Important Announcements
Our fifth grade trip is this Thursday and Friday!! I don't know who's more excited, the kids or me! Please make sure you have your child at school at 6:30 on Thursday. The buses will be pulling out promptly at 7:00. We will have a mid-morning snack. However, I recommend that students eat a good breakfast before they come to school. It's supposed to be in the 80's during the day, but in the high 50's at night, so please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately. I recommend shorts and a t-shirt for the first day and pants and a jacket/sweatshirt for the evening. It is still very cold when we get up on Friday, so students may want pants and a light jacket for the morning. We will provide them with a trip t-shirt to wear on Friday. Please make sure your child has a working flashlight. It is important for our nighttime activities. If your child is on any type of daily medicine, please send it in a ziplock bag with the student's name on it and instructions. I will collect them and pass them out to the chaperone in charge of your child's cabin. Many of the activities that we do require concentration and focus. If you child takes medication to help them in these areas, it is important that he or she continues to take the meds on the trip. Please let me know if you have any questions. I've attached the packing list below.
5th Grade Trip Packing List
Math
We are continuing to work through Unit 2. In our upcoming short week, students will focus on multiplication of whole numbers and decimals. We will teach them traditional multiplication alongside the partial products algorithm. By the end of the unit, and certainly throughout the year, we will shift to using ONLY traditional multiplication. Students will also learn the importance of making magnitude estimates before multiplying. Focusing on place value, this will be a helpful tool for indicating whether their product at the end is correct or not. It looks like we'll be testing in Unit 2 the week following our trip.
Reading
This week, students will pair up with reading partners. Students will learn what the purpose of a reading partner is and why it is so important to their continued growth as a reader. We are still working on productively using our Reader's Notebook to show all of the thoughts, ideas, questions, and reactions we are having as we read.
Writing
Students are continuing with their drafting of their memoir. As they write, they are constantly thinking of strategies that they can use to revise their pieces. A main challenge continues to be clearly including a reflection at the end, something we will continue to work on as we continue to revise our pieces. Editing will become a key area that we will be focusing on shortly.
Our fifth grade trip is this Thursday and Friday!! I don't know who's more excited, the kids or me! Please make sure you have your child at school at 6:30 on Thursday. The buses will be pulling out promptly at 7:00. We will have a mid-morning snack. However, I recommend that students eat a good breakfast before they come to school. It's supposed to be in the 80's during the day, but in the high 50's at night, so please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately. I recommend shorts and a t-shirt for the first day and pants and a jacket/sweatshirt for the evening. It is still very cold when we get up on Friday, so students may want pants and a light jacket for the morning. We will provide them with a trip t-shirt to wear on Friday. Please make sure your child has a working flashlight. It is important for our nighttime activities. If your child is on any type of daily medicine, please send it in a ziplock bag with the student's name on it and instructions. I will collect them and pass them out to the chaperone in charge of your child's cabin. Many of the activities that we do require concentration and focus. If you child takes medication to help them in these areas, it is important that he or she continues to take the meds on the trip. Please let me know if you have any questions. I've attached the packing list below.
5th Grade Trip Packing List
Math
We are continuing to work through Unit 2. In our upcoming short week, students will focus on multiplication of whole numbers and decimals. We will teach them traditional multiplication alongside the partial products algorithm. By the end of the unit, and certainly throughout the year, we will shift to using ONLY traditional multiplication. Students will also learn the importance of making magnitude estimates before multiplying. Focusing on place value, this will be a helpful tool for indicating whether their product at the end is correct or not. It looks like we'll be testing in Unit 2 the week following our trip.
Reading
This week, students will pair up with reading partners. Students will learn what the purpose of a reading partner is and why it is so important to their continued growth as a reader. We are still working on productively using our Reader's Notebook to show all of the thoughts, ideas, questions, and reactions we are having as we read.
Writing
Students are continuing with their drafting of their memoir. As they write, they are constantly thinking of strategies that they can use to revise their pieces. A main challenge continues to be clearly including a reflection at the end, something we will continue to work on as we continue to revise our pieces. Editing will become a key area that we will be focusing on shortly.
This week will be our first week of Grammar Study. We are starting with a parts of speech review.
Social Studies
Students will study the difference and similarities between a "great" person and a "hero." Students will create an ongoing "Book of Heroes" next week. There are many heroes that surface throughout the creation of our nation. Students will research into different people to learn more about their lives and the impact that they left on our nation. Students will continue to discover why geography played such an important role in the success of a community.
Homework
Since we only have a 3 day school week this week, homework is going to be a little different.
Social Studies
Students will study the difference and similarities between a "great" person and a "hero." Students will create an ongoing "Book of Heroes" next week. There are many heroes that surface throughout the creation of our nation. Students will research into different people to learn more about their lives and the impact that they left on our nation. Students will continue to discover why geography played such an important role in the success of a community.
Homework
Since we only have a 3 day school week this week, homework is going to be a little different.
- Math will be only what is assigned. So far, that is the POW (due Monday) and Study Link 2.6 (due Tuesday). I will be assigning more study links as the week goes on.
- Reading will be three nights, instead of four, and the reading comprehension entitled "Your Remarkable Body".
- Writing this week is a free write, but it must still be at least one page. We've had a lot of fun reading through the "Wacky Headlines" book. Several students created their own wacky headlines to use, but are a few options for those who didn't and would like to try it out.
~ "Clumsy Bank Robber Has a Minor Accident at Cooking Class."
~ "Spoiled Princess no Longer Welcome at Spelling Bee."
~ "Runaway Bride Attracts Crowd at Local School."