Hello all my old babies!

I hope you all are doing well in middle school. I certainly miss you this year. Keep in touch with me and let me know how things are going!

Summer Activities

Fun stuff at the Public Library. Check it out!

http://jpl.coj.net/progs/jpl/summer_reading2008.html


Hope you all are having a fantastic summer!

End of the Year

Well guys, this is it! Another year has sailed by so quickly and we have reached the end of another year. It has indeed been a pleasure being your teacher as you ended your elementary school days. I hope that when you look back at the things you've learned, the friends you've made, and the times you've had, that you will smile. I know that along the way this year, you have made me smile, and laugh quite a bit. I enjoyed watching you guys grow from little guys and gals to young ladies and gentlemen. You are a force to be reckoned with. I wish you much success as you continue your educational journey into middle school. I look forward to hearing good things about you and your accomplishments. I do hope that you will stay in touch. I plan to have this blogspot up and running next year, so please take a moment and stop by once and a while. Each one of you has a very special place in my heart along with several memories that I will never forget. Thank you for allowing me to be your teacher and I love you all!

Ms. Herrera :)

Poetry Cafe

Monday is Poetry Cafe!!!

Don't forget to bring juice and cookies in!

Comment to let me know if you will bring enough to share with the class!

5th Grade Formal

The Fifth Grade Formal was awesome! You guys looked amazing and so grown up. I hope you all had a pleasant evening and enjoyed yourselves. Here are a few pics from the formal. If you have any pictutres on your digital cameras, please ask your parents to upload them and send them to my email address. herreraf@duvalschools.org

HELP FIGHT HUNGER WITH VOCABULARY

Go to this website and find large vocabulary words to challenge yourself and to help fight hunger at the same time. Challenge your parents too! Who can earn more rice? Don't forget to tell me how much you your earned!

www.freerice.com

State Report Help!

Here are a few more sites that I have found that could be helpful for any information that you have not been able to find.

http://www.sjteach.org/state

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/es

http://classbrain.com/artstate/publish/

http://www.ecb.org/tracks/

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi

http://www.picadome.fcps.net/lab/currl/states/default.htm#Informational%20Sites (excellent site)


Remember that your fact pages along with their captions are due on Monday! The entire project is due on Tuesday!

End of the Year Events and Deadlines

Parents,
As the end of the school year draws near, here are a few important dates to keep in mind:
April 8th- 20 completed notecards are due on State Project
April 14th- Last day to pay for Islands of Adventure ($55 cash)
April 22nd- COMPLETED STATE REPORTS and ART PROJECTS ARE DUE
April 23rd- Picture Day (Smile and dress cute and colorful)
April 25th- Last day to purchase 5th grade CD's ($10 cash)
April 28th- April Book Log check (MUST HAVE READ 25 BOOKS BY THIS DATE)
May 1st- Reading Celebration (completion of 25 books)
May 1st- Dance Tickets go ON SALE!
May 5th-Teacher Appreciation Week Begins!!
May 6th- Islands of Adventure field trip
May 8th- Visit to Oceanway Middle School!!! (You guys are growing up so fast!)
May 13th- Boy/Girl Assemblies
May 16th- 5th Grade Formal at First Coast High School 6p-9p (invitations will go home soon)
May 23rd- National Nerd and Geek Pride Day (dress up like Screech!)
June 4th- 5th Grade Farewell/Awards Ceremony
June 5th- Last day of school (noon dismissal)

STATE REPORTS

It's "Report Time!"
All students drew a state this week to do a research report on. Students were given a pink packet explaining what was to be included in their report, as well as how it would be graded. There are several due dates as we go through this process. Please visit this post and the comments frequently for more information.

March 25th- Pack of colored note cards due.
March 27th- Students given information about how to do notecards and bibliographies
March 27th- Students visit computer lab to gather research.
April 8th- 20 completed notecards are due!
April 15th- Bibliography draft due
April 18th- Rough draft of paper due (This includes introduction section through the closing paragraph)
April 21st- Fact pages due in class to be shown to Ms. Herrera (remember captions must be included!
April 22nd- Published reports, Art projects, everything due!

Dynomite Dioramas!

