February and March Newsletter

Hello 2013.  The start of a new year is also the start of new units of study.  On top of that, we are filled to the brim with all sorts of projects, field trips and extra-curricular activities in the upcoming months.  Before you know it June will be here.

Speaking of, the end of May is the 5th grade field trip to Club Getaway.  We bring this up because there is much to do in the form of fund raising, getting chaperones for the trip, making sure all permission slips are returned, so on.  The parents in charge of Club Getaway will need to have everyone's deposit to them as soon as possible.  No child will be unable to go due to financial need, so give what you can for the trip.  However, the privilege to go to Club Getaway is earned by the student.  The fifth grade teachers are expecting exemplary behavior.

The Spring semester is a time for projects and field trips.  Please be sure to help your child along as they bring home materials for work they are doing for these assignments or projects.  Also, it is greatly helpful if parents and guardians can return permission slips as promptly as possible.

Here again, are our units of study:

Math: 

We have now finished addition/subtraction of large numbers along with number sense, multiplication and division, and 2-D geometrical shapes with perimeter, area and angle measures.  We are now moving into fractions, percent and decimals.  This is the groundwork for the challenging work ahead dealing with ratio, data and the use of graphs and graphing.  Test prep is just around the corner as well.  For test prep we will be reviewing concepts, as well as making sure to touch base with all Common Core math concepts that could, or will, be covered in the New York State Math Test.  

Reading:

We will be immersing students in nonfiction reading, exposing them to hybrid, expository and narrative texts.  We will be working on using text features and structures in order to locate information and synthesize this information across texts.  We will focus on finding the main idea and supporting details as we read.  After gathering information with a variety of graphic organizers, students will begin to grow ideas about their topics of study.

Students will be bringing nonfiction texts home to read alongside their independent reading books. We will be using their research to help them formulate a nonfiction book of their own.

Test prep has begun!  We will be preparing your child for the upcoming NYS ELA test that is being held in April.  We have gathered a mixture of genres and practice questions that are common core aligned to ensure that they are being exposed to material that we expect to see on the test.

Writing Workshop:

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As we begin our Non Fiction Unit students will take notes about nonfiction topics during writing workshop. They will gather information about a topic from a variety of sources.  They will publish a nonfiction text (All About Book or a Question & Answer Book) that is organized and clear to the reader.  As with all of our writing pieces students must progress through the writing cycle: collecting, drafting, revising, editing, publishing and celebrating.

Social Studies:

In Social Studies, we are currently engaged in a study of Latin America organized around the essential question “How do geography, economics, people, and key events connect to shape a region?” Our studies begin with the geography of the region, which gives us a basis on which to build our knowledge. We will proceed in a more or less chronological fashion, beginning with case studies of the major civilizations of the western hemisphere (Inca, Maya, Aztec etc...), and continuing through the process of colonization and the years of European domination. We will then explore Latin American nations and their road to independence, as well as the growth and expansion of these newly liberated countries.

Important Dates:

February

6th-50's dress up day
13th- Valentine's Dance and Mask of Zorro trip
18th and 19th-no school
21st- class 302,305,307 and 309 trip to Whitney Museum
22nd- class 301 and 308 trip to Whitney Museum

March 
12th/13th?- Parent Teacher Conferences, Half Day
13th-black/white dress up day
March 25th- April 2nd No school Spring Recess

April 
School resumes April 3rd
10th- 80's dress up day
16th- 18th ELA exam
24th-26th Math exam

May 
10th- Outrageous Animals visits 5th grade
27th- Memorial Day No School
30th-31st Club Getaway!

June 
6th-No Students
10th- Half Day for Students
Graduation, graduation party and awards ceremony- tbd
26th-last day of school -half day  

 

 5TH GRADE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER

Well, if you get dressed up then you might as well get your picture taken.  Oh, wait!  That was the reason we got dressed up to begin with-- picture day.  Still, we decided this would be a good time to take a group photo and  show you the 5th grade team (Thanks Katie Dello Stritto for taking the photo).  From left to right, Chris Cox (5-302), Marie Bouteillon (5-307), Rachel Biederman (5-301), Tonya Short (5-302), Natasha McCabe (5-309), Mary Schirripa (5-305) and Dan Lupkin (5-308).

