5th Grade Curriculum Update
May/June 2015
What a sweet bunch of students we have! As we approach our final weeks together, we want to thank you for allowing us to learn and laugh right along with them!
Reading Workshop
This week, students launched student-led book clubs! The selected texts include: Maniac Magee, Rules, When You Reach Me, and Flipped. Each group created their reading schedule, and over the next ten days, students will take turns with the following jobs: Discussion Director, Summarizer, Connector, Word Wizard, Artful Artist, and Passage Picker. These jobs allow the kids to use their reading strategies in order to plan and engage in thoughtful, productive discussions. This is always a favorite unit for 5th graders, and we will get in two rounds of Book Clubs before the year's end! Happy Reading!
As a class, we will also be enjoying Lois Lowry's, The Giver as our read-aloud. This Newbery Award winner has the kids on the edge of their seats! Jonas lives in a world of "Sameness," where most things are controlled and choice is limited. We will discuss the pros and cons of living in a controlled society like Jonas, and I can't wait to hear the passionate discussions as to why they agree or disagree with his world. Ask your child for their thoughts; I hope it leads to a great conversation!
5th grade will also explore Poetry before the year is over. Sharon Creech's "Love that Dog" is a great mentor text to accompany this unit, as it reminds us that poetry is a way for us to share our feelings, including those which are happy AND painful. Through this book, students are also reminded of the importance of word choice and line breaks.
Writing Workshop
We will enjoy the last few weeks of school by exploring that springtime favorite...Poetry!
Math
We will then move onto a challenging unit on volume and displacement. The hands-on, engaging, and challenging math continues, and I love seeing students amazed by the math problems they're solving! As always, we will continue to review previously learned concepts, such as operations with fractions, decimals, and percentages, in order to keep our skills fresh and our computation sharp! ;)
Can you find the unknown angles in this diagram?
Social Studies
Please ask to see your researcher's plan. They have each created one to make sure they are prepared in time for the Festival.
Over the next few weeks, we will also continue our discussion of Greek Philosophy. We will have an in depth discussion of whether or not Sparta's educational system was really worth the sacrifices demanded of it's citizens. I apologize in advance if your student is a bit less complacent than usual, but Socrates does that to folks...
In the last few days of the school year, we will attempt to build a few feats of Roman engineering! Don't be surprised if your citizen starts rummaging for tubes, pipes, cement, or scrap wood. Those latrines aren't going to build themselves...
Important Dates: (Whew! There are many!)
May 4th - 8th: Spirit Week
- Monday: Clash Day
- Tuesday: Holiday Wear
- Wednesday: Formal Day
- Thursday: Pajama Day & Breakfast-for-Lunch will be served for everyone! :)
- Friday: NFS Day
May 8th - 9th: Book Fair
May 9th: Family and Alumni Day
May 12th: Field Trip to UPenn
May 13th: Sneak Peek at NFS Upper School
May 14: Field Day
May 20th: Greek Festival & Feast
May 25: No SchoolMay 29th: 7th & 8th grade Musical: The Music Man