Great job on your dioramas! Look below to see the ones that were turned in for the month of March! They are awesome!

Dioramas.

National Chocolate Caramel Day!

March 19th is National Chocolate Caramel Day! This day has been established to celebrate the wonderful taste of chocolate combined with the sweet irresistible taste of caramel. Where would the world be without this delicacy. Be sure to be in class tomorrow. Our celebration will not be a "dud!"

Verb Test Thursday

Use these sites to help prepare you for your VERB TEST!

http://www.quia.com/ws/67745.html (verbs and their past tense)

http://www.quia.com/cb/1027.html (irregular verbs)

http://www.funbrain.com/verb/index.html (verb be)
click on the bees!

http://volweb.utk.edu/Schools/bedford/harrisms/verbquiz5.htm (all kinds of verb help)

http://volweb.utk.edu/Schools/bedford/harrisms/verbquiz6.htm (subject-verb agreement)

Let me know how you do!

GRAMMAR DAY

Here are some pics from our GRAMMAR DAY! All students went around to different stations to do different grammar activities!

MARIO DAY (Mar. 10)

How did you like Mario Day? Was it what you expected? Be sure to play some Mario this weekend. Your coupon is below!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Redeemable at any home or a friend’s house No Expiration Date
MARIO DAY COUPON
This coupon entitles Ms. Herrera’s student to one uninterrupted round on any “Mario” video game!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Practice Reading FCAT Scale

How well did you do? How close were you to the next level?

Level 5- 100%-95%
Level 4- 94%-85%
Level 3- 84%-75%
Level 2- 74%-65%
Level 1- 64% -0%

You guys did great on the practice tests! I am so proud of each of you. Keep up the good work and let's make this happen on the real test! Comment on this post and tell everyone what strategies work best for you! Be sure to explain them thoroughly!

Next Week's "Quirky" Holidays!

Monday- Mario day! No details until Monday!!!! Make sure you are here to celebrate!
Friday- International "Ask A Question" Day! - Come up with some good ones! I'll tell you later in the week what we are doing for this special day!

National Name Tag Day

Today is Nametag Day!
All students made a nametag and brought it in to share.
To celebrate the day, we wore our nametag proudly and were strangers only once to the people who did not know our name. Plus, Ms. Herrera through in a twist and made students be more creative. No pencils, markers, or crayons were allowed to be used to the names!
Ms. Herrera's Class

Mrs. Elmore's Class

March Book Log Check and Response

The monthly book log check will be on March 27th! (You are not in school on the 28th!)

As with each book log check, you have to turn in a response for a book that you have read that month! This month you have an option. You can either turn in a response in Response to Literature format or you can make a diorama.

I have included a few links about dioramas so you will know what they are and what they look like.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/diorama/

http://www.ehow.com/how_12761_make-diorama.html

WE HAVE NEW NEIGHBORS!

On February 29th, it was discovered that we had new neighbors in the area of our portable. They are polite and seem to keep to themselves. We did find out that they seem to enjoy Fruit Loops!

Next Week's "Holidays"

March 4- National Grammar Day- GET READY!!!!!
March 5- Learn What Your Name Means Day (This is the day to recognize the uniqueness of your own name. Does your name match who you are and what you like to do? Go on the Internet with a parent and find out the meaning of your name.) Tell us about it in class.
March 6- Nametag Day (We will do a creative project- There will be a prize!)

Author's Viewpoint and Author's Purpose help!

If you are having trouble with these two topics or would just like some extra practice, click on these links. There are practice activites and power point shows.

Go on this link and under where it says Free Presentations in PowerPoint format, click Author's Purpose. This will take you to a file that you can open and practice! Good Luck!
http://languagearts.pppst.com/readingcomprehension.html

This site has practice quizez that you can take and see how awesome you are with these topics! (Try to print them off when they tell you the score and bring them in.)
http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/palmasola/ps35glews1a2.htm

Here are also some questions you should think about when you are reading to help with author's purpose and author's viewpoint.

