Important Announcements
~ With the start of the third trimester, we will be ramping up our expectations. From now on, papers turned in without names will be redone, writing that does not meet the content and length requirements will not be accepted... Middle School will be here before they know it, and we want to make sure they're prepared. 
~ Chapel tomorrow. We are no longer doing vestry, so students do not need to be here early. 
~ We have a half day on Thursday and no school on Friday due to conferences. Report cards will be available tomorrow. 
~ I am planning to get at least the written portion of the unit 9 math assessment in before spring break. I'll keep you all updated if that changes. 

Math
This week in math we will be focusing on area and volume. We will be reviewing the formula for the area of a rectangle and learning the formula for the area of a triangle and a parallelogram. We will also be learning the formula for the volume of regular prisms and right prisms. 



Reading
Students are now nose deep in their nonfiction reading book clubs.  This week, they will be creating their interactive "thinking board" through intellectual conversations and research on their topic. Next week, students will learn how to take all that they've learned to help them discover ideas and theories surrounding their topics.  In this way, students will be pushing their own thinking about the topic. 



Writing
This week, student will be "flash drafting" their first essay on "The Giving Tree". Flash drafts are quick ways for students to record their claim, reasons and evidence, sort of a brainstorming session for a full essay. Students will be continuing to learn the structure of opinion essay writing as they develop pieces supporting or opposing having chocolate milk served in schools.  Students will make a claim, develop reasons, and learn how to pull in evidence to support their points.  Students will also learn how to include counterarguments as a useful strategy. Once these quick drafts are over, students will be tackling topics where they will read and collect evidence on their own before choosing a side and developing an essay based on that. 


Social Studies
This week in social studies, we will be continuing to study Lewis and Clark. We will be mapping out their journey and learning about all of the struggles they faced, as well as the interesting things they found. 



Homework
~ Math: POW
~ Reading Comp: "How Rocks Were Made"
~ Writing: Time For Kids debate - "Should sugary drinks be taxed?"
~ Current Event on Thursday

Important Announcements
~ Since we missed current events today due to the late start, we will have them tomorrow. 
~ The LS Talent Show is Wednesday morning at 8:30 in the theater
~ On Thursday, we have the Chinese New Year Parade at 8:15 and a speaker for Black History Month at 2:00. 
~ I sent conference sheets home with the kids today. Please sign and return them this week. 
~ We are working on rescheduling the mosque field trip. I will let you know once we have another date. 

Math
We are starting Unit 9: Coordinates, Area, Volume, and Capacity this week. In this unit, students will practice plotting points on a coordinate grid and be introduced to transformations of figures in a plane. The are of rectangles will be reviewed and then used as a starting point to find areas of triangles and parallelograms. Volume and capacity concepts are also reviewed and extended.



Reading
We are beginning our non-fiction book clubs!! The children will be working on setting up what we are calling "intellectual conversations" between themselves and their classmates, as well as creating a productive atmosphere focused on learning and sharing knowledge. They have been diving into various topics to decide what they would like to study and research as we go through this unit. There has been a lot of excitement and information floating around as we have begun investigating several interesting ideas to study over the course of the next few weeks! From here, we will build on our knowledge through reading various texts, asking questions, discussing what we're learning, and developing theories about our topics. We can't wait to see the finished results as we share all of our thoughts and ideas about our topics with another class. 



Writing
       We have started a new unit focused on writing argument essays. Strong opinion writing is an important skill for students to master, especially considering it is a skill that is often seen in high stakes testing.  In order for the children to develop a deeper understanding of how to choose a theory/thesis, collect evidence, and create a substantial & supporting argument to defend their position, we will this unit by taking various sides on many well-known arguments, as well as reading, "The Giving Tree", to practice these strategies in building a case for our argument - all through debate-style discussion. Children will be given the opportunity to caucus, revise their arguments, face off with opponents, and rebut their opponents points after caucusing again with groups of their peers who agree with their position. Through this process of discussion and considering both sides of an argument, the children will be able to focus on the key points of debate and we are hoping to see this transfer to their writing when we start arguing about "chocolate milk for lunch" next week.


Social Studies
    This week in social studies, we will be learning about arguably the greatest land deal ever; The Louisiana Purchase.  We will be studying Lewis and Clark. The brave men who explored the Louisiana Purchase. We will dig deeper into their amazing journey and learn about how it changed the face of our country forever. 


