Updates and announcements

We are back and excited to begin our second quarter! I hope everyone had a wonderful Fall Break! I got to spend mine cuddling with my cats, quilting, and cooking.

This week is all half days due to parent-teacher conferences. I look forward to seeing all of you and getting to share the wonderful ways your child has grown this year.

Please send in “Where the Red Fern Grows” with your child this week.

Our Science Fair will be next Wednesday in the gym.

Our week in learning

This week, students will work on reading comprehension skills with short quizzes, which we will go over in class.

Next week, students will begin reading “Where the Red Fern Grows.” Expect to see a homework comprehension sheet for each completed chapter.

In grammar, students will learn roots 26-29 and take a short quiz on Friday. They will review classifying and diagramming throughout the week. Next week, students will begin studying possessive nouns.

This week in science brings our much-anticipated science fair presentations. Students’ diligence and perseverance has paid off with the result of wonderfully-constructed science fair projects. All this week, students will present their projects to classmates in their home rooms during approximately 5-minute long presentations. Please note that everything your child needs to present his or her project should already be at school - the trifold board and written essay. Other components of the projects should not be brought to school; however, students may bring additional pictures they wish to share.

On October 25, our all-school fifth-grade science fair will take place. All students’ projects will be submitted to qualify for awards! You are invited to come with your child and explore the fifth-grade projects, but attendance is not necessary for your child’s submission.

This week in History, students will begin learning about the Reformation. We will be addressing this topic as a historical event-not labeling “good” and “bad”. Students will be learning about the objective corruptions within the Catholic church at this time, then the Counter-Reformation, and lastly, the Reformation’s effect on science. This week, we will focus on the changes happening in thought due to the Renaissance, the printing press, and the birth of Protestantism with Martin Luther-detailing indulgences. On Wednesday, we will continue our U.S. geography study with the Rocky Mountain region.

This week in Math, students will continue with our fractions unit. We will work on identifying and comparing “benchmark” fractions, multiplying fractions by whole numbers, and converting measurements to be expressed as a fraction of a smaller unit. There will be no math groups this week.