5th Grade Happenings
Mrs. Hall, Mrs. Leitner, & Mrs. Smith
November 3, 2017
Halloween Party Thank You
A big thanks to all of our families who donated time and materials to make our classroom parties a huge success! Our 5th graders had an awesome time celebrating.
P/T Conferences & Seesaw Digital Portfolio
If you haven't done so yet, please log in to your child's Seesaw account to view his/her digital portfolio before your scheduled conference. If you need another Seesaw Family Information sheet, please email your child's teacher and one will be sent home.
Scholastic Book Fair - Nov 6-10
One of the best ways for SPE to be able to purchase new books for our Learning Commons is through our Scholastic Book Fair profits. We get 55% of our sales to spend with Scholastic! This is a Win-Win for SPE and your child. Everyone gets new books!
Math - Division with remainders
Please be sure to check the planner daily for circled/highlighted assignments as these are homework assignments.
Reading Workshop - Interpreting Characters
We are continuing to explore our guiding question throughout this unit is 'How do readers develop strategies to build theories about their character's in order to infer, interpret, compare and contrast and reflect on their characters experiences?'
Our 4 essential questions are:
- How do readers build theories about characters and use text to support their ideas?
- How do readers move from inference to interpretation?
- How do readers compare characters within and across texts?
- How do readers take time to reflect on stories and on their own reading lives to grow?
In the second concept, Readers move from inference to interpretation; readers continue to grow theories as they read forward while revising or confirming thinking as they gain new details from the text. Readers use characters struggles and challenges to learn more about their characters and nudge their theories to more complex thinking with the support of language prompts. Readers will pay attention to the recurring themes in their text and see these and recurring details as another path to adding depth to their growing theories.
Writing - Mrs. Hall
Our next unit aims to utilize these strengths! Our writers will explore a class topic using texts, both digital and print, and reasons for and against the shared topic. We have chosen the topic of zoos! Students will work with pre-chosen text sets to write their own position on the shared class topic. Students will learn to develop a solid argument by researching both sides of the issue. Students will read critically, to plan and write their own arguments which include reasons and evidence for their position on the topic.
Stay tuned...this unit is going to be a blast!
Science / Chemical Magic Mystery 3 - Mrs. Smith
Next week we will be learning how chemical reactions create new materials that have useful and interesting properties. Your child will conduct an investigation to determine if the mixing of various substances resulted in a new substance. In this case, your child will be discovering how to make a type of “goo” similar to other goos, like Silly Putty and Play-doh.
You can support your child’s curiosity at home by watching some videos of amazing chemical reactions together. Here is a wonderful series of demonstrations done for the public by a scientist at the Royal Institution:
Social Studies/Native Americans- Mrs. Leitner
We also spent time looking at the different perspectives and reasons some groups of people and governments chose to begin exploring the Americas. Students examined the perspectives of the Spanish (although at first they didn't realize they would end up in the Americas!), the English, and the Protestants.
Next week we will continue our discussions about the Age of Exploration!
Absences / Attendance Line & Email
Attendance Line:
In the event that your child is absent from school, please call the SPE Attendance Line at 248.623.3890 and leave a brief recording with your child's name, teacher's name, and reason for absence. This is helpful when tracking communicable diseases within our school and when necessary sending health care letters to affected classrooms to help keep all of us healthy.
Email:
We also greatly appreciate a quick email to your child's teacher letting her know that your child is absent for the day.
Alena Hall
Homeroom - Reading and Math Workshop
Rotations - Writing Workshop
Email: amhall@clarkston.k12.mi.us
Website: https://sites.google.com/clarkston.k12.mi.us/mrshallsclass/home
Location: Room 301
Phone: 248.623.3810
Staci Leitner
Homeroom - Reading and Math Workshop
Rotations - Social Studies
Email: syleitner@clarkston.k12.mi.us
Website: http://mrsleitner.weebly.com/
Location: Room 305
Phone: 248.623.3815
Heather Smith
Homeroom - Reading and Math Workshop
Rotations - Science
Email: hasmith@clarkston.k12.mi.us
Website: bit.ly/spesmith
Location: Room 303
Phone: 248.623.3813
Springfield Plains Elementary
Website: spe.clarkston.k12.mi.us
Phone: 248-623-3800