Homework
Math: POW
Reading Comp: "Measuring Growth"
Current Event Wednesday
Writing: Read the Time For Kids debate "Should Everyone Get a Prize?" and write an essay on your opinion. 

Important Announcements
~ Tomorrow there will be an SSC bake sale. All items are a dollar and students are limited to two items each. The proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders. 
~ Wednesday is a late start day. 
~ We had to split one of our math lessons into two days, so that pushes the test back a day. The math test will now be on Friday (written assessment) and Tuesday (open response). The review tutorial will now be on Thursday.
~ Friday is our Valentine's Day celebration. Students are encouraged to bring in Valentines for the class. My only rules are that they must bring one in for everyone and they may not bring in special Valentines for their friends. I don't want any feelings hurt. We will also be exchanging Valentines with our kindergarten buddies. This should be the same that they are giving their classmates, no stuffed animals or giant candy bars... We will be having a red and pink NUD on Friday. 
~ We will be taking our final states and capitals quiz this week. For this one, student must place the state on the map and spell it correctly. 
~ Next weekend is a long weekend in honor of Presidents' Day. On the Tuesday we return, we will have current events first thing, then go on a field trip to the mosque. 


Math
  As I mentioned above, we will be taking our unit 8 math test this week. This unit introduces a lot of new material, for example: multiplication and division of fractions. The good news is, since it is all brand new material, it is not on part A of the test. Please don't let your child stress of information that they will not be held accountable for. We do not expect mastery of skills that we have only spent a day or two on. Please encourage them to use the study guide and only focus on the skills listed there.

Social Studies
  Our next social studies unit is The Constitution to 1840. This unit will include westward expansion, the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark and the War of 1812. We've already watch an intro video on these topics and the class is very excited to get started!

Reading
  We will be finishing up our historical fiction book clubs this week. While the students meet and/or read, Mrs. Boutte and I will be pulling them individually to do reading tests. Our next unit is research based essay. 

Writing
  The historical fiction pieces are due on Friday. Students should be working on them at home for writing homework, as well as at school. I will be meeting with the students individually, as well as teaching whole class lessons on editing. Our next unit is non-fiction book clubs. 

Homework
~ POW
~ Reading Comp: "A Different Kind of Home"
~ Writing: work on historical fiction
~ States and Capitals quiz
~ Current event next Tuesday

Important Announcements
~ We have chapel on Tuesday this week. Students should be here at 7:45 to prepare for their vestry roles. The Readers will not have jobs this week because a class is presenting the chapel. 
~ We have current events on Thursday, but I am raising the expectations for current events from now on. I will be giving each student the following sheet, Current Event Write-Up. From now on, students will be required to complete this page on their current event. Too often it seems students have not even read the article, just found an interesting headline. I will be providing hard copies to the class tomorrow, but you may print it if you would like. 
~ I am dividing the 50 states and capitals quiz into two sections. This week, students will be responsible for writing the correct capital next to the state in list form. Next week, students will have to place each state on a map. After we finish the states, we will be moving onto the world! Yay!



Math
In math, we will continue on Unit 8 working with fractions and mixed numbers.  We will learn about finding a fraction of a fraction, as well as multiplying fractions and whole numbers. The upcoming units are tough, so we've really been encouraging students to be focused and hard-working. We will be taking our Unit 8 assessment next Thursday and Friday. I will have a review tutorial on Wednesday. 

Reading
This week in reading we will be focusing on improving the quality of our notes. Taking good notes is one of the keys to a good book club. We will be reviewing all we already learned about note taking and thinking how we can make our notes specific to historical fiction. All students are responsible for bringing in what they consider to be their best jot. We will be examining them to see what makes them the "best". This should help us to improve all of our notes. 

Writing
We are finally beginning to draft this week! We had a wonderful visit from author Carmen Agra Deedy today. She talked all about what it really takes to write historical fiction. She told us that, for one book, she might spend up to two years doing nothing but research!! That puts the two weeks we've been doing research into perspective. This week we will be using the knowledge we already know about drafting a story and learning how to apply that to a historical fiction story. 

Social Studies 
We are continuing to study the Constitution. This week we will be looking at the system of checks and balances and the Bill of Rights. 

