5th Grade Newsletter

December 19th-21st

Religion –Our 25 Days of Christ is still underway.  We are using this theme to learn about 25 major events in Christ’s life.  We are learning about these events through scripture, art, videos, and individual reflection.  Please feel free to visit this website for more information.  http://25daysofchrist.com/pages/the-25-days-new-testament-edition

We will continue with these lessons through Christmas.  The remaining prayer service for Advent will be on Tues. Dec 20 at 2:50.

Reading/Language Arts – We have taken a break from letter writing and conferencing to engage in a class book-A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  We have read the first couple of staves (chapters), been introduced to Vocabulary.com to assist in the more difficult vocabulary in this book, and we’ve discussed plot and character analysis as well.  This will be able to count as one of the 40 books students need to read by the end of the school year.  We are also still offering independent reading time so that the students can continue working on their 40 books!  When we return from break, we will finish up A Christmas Carol and then move into a unit on MLK.  We will read  various books and articles about MLK and reinforce a number of comprehension strategies during this unit.  There will still be time for independent reading to reach that 40 book mark at the end of the year!

Math –  We continue to work on Division concepts.  Coming soon we will also be interpreting remainders in story problems.      

Social Studies - We have started our unit on Iowa History this week and will continue next week.  Students have chosen the manner in which they have decided to present their information; google slide, book, or a play presentation of their information.  We also spent time practicing our geographic knowledge with the geographic Bee.  Students completed this today and some students have moved on to the next written round that will be given by Mrs. Larson Monday after school.  STUDENTS know who they are.  We will start preparing for BizTown when we return from Christmas break.

Language Arts – We completed our unit on Nouns.  I hope to have the assessments corrected before break.  We’ll complete a couple week of Daily Language Review in January and then begin work on a Verb unit. We’ve spent the week working on our 3rd round of informative writing.  The students had to choose a location for Santa to vacation on Dec. 26 or a gift (product) to purchase for Santa.  Research had to be completed on a location or product to complete the written piece.  We also discussed how to choose reputable sources and how to cite our sources to avoid plagiarism.  We probably won’t get these finished before break but we’ll complete them when we return after break. We will then work on an informative paper in January to be written about MLK (his life and legacy).  The paper in January will be a graded piece.

Spelling – There will not be a spelling test next week due to the short week.  Our next spelling test will be the week of January 9th.  It will consist of words  

5th Grade Newsletter

December 12th-16th

Religion –Our 25 Days of Christ is well underway.  We are using this theme to learn about 25 major events in Christ’s life.  We are learning about these events through scripture, art, videos, and individual reflection.  Please feel free to visit this website for more information.  http://25daysofchrist.com/pages/the-25-days-new-testament-edition

We will continue with these lessons through Christmas.  The remaining prayer services for Advent will be held on Dec. 16 at 8:40 (5th grade leads), and Tues. Dec 20 at 2:50.

Reading/Language Arts – We have taken a break from letter writing and conferencing to engage in a class book-A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  We have read the first couple of staves (chapters ), been introduced to Vocabulary.com to assist in the more difficult vocabulary in this book, and we’ve discussed plot and character analysis as well.  This will be able to count as one of the 40 books students need to read by the end of the school year.  We are also still offer independent reading time so that the students can continue working on their 40 books!

Math – Your child will be bringing their Unit 3 Written test and Open Response tests on Monday.  We are starting Unit 4: Division next.  

Science - We have officially moved out of science and will pick that up after Christmas.  

Social Studies - Tuesday we began Road Tripping through Iowa History.  Students will be researching historical facts and creating an Iowa History Project all their own!  Information will be coming home, ask your child about it!

Language Arts – We continue to work on nouns.  I anticipate the final noun test to be held on Wednesday December 14th.  We’ve practiced the art of informative writing using kangaroos as a topic as well as Pearl Harbor as a topic.  Next week our informative writing practice will have a Christmas twist!  These practice pieces are all in preparation for an informative paper in January to be written about MLK (his life and legacy).  The paper in January will be a graded piece.

Spelling – Spelling words next week will consist of homophones.  Homophones are words that sound alike, but have different meanings and spellings.  Students will really need to depend on context clues to ensure the correct spellings of the words.

5th Grade Newsletter

December 5th-9th

Religion –Our 25 Days of Christ is well underway.  We are using this theme to learn about 25 major events in Christ’s life.  We are learning about these events through scripture, art, videos, and individual reflection.  Please feel free to visit this website for more information.  http://25daysofchrist.com/pages/the-25-days-new-testament-edition

We will continue with these lessons through Christmas.  Advent Prayer Services will be held Dec. 9 at 2:50 (this is a change), Dec. 16 at 8:40 (5th grade leads), and Tues. Dec 20 at 2:50.

Reading/Language Arts – We have taken a break from letter writing and conferencing to engage in a class book-A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  We began this week by learning about Charles Dickens and his background.  We also began accounts on vocabulary.com to help with the difficult British vocabulary found in this book.  We started reading Stave 1 as well.  This will be able to count as one of the 40 books students need to read by the end of the school year.  We will complete some comprehension activities as well as engage in some Christmas fun that relates to the book.  We will also still offer independent reading time so that the students can continue working on their 40 books!

Math – We are finishing our Unit 3 and will be having our Unit Test over Geometry on Monday, December 5 and Tuesday, December 6.  Your child has several pieces of information that can be helpful to him/her to study.  Each child has a studyguide, their red spiral, and past studylinks to help prepare for the test.  

Science - We are just about finished with our unit over Matter.  Students have had a great time learning about the three main states of matter and applying their learning in several different lab experiments.  We will test over matter and its changing states on Tuesday and begin Road Tripping through Iowa History for social studies.

Language Arts – We began a unit on nouns as well as an informative writing unit in preparation for an informative paper in January to be written about MLK (his life and legacy).

Spelling – Spelling words next week will consist of words with the ie and the ei vowel combinations.  Generally, i is before e, except after c when sounded like a as in neighbor and weigh.