Good Morning,
I hope you are enjoying a wonderful
weekend with your family. The weather has been perfect for both indoor
and outdoor activities.
Last week students arrived at
a stopping point in our explorers unit. Students wrote articles about
the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island. This study took us from the Vikings
to the late 1500's. After the winter break, we will pick back up with
the settlement of Jamestown and continue with the 13 British Colonies,
and tensions that spark the Declaration of Independence and the
Revolutionary War.
This coming week we will use the
many different theories of missing colonists at Roanoke to introduce the
idea of researching the interdependence of different systems. Each
theory consists of groups interacting in both positive and negative
ways. We will use this idea of systems to launch our Life Science Unit.
The two fifth grade standards are; all organisms have structures and
systems with separate functions and human body systems have basic
structures, functions, and needs.
This unit will begin by identifying the characteristics and life processes that all living things need. Then we will compare and contrast structures and systems
in different organisms. In this unit we will be going on a field trip to dissect a lamb's lung at the Museum of Nature and Science. Our day will be Monday, October 28th. More information will be coming about the specifics in early October.
This unit will begin by identifying the characteristics and life processes that all living things need. Then we will compare and contrast structures and systems
in different organisms. In this unit we will be going on a field trip to dissect a lamb's lung at the Museum of Nature and Science. Our day will be Monday, October 28th. More information will be coming about the specifics in early October.
In math we are using our
conceptual understanding of multiplication to help us build division
strategies. Students have been using multiple towers to create a visual
representation of why using multiples of 10 helps them find the quotient
efficiently. For example, if I was solving 232 divided by 21, I could
use 21 x 10 to get to 210, and know that I have one more full group of
21. This investigation will be about a week and the purpose is to
develop strategies based on place value, the properties of operations,
and/or the relationship between multiplication and division. Later in
the year we will have another division unit that will focus on other
division strategies like partial quotients and the connection to
traditional algorithms.
In reading this week,
students will turn in a reading response letter with their reading log
on Friday. We have practiced the format of letters in the classroom with
books that we have read together. Letters should be a minimum of two
paragraphs. The first paragraph should be a summary of the reading and
the second paragraph should be their thinking in response to the text.
It might be analyzing how a character has grown throughout the book, it
might be a specific reading strategy used that helped them make meaning.
The letters must include specific details from the text. Details could
be used to determine a theme of a story, or identify a character's
points of view, or drawing inferences. Letters will be stapled to their signed reading logs each week.
In
writing this week, we continue to generate ideas within the genre of
personal narrative. Because it is a short week this week, students will
complete Grammar Week 6, but will not do the spelling words connected
this week. Next week we will do a grammar review of weeks 1-6 and study
week 6 words at that time.
Thank you for sharing your child with me,Megan
