Fifth Grade Newsletter
Hello Third Nine Weeks!
Happy New Year fifth grade families! Welcome back to school after what we hope was a wonderful and exciting winter break spent with family and friends. The second half of the school year is well underway with teachers and students once again actively engaged in teaching and learning. We are excited about getting back to work and what the third nine weeks holds!
Crazy about Content with Mrs. Jackson
What's Happening in Virginia Studies and Science
Welcome to the third nine weeks! I cannot believe that we are already here. I hope you all enjoyed the holiday break with your student, but it is so wonderful to have them back! This nine weeks in Science we are going to be studying rocks, the history of Earth, plate tectonics, plant and animal classifications, cells, and organism traits. We have some fun things planned to investigate each topic and practice our scientific inquiry skills. During our Virginia Studies units, we will be focusing on the Government branches, Founding Fathers/Documents, and industries/products of Virginia! Be on the look-out for information about "contracting out" and lots of new projects going on in our room!
Math Madness with Ms. Whitten
What's Happening in Math
5.16 The student will describe mean, median, and mode as measures of center; describe mean as fair share; find the mean, median, mode, and range of a set of data; and describe the range of a set of data as a measure of variation.
5.8 The student will find perimeter, area, and volume in standard units of measure;differentiate among perimeter, area, and volume and identify whether the application of the concept of perimeter, area, or volume is appropriate for a given situation; identify equivalent measurements within the metric system; estimate and then measure to solve problems, using U.S. Customary and metric units; and choose an appropriate unit of measure for a given situation involving measurement using U.S. Customary and metric units
5.17 The student will describe the relationship found in a number pattern and express the relationship.
5.18 The student will investigate and describe the concept of variable; write an open sentence to represent a given mathematical relationship, using a variable; model one-step linear equations in one variable, using addition and subtraction; and create a problem situation based on a given open sentence, using a single variable.
5.19 The student will investigate and recognize the distributive property of multiplication over addition.
Wild about Language Arts with Ms. Seibert and Mrs. Pancham
What's Happening in Reading, Writing, and Word Study
This nine weeks is unique as well we be working closely with both nonfiction and fictional text. Students will continue to read a variety of text focusing on comprehension, vocabulary development, and test-taking skills. Please continue to have your child read each night and complete the Language Arts Packet. Below you will find the particular reading, writing, word study, and vocabulary SOLs that we will focus on this nine weeks.
Reading:
SOL 5.5 Fiction
d. author’s purpose and style in writing
SOL 5.6 Nonfiction
Writing:
Grammar Skills:
verb tense and subject verb agreement
quotation marks
Composition:
revising and editing narrative and expository writing
Word Study/Vocabulary:
SOL 5.4 The student will expand vocabulary when reading.
a) Use context to clarify meaning of unfamiliar words and phrases.
b) Use context and sentence structure to determine meanings and differentiate among multiple meanings of words.
c) Use knowledge of roots, affixes, synonyms, antonyms, and homophones.
d) Identify an author’s use of figurative language.
- e) Use dictionary, glossary, thesaurus, and other word-reference materials.
- f) Develop vocabulary by listening to and reading a variety of texts.
- g) Study word meanings across content areas.
Important Dates
- Date Night with Dad: January 14, 2016
- MLK Day: Division Holiday, NO SCHOOL, January 18, 2016
- PTA Meeting: January 21, 2016
- Math Benchmark: January 25th and January 27th, 2016
- Donuts with Dad: January 27, 2016
- VA Studies and Science Benchmarks: January 28th and January 29th, 2016
- Reading Benchmark: February 2nd and February 3rd, 2016