April 11, 2013

April 11, 2013

Dear Fifth Grade Parents,

We have been working very hard this week ITBS testing in the mornings!  We will continue next week and try to finish towards the end of the week.

Math

Monday 4/15- Lesson 82, GCF Greatest Common Factor

Tuesday 4/16-Lesson 83, Properties of Geometric Solids

Wednesday 4/17- Lesson 84, Mean, Median, Mode, and Range

Thursday 4/18-Lesson 85, Converting Units of Capacity

Social Studies

The fifth graders will take Chapter 10 test on Tuesday 4/16. Students have completed their Interactive Notebook reading notes in class. I went over the notes and gave them the “correct” notes and they were instructed to make corrections if needed. They will be presenting six mini-metaphor skits in class this week. These skits are a wonderful way to learn and remember the six events that we have covered that led up to the Declaration of Independence.  They can also reread the lesson as well as do the on-line test. Next week we will begin Chapter 11, To Declare Independence or Not. In this Chapter students will perform a “mock” debate, Patriots vs. Loyalists.

Religion

We will be using this time to finish ITBS Testing. (Note this is a change.)

Science

Students will start a unit on motion and design. They will focus on the use of drawings in the design process.  Students will draw vehicles they build from K’Nex building pieces. In small groups they will use their visual and spatial perception skills to build a vehicle pictured in a technical drawing. Next students will focus on force and motion by conducting experiments to determine how applying a force to an object changes the motion of the object.

 Reading

This week 5th graders have been reading about Memory and the Brain through both realistic fiction and informational text. We’ve been discussing Author’s Purpose for writing as well as the use of paraphrasing vs. plagiarizing when reporting information. As a follow-up, students will be preparing a simple ‘Memory Box’ to share some memories with classmates. Each student will receive directions and a rubric for this activity.

Language Arts

This week students will continue to use the writing process to write descriptive sentences about their chosen character. Students used their character brainstorm sheet to complete ten to fifteen detailed sentences. In the next couple days and in to next week, students will be typing and reorganizing their sentences in to a complete descriptive paragraph. The process for the paragraph was modeled in class and was part of a mini-unit on the organization of writing.

This paragraph will be completed in class as ITBS testing continues. Students will revise their paragraph in class and I will have a one-on-one conference with each student to help them build skills within their writing. Students will not have a spelling test until March 23rd.

Have a great week!

Ms. Semandiris