1. What opinions or belief statements are evident in the article?
2. Why do you think the author has this particular opinion or point of view?
3. What background information about the author does the reader have that may help understand the writer’s point of view? (Point of reference)

4. Would another author have a different point of view depending on his/her background experiences?
5. What pictures does the author paint for a reader?
6. What evidence did the author include to support their opinions?
7. What facts were missing?
8. What words and phrases did the author use to present the information? (Students collect samples of the language an author uses to identify the context in which ideas are presented.)
9. Why did the author write this selection? Identifying the author’s purpose helps students recognize possible viewpoints, especially in persuasive writing.

FCAT SCHEDULE

Parents,
Below you will find the FCAT testing schedule. Please make sure your child is in school and on time during the testing period. It would be greatly appreciated if all appointments and/or trips be postponed until after testing.

Tuesday, March 11th:
Math Session I - 80 minutes

Wednesday, March 12th:
Math Session II - 80 minutes

Thursday, March 13th:
Reading Session I - 60 minutes
Reading Session II - 60 minutes

Monday, March 17th:
Science Session I - 60 minutes

Tuesday, March 18th:
Science Session II - 60 minutes

Wednesday, March 19th:
NRT Reading - 80 minutes
NRT Math - 70 minutes

HARD WORK PAYS OFF!

Congratulations to Zoya! She will be attending a "Meet and Greet" with Mike Peterson of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Zoya's name was submitted due to her hard work and continual use of strategies in her work. This has helped Zoya improve her reading and I, as well as her classmates are extremely proud of her. We look forward to her visit with Mike Peterson and can't wait to hear about the experience. Congratulations Zoya!

Attendance

THE FCAT IS ALMOST HERE. EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE AT SCHOOL EVERYDAY AND ON TIME. THE GREAT TEST IS ONLY 16 DAYS AWAY!!! WE ARE SO READY!

Parents,
Please make all appointments outside of school hours or at least after 2:45. This is a crucial time and your child needs to be here! Your child may miss something that was said in class that could be the key to the high scores on FCAT! We had over 25 absences in our classes just last month! I appreciate your help!

Ms. Herrera

Kobie's adventures!

If you haven't heard by now, Kobie has had the experience of a lifetime. He was able to ride back into port with his dad aboard an actual Navy ship. The picture below shows one of the activities Kobie was able to do. See Kobie for more interesting stories about his journey!!!

100th Day of School

Students at Sheffield Elementary celebrated the 100th day of school with 100 exercises! Here are some pics from our workout!

National Gum Drop Day!!!!

Friday, February 15th was National Gum Drop Day. Ms. Herrera's classes celebrated by wearing bright colors and eating gum drops in class!!!!

(pictures coming soon)

Red- Cinnamon
Green- Wintergreen
Yellow-
Orange-
Purple-
White-

Mae Jemison Test on Tuesday

Students,
Make sure you are familiar with the answers to these questions...


What contributions to Science did Mae Jemison make?


What events happened in Mae's life that pushed her to be successful?


What are some of Mae's accomplishments and how did they mold her life?

Vocabulary fun with a little recess too!

Here are some pictures from our vocabulary game today. Good job to all my little froggies!

Help! Control those conventions!

Remember when you post comments or items on the blogspot that they must meet the convention standard! I shouldn't see the letter "u" standing for the word "you!" I know you guys are smart cookies!

Check your spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and make sure it makes sense!!!!!!

Virtual Class Meetings

Click here to view issues that have been posted in the comment section by your Class Presidents. All students are allowed to comment on ways to help, but remember your message must be clear. Think of positive ways to change our concerns into celebrations! The Class Presidents will keep in touch with Ms. Herrera to let her know the status of what issues have come up and positive ways to solve them! Good luck!

Congratulations to our newly elected CLASS PRESIDENTS!

Congratulations to Joseph, Ms. Herrera's Class President!

Be on the lookout for new ideas coming from Joseph and his Vice-President Serina!!!!!

Congratulations to Lindsay, Ms. Elmore's Class President!!!!

Be on the lookout for new strategies and activities from Lindsay and her Vice-President Kiana.

Valentine's List

Paper copies of the Class List will NOT be given out this year. For a list of our class, see below!

Quinton
Arlie
Victoria

Zachary

Michael

Brandon

Chane
Victoria

Kaitlyn
Kiana
Kobie

Jordan
Omara
Serina
Melinda
Joseph
Dominique
Zoya

Horace

Nichler

and Ms. Herrera too!

