Barry 5th Grade Team Silver
Friday, February 8th, 2019
Important Dates
February 18th - NO School
February 27th - PLC Early Release/ Spring Conferences
Things to Remember
Please check your child's planner each night for updates on what we are working on in class, upcoming events/reminders, and behavior tracking. Your child can help you find this information, and provide more details
Read 20 minutes a night, 5 nights a week
Practice on Reflex Math 15 minutes a night, 3 times a week
Valentine's Parties
Spring Conferences
Our Spring Conferences will be held on Wednesday, February 27th from 2:00 pm - 7:00 pm. A Sign-Up Genius link will be sent to you via email today (2-8).
Your conference will be led by your child. They have created a presentation to show you all he or she has accomplished this year! You will have the opportunity to visit both classrooms and get a feel for what your child's day looks like here at school.
Reading
We have continued to work on identifying firsthand and secondhand accounts in nonfiction text this week. We have also continued to discuss how the same event can be viewed and communicated from different perspectives and how different perspectives can affect what information is shared about the event with the reader. We will post test over Point of View with Nonfiction text next week. Our next unit of study will be identifying an author’s purpose and locating the main idea of a text. Third quarter Accelerated Reader goals can be found on a post it note in your child’s planner. Accelerated Reader Midterms were sent home last week indicating your child’s progress so far with his or her AR goal as of Midterm. Students were asked to review their progress with their goals with parents and bring the Midterm signed by a parent back to school by Thursday, February 7 to avoid having a letter for work in the planner. With the snow days on Thursday and Friday, I am going to extend the time to get the Midterm signed to Tuesday, February 12 before a letter for work would be assigned. Students on Team Silver will need to continue to work on reading at home and at school toward their 3rd quarter AR goals. The students on Team Silver will have until the end of the day on Friday, March 8, the last day of third quarter, to take quizzes on the books they have completed to have points toward their AR goals. I am encouraging the children to read at a good pace and to read carefully to help them have success on their AR quizzes. The children must pass their quizzes in order to receive points toward their goals on the books they read. The point value awarded for the book also goes down with each question missed on the quiz. Students on Team Silver are given time in class to read during Reader’s Workshop but are also encouraged to read at home to help them work toward their AR goals. Students in 5th grade will receive a “W” for work in their planners for AR goals not met by the end of the quarter. In order to help encourage students to meet their AR goals and reading goals I am asking students on Team Silver to read for at least 20 minutes a night at home for homework to help them make progress in their books. I am asking students to read for 20 minutes at home at least 5 nights a week. This is the main homework the students will be focusing on for ELA during the year other than working on writing projects or other projects that might need more time to finish.
Writing
Our next unit of study will be examining elements of a research based argument as we prepare to write researched based arguments of our own. Some of the key ideas we will be focusing on are how a research based argument follows a certain process for communicating the basis for an argument in the form of a thesis statement, an author’s reasons for the argument, and researched based facts to help support what the author is trying to communicate to his or her audience. We have been focused on Reader’s Workshop concepts more again this past week but will begin work on this unit soon with examining researched based arguments written by authors and identifying key elements that help the author communicate the argument to the reader in an organized way with research based facts as support.
Math
In this topic we are studying:
- Using patterns
- Estimating
- Using models
- Dividing by 1 and 2 digit whole numbers
- Number sense
Students should be practicing on Reflex Math 3 times a week for 15 minutes.
If your child has reached fluency on Reflex, or if he/she would like extra practice, he/she may go on Prodigy. Students have this log-in information in their planner. You can get to both websites by clicking on the links below.
Science
- Note taking
- Engaging videos
- Hands-on experiments
- Group projects (creating posters, skits, music videos, and more!)
- Learning catchy songs
We are also working on improving our study skills by creating flashcards, taking precise notes, creating mnemonic devices, learning songs, etc. These are skills that your child will use next year in 6th grade and through the rest of their academic career!
Check out our Water Cycle theme song below! Can you learn the entire song (including the dance moves...)?!
Social Studies
We have been learning about several European Explorers who explored in North and South America during the 1400 - 1600’s. We have learned about areas of North and South America that were explored by European explorers such as Amerigo Vespucci, Christopher Columbus, Leif Eriksson, and John Cabot from Spain, Portugal, and Britain and have begun to see a connection between areas explored and later European settlements and colonies in North and South America. We will continue to discuss explorers from Spain, France, Portugal, and Britain next week as we take a look at areas explored by Ferdinand Magellan, Hernando De Soto, Henry Hudson, and Robert LaSalle.
Students on Team Silver have been taking notes during class on each of the Explorers and will be able to use the notes from our first set of Explorers (Amerigo Vespucci, Christopher Columbus, Leif Eriksson, and John Cabot) for an open note test on Tuesday, February 12. We will be taking an open note test over the second set of explorers (Ferdinand Magellan, Hernando De Soto, Henry Hudson, and Robert LaSalle) after we return from the President’s Day break.
Contact Us
Ms. Shoup
Math and Science
(816) 436-9623 EXT. 3152
Mrs. Hayes
ELA and Social Studies
(816) 436-9623 EXT. 3145