April 5, 2017 Newsletter

April 5, 2017 Newsletter

This is what we have been learning in fifth grade:

Daily 5/CAFE: This week students are finishing their "Tall Tale" menu. Next week 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 have been learning about Research Writing.  They have been identifyng 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. The students then will research and write an essay on a severe weather event. They will also be creating a digital presentation to share with the class.

Math: Students finished up their fractions unit and are now starting our unit on 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 connections 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.