Homework Survey and Free Fridays!

Please take moment and fill out the following homework survey to keep us informed on how things are going on the home front!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdlchh5mKPleiDzDKA28MLJWjnPRigNTXg6PRMhTWjGmX7C8Q/viewform?c=0&w=1

Beginning this week students in fifth grade are working on earning Free Fridays for displaying virtuous behavior in the classroom.  Each day they will either earn or lose a letter from our virtue of the month.  If they spell the entire word by Friday we will have Free Friday (or Thursday this week!) before school.  They may bring games such as cards, checkers, or other non pop-culture games to play before school starts in lieu of morning work. 

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Headlines 9/26

I hope everyone had a restful weekend.  It was so nice to see those of you who attended our Spalding and Singapore night; I hope that the evening was helpful as you guide your students in their homework.

It is hard to believe we are approaching the end of the first quarter!  As a reminder there is no school for students this Friday, and fall break will be the week of October 10-14. 

As stated below, tutoring on Thursdays will now change to grammar and writing.  If your child is struggling with sentence diagramming or the writing process, please be sure to have them attend!

ELA:

Our students worked diligently on their descriptive writing paragraphs last week.  We have discussed how to use the writing process to make revisions and this week we will take our papers to publication by creating a class book.  We will also introduce compound elements and conjunctions in grammar.  We have had several requests for grammar tutoring, so beginning next week, there will be grammar tutoring on Thursdays (instead of Math) from 3:05-3:40 pm.  

We have also completed our 25 roots for the first quarter.  Students will receive a root review which they should begin working on.  We will take a test over roots 1-25 on Wednesday, Oct. 5th.  Please begin studying now!  

In Literature we are almost done reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  We will finish the book this week and are looking forward to literature celebration on Friday, October, 7th.  More details are forthcoming!

All of our students did a lovely job on their recitations last week, and we also introduced our next poem, “Narcissa,” by Gwendolyn Brooks.  Students should be prepared to recite their poem by Wednesday, October 5th.

Math:

This week we will review all of the material in Unit 2, and will take the test on Thursday.  We will complete in class review of multiplication and division on Monday, and will then review order of operations as well as bar models on Tuesday.  During our Wednesday math groups we will complete the Unit Cumulative Review. If your student needs extra help, please be sure they attend tutoring on Monday and Wednesday!

History:

This week in history, we will continue learning about the Aztec culture and cover the Incas. Students will get their study guides on Thursday for their unit test. The unit test will be on Friday, October 7th. Note that this test is the day before students leave for Fall Break partaking in rest and relaxation! Students will continue journaling from the perspective of an Aztec or Inca at the end of each lesson.

Science:

We are continuing the chemistry unit this week. We will be reading The Mystery of the Periodic Table and taking notes throughout. We finally learn how the modern Periodic Table was organized.

The due date for the Science Fair Essay is quickly approaching! Please ensure that your child is working on the project such that they will be able to turn their essay in the last school day before Fall Break!

Headlines 9/19

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and enjoying these cooler mornings and evenings! 

Our students worked hard last week and accomplished quite a bit.  They enjoyed a chemistry lab, took a history test, and learned a new song with our French Prep mentors! 

If you  have  not yet RSVP'd for the Spalding and Singapore night this Wednesday, please let us know if you will be attending.  We plan on going through the basics of each subject as well as allowing plenty of time for Q & A. 

Here is the news for this week!

ELA

This week in writing we will begin our first formal piece of writing, a descriptive paragraph.  Students will choose a topic and will then go through the writing process to revise and edit for a final copy.  In literature we will continue to study characterization by finding textual evidence to support our inferences about the characters.  Students should be working to memorize their poems, and recitations will begin on Wednesday!

Math

All of our students did a wonderful job working through various types of word problems last week! This week we will begin reviewing and practicing long division and multiplication and will review bar models that use these operations.  