Check backpack mail for permission slips concerning a trip to The Whitney Museum of American Art.

Now onto our units of study!

Math:
We are very close to the end of the 1st unit.  The students have been working hard at different strategies concerning subtraction of large numbers, addition, decomposing numbers and place values.  We have been pushing students to use math vocabulary and to explain their thinking.  Our next unit will be multiplication and division.  Students will look at multiplication patterns, relationships between a number and its factors, and critical elements of mental strategies.  Again, there will be use of math stories, an increase in math vocabulary, modeling of strategies from students, and evidence of their thinking.

Reading:
We have been setting up routines and rituals in the reading workshop. We have introduced ways of how we can respond to our reading in our reading response notebooks. The students will be expected to use their notebook to hold, track, and change their thoughts and ideas about their reading. They are expected to support their thinking by providing evidence from the text. Their reading response notebook is the evidence of their reading work. Please encourage your child to keep their notebook handy while reading at home.

We will be starting our 2nd reading unit: Following Characters Into Meaning. We will be following characters through our books, paying attention to changes and lessons they learn. Readers learn to explore the characters in their books by examining their actions, words and their relationships. This rich genre is very exciting for students as they develop a multitude of strategies to understand the characters in their books deeply. They will use their gathered evidence to develop complex theories about their characters.

Writing:
Our first writing unit was Memoir. We introduced memoir as part personal narrative, part reflective writing. It is a piece of writing that conveys an important message about who you are. We taught strategies to dig deep about the "life topics" that continue to show up in students' writing. They explored these topics while writing with depth. The children studied memoir structures and wrote with emblematic details. We used metaphors to represent the whole big message of our writing. We also incorporated grammar within the editing stage of the writing process.

We will be starting our 2nd unit in Writing: The Interpretative Essay. In this unit students will be using what they know about essay structure to create seamless, succinct essays. They will be growing ideas from their lives, arriving at thesis statements that are supported by their experiences. Though this unit stresses the importance of structure, it also stresses the importance of synthesis and interpretation, fitting their deep thoughts into the structure of an essay. These skills will help them greatly as we keep the ELA exam on our radar. 

Social Studies:

Since it is an election year, we have been working on "What is citizenship?"  We are delving into the importance of voting, along with our Rights, Responsibilities and Privileges.  Students are looking closely at the choices they make in their democracy, which leads to a closer look at the candidates during this election year.

As the election winds down we will move into the study of the Western Hemisphere and its cultures.  Actually, this will start a little early in concurrence with the elections, as we will also be studying Mexico's Day of the Dead at end of this month, focusing on its importance and how it has influence on our own society.

Ballroom Dance:
Ms. Danielle is back in the classroom teaching us new steps to the dances we learned last year in 4th grade.  These dances include the Fox Trot, Merengue and Rumba.  We are also learning the Salsa.  Check out some of our 5th graders showing their great dance frames.

Important Dates:

• October 26-- Character Day Parade-- Children and Staff dress as favorite book characters.  Breakfast in classrooms after parade.
• October 31and November 2-- Trip to the Whitney Museum. (October 31 classes, 302, 307, 308, 309; November 2 classes 301 and 305).
• November 1-- Day of Dead.
• November 6-- Election Day, no school for students.
• November 9-- In Class Programing-- Wolf visit.
• November 12-- Veteran's Day, no school.
• November 14-- Parent Teacher Conferences, half-day of school.
• November 16-- 5th grade Harvest Festival.
• November 22 and 23-- Thanksgiving break, no school.

Back to school!

Dear Students and Parents of 5-302,

Well, Tonya and I are back working in the classroom, getting ready for the upcoming school year.  As we get to understand the workings of the blog and how to post, we will start putting up pictures of the classroom, as well as reminders of weekly and monthly events, and our wishlist.  Get ready for a great year.

See you soon,
Chris and Tonya