5TH GRADE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER
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:
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.
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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.
