A Letter of Inspiration

A Letter of Inspiration


February 3, 2012
Dear Parents and Students,

In Social Studies, we are learning about the Great Depression. To go along with our studies, students will be reading A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt in their reading class with Mr. Cole. In the story, the teacher assigns the students a project in which they have to write a letter to someone who has inspired them.

In Social Studies, we are going to write letters to people who have impacted our lives or who have inspired us. Please fill out the bottom of this form telling me who you are going to write your letter to. I need this information by Friday, February 10th. The person you choose needs to be someone you have/had a personal connection with. The person can be a coach, teacher, pastor, friend, parent, family member, etc. The letters will be due by Thursday, February 16th.

In your letter, you need to tell the person why you are writing to him/her. Tell why he/she is an inspiration to you. Please bring in an envelope with the person’s address on it with a stamp as well. After I read and grade the letters using the writing rubric for fifth grade, I will put them in the mail all together. DO NOT PUT THE LETTER IN THE ENVELOPE AND SEAL IT. I have to read the letter first, then I will put the letter in the envelope.

Parents, I would also love for you to be involved in the writing process as well. Please write me a letter telling ME who your inspiration is or was. This person does not have to still be a live today. These will not be mailed. This part just shows that we are a community of writers. Thank you for your time, and I cannot wait to read about the students’ and parents’ INSPIRATIONS!





Mrs. Bracken

BRING THIS INFO TO CLASS:
Student’s Name:____________________________________________________________

Person I am writing a letter to:________________________________________________

Why I am writing to this person:
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

Return this portion by Friday, February 10th. Letters are due by Thursday, February 16th.

DON’T FORGET TO BRING IN AN ENVELOPE WITH THE ADDRESS AND A STAMP!

Roaring Twenties Day

Writing the BLUES!!!

Another SUCCESSFUL Roaring 20's Day! The students dressed up and looked like they were a part of the 20's! What a fabulous day they had writing the BLUES, learning to dance the CHARLESTON and experiencing all kinds of entertainment from the 20's. But what we have already learned is that the Roaring 20's did not last long- the Great Depression was right around the corner. We will have Great Depression Day on Wednesday, February 15th, so go ahead and plan on wearing clothes that make you look like a hobo! (The students love this every year we have done it!) They will get to stand in a breadline, participate in a stock market simulation game, hear some Fireside Chats with FDR, and MORE!

Here is a short little ROUGH clip of some of the students showing off their dance moves from Roaring 20s day!

PACKING LIST for BARRIER ISLAND!

Double click on the picture to ENLARGE! Don't forget to bring 2 TRASH BAGS- one for mud pit clothes and 1 for dirty clothes! No more than $20.00 and maybe just a couple of bucks for when we stop at a rest area! No extra money is required though.

Long time, No BLOG!

We are still alive at Calhoun Academy in Mrs. Bracken's Social Studies class!!! We have been so busy since we have been back since Christmas Break. The New Year has started off great, and we have really hit the ground running since MIDDLE SCHOOL is right around the corner. Can you believe it? We just celebrated the 100th day of school, and we only have a couple of  months left to get all of the content in before it is time to go to middle school. The students are doing great as they know the pace is pretty quick right now. We have so much to be excited for!!

BARRIER ISLAND- THIS MONDAY! Make sure if you are going that you are at school at 6:00am this MONDAY, February 6th. Make sure you have followed the packing list. We will call or text parents when we arrive, so make sure you provided your child's homeroom teacher with the correct numbers and whether or not you text or not.

If you are not going to Barrier Island, you are still required to come to school for those 3 days. We will be in class while we are there, so you will still have class here at Calhoun.

Remember to check your child's homework/Friday folder DAILY to make sure they are being RESPONSIBLE and keeping up with all of their assignments, tests and quizzes. Also, check parent portal as we update grades weekly. The Assignment Sheet that they bring home every Friday for the next week has all of the Spelling words and info about what we will be doing for that coming week. PLEASE help us out and stay connected with us by reading, helping with homework and returning necessary papers. Thank you so much for your support as we continue to get the FIFTH GRADERS ready for Middle School and LIFE after elementary school! You guys are AWESOME!

The Rise of Big Business

For homework last night, the students read pages 176-181 about the RISE OF BIG BUSINESS. Today in class we came up with the important facts from the informational text to help us learn the specifics of BIG BUSINESS.

The Rise of Big Business during the Industrial Revolution
p.176-181

Steel
Andrew Carnegie used the Bessemer Process to produce steel at the lowest possible cost. He CONTROLLED the steel industry.

Oil
John D. Rockefeller controlled the oil industry.

Monopoly
Company that has control of an entire industry

Free Enterprise
People are free to start their own business and own their own property.

RESOURCES:
Natural Resources - found in nature
Human Resources- people who work to produce goods and services
Capital Resources- tools and machines that companies use to produce goods and services

Red Ribbon Week at SCHOOL!

Drugs ARE Ridiculous!

Peace OUT to Drugs!

Learning the 50 states

The students researched one of the 50 states then completed their very own Children's Book or Scrapbook to show us the information they learned about that state. The students were very creative, and I enjoyed reading all 100 of the books!