Monday, November 5, 2018


Updates and announcements

The second quarter always feels like it moves so fast! We are already in week 4 and Thanksgiving is only a short 2 ½ weeks away!

Our 50 States Location test is this Wednesday. This site is a great resource for students (and adults ;) ) to quiz themselves: https://online.seterra.com/en 

5A is getting a little less time to work on the poem “The Road Not Taken”, so to make up for that, we will be reciting the poem together every morning before we go to our first special to give them class time to work on it.

The Fall Festival is on Saturday! I hope to see you there!

Our week in learning

This week, students will learn about the idiom “Lock, stock, and barrel”.

Students will recite “The Road Not Taken” on 11/14. PLEASE NOTE: though it is not long, this is a tricky poem to memorize last minute because it does not rhyme. Students should work a little every night to memorize this.

Students will learn about the roots rhinos, cornu, and derma. There will be a roots quiz over these next Wednesday, following the same schedule as last year. Students should expect a similar roots quiz every Wednesday over the roots learned the previous week.

In Literature, we will continue reading “Where the Red Fern Grows”. Students will continue their journal entries. For every chapter, students will write one 5-6 sentence paragraph about a virtue a character showed during that chapter. We will be looking out for foreshadowing and figurative language.

In Writing and Grammar, we will begin writing narratives on a time the students showed courage. Toward the end of the week, we will discuss how we classify and diagram interjections.

This week in science, students will continue their study of classification. We will continue studying the Protist “junk drawer” kingdom, and students will be introduce to the bacteria in Kingdom Monera. On Thursday, students will have a chance to practice hands on with a live earthworm and make observations! It will be a fun chance to see science in action. Please make note of the due dates in the science fair packets-students should be finishing their experiment design and gathering materials this week so they can begin trials. Mark your calendars for Wednesday, December 12th from 5:00PM to 6:30PM, as this will be our 5th Grade Science fair! Students projects will be presented and judged in the gym that night.

This week in History, students will have two tests. Since we need one more day of instruction for the Reformation, our test has been moved from Tuesday to Thursday (11/8). Study Guides are now due Tuesday (11/6), instead of Monday. On Wednesday (11/7), students will be tested on their knowledge of the location of all 50 States. Please encourage your children to study multiple days in advance for each. On Friday, we will learn about King Henry VIII and his multiple wives, in preparation for Unit 5: England: Golden Age to Glorious Revolution.

In math, we will continue with our unit on Multiplying and Dividing Fractions. Students will work on word problems that involve multiplying a fraction by a fraction, divide a fraction by a fraction, and divide a whole number by a unit fraction. Please note that we will have frequent quizzes in math. When a “b” quiz comes home for homework, that means there will likely be a quiz the next day. This means there will be frequent, low stakes math quizzes. We will have math groups this week, Wednesday, 11/7, 8:45-9:45. Note the change is due to our Winter Concert rehearsals.