September 7th, 2018
Good Afternoon parents/guardians!
It has been another great week of learning and exploring here in 5th grade! Your scholars have been working hard on a lot of new material this week and I hope they have shared some of it with you!
We are still awaiting the arrival of the red Friday Folders. If your scholar has an agenda, the papers were placed inside the agenda. Also, please make sure to check your scholar's agenda every night and initial/sign it. It is a great tool for communication and will let you know if your scholar received any warnings for the day or if they had to leave the classroom for reflection.
If your scholar (and possibly you) are interested in attending the field trip to Washington, DC on April 10th-12th, we will be holding an informational meeting the same night as Curriculum Night, September 20th. We will be going over basic information regarding the trip, payments plans, and answering any questions. We hope you join us!
If you have not already, please visit the link below to fill out a short survey about your scholar! This information will only be used by Ms. McBride and me to help us lead your scholar through a successful school year. Also, thank you to those who have done so already!
https://goo.gl/forms/JVNG6JBIxuaTqsRF3
Important Dates:
September 12th: Early Release at 12pm
September 17th: Raccoon Race Fundraiser Begins
September 19th: Teacher Workday - NO SCHOOL
September 20th: Curriculum Night 6:30-7:30pm
September 28th: Progress Reports
October 13th: Fall Festival 11am-2pm
What will we be learning next week?
Math:
Next week we will continue to use coordinate planes as we analyze patterns and relationships. I plan for scholars to take a “Quick Check” quiz on coordinate planes mid-week. The first formal assessment will be on September 18th.
Science:
Next week we will continue our Matter unit. This unit will last approximately 3 weeks. We will be looking at sum of parts and physical and chemical changes. Also, your scholar has been assigned a project for this unit. They are to complete a vocabulary book that will be due on September 28th. They were given a rubric that details what is expected of them and I have modeled for them exactly how their book should look. Unless I feel it is absolutely necessary, I will not be assigning any other Science homework for the duration of this project. I have suggested they work on completing 1-2 words a day/night. They will also be given time during stations to work on this book, so it should stay in their homework folder and go back a forth between home and school every day starting next week.
Reading:
Next week, scholars will be given weekly assignments to be completed during Reader’s Workshop. Many of these activities will be individualized to your scholar’s level and will include reading comprehension, building reading stamina, and word work activities (spelling). We will also begin our first Reading Unit and our focus will be on fiction and RL 5.1. Scholars will be asked to:
We will use the class chapter book, Ungifted, to model and practice the strategies and skills scholars will be expected to use and demonstrate in their Reader’s Notebooks.
Writing:
During Writer’s Workshop, we will use our seeds ideas to begin drafting a story to take through the writing process. Scholars will choose a story idea that they want to tell, one that demonstrates a “small moment”, and begin getting their ideas on paper. Later, scholars will have the opportunity to add details and make other revisions.
Social Studies:
This week’s topic is U.S. States and Regions, we will exemplify how technological advances have allowed people to overcome geographic limitations. We will do this by identifying and describing the seven natural regions in the U.S. (Pacific Coastal Plains, Western Plateau, Rocky Mountains, Interior Plains, Atlantic Coastal Plains, Appalachian Region, and Ozark Highlands).
It has been another great week of learning and exploring here in 5th grade! Your scholars have been working hard on a lot of new material this week and I hope they have shared some of it with you!
We are still awaiting the arrival of the red Friday Folders. If your scholar has an agenda, the papers were placed inside the agenda. Also, please make sure to check your scholar's agenda every night and initial/sign it. It is a great tool for communication and will let you know if your scholar received any warnings for the day or if they had to leave the classroom for reflection.
If your scholar (and possibly you) are interested in attending the field trip to Washington, DC on April 10th-12th, we will be holding an informational meeting the same night as Curriculum Night, September 20th. We will be going over basic information regarding the trip, payments plans, and answering any questions. We hope you join us!
If you have not already, please visit the link below to fill out a short survey about your scholar! This information will only be used by Ms. McBride and me to help us lead your scholar through a successful school year. Also, thank you to those who have done so already!
https://goo.gl/forms/JVNG6JBIxuaTqsRF3
Important Dates:
September 12th: Early Release at 12pm
September 17th: Raccoon Race Fundraiser Begins
September 19th: Teacher Workday - NO SCHOOL
September 20th: Curriculum Night 6:30-7:30pm
September 28th: Progress Reports
October 13th: Fall Festival 11am-2pm
What will we be learning next week?
Math:
Next week we will continue to use coordinate planes as we analyze patterns and relationships. I plan for scholars to take a “Quick Check” quiz on coordinate planes mid-week. The first formal assessment will be on September 18th.
Science:
Next week we will continue our Matter unit. This unit will last approximately 3 weeks. We will be looking at sum of parts and physical and chemical changes. Also, your scholar has been assigned a project for this unit. They are to complete a vocabulary book that will be due on September 28th. They were given a rubric that details what is expected of them and I have modeled for them exactly how their book should look. Unless I feel it is absolutely necessary, I will not be assigning any other Science homework for the duration of this project. I have suggested they work on completing 1-2 words a day/night. They will also be given time during stations to work on this book, so it should stay in their homework folder and go back a forth between home and school every day starting next week.
Reading:
Next week, scholars will be given weekly assignments to be completed during Reader’s Workshop. Many of these activities will be individualized to your scholar’s level and will include reading comprehension, building reading stamina, and word work activities (spelling). We will also begin our first Reading Unit and our focus will be on fiction and RL 5.1. Scholars will be asked to:
- Provide evidence from the text to support written statements about what the text said explicitly
- Make inferences and draw conclusions from a text and support their ideas by quoting accurately from the text
- Form and express opinions about texts and justify with evidence
- Make logical conclusions based on the evidence in the text
- Create lists of clues stated in the text to support their inference
We will use the class chapter book, Ungifted, to model and practice the strategies and skills scholars will be expected to use and demonstrate in their Reader’s Notebooks.
Writing:
During Writer’s Workshop, we will use our seeds ideas to begin drafting a story to take through the writing process. Scholars will choose a story idea that they want to tell, one that demonstrates a “small moment”, and begin getting their ideas on paper. Later, scholars will have the opportunity to add details and make other revisions.
Social Studies:
This week’s topic is U.S. States and Regions, we will exemplify how technological advances have allowed people to overcome geographic limitations. We will do this by identifying and describing the seven natural regions in the U.S. (Pacific Coastal Plains, Western Plateau, Rocky Mountains, Interior Plains, Atlantic Coastal Plains, Appalachian Region, and Ozark Highlands).