Update - Mrs. Duffy's 5th Grade
December 1, 2014
Novemeber Highlights
Well, as is often the case, the last month flew by, with lots of new learning, and excitement along the way! During the month of November, we were able to take part in some very special activities. On November 11th, Titus saluted United States Veteran's with a beautiful assembly, where we paid tribute to the amazing servicemen and women of our country. We were happy to see that Mr. Schwartz was able to attend as one of the veterans at the assembly.
Next, we were also lucky to welcome a few special guests and/or newcomers to our room! Mrs. Suzanne Dailey came to our classroom to do a fun activity on grit. The students did an awesome job of getting to work, and showing off their grit! We also welcomed a new member to our classroom community, Tiahna - we are all so excited to have another awesome Titus student! Additionally, we began the Roxy Reader program, where students had the opportunity to read aloud to our new therapy dog/friend, Hope! Hope was such a joy to have in the classroom, and we are looking forward to having her back next Friday, so that students can practice reading aloud to our wonderfully, furry friend!
Finally, student's received progress reports for the first marking period. Many parents and students stopped in for a conference, and we celebrated the tremendous accomplishments of each child. I have really enjoyed this personal time with families - thank you for coming in!
Grit Activity
Grit Activity
Morning Meeting Greeting
READING - MATH - WRITING - SOCIAL STUDIES
Math - We wrapped up Unit 3, Geometry, in the middle of November, and are now about 2/3 of the way through Unit 4, Division. Remember to check out our classroom website for additional practice with basic math facts, as well as more information on our current unit.
Reading - Right before the break, we took the Unit 1 assessment for the Lead 21 Reading program. This tested our skills in reading comprehension (determining importance, making inferences, paraphrasing), vocabulary, and open responses to literature. This assessment will come home with your child this week. Over the next week, we will focus on summarizing and synthesizing when reading. Specifically, we will work on note-taking when reading, in order to better understand fiction and non-fiction. Ask your child what we write down if we want to know the "gist" of a passage.
Writing - We are just about to complete personal narratives. Students have been working hard to revise their first personal narrative piece. We will finish with these at the end of the week, and move onto writing informative writing pieces. Ask your child what he/she wrote about for the "exploded moment."
Social Studies - We have just begun to study the Exploration of the new world. Students will learn about some of the most significant explorers of this time period. Next week, we'll begin an exciting chapter on the original colonies. Students will put together and in-class project, by creating billboards to represent their selected colony.