October 26th-30th

General Announcements	Today we kicked off our recognition of Red Ribbon by WEARING RED (we also collected canned goods for the Firehouse Shelter)-We pledge to be drug free.   Tuesday will be PJ (pajamas) DAY-Your choices are the key to your dreams!  Wednesday will be SUPERHERO Day-   Be someone’s hero and stand up to bullying and drugs. Thursday will be THROWBACK THURSDAY- We will “throw drugs” back. Friday will be PINK OUT DAY.  Scare away drugs, bullying, and cancer.  Promote healthy bodies. This week is also our Book Fair at Brock’s Gap.  Students can go to the Book Fair before school if they have money to purchase something.  Our homerooms will go to the Book Fair on the following days:  Mrs. McNiel (Wednesday) and Mrs. Ponder (Thursday). In honor of our Veterans.....during the month of November and in conjunction with our upcoming Veterans Day Program, we will be collecting unopened, travel-size toiletries for the VA Hospital in Birmingham. There will be collection boxes in BGIS lobby from Monday, November 2nd through Friday, November 13th.   Mark your calendars for Tuesday, November 10th at 8:45 A.M., we will have our Veterans Day program at Brock’s Gap (a letter with this information should have come home last week)! Don't forget to check your child's grades from time to time on INOW.
Language Arts:	This week we will be finishing up reading "Trapped By The Ice!" We wrote a newspaper article about some of the challenges the crew faced. We will test the vocabulary Tuesday (October 27th) and have a cold read test (using a story we have never seen before) on Tuesday as well.  Reading log is due Wednesday The tombstone was due today and presentations are October 28th and 29th.
Social Studies:	We are finishing up our study of the 13 colonies. The test for the 13 colonies will be Thursday and a study guide came home Friday. Next week we will start talking about the causes of the Revolutionary War.
Math:	This week, we will continue our study of volume.  Students are determining the volume of rectangular prisms and irregular figures. This is a new concept for many, and it may take some time to understand at greater depth.    A new Cumulative Review and IXL contract came home today. The Cumulative Review is due WEDNESDAY and our quiz will be Thursday.  We will also have a Unit Test on Volume next Wednesday.
Science:	We have begun our study of Ecosystems. We started the Unit by discussing an article in our Science World magazines, "Taking on World Hunger." This article discusses a bacteria called rhizobia that lives inside nodules of a pea plant.  This bacteria absorbs nitrogen gas from the air and converts it into ammonia,  a nutrient that plants can use.  These discussions are building background knowledge for our study photosynthesis.  Grades are being taken from activities done in class.

October 19th-23rd

General Announcements:	Report Cards came home last Wednesday! If you have not done so already, please sign and return one of the report card copies. Remember to frequently check your child’s grades in iNow. BGIS ZAXBY'S NIGHT is TOMORROW, Tuesday, October 20th, from 4 to 9 P.M. at 2735 John Hawkins Parkway (across from Wal-Mart). 10% of sales will be donated to BGIS! We appreciate your support of the BOX TOPS for Education program. This is a wonderful way to help raise money for our classrooms! Please be on the lookout for BOX TOPS and send them with your child! Next Friday is the deadline for our first Box Tops turn in date. We have enjoyed meeting and conferencing with many of you! If you would still like to schedule a conference, please send us an email and we will try to schedule something soon. Earthsavers Science Club (ESC) continues to collect gently used shoes during the month of October. Please help by sending in your donations! NEXT WEEK-October 26th-30th- We will celebrate BGIS Spirit Week and Red Ribbon Week (Monday will be "Red Day", wear red and be sure to bring a canned good to donate). BGIS Book Fair will be next week (October 26th-30th).  We will let you know our class days as soon as our schedul
Language Arts:	This week we will be reading "Trapped By The Ice!" We will be discussing the main idea of the text. We will test the vocabulary next Tuesday (October 27th).  Please continue to work on the Tombstone Project assigned in class last Friday. Project directions are post under the Language Arts tab. The tombstone is due October 26th and presentations will be October 28th and 29th.
Social Studies:	We are finishing up our study of the 13 colonies and will even be creating our own colony! The test over the 13 colonies will be October 29th and a study guide will come home soon.
Math:	Last week's IXL Math activities are due tomorrow (Level G-A2, D5, E1, K1, K2).  Class time has been given to work on these activities.  We will continue our study of Volume for the next couple of weeks! Math Cumulative Review came home today and is due Thursday. We will have a short quiz on Volume this Friday.
Science:	Today, we enjoyed another "Too Good for Drugs" lesson taught by our SRO- Officer Johnson.    We are completing class activities for our study of Earth's distribution of Water.  Grades are being taken in class this week for their Distribution of Water graph in their Science notebooks, their Distribution of Graph pie charts we made using our Chromebooks and Google Sheets, and Brainpop Quizzes.  See our Science section of the blog for more details. We are also discussing articles in our Science World Magazines.

