Updates and announcements

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Mine was perfectly uneventful.

Grammar tutoring has changed for the next few weeks. During the explorer’s essay, I will hold office hours on Mondays, 3:05-3:40, allowing students to come in and get extra help on their research, paragraph construction, editing, revising, etc.

Tutoring ends at 3:40 on Mondays and Tuesdays, and 2:40 on Wednesdays. Please do not enter the pickup line until 3:35 or 2:35 on either day. The traffic flow becomes congested and students who are ready to leave before tutoring ends are not able to.

Please check the updated “Important Dates” and “Wish List” sections. Cold season in December left us woefully low on tissues.

Our week in learning

Students will learn about the idiom “Steal his/her thunder.”

Students will learn about the roots cardo, porta, and porto. Students will be quizzed over these next week. Students should expect a similar quiz every week. 

Students will learn about the poem “The Arrow and the Song” on 1/15 and recite it on 1/29.

In Literature, students will read through chapter 9. There are periodic journal entries which are numbered, but do not happen after every chapter. Students will do journal entries 6-8 this week. Please send in the book as soon as possible. 

In Grammar, students will start formal research for their explorer’s essay. Students should use both web resources and have at least one book resource. We will be researching in class all week, so the sooner students have their book, the better. We will also be talking about what credible internet sources look like and how to use the internet responsibly. If you have any questions, please reach out to a teacher. If you have trouble finding a book resource, please reach out to Mrs. Lynch and we will work out a solution. 

In science, we will be continuing our study of botany. Study guides were passed out last week and will be due February 7th, and the test will be on February 11th. We will learn about the three types of seedless vascular plants, as well as the life cycles of mosses and ferns and the two types of vascular tissue inside plants. Please note that we will be studying how different types of plants reproduce, and will be using the appropriate scientific vocabulary.

This week in History, students will continue learning about the Age of Exploration, discussing the famous explorers Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan. We will learn about the Spanish Empire, including their treatment of Indians, as well as English explorers and the colonies they attempted to settle.

In math, students continue our unit on decimals. This week, students will focus on converting fractions to decimals multiplying and dividing decimals, multiplying and dividing decimals by powers of 10, and multiplying decimals by 2-digit numbers. Graph paper is extremely helpful for students to use to keep track of their decimals and place value. All students are allowed to use graph paper in class, on homework, and on tests. Students may request graph paper from their teachers. 

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).