The Fifth Grade Times
Your connection to what's happening in fifth grade!
Reminders:
- If you haven't done so, please sign-up for a conference.
- Please check your child's folders nightly.
- Please bring back report card envelopes signed.
- Check Edline weekly for current grades.
Important Dates!
- 11/2/16-Reports Cards
- 11/3/16-Byrnes Health
- 11/4/16 PRIDE Assembly
- 11/8/16-Election Day
- 11/9/16-Camo or Tie-Dye Day
- 11/17/16-Conferences from 5-8PM
- 11/21/16-No School for Students/Conferences from 8AM-8PM
- 11/22/16-No School for Students/Conferences from 8AM-12PM
- 11/23/16-11/28/16 No School/Fall Vacation
We have begun Unit 3 of the Everyday Mathematics (EDM) program. On my webpage, you will find a link entitled EDM 4 Unit Test Objectives. Please proceed to that link to learn the topics we are covering in class and what the students will be asked to demonstrate with proficiency on the Unit 3 Test.
In addition to those concepts, students have nightly homework, and that does include Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. For a few minutes each day, students know they are to be:
1 – Practicing their basic facts (through 12). Please see the “Fact Fluency” link on webpage for further information.
2 – Practicing their Unit 3 Vocabulary Study Guides – also may be found on my webpage under “Handouts.”
3 – Continuing with their Study Island Unit 3 Test Review assignment. Extra credit may also be earned, see “EDM 4 Unit Test Objectives” for further information.
As always, if you would like additional information regarding our curriculum and/or to have individual questions answered, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thank you for your continued support!
Reading
Our interpretive book clubs have been going very well and the students seems to enjoy discussing their books with their club members. I have heard some great conversations, perspectives and even some really deep thinking as they analyze characters, motives and plots. Our next unit of study is titled, Tackling Complexity: Moving Up Levels of Nonfiction. Within this unit your child will be learning:
*Ways to approach nonfiction text.
*How to determine its complex main idea.
*How to use specific strategies to make sense of complex vocabulary and structure of the text.
*Strategies that will help them lift their book summaries to the next level.
Word Study
Approximately every two weeks your child is given a vocabulary word list, which includes Greek/Latin root words. We pronounce the words on the first day and discuss definitions, sort them, and add other words into our Interactive Reading Notebooks that fit the same pattern. Your child has a quiz on these words at the end of that two-week time period. The students usually know a week ahead and are to be writing it down on their planner sheets or in their notebooks. You should have seen five of these come home so far. The students must have their Reading Interactive Notebook with them in order to study. On Monday they will have their vocabulary quiz on list #5, which includes the root words of; leg and lect. Vocabulary words include: allege, allegory, delegate, election, electorate, legalize, legible, legislation, legitimate and privilege.
Scholastic Book Orders due on Tuesday, November 8th
I would like to extend a thank you to all families that ordered from the last few book orders. Every dollar spent by myself and our 5th grade families comes back to us in the form of bonus points. These bonus points can then be spent on books for the classroom library or multiple copies of the same book for our book clubs. This past month, we were able to receive 2 sets of club books and 15 other books for free, which equated to 1,000 bonus points! Thank you so much for supporting our class libraries and giving students a variety of current, favorite books in order to accommodate all reading levels and interests.
Health History Forms
If you have not yet returned your child’s Health History Form that was sent home two weeks ago, please complete it as soon as possible and return it to school with your child.
We finished the narrative unit! Make sure to ask your child for his/her latest writing piece. It went home in their Wednesday folder. I am very proud of how much they have grown since the first lesson. I have really goten to know your child this marking period, and I can't wait to see what they are capable of doing for the next unit of study. The next writing piece will be an argument research-based paper. The first topic we will be writing about is whether chocolate milk should be served or banned from schools. Ask your child what they think and why. Eventually, they will choose a topic of interest, something that they feel passionate about.
Word Work:
We will continue to add information to our interactive notebooks.
The next topics we will learn about include:
- compound subjects and compound predicates
- independent and dependent clauses
- run-on and fragment sentences
Word of the Week:
Thus far, I taught eight words and after two more, students will have a quiz on all ten words. I will also collect their packets for a grade. I encourage the students to use the words in their writing and speaking.
Ask your child what the following words mean:
- punctual
- colossal
- jubilant
- excel
- boisterous
- zany
- fabricate
- lollygag
Science: The students have been having fun researching and creating a 3-D model about a specific landform. We are still learning about topics that deal with geology.
Some topics we have left include:
- erosion
- weather and climate
- the atmosphere