Star Trek: Mystery of the Maya

As promised...Enjoy!

Watch--> Star Trek: Mystery of the Maya


We hope you will have a restful winter break with your families.
Love, Ms. Baker and Ms. Fisher

Students of the Week: 12/11

This week's students of the week are....
Emma, Carson, and Consuela! We can always count on Consuela and Carson to be kind to others and do their jobs as students. After having been sick for about a week, Emma came back with a very positive attitude, ready to catch up on her responsibilities. Thanks for having such a great week, you three. We're glad we know you!

Week in Review 12/7-12/11

Hello Fisher Baker families!

Our class brought in over one hundred cans of food for the canned food drive! It certainly felt good to help out our community. With 2015 coming to a close, we have a few friendly reminders for our last week.

Looking ahead:

• MOVIE PREMIERE: We are premiering Star Trek: The Mystery of the Maya this Thursday, December 17th. Join us at one of our showings. (11:00 and 1:30)

• REPORT CARDS/PORTFOLIOS:Although the grading period for the second quarter ends next week, students will not be receiving their report cards until the week we return from winter break in January. We will, however, be sending home portfolios filled with some assessments and projects from the quarter this week. 

• ANIMAL REPORTS: We will spend much of next week working on animal/ national park research reports. This weekend, students may want find books from the public library or resources printed off from the internet to bring to school on Monday.

• COOKIE WALK: The read-a-thon cookie walk will be Wednesday, December 16th. Be sure to bring your snowball coupons to participate!

Have a safe and lovely weekend! 

Week in Reivew 11/30-12/4

Well, hello there!

We hope you all enjoyed your holiday together last week. It's very much back to business here at Marshall (at least for the next two weeks.) We had a blast filming our Maya, Inca, Aztec movie last week and are hard at work in the post-production stages. We will be premiering the final product in two showings on Thursday, December 17th at 11:00 and 1:30. We hope to see you there!

This Week in Academics:

• We learned and practiced the multiplication algorithm
• We began a unit on animals 
• The fourth graders learned about relative pronouns and relative adverbs while the 5th graders were away at MEMS.
• We took two Galileo tests
• We  concluded our multiplication unit with a test today. (These will be going home next week.)

Looking Ahead:

• Thursday, December 10th: 12:25 release
• Friday, December 11th:12:25 release (as per usual)
• Friday, December 11th: Canned food drive ends
• Wednesday, December 16th @ 5pm: Read-a-thon Cookie Walk
• Movie Premier Showings: Thursday, December 17th @ 11:00 and 1:30

 Have a wonderful weekend!

Ms. Baker and Ms. Fisher

Students of the Week 12/4

Congratulations to this week's students of the week....Kyler and Angie! These two helpful kiddos were nominated by their classmates after each of them helped someone clean something up. It really does make a difference when you have a little help from a friend. ;) Thanks a million, Kyler and Angie! We're glad we know ya!

Week in Review: 11/9-11/13

Interesting week we've had, ay? We hope you were able to enjoy a day off together in honor of our veterans. Here in rooms 28 and 30 lots of exciting things are happening... We are well under way in our movie production process. Set coloring, prop making, script writing, oh my! We will begin filming on Wednesday of next week, so make sure you're here!

Looking Ahead:

• School will be out on Wednesday the 25th, Thursday the 26th, and Friday the 27th for Thanksgiving break.

We'll see you next week. Enjoy your weekend!

Ms. Baker and Ms. Fisher

Students of the Week: 11/13/15

Congratulations to Estella and Adriano!! These kids are certainly deserving of the title. Estella is another student who has really been kicking it into high gear and giving it her best in the second quarter. Way to go, kiddo! Adriano has stood out in the set making stages of our movie production. He has been careful to pay attention to detail as well as help others. Way to go, you two!

Students of the Week 11/6

This week we are recognizing Addi and Haylee as our students of the week! Addi helped another student when they dropped their howework folder, and their homework all over the floor. What a considerate kid! Haylee has been working extra hard to be the best student she can be in the second quarter by getting more involved in class discussions and asking more questions. Way to reach towards your goal, Haylee! Congratulations, ladies.

Week in Review 11/2-11/6

Happy Friday, Fisher Baker families!

How about those Taiko playing 5th graders, huh? We're pretty proud of the hard work they've done these last three weeks. Today Mei was able to join our class and teach us a bit about what being a student in China is like. Over twelve hour school days and several hours of homework each night...this was quite the eye opener to us all! Our students sure our lucky... ;) Thanks, Tony, Mei, and David for teaching our kiddos the art of Japanese Taiko and also about Chinese culture. 

