November 9, 2016 Newsletter

Here is what we have been learning in fifth grade:

Daily 5/CAFE: This week students will complete the menu entitled: Toliver’s Secret.  Students have been working to compare and contrast two stories considering the author’s point of view using evidence from the text. Next week they will begin a menu about James Forten.

Writing: This week we will continue to work on their opinion piece on a topic supporting a point of view with reasons and information. They will strive to provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details.

Math:  Students have finished their multiplying decimals unit and are starting  dividing decimals to hundredths, using concrete models or drawings and strategies. They also will be relating the strategy to a written method and explaining the reason it was used.

Social Studies: The students have started their study of the Revolutionary War with Mrs. Beyer.  They will learn: how independence is gained; how European settlements changed the land and people of North America; the causes of the Revolutionary War and the aftermath of the American Revolution.

 

October 26, 2016 Newsletter

Here is what we have been learning in fifth grade:

Daily 5/CAFE: Next week students will begin the menu entitled: Toliver’s Secret.  Students will be working to compare and contrast two stories considering the author’s point of view using evidence from the text.

Writing: This week and next week we will continue writing an opinion piece on a topic supporting a point of view with reasons and information. Students will strive to provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details based on research.

Math:  Students will complete the coordinate grid unit on Wednesday and then begin multiplying and dividing decimals. They will be multiplying and dividing decimals to hundredths, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction. They also will be relating the strategy to a written method and explaining the reason it was used. On Friday students will enjoy a Snack Math Activity in class. 

Science: Students are finishing up their Motion and Design unit. They were given a study guide last week. The study guide is due Thurs. Oct. 27th and the test will be Friday, the 28th. 

October 12, 2016 Newsletter

Here is what we have been learning so far in fifth grade:

Daily 5/CAFE: This week students will complete their Daily 5 Menu entitled: “And then What Happened, Paul Revere?:”  a biography.  We will be concentrating on nonfiction this quarter. Students will spend time learning to compare and contrast the text structure of events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more texts.  Examples of text structure we will cover include: chronology, comparison, cause/effect, and problem/solution.

Writing: In Quarter 2, students will write an opinion piece on a topic supporting a point of view with reasons and information. They will strive to provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details.

Math:  Students are finishing up their geometry unit, where they have been working on understanding that attributes belonging to a category of two dimensional figures also belong to all subcategories of that category. For example, all rectangles have four right angles and squares are rectangles, so all squares have four right angles. They have also been learning to classify two-dimensional figures in a hierarchy based on properties. Next, we will be moving into using and understanding coordinate grids. They will be representing real world and mathematical problems by graphing points in the first quadrant of the coordinate plane, and interpret coordinate values of points in the context of the situation.

Science: We have started our Motion and Design unit. The students are beginning to understand the concepts of force and motion and the relationship between them. They are also inferring the motion of objects in terms of how far they travel in a certain amount of time and the direction in which they travel.

August 31, 2016 Newsletter

Here is what we have been learning in fifth grade:

 Daily 5/CAFE: 

This week students will begin a new menu entitled, “Elena” and “Journey to Nowhere”. Students will work on making character inferences and practice summarizing the text. (RL5.2) They will also create a Double Bubble thinking map to compare and contrast one character from each story. Students will meet in strategy groups to work on CAFÉ strategies to improve vocabulary and comprehension. "Tracks"

Writing: 

Students will complete their own memoir later this week and will begin to share them with the class.

Math:  Students are learning to add, and subtract decimals to hundredths place. They have been doing this using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction. Then the students have been relating the strategy to a written method and explaining their reasoning used.

Social Studies:  Students will begin a summative project that will last until track out. They will need to apply all of the knowledge that has been acquired thus far to complete this assignment. They will take a short answer test this Friday.

