Monday, January 26, 2015

January 28, 2015 Newsletter

Here is what we have been learning in fifth grade:

Daily 5/CAFE: This week students will complete the menu entitled: Fantasy Texts”. Students will analyze characters and add a new chapter to their fantasy text.  They will compare and contrast fantasy stories on their approaches to similar themes and topics.
Writing: Students will work on writing the body and conclusion to their fantasy story.  They will use dialogue, description, and pacing to show the responses of their characters to situations.
Math: We are continuing to work on our fractions unit. Students are learning to interpret  a fraction as division of the numerator by the denominator (a/b = a ÷ b) also solving word problems involving division of whole numbers leading to answers in the form of fractions or mixed numbers, e.g., by using visual fraction models or equations to represent the problem. The students are also adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators (including mixed numbers) by replacing given fractions with equivalent fractions in such a way as to produce an equivalent sum or difference of fractions with like denominators. For example, 2/3 + 5/4 = 8/12 15/12 = 23/12. (In general, a/b c/d = (ad bc)/bd.) Next week, we will be moving into multiplying fractions by whole numbers and fractions by fractions.
Science: We are finishing up our human body unit this week with a webquest. Students are becoming an expert on a body system and finding out the important organs and functions of the system, how it works with other systems and what steps they can take to keep their system healthy. Students will be presenting their finish products of this information, later this week. Their study guide was due today for the unit. Their classroom test over the human body unit will be this Friday, the 30th. The Case 21 test for this unit will be on Tuesday, Feb.3rd. They then will be starting their Government and Westward Expansion unit  with Mrs. Beyer next week.
 

Monday, January 12, 2015

January 14, 2015 Newsletter

Here is what we have been learning in fifth grade:

Daily 5/CAFE: This week students will complete the menu entitled: “The Case of the Runaway Appetite” which is a fantasy and a play.  Students will explain how scenes from the play fit together to provide the overall structure of this particular play. We will spend time reviewing the characteristics of a fantasy from different texts and video clips.

Writing: In the next few weeks students will generate ideas for conflicts or themes in fantasy stories.  They will also begin to plan a fantasy story using a graphic organizer. 

Math: We have started our fraction unit and will be covering fractions for most of third quarter. Currently students are learning to interpret a fraction as division of the numerator by the denominator (a/b = a ÷ b) also solving word problems involving division of whole numbers leading to answers in the form of fractions or mixed numbers, e.g., by using visual fraction models or equations to represent the problem. The students are also adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators (including mixed numbers) by replacing given fractions with equivalent fractions in such a way as to produce an equivalent sum or difference of fractions with like denominators. For example, 2/3 + 5/4 = 8/12 15/12 = 23/12. (In general, a/b c/d = (ad bc)/bd.)


Science: We have started our human body unit. We have been discussing genetics and inherited traits and how traits are passed down from parents to offspring and that siblings may or may not receive the same traits from their parents. Students created and decoded a "DNA recipe" for a dog to observe how variations in DNA lead to the inheritance of different traits. This week students will be comparing and contrasting plant and animal cells and learning the organs and functions of the human body systems.