Homework
~ Reading Comp: "How Some Native Americans Believe Man Was Made"
~ Math: POW
~ Writing: Work on Historical Fiction
~ States and Capitals Quiz (See "Important Announcements")
~ Current event and write-up (See "Important Announcements")

Important Announcements
~ We have current events on Tuesday, 1/27.
~ We will be studying the Western states and capitals this week. The quiz will be on Friday. 
~ I've a few pictures from the Holiday party. I apologize for the picture quality; I only had my iPad to take pictures with. 

Math
We are starting unit 8 this week. We will be reviewing the concept of renaming fractions as equivalent fractions. Student's will also be introduced to algorithms for the multiplication of fraction and mixed numbers, and they will practice estimating and calculating the percent of a number. 



Social Studies
    This week in social studies, we will begin our investigation into The Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the 3 branches of government. The students will be looking specifically at the system of checks of balances and also how The Constitution can be amended.



Reading and Writing
     We are continuing to study the elements of historical fiction. This week we will be examining how the events and struggles of the time period play into the characters' motivations. For example; Annemarie, a character in our read-aloud Number The Stars, is motivated to protect her friend Ellen because she loves her and values her friendship, but also because, by protecting her Jewish friend, she is doing her part to stand up to Hitler and the Nazis. We will be studying the difference in a character's personal motivations and the motivations of people during that particular time period. 
      This plays directly into what we are working on in writing. As we develop our stories, we are thinking about what motivates people to act in a particular way or make a particular choice. In historical fiction, we have to take into account the time period, as well as human nature. Students are studying the major struggles, as well as the day-to-day struggles of people during the time they've chosen. This well help them to make the conflict and solution in their stories as realistic and historically accurate as possible. 

Homework
~ POW
~ Reading Comp: "Spring Celebrations"
~ Writing: Students will be reading the article in Time For Kids on Noble Bell Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. After the read the article, students should write an essay on a person who is influential in their life. This can be a person they know or a famous person, dead or alive. Students must justify why they admire that person. 
~ Western States and Capitals quiz on Friday

Important Announcements
~ We have chapel this Friday. Don't forget, students must be here at 7:45 to get ready for their vestry role. 
~ Wednesday is a $1 NUD. The money will go to off-set carbon admissions from the cars on campus. 
~ The e-waste drive is this week. Please see the following link for more information. E-waste Drive
~ We will be having a quiz this Friday on the Midwest States and Capitals

Math
We will be taking our open response on Thursday and our written assessment on Friday. I will be having a review tutorial on Thursday. I highly recommend that students take the time to work on the review packet this week. Also, study link 7.11 is required. It is a very helpful whole unit review. 



Social Studies
Due to some scheduling changes, we did not get to finish all of our Constitutional Convention centers last week. We will be finishing them up today and tomorrow. On Friday, we will be moving on to our study of the constitution itself. 


Reading
We are continuing our historical fiction book clubs this week. Most groups are about to finish their first book or have just started their second. Reading more than one book gives them the opportunity to study different historical time periods. If you have the opportunity to discuss your child's book with him or her, ask about how the events of the time period the character is living in affects his or her daily life. 

Writing
This week in writing we will be continuing to develop our historical fiction stories. We will be focusing on how to weave the historical facts into the plot of the story. We will also be thinking about the motivations and struggles of people from that time period. By the end of the week, students will be working on creating storyboards to outline their drafts. 

Homework
~ POW
~ Reading Comp: "Numbers"
~ Writing: Work on historical fiction story. 
~ Study for Midwest States & Capital Quiz and Unit 7 Math Test

Important Announcements
~ Tomorrow is our first vestry chapel. Students should be here at 7:45.
~ Next Monday is the MLK Jr. Holiday. Enjoy your 3 - day weekend.


Math
We are continuing to work our way through unit 7. A few of the things we will be learning about in this unit are;  scientific notation, the use of parentheses, the rules for order of operations (PEMDAS) and the construction of line graphs. Our assessment will be next Thursday and Friday. I will be having a review tutorial on Thursday afternoon. 