August 17, 2016 Newsletter

Daily 5/CAFE:
This week students will begin their new Daily 5 Menu entitled: “The Golden Lion Tamarin”.  Students are working to identify text features used in this story and write a brief description of what they learned from each feature.  They will also determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language, such as similes and metaphors. Students will also read an article where they will practice making inferences based on evidence from the text.

Writing:

Students will explore mentor texts that discuss features of a memoir and begin to think like a writer as they prepare to write their own memoir. Students should begin writing their memoirs by midweek.

Math:
We have been reading, writing, and comparing decimals to thousandths place. We will be moving into rounding decimals and powers of 10. The students will be recognizing that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10 times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in the place to its left.

Social Studies:

The students have begun the unit on Economics in social studies. We will soon be answering the question, “How do economic decisions affect our lives?” They will begin by learning the importance of developing a budget for savings and spending. We will also spend time discussing the role of international trade between the US and other countries.  We will work on unit vocabulary and practice taking notes.

August 1, 2016 Newsletter

Here is what we have been learning so far in fifth grade:

Daily 5/CAFE: This week students will complete their Daily 5 Menu entitled: A Boy Called Slow.  They have been working to determine the theme of the story and how characters respond to challenges. They have also worked on story vocabulary and comprehension skills. Students will learn how to “Track” articles and reading passages in small group.

Writing:

This week students will continue working on narrative writing but the focus shifts to memoirs later in the week. Students will explore mentor texts that discuss features of a memoir and begin to think like a writer as they prepare to write their own memoir.

Math:  We just finished our multiplying and dividing multi-digit whole number unit. We took an assessment over this on Monday. Tues. we will start our decimals unit. We will be reading, writing, and comparing decimals to thousandths place. We will be moving into rounding decimals and powers of 10. The students will be recognizing that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10 times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in the place to its left.

Science: The students have been working hard on researching terrestrial and aquatic biomes. They will be putting all this information into a flip book that they can use as a tool for review. The last project of the 4 1/2 weeks that they will be completing is to research and present a poster illustrating an ecosystem that is being negatively affected by humans. This will complete the Ecosystems Unit. The students were given a study guide Monday to be completed by Friday. They will have some time in class to complete this. We will go over it Friday and review more on Monday. Their test will be Tuesday, Aug. 9th. 

May 4, 2016 Newsletter

Here is what we have been learning in fifth grade:

Daily 5/CAFE: This week students will continue working on the literacy menu which focuses on Tall Tales.  Students will compare Tall Tales using a Tree Map and also continue to analyze accounts of the same topic noting similarities and differences in the point  of view they represent.

Writing: Students will work on research assignments related to the Civil War and Weather.

Math:. We are concluding our last unit of customary and metric units of measurement and line plots. The students will be beginning a daily review of the math standards covered this year, in preparation for the EOGs starting next week.

Social Studies:  Students are beginning their discussion of Reconstruction after the Civil War this week with Mrs. Beyer.  Students will begin The Civil War Learning Bonanza research project later this week

April 13, 2016 Newsletter

Here is what we have been learning in fifth grade:

Daily 5/CAFE: This week students will begin a new biographical menu entitled, Mae Jemison.  Students will complete a Flow Map and compare and contrast two articles on the Space Station.

Writing: Students will work on research assignments related to severe weather topics.

Math:. Students are continuing with their volume unit. They are learning that volume is an attribute of solid figures and understand concepts of volume measurement.

a) A cube with side length 1 unit, called a "unit cube," is said to have "one cubic unit" of volume, and can be used to measure volume.

b) A solid figure which can be packed without gaps or overlaps using n unit cubes is said to have a volume of n cubic units. Students will also be measuring volumes by counting unit cubes, using cubic cm, cubic in, cubic ft, and improvised units.

Science: We are working on finishing up our last science unit of the year: weather. The students are learning to understand weather patterns and phenomena, making connection to the weather in a particular place and time. Students are also comparing daily and seasonal changes in weather conditions (including wind speed and direction, precipitation, and temperature) and patterns. They are also learning to predict upcoming weather events from weather data collected through observation and measurements. They will be receiving a study guide later this week in preparation for their end of unit test next week.

