classes:

Students and Teachers,
TMI Student Council and the Leadership Squad are holding a Toy Drive at our school to help families in Keller who may struggle to have a nice holiday otherwise. We are looking for new, unwrapped toys, specifically ones that our age level would like if possible. Any new and unwrapped toys will be accepted.
Okay....let the competition begin.....the class who brings the most toys will earn a pizza party in their class on the day before we get out for our Winter Holidays! Start bringing in those toys! We want everyone to be able to celebrate the gift of the season with joy! You can make a difference!

We have been given so many blessings and there are those around us that suffer for lack of those blessings we take for granted. If you have the means, please try to provide something for a child that may, otherwise, not have anything under their tree this Holiday season.

Mr. A

Composition Books

Parents;

Please check with your children and inquire about their Composition books. Especially when it comes to their Science Journals, if they are torn up and/or lost, it will seriously impact their ability to complete assignments in Science Class!

Some of the students have shown me composition books that are in tatters, some almost literally a stack of papers. These will need to be replaced. I cannot stress, however, the importance of keeping their old journals. Students are beginning a 'library' of what they have learned.

Data that is entered into their journals will be called upon throughout the year so throwing them away is Not an option!

Oh, almost forgot! We are still (always) in need of GermX so if you happen to be at Sam's or WalMart, if you could pick up one for the students it would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Mr. A
5th Math and Science
Trinity Meadows Intermediate School, Room 2109

Report Cards and More

Well, Parents, the day has come, that first 9 weeks' report cards. Mrs. Schwartz and I have sent home the report cards and, also in this packet, the first of the Behavior Report cards that your child has filled out.

On the subject of the report cards, nothing is set in stone. On one hand, most of the kids received pretty high, and good marks. Some are used to making "A's", some may have been in for a surprise. 5th Grade is different from their previous experiences in the previous grades. It should be a bit tougher.

For those children that are struggling, things are not too late to work on those problem areas in Math, Science, Language Arts or Social Studies. For those children that are not bringing their work home, I will continue to send these newsletters so you may question them about their work.

This Tuesday, they have their Report Card that has to be signed by the parent and returned, they will bring home a Green report card when I have their white copy returned. They also have a Behavior report, they are to have you sign and Return it as well. It will show their progress over the 9 weeks as they give themselves their Behavior grades (A-D) and we will Agree or Disagree with their assessment of their grade. We hope this will help them, not only to exhibit appropriate behavior during the school day, but also for them become more aware of their actions during the week.

Well, parents, now for your questions:

The children are working on some basic definitions in the classroom for science:

• Instead of just defining Mass, Weight, Solid, Liquid, Gas, etc, they are asked to Describe these terms and explain them. Ask them, at dinner throughout the week, to identify and describe characteristics of dinner, for example. Does it have "Mass", is it "Solid", "Liquid", "Matter", etc.


• In Math, we are dividing as well as continuing multiplication tables. Working on Multiplication as well as giving your child an opportunity to divide and estimate would help them in class.


• The next time you go to the store, take paper and pencil with you and have your child add up what you are purchasing and estimate how much it will cost using rounding skills. See if they can estimate how much it will cost after taxes? If they are able to round over the amount of the purchase, they have done a good job, if they round UNDER, then they need to try again.

I hope this finds you all well. This Friday we will be celebrating Veteran's Day. For those families that have made this incredible sacrifice of a mother, father, uncle, son, etc., Thank you so much for this sacrifice. Our nation owes you a debt of gratitude for what you have gone through and continue to go through by giving up your loved one during our time of need. I continue to hope they return home safely.

That is all for now....

Mr. A.

J.A. Arroyo

5th Math and Science

Trinity Meadows Intermediate School, Room 2109
jaarroyo@kellerisd.net

GERM-X

After the recent reports of MSRA, please make sure you child has a small bottle of Hand Sanitizer @ school.We would also like a few 40oz bottles to keep in the classroom if a child needs to quickly clean their hands.

Thanks for your help in this matter.

Mr. A