Social Studies
We are learning about The Constitutional Convention in a way that is similar to centers you might typically see in younger grades. We have five different centers; Convention leaders/the framers, the New Jersey Plan vs the Virginia Plan, The Great Compromise and the 3/5 Compromise, a reader's theater on state's rights, and an inquiry station where students are able to learn more about topics that interest them specifically. The students have been through one out of five stations; they will complete the other four this week. Next week, we will begin our study of the Constitution and the branches of government. 

Reading
In our book clubs this week, we will be doing a deeper investigation into the importance of setting in historical fiction. We will be creating timelines to track how the historical events in the book affect the characters actions. We will also be looking at the emotional tone of the time. Our five book clubs are reading books set during The Great Depression, Pearl Harbor, The Civil Rights Movement, The Salem Witch Trials, and life at the end of the Civil War. All of these times have distinct emotional tones. It is important for students to realize that there's more to setting than just when and where. 

Writing
Writing historical fiction is fun, but challenging. The first step is to do an in-depth study into the time period you're going to write about. For writing homework this week, I have given the students a packet of information on life in the 1800s. They will be reading the packet and taking notes. Later in the week, they will use those notes to brainstorm themes and issues that their characters might have faced at the time. 

In grammar this week, we will be starting our study of all things ver related. 

Homework
~ Reading Comp: Pandora
~ Writing: See above
~ Math: POW
~ Current Event Thursday 

Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday  break!

~ This Thursday is Founder's Day Chapel. Students should wear chapel uniforms. 

~ Our next 5th grade job is chapel vestry (acolytes, offering, readers). Evey student will have a roll. We would love for you to come an watch your child. However, not all students will participate in every chapel, so please check with your child first to make sure he or she is participating that day. 

~ I did not send Friday folders home before the break for fear that they would be lost in the shuffle. Therefore they will be particularly full this Friday. Please make sure the look through the folder and sign and return the Unit 6 Math Test and Mid-Year Assessment.

~ Wednesday is going to be COLD!!! We will be having a cold weather NUD. Students may wear UGGs or other warm weather shoes. We do not have PE that day, so they do not need to bring tennis shoes unless they want to change for recess. 

* Don't forget, Wednesday is another late start day. Enjoy your extra sleep!

Reading
This week we will be starting our reading book clubs. This is my favorite reading unit of the year. We will have two different rotations, historical fiction and nonfiction, during which we will be learning the elements of each genre, as well as important skills for discussing books. Our class is starting with historical fiction. We will be learning all the elements of historical fiction; for example, determining which parts of the book are historical, or fact, and which parts are fiction. We will also be discussing the qualities of a productive book club. For example: not speaking when others are speaking, building on the same topic, instead of jumping around, respectfully disagreeing, keeping up with your reading, but not reading ahead of your group, jotting down notes/questions to discuss at the next meeting...


Students will be setting goals with their book clubs this week. It is important students do not read past their assigned pages. For this reason, I recommend that students have an independent book to read as well. It is also important that students take copious amounts of notes, their daily participation in the book clubs depends on it. 

Writing
I was incredibly proud of everyone's work on the nonfiction books. I will be putting them on display in the hall for everyone to see, so, if you're in the building, please stop by and learning something new!
       
Our next two writing units will mirror our reading book clubs. For historical fiction, students will be writing a historical fiction story based in the time period we're studying in Social Studies right now. Fiction is a genre that student have been writing for years. We will be adding on to what they already know and learning specifically how a historical fiction story differs from other fiction. One of the most important elements of historical fiction is the setting. We will be learning all about what life was like at the beginning of our country and using that to place the reading in the 1800's. Writing a good historical fiction story is not easy, but it is fun!

Social Studies
We will be jumping into our unit on the Constitution and the formation of our government. We will be learning about the Articles of Confederation, specifically why they weren't right for our country, and the Constitutional Convention. Considering how heated the convention got, it's amazing that they were able to accomplish anything, much less a document that still guides our country almost 225 years later.


Over the past few months, I have noticed that many students do not have a firm grasp on the geography of the United States. Because of this, I am implementing a study on the states and capitals. I have divided the country into four parts; Southeast, Northeast, Mid-West, and West. I will go over them in class, then send study sheets home. We then have a quiz a few days later. The first sheet, the SouthEast, will be coming home today. The quiz will be on Friday. 



Homework
Math: POW
Reading Comp: Miss T.
Writing: "Misery at Valley Forge"
Social Studies: Southeast States and Capitals Quiz Friday