March 30, 2016 Newsletter

Here is what we have been learning in fifth grade:

Daily 5/CAFE: This week students will begin a new menu entitled: “Eye of the Storm”, which incorporates science/ weather vocabulary.  Students will begin to analyze information gathered from several texts about the weather and write knowledgeably about this topic and answer critical thinking questions.

Writing: Students will begin to learn more about Research Writing.  They will identify characteristics and the purpose of writing in content areas.  They will practice observational writing, sketching with labels and captions, and how to take notes using boxes.

Math: The students are finishing their unit on fractions this week. The next unit we will be starting is volume. Students will be learning to recognize volume as an attribute of solid figures and understand concepts of volume measurement.

a) A cube with side length 1 unit, called a "unit cube," is said to have "one cubic unit" of volume, and can be used to measure volume.

b) A solid figure which can be packed without gaps or overlaps using n unit cubes is said to have a volume of n cubic units. Students will also be measuring volumes by counting unit cubes, using cubic cm, cubic in, cubic ft, and improvised units.

Science: We have started our last science unit for the year. It is our weather unit. Students will be expected to understand weather patterns and phenomena, making connection to the weather in a particular place and time. Students will also need to be able to compare daily and seasonal changes in weather conditions (including wind speed and direction, precipitation, and temperature) and patterns. They will also need to be able to predict upcoming weather events from weather data collected through observation and measurements.

Important Date Reminders

March 1: Case 21 Reading
March 2: Case 21 Math
*No Case 21 for Science( Students will take at the end of 4th quarter.)
Friday, March 4th : Early Release(Dismissal @ 1:15) and Last Day before Track Out!
March 28th: Track In day for Track 1

February 10, 2016 Newsletter

This is what we have been learning in fifth grade:

Daily 5/CAFE: This week students will complete a “Poetry” menu. They have spent time interpreting figurative language in context and have compared two poems to determine the theme. They have also read about African American poet Nikki Giovanni, who is an inspiration to young writers.

She has encouraged students to express their feelings, create vivid images and spend time reading poetry aloud. 

Writing: This week we plan to have “Fantasy” stories completed. Students will begin Interpretive Writing. They will be asked to write their opinions supporting a point of view with reasons and information.

Math: We are continuing to work on our fractions unit. The students have started multiplying fractions by whole numbers and fractions by fractions. They will also be solving real world problems involving multiplication of fractions and mixed numbers, e.g., by using visual fraction models or equations to represent the problem.  Lastly, the students will be multiplying fractional side lengths to find areas of rectangles.

Social Studies: The students have started their Government  and  Westward Expansion unit with Mrs. Beyer. Students will  focus on the US Constitution, Bill of Rights, Branches of Government, US Citizenship and Westward Expansion. 

 

January 20, 2016 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 chapters and add a new chapter to their fantasy text.  They will also read a poem and determine the theme of the poem and how the speaker reflects upon the topic.

Writing: Students will work on the introduction and opening paragraph of 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 starting our Human Body webquest this week. Students are becoming an expert on a body system and finding out 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.

January 6, 2016 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: This week students are composing a  New Year’s Resolutions essay and goal setting for Quarter 3.  Next week 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 are finishing up our evaluating expressions and numerical patterns unit. We will soon be starting our fractions unit and will be covering fractions for most of third quarter. Students will learn to interpret a fraction as division of the numerator by the denominator (a/b = a ÷ b) also solve 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 will also be  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 from parents to offspring and that siblings may or may not receive the same traits from their parents. Later this week, students will create and decode a "DNA recipe" for a dog to observe how variations in DNA lead to the inheritance of different traits. They will also be comparing and contrasting plant and animal cells and learning the organs and functions of the human body systems.