Friday, February 24, 2017

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February 27-March 3

Religion –  We are continuing to work on our Works of Mercy Unit.  Students will be responsible for knowing all of the Works of Mercy as well as how a 5th grader can serve others following the Works of Mercy.  We will also take time next week to discuss Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and Lent.  We will participate in weekly Lent prayer services in the church.  These prayer services will be held...

Reading/Language Arts – We have moved back into our routine of independently reading, conferencing, and journal writing about current reading selections.  We are also completing mini lessons/activities for the teaching strategies.  Following Spring Break, we will take some time to read in Literature Circles.  

Math –  Like I stated in my email to you earlier this week, your child should be preparing for our Unit 5 test.  Your child should have marked in their planner when the test is as well as a piece of information to study each night this last week.  Your child also has a study guide that we have been working on in class.  The test dates are Monday, February 27 and Tuesday, February 28.  Thank you!      

Science - Students started exploring germs and how they can stay healthy.  This is a quick study about health and nutrition that will get us geared up for the Body systems by the end of the week.  Our 5th grade benchmark centers around the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.  Students will have a test over the information they have learned about Health on Wednesday March 1st.  

Language Arts – We will complete our “Writing on Demand” unit next week.  For the final assessment, the students will answer a writing prompt and then self assess their work using a rubric.  We will then move into a unit over figurative language/poetry/descriptive writing.
 

Spelling –  Our Spelling list next week includes words that are considered to be homographs.  Homographs are sets of words that are spelled the same but have multiple meanings.  For example, a novel can be a book with many pages or a word used to describe something new.

Friday, February 10, 2017

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February 13th-February 17th

Religion –We have finished up our Google Slide Presentations on the 7 Sacraments.  Students will be presenting these to the class over the next several weeks.  We encourage you to take a moment and view these presentations at home.  We have started our next unit on the Works of Mercy.  Students will be responsible for know all of the Works of Mercy as well as how a 5th grader can serve others following the Works of Mercy.

Reading/Language Arts – We have finished our MLK unit/informative writing pieces.  Please take a moment to view your child’s completed writing pieces in the hallway during conferences.  We will move back into our routine of independently reading, conferencing, and journal writing about current reading selections.  Following Spring Break, we will take some time to read in Literature Circles.  

Math –  We are working on converting fractions, percents, and decimals.  I am excited to share your child’s progress with you at conferences.  Thank you!      

Social Studies - We have been discussing different types of timelines and students are working on a timeline of their life.  They are looking fantastic!  Can’t wait for all of you to see them next week when you are here for conferences!

Language Arts – We have completed our Verb Unit.  We will review on Monday and take the test on Wednesday (Feb 15).  On the 14th, we will have a special Valentine lesson working on Puns in class. We will need ads from the Sunday paper for this lesson.  If you receive this paper and are willing to donate the ads to our class-that would be great!  Please send them with your child to school on Monday!  Thanks!  We will continue with our “Writing on Demand” unit next week as well.  This unit allows students to practice writing answers to essay questions and other types of prompts typically found on assessments.  It is important for students to understand that every piece of writing produced (long or short), in every profession (including a student) should have an introduction, details, and a conclusion.  Other helpful writing tips are provided in this unit as well (re-state the question in the answer, vary sentence length, use transition words, include a thesis statement etc).  
 

Spelling –  Due to the short week, we will not have a Spelling list/test next week.

Thursday, February 2, 2017

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February 6th-February 10th

Religion –We are continuing with our unit on the seven sacraments.  Students have been working on their google slide presentations and will finish these presentations next week.  We will be presenting these in class upon completing them.  We are asking that students include personal photos of themselves or family members receiving the sacraments.  Any photos you may have can be uploaded directly to your child’s google account.  If it is easier to email them directly to your child’s teacher, please feel free to do so.  If your photos are hard copies, simply take a photo of the photo with your cell phone and email or upload it.  Thank you!  We will also have generic photos of the sacraments for any student who does not have a picture for any particular sacrament.  Following our Sacrament work, we will spend time learning about Lent and pairing it with the Works of Mercy.

Reading/Language Arts – We are finishing up our MLK unit/informative writing pieces.  Please take a moment to view your child’s completed writing pieces in the hallway during conferences.  We will move back into our routine of independently reading, conferencing, and journal writing about current reading selections.  Following Spring Break, we will take some time to read in Literature Circles.  

Math –  We will be picking back up with Chapter 5 now that we are done with BizTown.  Studylink homework will resume.  Please encourage your child to continue to work on his/her basic facts to increase accuracy and speed.  Thank you!      

Social Studies - What a fabulous time we ALL had at JA BizTown.  Thanks again to all the parent volunteers for spending your time with us.  

**We are sticking with Social Studies and will be working on the concept of Timelines.  We will be discussing different types of timelines and students will be working on a timeline of their life.  Students may draw pictures or find photos at home to use on their timelines and were instructed to find them this weekend.  These will be displayed in our 5th grade hallway for all to enjoy during conferences!

Language Arts – We have moved on to the second half of the verb unit.  The second half of our unit includes verb tenses, perfect tenses, and verb consistency.  We will continue with our “Writing on Demand” unit next week as well.  This unit allows students to practice writing answers to essay questions and other types of prompts typically found on assessments.  It is important for students to understand that every piece of writing produced (long or short), in every profession (including a student) should have an introduction, details, and a conclusion.  Other helpful writing tips are provided in this unit as well (re-state the question in the answer, vary sentence length, use transition words etc).  
 

Spelling – Next week’s spelling list will consist of words that have the Greek and Latin roots mega, thermo, ped, man, cycl.  We will also re-visit synonyms and antonyms.