This week in academics:

• We learned about Maya, Inca, and Aztec class systems and wrote Haikus about them.
• We created modern and ancient maps of South and Central America.
• We learned how to use area models to make multiplication more efficient.
• We retook a multiplication basics quiz that didn't go so well last week.

Looking Ahead:

• No School Wednesday, November 11th for Veteran's Day
• We will write scripts for our Maya, Inca, Aztec movie

Have a lovely weekend!

Ms. Baker and Ms. Fisher

Students of the Week 10/30

This week's students of the week are Mackenzie and Zachary! Both of these students have been on top of their work and incredibly helpful to others. Thanks for not only staying on top of your game, but also looking out for others. Way to go, kiddos!

Week in Review 10/26-10/30

Happy Friday, Fisher Baker Families!

...And what a long week it's been. For some reason, this week we had a massive amount of kids neglect to do their homework the right way at some point this week. This echos what we mentioned at a lot of conferences: paying attention to details.

We'd like to remind our students that it is their responsibility to:

• paraphrase when writing their expert's paragraphs.
• include enough details on expert's notes and paragraphs.
• show close reading marks on any reading homework.

We'd love to be able to create a movie in November about the Maya, Inca, and Aztec cultures, but our students must do their most basic jobs the right way first! We believe in you, fourth and fifth graders. Check yourself before you wreck yourself!


This week in Academics:

• We started a new lit study with the book, "Race to the Moonrise."
• We practiced finding dimensions of rectangles and their area and perimeter.
• We practiced a basic fact multiplication short cut.
• We learned about making sentences more interesting by adding more to subjects and predicates
• We learned about Inca quipu and Maya and Aztec codices.
• We researched with QR codes about the differences in Maya, Inca, and Aztec daily life.
• We learned about Inca runners and Maya math through expert's readings.
• The fifth graders continued to practice Taiko drumming with Tony. 

Looking Ahead:

• Next week: 5th grade Taiko performances
• Performance for the public: Thursday, November 5th from 5:30-6:30 (Marshall gym)
• School Assembly performance: Friday, November 6th at 9:30 (Marshall gym)

Have a super fun and super safe weekend!

-Ms. Baker and Ms. Fisher

Week in Review 10.19.15

Hey there Fisher Baker families,

It's back to normal around here this week with our spelling and regular homework routine. As the second quarter starts we're looking out for kids that are already beginning to work toward their second quarter goals. Many of these included getting more involved in class discussions, asking for help if needed, paying attention to details, and watching out for careless mistakes.

Although we're bummed our field trip had to be cancelled (again!) due to lightning risks and lots of rain, we'll go for the charming third try this spring.

This Week in Academics:

• We began a unit on multiplication
• arrays, groups of things, repeated addition
• factors and multiples
• prime and composite numbers
• We began a unit on Maya, Inca, and Aztec cultures 
• We reviewed parts of speech and introduced adverbs

Looking Ahead:

• Birthday Friday
• Next Friday is birthday Friday and happens to be the day before Halloween. 
• We will be allowing Halloween costumes that day, however please be aware of our school's guidelines on this matter. 
• MARSHALL HALLOWEEN COSTUME GUIDELINES:

• If you choose to bring goodies for Birthday Friday please remember that our class has 52 students and two teachers. :) If foods need to be cut, please do us a huge favor and cut them up at home. Thanks!

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Fisher and Ms. Baker

Students of the Week 10.23

Congratulations to Haylee, Layne, and Ruby for being named this week's students of the week! These three have certainly earned it. Haylee was spotted picking up trash on the playground, Layne made sure a classmate had friends to play with at recess, and Ruby helped a podmate catch up on some notes. We're happy to have kids in our class that have such considerate and caring hearts.

Week in Review 10/12-10/14

 Well that was fast! Happy early Friday! We've enjoyed getting to meet with each of you for portfolio conferences this week. After reflecting on our strengths and goals both as individual students and as a whole class, we are excited to begin a fresh quarter with our 4th and 5th graders. We hope that you will enjoy extra time with each other over our two day fall break.




This Week in Academics:

• We reviewed and took a quiz on our graphing unit. 
• We created preposition maps
• Ms. Johnson (One of our NAU Praxis students) taught us about theme
• We continued practicing plotting ordered pairs with Coordinate Battleship

Looking Ahead:

• Taiko Drumming starts next week for 5th graders
• Next week we will be back to a normal homework week with vocabulary and spelling
• Tuesday, October 20th: Elden Pueblo Field Trip
• We have garden on Friday.

