August 30, 2017 Newsletter

Here is what we have been learning in fifth grade:

Daily 5/CAFE: This week students will complete their 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.

Writing:

 Students will continue to work to complete their Memoir writing and share stories.

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:  This Wednesday students will take a vocabulary and short answer test. Afterwards, they will begin a research project based on our present day economy. They will research trading partners with the US, imports and exports, and economic growth of present day.  If time allows students will present projects in class when they are competed.

August 16, 2017 Newsletter

Reading: 

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.

Writing:

Students just finished publishing their personal narratives. This week they 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 2, 2017 Newsletter

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

Daily 5/CAFE: This week students will begin their Daily 5 Menu entitled: A Boy Called Slow. They will be working on this over the next two weeks.  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 their narrative writing. They are working on revising, editing and publishing their essays. 

Math:  We just finished our multiplying and dividing multi-digit whole number unit. We took an assessment over this on Monday.  Please look for this in Wed. folders. We started our decimals unit Tues. 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.  This will complete the Ecosystems Unit this week. The students were given a study guide last week and 17 questions are due Wed. Aug. 2nd. Their test will be Friday, Aug. 4th.