April 30-May 4: Upcoming Events

• Monday: 
• Tuesday: 
• Wednesday: May Crowning Mass Please bring a FLOWER
• Thursday:  
• Friday:  Author Skype with Tommy Greenwald

5th Grade Newsletter

April 30th-May 4th

Religion –We continue to work through presenting our Google Slide Presentations on the 7 Sacraments.  We are wrapping up our unit on Beatitudes. Next week, we will begin a unit on Mary and The Rosary as we head into the month of May-The Month of Mary.

Reading/Language Arts –  Mrs. Anderson’s class finished the whole class book, Bridge to Terabithia and will test over it next week.  Mrs. Alsin’s class will continue with their “special needs” lit circles and research projects.  Mrs. Schaffer’s class will finish the second round of Lit Circles next week and will then head into a whole class book study using Bridge to Terabithia.   

Math – The students will be taking a test over Unit 6 on Monday, April 30. Please look for the tests to come home later in the week for your review and signature. Next, we will be working on adding, subtracting, and multiplying fractions. Please look for real-world opportunities to explore with your child at home.     

Science - Students took their assessment over weather today and next week we will be studying organisms and other living things.  We will continue with Daily Oral Geography skills so please encourage your child to continue to study their D.O.G. packet.

Language Arts – We have completed and turned in our Informative Writing papers!  Next week we will spend time learning about poetry and figurative language.

 

Spelling –  Spelling has been completed for the school year!

April 23-26: Upcoming Events

• Monday 23: 
• Tuesday 24: 
• Wednesday 25: Mezzo choir leads mass
• Thursday 26:  MISSIONS dress down
• Friday 27:  NO SCHOOL, Staff Development

5th Grade Newsletter

April 23rd - April 27th

“That is why my Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.”

John 10:17-18

Religion – This week we spent time in our Religion classes complete “Start With Hello Week” activities. These activities taught the students the power of a smile and kind words. It was a perfect addition to our Beatitudes unit. We will continue working on Beatitudes next week. We will then move into a unit on Morality. We will be finishing the year discussing the importance of Mary in our church as well as the mysteries of the Rosary. Students will be assessed in May on the Hail Holy Queen and The Apostles’ Creed. Please continue to add these to your daily prayers at home.

Reading/Language Arts – We continue to complete mini lessons/activities for the comprehension strategies. Mrs. Schaffer’s class is continuing to work through the second round of Literature Circles. Mrs. Anderson’s class is continuing with Lit Circles. Mrs. Alsin’s Class is finishing up a Special Needs Literature Circles. Students worked as a group to read a novel based on a character with a special need and will research a special need and present the findings to the class.

Math – After reviewing what we know about addition and subtraction of fractions, we are going to shift our focus to multiplying fractions. We will begin this concept by building area models of fractions to increase the student’s understanding of WHAT happens when fractions are multiplied by fractions, fractions multiplied by a whole number, or mixed fractions by mixed fractions. This is the beginning of this concept and mastery is not expected right away! :) Sometimes it takes several experiences for students to understand the WHY behind the algorithm.

Science - We continued our unit over weather this week and how to measure it. We discussed severe weather, how to stay safe, weather instruments, the atmosphere, air pressure, the water cycle, and the 4 main clouds. Our test over this unit is Thursday. I have encouraged students to be studying this information a little each night.

Language Arts – We should be able to wrap up our informative papers next week. It has been a long process, but the students have learned a great deal about non-fiction writing as well as the topic they chose. We will move into conjunctions, interjections, and prepositions as well as personal narrative writing to conclude the school year.

Spelling – Our next Spelling list includes words that have the Greek or Latin Roots post, extra, mis, and mal. We will also revisit Synonyms. This will be the last Spelling test of the school year!

April 16-20: Upcoming Events

April 16th-April 20th

Religion –We continue to work through presenting our Google Slide Presentations on the 7 Sacraments. We began learning about the Beatitudes this week. Next week, we will continue to focus on each Beatitude individually and what it means and how to live it as a 5th grader.

Reading/Language Arts – Mrs. Anderson’s class will continue reading the whole class book, Bridge to Terabithia next week. Mrs. Alsin’s class will continue with their “special needs” lit circles and research projects. Mrs. Schaffer’s class finished the first round of Lit Circles this week. Round 2 will begin next week! Students who read a Peg Kehret book will read a Tim Green book and students who read a Tim Green book will read a Peg Kehret book. 

We had an amazing author Skype with Sarah Weeks. Students did a great job asking her questions and listening intently to Mrs. Week's answers. Thanks again to Mrs. Mara Van Ee from our Curriculum Enhancement committee for getting everything setup and running, students really enjoyed this skype.





Math - We continue to work  on reading , interpreting, and creating  graphs and charts.

Science - Perfect conditions outside to start our unit on weather. We started discussing the differences between weather and climate and watched some great videos on severe weather. We will continue next week adding our amazing atmosphere and different types of clouds to our discussions.

Language Arts – This week we wrote our intros, thesis statements, and conclusions for our informative papers. We also spent time learning about transitions and domain specific vocabulary and how to add them to our writing. We put all this together and begin writing (typing) rough drafts next week.

Spelling – Next week’s spelling list consists of words with the ending blends of -le, -el, and -al. For vocabulary, instead of learning a word a day next week, students will be given 10 vocabulary words to become familiar with and test over on Friday with their Spelling words. Various activities will be completed with these 10 words. Using context clues will also be re-visited.

April 9-13: Upcoming Events

5th Grade Newsletter

April 9th-April 13th

Religion –We continue to work through presenting our Google Slide Presentations on the 7 Sacraments.  We began learning about the Beatitudes this week. Next week, we will focus on each Beatitude individually and what it means to and how to live it as a 5th grader.

Reading/Language Arts – Our MLK unit is complete!  If you are in the building, please take some time to walk through the 5th grade hallway.  The completed informative writing pieces and illustrations turned out beautifully. Mrs. Anderson’s class will continue reading the whole class book, Bridge to Terabithia next week.  Mrs. Alsin and Mrs. Schaffer’s class will continue working in Literature Circles.

Math –  We will be taking our Unit 5 Test on Tuesday, April 3 and Wednesday, April 4. Your child has their math journal, the notes in their spiral, and a Unit 5 studyguide to prepare for the test. We also discussed several study strategy and test taking skills to implement while reviewing in class.     

Social Studies - We have been presented Iowa History projects, They are amazing! Again, I am so impressed with student creativity and technology skills. We will start our Weather Unit when all have presented Iowa History.

Science - We had Zach Sharpe from the KCCI Storm Hunters come talk about his job as a storm chaser and present some pretty awesome information. This was an introduction to our weather unit that we will start this week.

Language Arts –  We worked on organizing our information for our informative writing pieces.  We also took time to do a bit more research to fill in any holes in our research.  Next week, we will writing our intros, thesis statements, and conclusions. We will then put all this together and begin writing rough drafts.    

 

Spelling –  Next week’s spelling list consists of words with the Greek/Latin roots homo, auto, phobia, and tract.  We will also review synonyms, antonyms, homographs.