Week in Review 10/5-10/9

Hey there!

With no homework, a postponed field trip, and social health for the 5th graders, this week was a bit of a wacky one. We did, however, survive and manage to learn lots.


This week in academics:

• We learned about, practiced, and created line plots.
• We created ancient and modern Arizona maps and then took a quiz using the maps we created.
• We created pictograph stories after learning the difference between petroglyphs and pictographs.
• We learned about the three author's purposes from Ms. Keller (our NAU Praxis student)
• We put together portfolios and practiced presenting them for our parent-teacher portfolio conferences.
• The fourth graders got extra practice with writing a paragraph with details that actually support the topic sentence. 
• The fourth graders got extra practice taking surveys and creating bar graphs.
• The fourth graders got extra practice with plotting ordered pairs onto coordinate grids.

Next Week:

• Monday and Tuesday are half days. Students will be released at 12:25
• Wednesday is a SUPER half day. Students will be released at 11:10
• There is NO SCHOOL on Thursday and Friday for FALL BREAK!
• Again we will not be assigning homework next week due to the short week and conferences. After fall break, we will be back to business as usual with homework Monday-Thursday.

Looking ahead:

• Our field trip to Elden Pueblo has been rescheduled to Tuesday, October 20th. (The Tuesday after we're back from fall break)
• 5th graders will begin practicing Taiko drumming the week we come back from fall break.

We enjoyed meeting with some of you today for our first round of portfolio conferences. We're looking forward to meeting with the rest of you all on Monday and Tuesday! Have a great weekend.

-Ms. Fisher and Ms. Baker

Students of the Week 10/9

Congratulations to this week's students of the week! Angie and Leslie are two students with bright, shiny, positive attitudes. Both of these ladies are kind to others and super optimistic. What great qualities to have in our class. Way to go!

Week in Review 9/28- 10/2

Today we shook, rattled, and rolled as the Fisher Baker Earthquakers at the Mustang Gallop! We had so much fun and ran A LOT. Way to go gallop-ers! Bring in that pledge money next week.

This week in academics:

•  We began a unit on Ancient Arizona Tribes.
• We learned about archaeology, artifacts, primary sources, and secondary sources from our expert's readings.
• We began a math unit on data analysis and graphing
• We continued learning about landforms

Next Week:

• There will be no homework next week!
• Tuesday, October 6th: Field Trip to Elden Pueblo! 
• Wednesday, October 7th: Walk to School Day! (Bring signed permission slip if you want to walk and you normally ride the bus)
• Thursday, October 8th and Friday, October 9th: 5th Grade Social Health
• Friday, October 9th: First day of Portfolio Conferences

 Conference Sign Up Link:
http://doodle.com/poll/6mscd5dbpyxdbsbd#table

Have a lovely weekend!
Ms. Baker and Ms. Fisher

Reminders: Mustang Gallop and Picture Day

Hey there Fisher Baker Families!

Just a couple of friendly reminders for tomorrow--

• Tomorrow, Wednesday, September 20th is Picture Day here at Marshall!

• Additionally, tomorrow we will be decorating shirts for our costumes for the Mustang Gallop. If you can, have your child bring an old brown, grey, or black t-shirt that you don't mind being painted.  

Have a great rest of your week!

Ms. Baker and Ms. Fisher

Fall Portfolio Conferences 2015

Fall Portfolio Conference time is here!  

To schedule a conference with Ms. Fisher or Ms. Baker and your child to meet about their progress this quarter, you can use the web address below to sign up. 

When you sign up, please include your child's name and the names of the family members attending the portfolio conference. To see all of the available time slots click the accordion and the options should expand. When you are finished choosing, don't forget to hit save on the bottom right hand corner. 

We look forward to seeing you and your child at their portfolio conference!

Ms. Baker and Ms. Fisher

*If you feel we need to meet for more than 20 minutes, please email us to schedule a longer alternate meeting time outside of conference week. (ekohl@fusd1.org, efisher@fusd1.org)

http://doodle.com/poll/6mscd5dbpyxdbsbd

Students of the Week 9/25

This week's students of the week have shown lots of growth so far this year! They have been helpful around the classroom, cared for and stood up for classmates, and really gotten involved in their jobs as students in our class. We are so lucky to have such caring, helpful, and dedicated students in our class! Congratulations Zachary, Bekah, and James!

Week in Review: 9/21-9/25

Happy Birthday Friday/Hatchet Party
(er..."Alternative Learning Experience") Day!