Main Idea help

http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/palmasola/rcpit3.htm

Try these sites!

http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/palmasola/BrianMrsBell4.htm

Portfolio Club

Remember that the Portfolio Club starts Monday. All students who received a yellow form should be in Ms. Herrera's Class on Monday at 7:50 A.M!

CLASS PRESIDENT

Don't forget to make your flyers and posters for your campaign. Monday will be your day to inform and persuade. Make sure you determine why exactly you should be our Class President. Why should people pick you? What do you plan to do to help the class?

Good luck to you all. I am anxious to see what you all come up with.

Hip! Hip! Hooray!

A big congratuations goes out to Dominique for her commitment to her Reading! She made a huge leap today during her Words Per Minute test! Way to go Dominique! We are all proud of you!

FL Achieves

All students who have at least 50% of the FL Achieves program for Reading done on Wednesday and have an average of 75% or higher will receive a sweet treat at lunch on Thursday! The entire FL Achieves program should be completed by March 10, 2008.

It will be the best one yet!

BOOK LOG CHECK AND RESPONSE DUE

The January Book Log check will be Monday, January 28th. All students are required to have read 450 pages for the month of January and have them written properly in the back of their agenda.

A response is due this month for a book that has been read during the month of January. The response must be in Response to Literature format. No exceptions!

Bring this into class!!!

In an effort to get students to visit the blogspot I have hidden a message to the students in the comment section of a posting that is near the bottom of the archive list. Check it out and lets see who comes to class with the mystery item needed.

Homework for week of Jan. 22nd

Check back all week for updates!

Tuesday-
Homonyms sheet (Mrs. Elmore's class only)
Home Reading Log (This should be stapled in your agenda)
Study for verbs/homonyms quiz. Quiz is tomorrow
Finish friendly letter draft (Be sure to spell your student's name correctly)
Write spelling words 2 times each in cursive.

Wednesday- Study Spelling words and Revise Friendly Letter

Thursday-
Spelling pg. 120
Check the blogspot for updates.
Finish any corrections to your friendly letter and be ready to publish tomorrow in class.
Complete 2 assignments on FL Achieves

Friday-
Book Log check for January is Monday, January 28th. You must have one response in Response to Literature format completed and ready to turn in.
Address and decorate your envelope for your 4th grade buddy!

Congratulations!

The following students deserve some celebration!

Serina, Arlie, Kiana M., and Lyric made an A on their Reading test!

Way to go guys! We are super proud of you!

Scholastic Orders

All Scholastic book orders are due tomorrow, Tuesday, January 22nd.

Vocab Test on Tuesday

Lesson 10 Vocabulary

weep- If you weep, you cry about a great sadness.

beseech- If you beseech someone, you beg them in an anxious way.

convenient- Something that is convenient is handy because it is easy to use or works well in a particular situation.

sympathize- If you sympathize with someone, you show that you inderstand their feelings about something.

hoax- A hoax occurs when someone creates a pretend situation and tries to make people believe that it is real.

respite- If you get respite from something you don't like, you get a short break from it.

just- If something is just, it is fair and right.

prodigious- Something that is prodigious is very large and impressive.

Check this out! You can study all by yourself!!!!! http://quizlet.com/set/156421/
Directions: Click on the link and when the page comes up, click on learn. Once you have practiced, then go back and click on test!!! Let me know how it goes!!!

Friendly Letter Activities and Games

On these sites, you can take a an online quiz to see how well you can identify the parts of a friendly letter and also to create your own friendly letter by typing in the information!

http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/letter_generator/

http://www.quia.com/pop/7318.html

After -school skit practice

Dear Parents and Students,

I will be staying after school on Tuesday to work with the participants of the skits for Parent Night. Students will come to my class after school and work on reading their lines and practicing on stage. All students should stay until 5:30 p.m. (Students who have tutoring on Tuesday will stay for tutoring and then participate in the practice.)

If you have questions, please contact me at herreraf@dreamsbeginhere.org of call 696-8758 ext. 167

Inferencing

This is a excellent game- http://www.quia.com/pop/43335.html (I got them all right! Can you?)

