Welcome to our weekly newsletter update!Below you will find five sections (math updates, reading/writing updates, science/social studies updates, friendly reminders, and upcoming dates). If you have any questions or concerns, please send us an email.
Math Updates This week in math we continued our work with volume of solid figures. We learned about proportional relationships (the relationship between height and volume), the use of different units of volume as the size of figures change, liquid volume and capacity, and students got the opportunity to bring something from home to find the volume in either cubic inches or cubic centimeters. This activity gave many students another lens into what volume actually is. Many students came to the conclusion that you can find the volume of anything in the world! Everyone’s volume quiz was handed back earlier in the week and many students have already turned theirs back in with quiz corrections. I have heard from others that they need an extension and one has been given. As always, please reach out with questions or concerns from the quiz. This week students will be given a Khan Academy account. Khan Academy is a resource I have already shared with you in previous newsletters and on the 5th Grade website. Khan Academy is a great place for students to get additional teaching and practice on various math concepts. Students will be assigned content based on their NWEA scores and will get time in class each week to complete both Khan and ST Math (also a great idea to be using on a daily basis at home, but not mandatory). Khan is a place students and families can look to if having difficulty with any in-class content. If your student took home their Bansho notebook on Thursday, please ensure it is returned as soon as possible. As previously mentioned in last weeks newsletter - if you want your student to take home their journal on Thursdays, please remind them to do so and ask them to write in their agenda during “agenda time” each day. Reading/Writing Updates This week in reading we read parts of the expository nonfiction book Great Women of the American Revolution (Hall). We did a close read of one of the chapters to examine how text features provide us with additional information outside of what is a part of the main text. We also explored the text features at the end of the book: index, glossary, and appendix. Next week we will close out this unit with an assessment. We will also begin our new unit on using questioning in expository nonfiction. This week in writing we went through the process of proofreading students’ revised drafts for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. The young writers took notes on proofreading that they will be able to use later on to proofread other drafts. They worked to type up their final versions on Google Docs and then created books that will be housed in the classroom library. We reflected on our writing community and what it was like to go through the writing process. We also conducted an “Author’s Chair” in which students were able to present their published writing to the class and then participate in a discussion about one another’s work. We will begin genre writing next week starting with a unit on opinion writing. *All drafts must be turned in by Monday if they were not completed during class time. I have also give the option for students to come in early on Monday or stay after school if they need access to a computer.* Science/Social Studies Updates Science class this week was very interesting. We finished up our study of the Earth's spheres and have started a new unit about matter and it's interactions. We honed our observation skills this week by describing the macroscopic physical properties of matter. We then experimented with the dissolving of sugar coating of an M & M in room temperature water. Students will run their own M & M experiments next week by changing the variables of today's experiment. Our first social studies topic for this unit is child labor. We watched a short film about how child labor increased during the industrial revolution. The students seem to be very interested in this topic and have lots of questions. We are reading Kids on Strike and will be making presentations about chapters in this book along with strike signs. Kids on Strike describes the conditions and treatment that drove workers, mainly children, to various strikes, from the mill workers strikes and the coal strikes to the work of Mother Jones on behalf of child workers. Friendly Reminders
https://www.smore.com/yg1ab-volunteer-process-update?ref=email-content#w-2166468253 Upcoming Dates 29 October: Room 323 Bird Watching Field Trip 30 October: Room 325 Bird Watching Field Trip 31 October: Room 324 Bird Watching Field Trip 31 October: Halloween Parade
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