Saturday, January 15, 2022

Newsletter 1/17-1/21


Here's What's Happening...

English/Language Arts: While students wrapped up literature circles discussions last week, this week they will finalize their Literary Luminary role by recording a video on FlipGrid.  In this video, students will read their selected passage so that I can evaluate their fluency, accuracy, and expression.  Students will continue to work in their literature circle groups to collaborate on a group project for their novel, which is very similar to the independent book report project they did. We will also do the writing lesson about mentor texts, since we didn't get to it last week.  As we are nearing the end of our narrative writing unit, we will also engage in a lesson about ending stories.  Finally, Word Work List 7 will begin as usual with the word sort and definitions.  

Science: Students will do an activity to share the observations they made of various ecosystems from their homework last week.  Then, they will complete a Mystery Science activity, which introduces the idea of food chains and food webs.  We end the week by reading the book Matter Makes It All Up.  As they read, students will be asked to gather evidence to show how animals grow.

Social Studies: We ended up taking more time to complete our web notes/concept maps for the three regions of colonies, so we didn't get to the assessment on Friday.  We will spend Tuesday doing a quick review of the three regions of colonies, and students will complete the assessment in class that day.

Advanced Math:  We will finish the first section of Unit 4 by continuing our exploration of various ways to model division of fractions, and understanding what the problems mean.  Students will complete a Homework Review on the first four lessons of the unit as homework.  We will then turn to the second part of Unit 4, which moves students towards developing the standard algorithm for dividing fractions.  They start with a lesson that helps them connect real world situations with tape diagrams and equations that match the situation.  We will also discuss the idea of using common denominators to divide fractions.

Important Info:

Midenterm of Second Trimester!
So hard to believe the school year is officially halfway complete! You should have received an email from Mr. Pagel about the midterm of the second trimester on Friday, and it being a good time to check your child's progress. I always like to take this opportunity to remind students and their families that much can change between the midterm and end of semester. It's also a great time to discuss what has been going well, what could be better, and set some goals for the end of the second trimester.

Winter Assessments Continue!
Students will take the Reading Literature Common Assessment on Wednesday, January 19th. These assessments are designed to measure progress on the fifth grade priority standards. In this common assessment, students will be asked a series of questions about word parts and context clues, and then read a poem and answer questions about the poem. As always, I simply ask that students give their best effort!

Schedule of Events
  • Monday, January 17th: No School, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
  • Wednesday, January 12th: American Eagle Theatre Class, 2:45-3:45pm
  • Thursday, January 13th: Young Rembrandts, 2:45-3:45pm

Students had a great time making their own terrarium!











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