January 18, 2017 Newsletter

Here is what we are 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 brainstorming and introduction paragraph of their fantasy story.  They will use dialogue, description, and pacing to show the responses of their characters to situations in their stories.

Math: We are starting our fractions unit this week. Students will be 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:  Students are learning about 7 body systems over the next week. They will also be starting our Human Body 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. 

*Information about the Human Growth and Development part of this unit will be going home via email, next week.