Happy New Year!!

Hi everyone!
Welcome to a new year! We’re almost halfway through 5th grade! Can you believe it?! See you tomorrow!
Blessings,
Mr. & Mrs. G

Salem Survey Results Overview

Thanks so much for taking the school surveys. Here are the results for you to take a look at:

Zoomerang _ SALEM SCHOOL SURVEY_ Results Overview

Classroom Decorating!

Sorry for the lack of blog posts… That Colonial Faire sure keeps us BUSY around here, but it was a GREAT success! Thanks for ALL of your support!

It’s CHRISTMAS decorating time! Mr. Gilbert’s class will be decorating their desks and classroom on Thursday afternoon (Mrs. Gilbert’s class has art) and Mrs. Gilbert’s class will be decorating on Friday afternoon. Students may bring in lights, wrapping paper, and any other items (not completely distracting/annoying) to decorate their desk and the room.

Journal of Exploration

We’ve been working on the Journal of Exploration for a couple weeks with some time devoted in class. The Journal is DUE THIS FRIDAY! Here is the list of requirements:

Journal of Exploration

      You are a now-famous explorer. You see the world through his eyes from his time. You are going to make a journal documenting your experiences using the following format:

• 7 journal entries documenting your experiences (topic of choice for each)
• 1 seal or trademark (created or real – no writing required)
• 2 journal entries describing days at sea
• 1 chantey or work song (at least 12 lines)
• 1 letter that would be sent back home
• 1 story of star patterns

Each entry is worth 10 points. There are 13 entries total. Your entries will be graded as follows:

      Creativity (4 points)

      Factuality (4 points)

      Length/sufficient information (2 points)

Each journal entry should be a minimum of 5 sentences unless otherwise specified.

Total points possible (130)

Total points earned: _______

Photo

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/methuselah/media/photosynthesis.swf

