Updates and announcements

Apologies for the late blog post. While I’d like to say I was Christmas baking all weekend, I was actually in bed sick through Monday. Though this was not ideal, I did get some great pictures of my cats playing nurse.

If your child does not have a block bag, please send one in on Wednesday. We need to empty desks over break for the cleaning crew to clean the carpets in our classroom. Students need a canvas grocery bag or something similar.

Tuesday and Wednesday are half days!

Our week in learning

The idiom of the week is “Read between the Lines”.

Roots will continue in the third quarter.

Spalding will continue in the third quarter.

We will do sentence diagramming wars in Grammar.

For literature, students will finish “Where the Red Fern Grows” and complete their final journal entry.

We are winding down this week in science! Students will be quizzed over the stages of mitosis on Monday. The remainder of the week will be focused on celebrations and reviewing knowledge from earlier in the unit.

This is a short and simple week in History. Students will present their state brochures, which are due Monday morning, to the class on Monday and Tuesday. Students were assigned this project on 12/4.

In math, we will finish up our very short unit on ratio with a quiz on Tuesday.

Updates and announcements

I was so excited to see some of you at the Winter Carnival on Saturday! It was nice to also see some of you selling candles and holiday goodies. If you are interested in a bowl cozy, let me know! They make great holiday gifts and I have plenty left over.

I will be out of the classroom this Wednesday for my eval writing day. I may be slow to respond to emails, so it may be best to email both me and Ms. Vaughn. Thank you to those who are helping out in our classroom that day!

Our winter celebration is on Wednesday, 12/18. Be on the lookout for a sign up genius from our wonderful class parents.

Our week in learning

Students will learn about the idiom “A penny saved is a penny earned.”

The roots test over #26-50 will be on 12/11. 

Students learned about the poem “The Snowstorm” on 11/13 and recite it on 12/11. We are giving extra time for this poem because it can be challenging. The poem does not have a rhyme scheme. It has been helpful for students in the past to listen to a recording while in the car or getting ready in the morning.

Here are some good recordings of “The Snowstorm”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yznm4hXXIMc 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_RnjUva5fI 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9jJr7IFgQo 

In Literature, students will continue reading “Where the Red Fern Grows”, ending the week with chapter 20. 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). As we get to those sad chapters at the end, our fifth graders start to feel some very big, sad emotions. 

In Grammar, students will construct their first persuasive essay using real facts from provided articles. Students will finish writing an essay to convince their parents that they either should or should not get a pet. Students will edit and revise their essays on Monday, the work on their final drafts, which will be due on Wednesday. Students will have ample time in class to work on their essay. Homework will be what students do not finish in class.  

On Wednesday, we will have a full day writing workshop where students will practice what is expected of them on the AZMerit-writing an entire 5 paragraph essay in one day. For this workshop day, students will conference with an adult throughout every step of the process. On Thursday and Friday, we will review the AZMerit rubric and they will score their own essays. This is a wonderful opportunity to show humility, as no fifth grade should score a perfect score in the middle of the year, as the rubric is for what students will need to do at the end of the year. Students will identify something they can do better for their next essay. 

Tutoring is CANCELLED on Monday, 12/16.

This week in Science, students will continue their study of cells. They will dive into prokaryotic cells on Monday, and on Tuesday they will be assessed on their knowledge of the different parts of plant cells. We will then begin studying the process of cell division. We will spend several days in class practicing identifying the different stages and what happens in the cell during each, and there will be a quiz over the stages on Monday December 16th. Because these quizzes are short, there will be no study guide. We will review which pages to review in their notebooks, and both quizzes will be partially open notes.

This week in History, students will present in groups regarding their assigned chapter in Unit 8: Feudal Japan. Presentations will occur on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday there will be no history due to an all-day writing workshop. On Thursday, students will work on a unit assessment for feudal Japan, which will be open notes. We will correct this together in class – no study guide was handed out, this is simply another learning opportunity to review all the material regarding feudal Japan. On Friday, students will be given another opportunity to work on their state brochures, which are due Monday, December 16^th. Students will have access to computers to complete research, if needed.

In math, students finish our unit on area and have the unit test on Tuesday. Starting Thursday, we will work through a speedy unit on Ratio. There are no more math groups dates for the rest of the quarter.

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).

Updates and announcements

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break! We were up in Flagstaff with my husband’s family. We weathered the storm coming back on Friday and relaxed with our cats for the rest of break.

As the semester draws to a close, Archway Arete teachers are hard at work drafting narrative evaluations for each of their students. This labor of love requires many hours of intentional reflection and to facilitate this process, our teachers are given one work day to focus on writing these evals. On Wednesday, December 11^th, I will be away from the classroom writing narrative evaluations. If you are interested in supporting our classroom during my absence, please email me. Thank you in advance! We are looking for a fingerprint cleared parent to cover lunch and recess (12:40-1:20), and possibly help with a reading group (12:10-12:40).

The Winter Carnival is this weekend! I hope to see you there! I’ll be selling some bowl cozies and possibly other quilted goods at one of the merchant booths.

Our week in learning

Students will learn about the idiom “Out of the frying pan and into the fire.”

The study guide for roots #25-50 is due on 12/4 and their test will be on 12/11. 

Students learned about the poem “The Snowstorm” on 11/13 and recite it on 12/11. We are giving extra time for this poem because it can be challenging. The poem does not have a rhyme scheme. It has been helpful for students in the past to listen to a recording while in the car or getting ready in the morning.

Here are some good recordings of “The Snowstorm”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yznm4hXXIMc 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_RnjUva5fI 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9jJr7IFgQo 

In Literature, students will continue reading “Where the Red Fern Grows”, ending the week with chapter 15. 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 construct their first persuasive essay using real facts from provided articles. Students will write convincing their parents that they either should or should not get a pet. We will analyze articles, cite sources, construct a sentence outline, and write their rough drafts this week. Students will have ample time in class to work on their essay. Homework will be what students do not finish in class. 

This week, students will continue learning about animal cells and their organelles. There will be a short quiz over the location and function of the organelles on Thursday, December 5th. Later in the week, students will begin learning about the structure and function of plant cells. Students may expect a quiz over plant cells on December 10th. 

We hope to see everyone at this week’s Science Fair on Wednesday from 6:00PM-7:00PM!

This week in History, students will learn about feudal Japan by completing a group project. This unit has 5 chapters, and the class will be split up into 5 groups. Each group will be assigned a chapter, and create a presentation to share with the class. Presentations will take place next Monday and Tuesday (December 9^th and 10^th). All work will be completed in class. On Wednesday, students will also individually be assigned one of the United States, and will create a brochure on that State to present in class. Students will have two class periods to work on this project (12/4 and 12/13), including an opportunity to do research on computers. The brochure is due on Monday, December 16^th, and presentations will take place throughout the last week of school (12/16-12/18).

In math, students continue our unit on area, surface area, and perimeter with practicing using ½ X base X height to find the area of a triangle, finding the area of a parallelogram (b X h), and total surface area of a 3-dimensional figure. There are no more math groups dates for the rest of the quarter.

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).