April 15, 2010
Dear Fifth Grade Parents,
This week we have been ITBS testing. The students have been concentrating very well and trying their hardest on the tests. Please remember to get your camp forms and tuition for camp in this week. The Boomerang envelope will go home Friday this week because I forgot to remind the Boomerang people to it during study hall today. I had study hall and I have my class filled with students taking tests they had missed from before spring break. So, in the Boomerang envelope tomorrow please look for the “Camp Reminder Check List” . This will help you when getting your child ready for camp.
The following is a curriculum update for the following week.
No School Monday 4/19 due to Teacher In-service.
Math
Tuesday: Lesson 76, Multiplying Fractions
Wednesday: Lesson 77,Converting Units of Weight and Mass
Friday: Lesson 78, Exponents and Powers
Religion
We will begin Ch. 19, Answering God’s Call next week. In this Chapter students will learn about the Sacraments of Holy Orders and Matrimony.
Social Studies
Next week we will be moving on to Chapter 12, The Declaration of Independence. We will be identifying the major events that led to the creation of the Declaration of Independence. Students will be learning to paraphrase in simple language, key passages from the Declaration of Independence. We will also be creating short skits that capture important ideas for this document. The test for this lesson will be Wednesday 4/28.
Language Arts: We continue our poetry unit. Students are selecting poems to memorize and recite for the class. All poems should be chosen and approved by next Tuesday, April 20th. Students can present their poems anytime between now and May 1st. In class, we are composing Earth Day poems, including a variety of techniques and literary devices. Due to ITBS testing, there will be no spelling assignment or test this week.
Reading: This week 5th Graders are reading Stone Fox. Our focus this week is to enjoy a good story together, with a focus on creating high-quality written responses to comprehension questions. We should be finished with this book by the beginning of next week. Students continue to enjoy listening to the read-aloud story of Crash by Jerry Spinneli. This is part of the 5th grade Steps to Respect program and has generated a lot of good discussion.
Science
Students are learning about motion. Students will set up a system to pull the vehicles they have built from K’nex pieces. They will then compare and discuss how the motion of their vehicle changes when more or less weight on a string is used to pull them. Students will then draw conclusions about the effect of differently weighted strings on the motion of their string-pulled vehicles.
Have a great weekend!
Ms. Semandiris