Fifth Grade News
January 14-January 17
Reading
We read several poems from Dear Mother, Dear Daughter. The students really loved these poems because it was written in the perspective of a daughter and a mother. For example, the daughter writes the poem to the mother trying to convince her for a later bedtime. The mother writes back to the daughter telling her why that was not going to happen. We then acted out these poems and discussed making connections to our lives and poetry.
Lastly, we discussed similes and metaphors. Several poems were posted around the room. Students worked with partners. They read the poems and determined the simile or metaphor. Look for the "Check for Understanding" sheet for this coming home in the Friday Folders next Friday. The students did a wonderful job at finding evidence in the text to support their answers.
Reading Buddies
Helping First Graders
Writing Books with 1st Grade
Math
We then spent the rest of the week practicing the skill. We ended the week with a game of basketball. The students worked as a team to solve problems using the structure Numbered Heads Together. They then had an opportunity to make a basket if their team answered correctly. We had a lot of fun learning and practicing!
Science and Social Studies
Social Studies: This week we wrapped up our unit on Slavery. The students shared information that they gathered about the treatment of slaves, transportation of slaves, and the cost of slaves. We then related it to present-day child labor. The students learned of the many products made today in violation of child labor laws. We had a great discussion to end the unit.
Writing
A Peek Into Next Week
Math: Next week we will begin multiplying a fraction by a fraction. We will learn how to show this visually and numerically. The students will then apply their understanding to word problems.
Writing: The next step in writing a literary essay is to identify evidence to support a claim. The students will continue with the story, Eleven. They will look for evidence specific to their claim before eventually beginning to write their literary essay.