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