Updates and announcements

I hope everyone had a relaxing 3-day weekend! I spent mine finishing up a long-time quilting project (more out of procrastination than labor intensive), and am on to making bowl-fitted pot holders with my extra batting.

This week we start Lyceum. We have six different groups that will be working on everything from decoding to fluency to reading comprehension. Once we have our minds wrapped around this new intervention, we can ask for some parent volunteers in the second quarter to help out.

Our week in learning

Students will learn about the idiom “Eureka!”

Students will learn about the roots theos, deus, divinus, and homo on Wednesday. Students will be quizzed over these roots next Wednesday, plus a surprise one from a previous week. They should expect a similar quiz every week over the previous week’s roots. Students will also receive their Quarter 1 Roots Study Guide. This will be due on 9/25, and the test over the first 25 roots will be on 10/2.

Students will learned about the poem “Some Opposites” on Wednesday, 9/11, and recite it on Wednesday, 9/25.

In Literature, we will read through chapter 14 in “Voyage of the Dawn Treader”, working on vocabulary and summarizing every chapter. Students will also work through discussion questions in groups. 

In Grammar, students will do a short activity on descriptive writing. Students will practice showing, not telling. Students will also get to draw a mystical made-up creature, describe that creature, then have another student try to draw the creature from their description.

This week in science, we are diving into our study of chemistry. We will begin by studying what constitutes matter and elements. Students will then learn the basic structure of an atom as well as what happens when a chemical bond is formed. Students received their study guides on Friday and will have a small portion to do each night for homework. Study guides will be due on October 1st, and the unit test will be on October 3rd.

This week in History we will continue with Unit 3: The Renaissance. Students will learn about the cities of Rome and Venice, as well as the figures of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, and their role in the Renaissance. Students will also discuss the Popes and their role during this cultural shift in the West. We will finish on Friday by studying the artist, Leonardo da Vinci. There will be no U.S. Geography on Wednesday.

In math, students will finish working on our unit on Whole Numbers, focusing on dividing large numbers and practicing concepts learned in Units 1 and 2. Students will have their unit test on Thursday, 9/19, and start our large unit on Fractions on Friday. To keep work neat, students are encouraged to use graph paper to ensure their columns are accurate while dealing with large numbers. When a “test b” (multiplication test) is assigned for homework, it contains questions very similar to a quiz the following day. We take a lot of low-stakes math quizzes in fifth grade. All math workbook assignments are half of every type of problem. Please keep in mind that students may do test corrections on any math quiz for partial credit (fill in the blank sheets, not multiple choice homework sheets). Math groups will continue this Wednesday, 9/18, 8:35-9:45. Please let me know if you are able to attend and I’ll make sure to have enough keys.