Grade 5 BMS
Thursday, September 24th 2015
Notes From the Teachers
Thank you for reading our first fifth grade news letter! In 5th grade the Thursday letter is written by the students for the parents. Each class will take turns writing this news letter and since we are all doing similar activities you will know what your student has been doing. They are very proud of their hard work and chance to share with everyone all that they have been doing.
Important Dates
Clubs start Monday, September 28
Parent Teacher Conferences October 14th and 15th
Special Events
PEACE ONE DAY
Peace day is a worldwide day were everyone lives in peace so it is mainly about freedom
The peace day is in the 21 September and it was invented in 1982 . The day is there because every human should Know how peace feels
We let white balloons in the sky for the world wide international Peace Day . The balloons floated to the Nord Ost. Before that, we all wrote a note about Peace Day and attached it to a balloon, like "Peace for everyone" or "No war: Peace". We wanted to show that we need and love peace. When we let go of the balloons and looked in the sky it was very beautiful.
On Peace day, we watched a short movie, about how did the Peace day came. Once there is a man, that lives in London. He thought the World should live in Peace. A few weeks later he had a speech and most of the people listened to him. They agreed about what he said and a few years later got help from different people like government leaders, the UN Organization and superstars like David Beckamm, Angelina Jolie, and Annie Lennox. They agreed to this Idea, that the 21st of September will officially be the day to celebrate Peace.
Unit of Inquiry
How the World Works
Fifth grade classes do investigations, learn about irreversible change, and have a visit from a guest speaker.
We have been learning about reversible and irreversible change, changes of state, states of matter and chemical reactions. Our investigations have helped us understand these things.
The classes have also been learning all about wasting. A woman who knew very much about recycling, reusing, reducing and wasting taught the the children how and what you can do to help and not waste. She showed them (students) objects people recycle like cups made from sugar, baby pants and paper made from sheep poo! The yogurt cup was made from a material that if you put it in the ground it will grow a plant. On the Smart board she showed how much we waste water on different kind of things. For example: producing jeans wastes 7,500 liters of water. Isn't that unbelievable? That was all really interesting and fun to learn. For more information about water, why not check out this email address:
http://waterprint.net/categories.html
The students are also doing experiments about learning to make hypothesis and having fun doing experiments.The first experiment the students did was they were putting an M&M in a bowl with water and then the students needed to write every thing down what they saw was happening after one minute.The students also learned about evaporation and condensation.There were a lot of other experiments that the students made and experienced. So the students think it was fun .
SPORT
Battlesport
This 3 weeks of sport our students focus on jumping the rope and other activities.
In the first week our students played Battlefield. On the second day of sport the students played Dutsch Ball.They Played with an other class.
In the second week, the students had stations that had climbing ropes and other stuff. The kids were very focused. There was a station were you needed to go through the hula hoops that were hanging up without touching them. It was a bit of a challenge, but the kids mastered it.
In the third week, the students played Dodgeball. During this, they learned how to play with strategy and aim the ball at the enemies. Grade 5 also set goals for them to improve specific tasks for example:climbing, dribbling and jumping.
Language Focus
Reading & Writing in Fifth Grade
The students have been learning about text features and writing for an extended period of time.
In class the students are looking at text features from non Fiction articles that are related to the unit of inquiry. Also the children are reading their own books in class.
The fifth grade classes are writing stories during Big Writing that are non-fiction, fiction and more. They are using interesting and good words with and with out topics. We hope you like it, if you get to read them. Every week we do some writing.
Mathematics Focus
Learning about decimals, times tables, and other cool easy strategies!
So far we have been learning a new method called lattice and some other methods as well. It makes multiplication much easier! We are practicing until we can do it with ease.
They work so simple!!!!!! Ask you student to explain.
We started to learn about Place Value with big numbers and decimals. We are ordering numbers from smallest to biggest. Some children weren't so sure how to pronounce big numbers like 730,083,19.222
We have also been making some graphs to show the worlds population and how much resources the same countries use.
In this Semester some children have been unsure about their times tables so we made a chart with Times Tables to twelve or other ways where we can keep track of our progress.
Notes From The German Teachers
In German the students have started on their first unit, which is a stand-alone unit about German spelling patterns. The goal of the Unit is to not only get a better understanding but also implement the rules.
The 5th graders worked on their individual "Stolperstellen" (difficult spelling patterns), for example "ck", "tz", s-sounds and prefixes. At the moment the students are creating their own activities like crossword puzzles or other games to practice their spelling. They also find catchy rules and share them with the class to make it easier for the students to remember challenging spelling patterns.
Kind regards,
Frau Gerth, Frau Ginzel and Frau Vranjkovic
Notes From CCEP
Dear Parents,
The school year is kicking off to a great start!
We are seeing the students integrate well in class and afterschool with their new peers. They are forming new friendships and trying to maintain bonds with their friends from last year. We have found that our new students are integrating into the class culture very well.
This week, International Peace Day at BMS was full of joy and emotion for all! Our creative fifth graders made drawings, posters and wrote messages of peace and love during CCEP after school activities.
This year we introduced a new structure for the CCEP rooms as well as an improved check-out system. We are pleased to report that students are comfortable with the changes and excited to begin the club program which commences on Monday 28th Sept. You should have received the information you need for the clubs already, however should you have any concerns or questions, please feel free to contact us by sending an email to Jakob Kahane (5th grade CCEP team leader).
Wishing you a lovely week ahead!
Your 5th Grade CCEP Team