October 12th-16th 

General Announcements:	It is truly hard to believe we started our 2nd nine weeks of school today! The first nine weeks seem to have flown by. We look forward to continuing to challenge our students to go deeper in their thinking and learning each and every day! TOMORROW-Wednesday, October 14th, Report Cards come home. Please sign and return one copy and keep the other copy. Remember to frequently check your child’s grades in iNow. Picture orders are due this Friday, October 16th. We appreciate your support of the BOX TOPS for Education program. This is a wonderful way to help raise money for our classrooms! Please be on the lookout for BOX TOPS and send them with your child! We have enjoyed meeting and conferencing with many of you! If you would still like to schedule a conference, please send us an email and we will try to schedule something soon. GEMS is the name of a new club about to start at BGIS! GEMS= Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science! We plan to have several groups of fifth and sixth graders. If your daughter is interested, please have her apply at tinyurl.com/BGISGEMS by October 14th.  Mrs. Ponder will be helping with one of the 5th grade groups! Earthsavers Science club is collecting gently used shoes during the month of October. Please help by sending in shoes you would like to donate!
Language Arts:	Thank you for sending the most delicious "Southern Foods" last Thursday! The students had a great time  testing the different southern dishes.  This week we will be doing a project on Notable Americans. They were each assigned a person to research. We will do most of it in class, but if they don't finish in class they will need to complete the research at home. Look for the details about the part they will do at home later this week!  We will have no comprehension or vocabulary quizzes this week:) The reading log will be due Wednesday.
Social Studies:	We are continuing our study of colonial America this week. We will be comparing the Wampanoag Indians with the Pilgrims, talking about the Salem witch trials, and beginning to look at each of the 13 original colonies this week.
Math:	We took our Pre-Assessment for our Volume unit today!  We will be working on our study of Volume for the next couple of weeks! Math Cumulative Review came home today and is due Thursday! We will have a short quiz on Friday.  New IXL activities were assigned; we are using time at school to get started on these activities. IXL contract is not due until NEXT Tuesday.
Science:	Your children did the most amazing job on their Earth Spheres Interactions projects! Their 3 D dioramas are AWESOME!  We will spend a couple of days sharing our Google slide presentations during class this week.  We will also begin our short study of Earth's distribution of Water. No Tests or quizzes this week. Grades will be taken on class work this week.

October 5th - 9th 

General Announcements:	Picture orders are due next Friday, October 16th. We are collecting Box Tops. This is an awesome way for us to raise money for our classrooms! Please save box tops as you get them and send them in! There will be no school on Monday, October 12th. If you would like to schedule a conference with us on that day, please let us know. All conferences will be before noon and are not required. Remember to frequently check your child’s grades in iNow. Wednesday, October 14th, Report Cards will be coming home. Earthsavers Science club is collecting gently used shoes throughout the month of October. Send in any shoes you would like to donate.
Language Arts:	This week will be a reading week. We will be reading “The Roots of Southern Food” and looking for Main Idea and Details. We will have a reading and vocabulary quiz Friday. Reading Logs are due Wednesday. Please make sure you are signing your child’s reading log. McNiel Homeroom Southern Food Sign Up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0F4CABAF29A6FC1-mcniel Ponder Homeroom Southern Food Sign Up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f4cabaf29a6fc1-mcniel1
Social Studies:	This week we will begin our study of the Colonies. We will be looking at the Mayflower voyage, why early settlers came to America and what life was like in New England.
Math:	This week we are practicing the partial quotients strategy for division. We are also reviewing multiplication, Order of Operations, and lots of computation and word problem involving all four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division). Our Unit Test is this Friday.  It will be worth 100 points (There are 20 problems).  The only math homework this week will be to complete the Unit 1 study guide came home today.  It  is due Wednesday. Due to technical difficulties at school- EXTRA time is being given for the IXL activities that were due today (IXL Level G: C17, C23, D3, and D4). These are the only IXL activities for this week!
Science:	As a culminating activity for our unit, we are working on a project to model the interactions of Earth’s  four spheres. Students may choose to work with a partner or independently.  A grade will be given for both the model they create and the explanation  they give of sphere interactions in their chosen ecosystem.  Please go to our class blog under science resources  http://mcnielponder.blogspot.com/p/science.html to see project directions and the grading rubric. I have also provided websites to use for their research.   The project is due this Friday, and is worth 50 points.