As per usual, it's been quite a busy week here in the Fisher Baker classroom. Here's a little bit of what we've been up to:

This week in academics:

• We learned lots of fascinating things about volcanoes from Dr. C. a.k.a 'Volcano Kent.'
• We memorized some standard measurement conversions.
• We used 'King Henry Doesn't Usually Drink Chocolate Milk' to help remember and convert metric system measurements.
• We finished Hatchet and completed a one paragraph book report about our opinions of the book.
• We began a scavenger hunt on mountains and volcanoes.
• We continued to practice identifying subjects and predicates within complete sentences.

Next Week:

• Wednesday September 30th is picture day
• Friday October 2nd is the Mustang Gallop!

• Continue collecting pledges for this event.
• Bring a plain brown, grey, or black shirt before Wednesday to be decorated for our costumes. We are the Fisher Baker EARTHQUAKERS!! 

Have a great weekend!

Week in Review 9/14- 9/18

Hey there, Fisher Baker families!

We hope you've had a great week out there. Yesterday we enjoyed a lovely day in the garden preparing to plant an alligator juniper in memory of Ms. Lucky. We miss her very much, and will be happy to remember her each time we see her tree in the garden. We also kicked off Mustang Gallop season! The Gallop is Friday, October 2nd, so start collecting pledges now!

This week in academics:

• We reviewed rounding and estimating and took a quiz on the topic. 
• We began a quick unit on measurement
• We practiced using meter sticks, measuring tape, and rulers.
• We got familiar with standard and metric units that measure length, volume, and weight.
• We practiced distinguishing possessive pronouns and contractions like its/it's, your/you're,  and their/they're.
• We studied weathering, erosion, and deposition from our expert's readings.
• We learned the difference between chemical and physical weathering.
• We studied different survival stories and compared these survival lessons with lessons Brian has learned in Hatchet.
• We took a comprehension quiz on what we've read from Hatchet so far.

Looking Ahead:

• This Friday is September's Birthday Friday!
• Save the date: Picture Day- Wednesday, September 30
• Save the date: Mustang Gallop- Friday, October 2nd

Students of the Week 9/18

Congratulations to Lesly, Indigo, and Natalie! These three ladies know the right thing to do, and aren't afraid to stand up for it. When it comes to group work and being a team, all of us are not our best all the time. These three keep it positive and help others to be their best selves. We sure are glad to have them on our team!

Week in Review 9/8-9/11

Happy Friday, Fisher Baker Families!

We were happy to see some of you at Connect to School Night yesterday evening. Hopefully you left feeling a little more connected with what's going on here in rooms 28 and 30. We know you are already doing so much  at home to help your child succeed, and we are happy to be a part of the team working towards your child's success. 

If you were not able to attend, we plan to send your child's folder home with them next week. 

Inside you will find:

• math and reading resources to use at home
• a reading graph and math graph that shows your child's baseline performance on a single aimsweb test and galileo test. (Your child's number written on the folder in the bottom right hand corner.)
• a goal sheet to set an improvement goal before the next Connect to School Night in the Spring

You do not need to return any of this to school. Everything including the folder is yours to keep. If you have any questions about the content of these folders, please contact us at efisher@fusd1.org and ekohl@fusd1.org

This week in academics:

• We began our unit on Landforms and Earth Processes.
• We completed our first Expert's Journal entry on Geology and Geologists.
• We learned a shortcut for rounding.
• We added and subtracted using bundling. (regrouping, carrying, borrowing)
• We turned adjectives into comparative and superlative adjectives
• We continued reading Hatchet. (This week Brian sees a plane! Builds a shelter! Catches a bird! But will he ever be rescued?...)

Next week:

• Wear tennis shoes Friday! We will be out in the garden.

Have a great weekend!

Students of the Week 9/11

This week's students of the week are Jewel, Addi, and Chris! This week, Jewel volunteered her lunch time to help some kids with rounding.  Chris was nice to a kid who felt they were being picked on and Addi helped a kid at her pod put some of her stuff away while the rest of her pod made her feel rushed. Thanks for looking out for each other this week, and congratulations!

Reminders: Connect to School Night and Tests

Hey there!

We have a couple of mid-week reminders for you.

Connect to School Night
We hope to see you tomorrow evening at 6:30 for our fall APTT (Academic Parent Teacher Team) meeting. We will be sharing your child's beginning of the year data with you along with some resources and strategies to help them grow this year.

Test Signatures
Yesterday, we sent home a series of tests with your child. Please go over these tests with your child and sign that you've seen them by this Friday, September 11th. In order to make up half of their lost points, students may correct their work on the test.

Thanks for all you do!

Ms. Fisher and Ms. Baker