I'm sorry I didn't get this posted yesterday. I was waiting to get the final word about conferences before I posted this. The plan for 5th grade conferences is a little different than the rest of the lower school. As of right now, the plan is to keep Thursday a half day with conferences in the afternoon. On Friday, the 5th grade will have our conference schedule as planned. However, it will be a full school day. Mrs. Boutte will teach in the morning and we will meet for conferences in a different location. I will pull the kids out of class as needed. That being said, if, after reading your report card, you do not feel you need a conference, please let me know. That will allow me to move people to Thursday and miss less teaching time with the kids. I will be sending home a tentative schedule on Thursday, but please be aware that things may change between now and next Thursday.
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.
* Ask your student about the awesome verbal debates we had in class today. I was incredibly impressed with their reasons and with the polite way they handled themselves during the debates. I took some great video that I'm going to edit and post online.
Reading
We are begnning 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.
Math
Students did a great job working through the Order of Operations last week! This week, students will learn about the use of negative numbers, as well as the addition and subtraction of both positive and negative numbers.
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!
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.
* Ask your student about the awesome verbal debates we had in class today. I was incredibly impressed with their reasons and with the polite way they handled themselves during the debates. I took some great video that I'm going to edit and post online.
Reading
We are begnning 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.
Math
Students did a great job working through the Order of Operations last week! This week, students will learn about the use of negative numbers, as well as the addition and subtraction of both positive and negative numbers.
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!