Newsletter 8/23-8/27

Here's What's Happening...

English/Language Arts: We begin our year by building writing stamina, as well as learning how to use lists to brainstorm for writing.  Students will learn about our word work routines and begin Word Work List 1.  We will wrap up the week by reviewing the difference between GIST, Summary, and Retelling.

Science: Our first unit in Science is entitled Patterns of Earth and Sky.  This week, we will introduce the unit and the role students take during this unit - astronomers!  They will learn about our unit question which is "Why do we see different stars at different times?"  We will also introduce the mystery students will try to solve in this unit, which focuses on identifying what the missing piece of an artifact looks like.  This unit is truly "out of this world!"

Social Studies: We begin Social Studies with learning about the voyages of Columbus and the Columbian Exchange. To help us prepare, we will explore the difference between primary and secondary sources! 

Advanced Math: We will finish up our get to know you activities and then discuss the 8 Mathematical Practices that we will use this year.  We will also learn about our new Math resource, which is called Desmos.  Unit 1 focuses on Area and Surface Area.  In our first lesson, students will work to develop strategies for determining the area of non-rectangular shapes.  Look for a family resource sheet to come home this week to let you know about what this unit covers!

Important Info:

Welcome to the 2021-2022 school year!  We are SO happy to have our Panthers back in our building and all together in one place!  We spent the first three days getting to know each other and some of our routines.  This will continue in the coming weeks as we start to move more towards our typical school day schedule.  I will update this blog each week so you can see what is in store for your student in the week ahead, as well as see some of the fun learning we did during the week!  I hope you enjoy!

This Week's Photos

Our get to know you snowball fight...

Gallery Walk of Letters from Last Year's Fifth Graders!

Schedule of Events

• Thursday. September 2nd: Picture Day!