History:

This week in history, we will continue learning about the Maya culture. Students will get to participate in a friendly game of pok-ta-pok and engage in a socratic discussion involving the disappearance of the Maya. Students will continue journaling from the perspective of a Maya person at the end of each lesson.

Science:

We are continuing the chemistry unit this week. We will be reading The Mystery of the Periodic Table and taking notes throughout. We will learn about the pitfalls and successes of the early chemists. Our Friday activity will solidify our understanding of elements, compounds and mixtures.   Students should continue be working on their project at home!

Study Skill of the Week:

Starting this week we will begin to introduce new study skills to help the students as they prepare for Prep!  This week we will focus on using flashcards to aid in studying.  Students will practice pulling seven cards to study at one time, putting the cards to the side that they show mastery with, and focusing on the cards that need more review.  They can repeat that process with the remainder of the cards until they have gained mastery of all!

Headlines 9/12

The students worked very hard last week and we were able to accomplish so much in a short week. 

Thank you to all the parents and grandparents who attended our assembly on Friday, and a very special congratulations to Noah Wesson for winning the virtue award for Responsibility.  We are very proud of him! 


ELA

It’s back to grammar this week as we introduce our next part of speech, pronouns.  We will also be reviewing collective nouns and the simple subject and simple predicate.  In literature we will learn how authors use different methods of characterization to help the reader understand characters in the story.  Our new poem, “A Bird Came Down the Walk,” by Emily Dickinson was introduced last week and students should begin memorizing it.  I was very impressed with all of our recitations last week!   

Science

We are starting the chemistry unit this week. We will be reading The Mystery of the Periodic Table and taking notes throughout. Furthermore, we will explore the relationship between acids and bases. In tandem with these studies, the 5th grade class will be working towards a science fair. Each should be conducting an experiment over the next four weeks at home and recording their progress in the project packet. Please contact Ms. Stapleton with any questions.

History

This week in history, we will be reviewing for and taking our unit test on World Lakes (Tuesday). We will set up our notebooks for our new unit on Ancient Meso-American Civilizations and begin studying the Maya. Students will have the opportunity to journal from the perspective of a Mayan person.

Math

Our focus this week will be understanding different types of bar models and how to use those models as a way to help us solve word problems.  We will also be reviewing how to use different mental math strategies.  

Headlines 9/4

I hope everyone enjoyed their R&R weekend and had to time to rest and rejuvenate.  We are looking to a very productive week

Because of a generous parent our tutoring times have improved! 
Monday: 3:05-3:40
Wednesday 2:05-2:40
Thursday 3:05-3:40.


Have a great week!

ELA

In writing and grammar this week we will be taking a break from grammar and will spend the week discussing how to write paragraphs that show instead of tell.  In Literature we will continue to read Voyage of the Dawn Treader and will discuss the difference between flat and round characters..  We will continue to complete our Spalding notebook set-up and will receive new words on Monday and Tuesday, and will take the test Thursday.  Make sure to keep reviewing our newest roots for the quiz on Wednesday.  Students should have the poem, “Some Opposites” memorized by Wednesday!

Science

We will be reviewing the Scientific Inquiry process. There will be a test on Friday. This will cover the vocabulary words we have learned so far and asks students to apply the to the experiments we have done together in class. Keep in mind that Science Notebooks will be collected and graded on test day. This is a big science grade! The 5th Grade Science Fair project will be assigned this week as well. Be on the lookout for it, as the packet requires a parent signature.

History

This week in history, we will be continuing our new unit on World Lakes. Students will learn about the lakes of North America and Eurasia. Students will also be taking several short quizzes and creating notecards to prepare for their upcoming test. Study guides will be sent home on Thursday and their test will be on the following Tuesday.

Math

This week we will continue Unit 2.  We will discuss bar models by creating a foldable with instructions to be pasted into their math journals, and will then move on to mental math.  We will have a short quiz on Friday over he distributive property and mental math.