Monday, November 4, 2019


Updates and announcements

I hope everyone had a festive Halloween season! We bought 3 bags of candy and only had 7 trick-or-treaters, hence the treats students got to bring home on Friday.

Our week in learning

Students will learn about the idiom “Lock, stock, and barrel.”

Students will learn about the roots rhinos, cornu, and derma. Students will be quizzed over these roots next Wednesday. Students should expect a similar quiz each week.

Students learned about the poem “The Road Not Taken” on 10/30 and recite it on 11/13.

In Literature, students will start reading “Where the Red Fern Grows”, ending the week with chapter 6. Students will journal every day we read in Literature about a given prompt. We are a spoiler-free school, so if students or older siblings know the end, please encourage your child to discover the text on their own (especially the ending). 

In Grammar, students will review the writing process. Students will learn about persuasive and propaganda techniques and the difference between fact and opinion. Students will also help the teacher write a persuasive essay, following the steps to the writing process.

This week in science, students will continue their study of classification. They will learn about the kingdoms Protista, Monera and Plantae (please note that the plant kingdom will be studied much more in depth in a later unit). Students should continue working throughout the week on their study guides, as they will be due on Friday. In science fair, students should begin trials of their experiments by Monday, November 4th. Their table and graph should be done by the 6th, and their results should be recorded by the 8th.

On Wednesday, students will be tested on the location of all 50 States. A word bank will be provided. This week we will begin our instruction on Unit 6: England in the Golden Age. We will begin with a discussion of Henry VIII, his predecessors, and his heirs. We will then examine the life and ruling of one of his daughter’s, Queen Elizabeth I. As we explore this period in the history of England, please utilize this student reader, and other free resources on Core Knowledge’s website: https://www.coreknowledge.org/free-resource/ckhg-unit-06-england-golden-age/student-reader/

In math, students will divide a fraction by a whole number, divide a whole number by a unit fraction, divide a fraction by a unit fraction, and divide a whole number by a fraction. Unit fractions have a denominator of 1. Here are the dates for math groups for the rest of the quarter:

11/6
11/13

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).