I hope you all enjoyed some relaxing time with your families over Winter Break, and found a way to stay warm in this crazy cold weather!! Brrrr!!
The new year brings some new expectations for your student as they are in the final stretches of their 5th grade year! I will no longer be stamping their assignment notebook every afternoon - students are now expected to check the assignment board every afternoon, and copy down the assignments due independently. Of course, I will be reminding them of their assignments and responsibilities at the end of every day, but I will no longer check in with each individual student. They are also expected to turn in assigned homework in the morning of it's due date - this includes re-do assignments. While they will still be receiving reminders to turn the assignments in, I will not check in with them individually to turn their work in. If the work is not turned in at the expected time, it will be marked late. We are working to transition them to more independence and ownership of their learning as they begin to prepare for middle school. Encourage them to maintain organization and listen for those reminders! As always, if you see your child struggling with this transition, please let me know.
Important Dates
MAP Testing:
Monday, January 5th - 2:15pm - Reading
Tuesday, January 6th - 9:10pm - Math
Tuesday, January 13th - 2:15pm - Language Arts
MLK Day ~ Monday, January 19th - No School
SIP Day ~ Tuesday, January 20th - No School
SIP Day ~ Tuesday, January 20th - No School
Math
My math class wrapped up Unit 5 before break with a Unit Assessment. Look for these graded to tests to come home on the first day back for a sign and return. We will begin Unit 6 when we return with a pre-test on our first day back. In Unit 6, students investigate data displays and sample size. They learn how to match "mystery plots" with data, and they learn how to read and use contour maps to display certain kinds of data. Also in Unit 6, students add and subtract fractions and relate finding common denominators to the idea that every fraction has many equivalent names.
Social Studies
We finished up our study of the Revolutionary War before break with our Revolutionary War Presentation by Mr. Quick. The students were quite engaged in this in-house field trip as they were able to re-enact the Battle of Cowpens. Look for pictures of the field trip below this post. This unit ends our Social Studies instruction for the next 6 weeks - we will return to study the Constitution at the end of February.
Science
When we return to school, we will begin our Watery Earth unit in science. During this unit, your child will think about global and local water resources. Students will learn about the water cycle and how Earth’s water is distributed. They’ll learn that water on Earth is abundant, but realize that there is a limited amount of fresh, clean water available for people to use and that we must protect the water on Earth from pollution and overuse. The most important goal of the Watery Earth unit is to encourage students to use what they learn about water to make choices and take actions in their own life that have a positive impact on water resources.
During the Water Earth Unit, your child will participate in the following classroom activities:
· ~ Discover that Earth’s water exists in large and small bodies of water on Earth’s surface, in aquifers underground, in frozen glaciers and ice caps, and as vapor in the air.
· ~ Build models of the water cycle to demonstrate evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and percolation.
· ~ Learn about where their tap water comes from, how it is made drinkable, and where it goes after use.
· ~ Discuss the essential and non-essential ways their family uses water and explore water conservation strategies.
· ~ Learn about different types of water pollutants and various treatment methods.
· ~ Investigate an issue pertaining to protecting water resources, take action to positively impact that issue, and communicate their accomplishment.
Your child will need one clean 2-liter bottle, cut in half separating the top from the bottom. We will also need a number of 1 gallon milk jugs. If you have either of those, please send them in by Monday, 1/12. Thank you!
Reading
Before break, students turned in their Conflict Scrapbooks on My Brother Sam is Dead. I was so impressed with the effort the students put into completing these projects! Please look for the graded rubrics to come home for a sign and return.
Our reading unit will focus on voting rights and allow the students more practice on integrating multiple texts to come to a new understanding. With all the interruptions to our reading schedule over the next three weeks (MAPS testing and holidays), we will be stretching two weeks worth of instruction over the three weeks. This means that packets and assessments will not be on Fridays, but on different days each of the second two weeks. Students will be reminded of the different schedule daily, and it will be written on the assignment board.
Writing
When we return to school, your child will be participating in a reading and writing unit Writing in Response to Fiction. During this unit, students will gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between reading and writing and will learn essential reading and writing strategies that they will need in order to respond to fiction throughout their educational careers. The students will be reading the book, The Liberation of Gabriel King, by K.L Going.
The Liberation of Gabriel King is a well written and highly engaging historical fiction novel about a friendship between two fifth grade students, Gabriel King, a Caucasian boy, and his friend Frita, an African-American girl. The setting of the story is rural Georgia in 1976, the year of the bicentennial, and Jimmy Carter is President. The author writes about racial prejudice and the presence of the Ku Klux Klan. Frita’s goal is to liberate Gabe from his fears. Together they list their fears and pledge to conquer them one by one during the summer between fourth and fifth grade.
In order to prepare them for this novel, we will spend some time reading and discussing Freedom Walkers and Rosa Parks to give our students context as to the setting and the civil rights struggles that were present at that time in our history.
“While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”
Stay Warm!
Theresa Fowler
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