Journal of Exploration

Who’s Who List of Famous Explorers
Names of Famous Explorers	Nationality of Famous Explorers	Lifespan of Famous Explorers	Famous Voyage of Exploration
Sir Francis Drake	English	1540 – 1597	Circumnavigates the World
Sir Walter Raleigh	English	1552 – 1618	The  Discovery of Guiana and establishing the Virginia colony of Roanoke Island in 1584
Marco Polo	Italian	1254 – 1324	Exploration of China and Asia
Ferdinand Magellan	Portuguese	1480 – 1521	First voyage around the World by this famous explorer
Christopher Columbus	Italian / Spanish	1451 – 1506	Discovery of the New World by this famous explorer
Francisco Pizarro	Spanish	1478 – 1541	Famous Explorer who conquered the Incas of Peru
Amerigo Vespucci	Italian / Spanish	1454 – 1512	America was named after this famous explorer
Vasco Nunez de Balboa	Spanish	1475 – 1519	First famous European explorer to see the Pacific Ocean from its eastern shore
Vasco da Gama	Portuguese	1469 – 1524	Discovery of an ocean route from Portugal to the East by this famous explorer
Sir Humphrey Gilbert	English	1539 – 1583	This famous explorer established St Johns, Newfoundland
Juan Ponce de Leon	Spanish	1460 – 1521	First European explorer to set foot in Florida
Sir Richard Grenville	English	1542 – 1591	Voyages to Virginia and Roanoke Island and the Azores by this famous explorer
Sir John Hawkins	English	1532 – 1595	Voyages to West Africa and South America by this famous explorer
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado	Spanish	1510 – 1554	First European to explore the Southwest of North America in Arizona and New Mexico
Sir Martin Frobisher	English	1535 – 1594	Voyages to Labrador and Greenland
Hernando De Soto	Spanish	1500 – 1542	First European to explore Florida and South East America
Sir Richard Hawkins	English	1562 – 1622	Voyages to South America by this famous explorer
Hernando Cortes	Spanish	1485 – 1547	Spanish conqueror of Mexico and the Aztec Empire
Bartolomeu Dias	Portuguese	1457 – 1500	The first European explorer to lead a 1487 voyage around the Cape of Good Hope on the Southern most tip of South Africa
Pedro Alvares Cabral	Portuguese	1467 – 1520	The first European explorer to see Brazil in 1500
Giovanni da Verrazzano	Italian / French	1485 – 1528	Famous explorer from Italy who explored the NE coast of North America from Cape Fear, North Carolina to Maine
Gaspar Corte Real	Portuguese	1450 – 1501	Exploration of Greenland and the coast of Newfoundland by this famous explorer
John Cabot	Italian / English	1450 – 1499	Exploring the coastline of Canada the subsequent colonization of Canada. Cabot was the second famous explorer to find North America (after Christopher Columbus)
Sebastian Cabot	Italian / English	1474 – 1557	Son of the famous explorer John Cabot. Searching for the Northwest passage across North America, attempting to circumnavigate the world and making expeditions to Russia
Jacques Cartier	French	1491 – 1557	Led three expeditions of exploration to Canada by this famous explorer
Henry Hudson	English	1565 – 1611	The discovery of the  Hudson River by this famous explorer
Jacques Marquette	French	1637 – 1675	Discovering the Mississippi River with famous Canadian explorer Louis Joliet
Samuel de Champlain	French	1567 – 1635	Famous explorer and founder of Quebec City. Known as ‘The Father of Canada’
Pedro Alvares Cabral	Portuguese	1467 – 1520	Famous Portuguese explorer was the first  to see Brazil in 1500
Cabeza de Vaca	Spanish	1490 – 1557	The first European to explore Texas and Southwest America
Estevanico	North African	1500 – 1539	Exploring Texas and Southwest America and heralded as having been “the first black man in North America.”
Panfilo de Narvaez	Spanish	1470 – 1528	The exploration of Cuba leading an ill fated expedition to Florida and North America by this famous explorer
Fray Marcos de Niza	Italian / Spanish	1495 – 1558	Discovering the Pueblo tribe called the Zuni indians. Duped into believing the myth of the “Seven Golden Cities of Cibola”
Alonso Alvarez de Pineda	Spanish	1494 – 1519	Believed to be the first European in Texas and proved that Florida was not an island
Juan de Onate	Spanish	1550 – 1630	Famous for establishing the colony of New Mexico for Spain
Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon	Spanish	1475 – 1526	Famous explorer and colonizer of South Carolina and discoverer of Chesapeake Bay
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo	Spanish	1499 – 1543	First European explorer to navigate the coast of present day California in the United States
Louis Joliet	Canadian	1645 – 1700	Famous for exploring the Great Lakes area and discovering the Mississippi River
Names of Famous Explorers	Nationality of Famous Explorers	Lifespan of Famous Explorers	Famous Voyage of Exploration
Who’s Who List of Famous Explorers

Spelling/Vocab for Sept. 19-23

I know some of you like to get a head start on your spelling and vocab over the weekend so I wanted to let you know that next week will be a little different. We will be doing a Unit 1-3 Review. There will be NO work done in the workbook. Read below for the assignment for this week:

Spelling/Vocab for Sept. 19-23

Students will need to know how to spell this list of words: (review from the last three weeks)

1. acceptable

2. accidentally

3. accommodate

4. achieve

5. acquaintance

6. against

7. there

8. their

9. they’re

*Students are also responsible for knowing what the vocab words MEAN (don’t worry about spelling) for Units 1-3. There will be fill-in-the-blank sentences for them to complete with their vocab words and there will be a word bank available.

**The vocab/spelling activity this week is NOT in the workbook. Students are to select 15 of their vocab words from Units 1-3 and create their own sentences for them. They must circle the vocab word in each sentence.

Vocab Link

Here’s the link to practice your vocab and spelling:

http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/vocabulary/vocabularyworkshop.cfm

Reading Counts

Here is the Reading Counts site: https://h100000499.education.scholastic.com/slms/studentaccess

It’s all online now – no application needed!

Welcome to 5th Grade!!

Welcome to all of our students and families! We’re excited for a great year in fifth grade! There’s SO much learning to be done and FUN to be had so let’s get started! We’ll see you tomorrow morning (Thursday, Aug. 25) at 8:10. Bring all of your supplies with you as well as a lunch and a water bottle – it’s going to be a hot day!