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”:
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 16th. 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).