Want to play Inference Battleship?
Click here-->http://www.quia.com/ba/41785.html

This site is a MUST. Everything you wanted to know about inferring is right on this site. It is interactive and allows you to see how well you can infer. http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/palmasola/rcinf1.htm

Let me know how you do!

Friendly Letter Information

Use the website and helpful hints below to organize your friendly letter.

Elements of a friendly letter:

• Heading (Date and addess)
• Greeting (Dear ___________, )
• Body (the words of the letter- be sure each paragraph is on topic)
• Closing (Yours truly, Your friend, etc)
• Signature (Your name)

website: http://www.wam.umd.edu/~kha1/Friendlyletter.html

What is the difference between a homophone and a homgraph?

http://www.all-about-spelling.com/homonyms-homophones-homographs.html

Verb Help

Visit these sites for help with helping verbs and linking verbs...

http://www.kyrene.org/schools/brisas/sunda/verb/1help.htm

http://www.quia.com/rr/121293.html (This one is a game.)

http://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/schools/brisas/sunda/verb/1htest.htm (Online TEST)

http://www.geocities.com/fifth_grade_tpes/helping_verbs.html

Linking Verb Help!!!!!

http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/linkingverb.htm

http://www.wecosoft.com/School/English/verbs3.htm

http://www.wecosoft.com/School/English/verbs4.htm

Response to Literature Format Guide

1st Paragraph

• Engaging beginning
• Title and author
• Summary including specific events from the story. (Be exact with characters names, the setting, the plot, etc. )

2nd Paragraph

• Favorite part of the text or least favorite part of the selection
• Why you did or did not like it
• Author's purpose
• The message that the book portrayed to you or the lesson that it taught you. You could also mention what it really made you think hard about.

3rd Paragraph

• Your connection to the story. (be sure to not use the words we have laid to rest in class)
• Tell why you connect that way. Be sure to tell what exactly you connect to in the book. Mention what happened, what the event was, etc.
• Give a recommendation. tell who (what audience) should read this book and why should they read it.

Important dates

Parents,

If you click the link below, you will be connected to some of the important dates for your student concerning FCAT and other topics! I hope you find this helpful!

http://www.dreamsbeginhere.org/static/parents/firststeps/calendar08.asp

Welcome!

Welcome new students Caylin and Nichler! We are excited that you are here at Sheffield!

FL ACHIEVES COMPETITION

How are you coming on www.florida-achieves.com???

Any student that has at least 10 tests completed and a total average of 75% or higher will have lunch with me on Monday! I'll have yummy snacks too!

Contest for groups

Tomorrow when you walk in class, you will see a new chart on the board. You and all your group members must encourage each other to return all homework assignments, log in on your reading log, be sure to return papers that needed a signature, get on Florida Achieves, etc.

Every time a group gets ten stickers on their chart, they will get to enjoy a group surprise!

I am so excited to see who will get ten stickers first! This must be a positive activity where you encourage each other. If it turns negative...your group will lose stickers!!!! AAAHHHH! Let's don't let that happen! Teamwork! Teamwork! Teamwork!

Welcome to 2008!

This is a site where you can come and find out information about Ms. Herrera's Class. Please check back often. I will post information here as frequently as possible.

Scholastic News Book Club Information

Here are some great titles that are located in the order forms that are coming home today along with the final progress report of the 2nd nine weeks.
Scholastic Book orders are due on Tuesday, January 22nd.

Arrow Catalog

Title Level
Poetry Pack Y
Boys Rock! S
The Chronicles of Narnia T
Don't Know Much About Pack U
The Wedding Planner's Daughter Pack S
Ulysses Moore Pack S
Where I'd Like To Be V
To Be A Slave Z
The Seventh Tower W
Hurricanes, Tsunamis, and ... T
Black Duck T

Also please visit this website link to look for more titles on your level. This link will take you to the Fort Caroline Elementary site. You may click on the fifth grade link and see if your title is listed and then find out the level of that book to ensure that it is appropriate!

http://www.dreamsbeginhere.org/fce/Level%20Book%20List.htm

Be sure to also check out that CLICK! order form. There is super cool stuff inside this order form too!