Dear Fifth Grade Parents,
I hope you are all doing well. I have included some reminders from the EFC in this newsletter about next week. I also wanted to say that our 5A class has worked hard this week. They make me laugh and smile each day.
I attended the winter Grace meeting yesterday and we had an amazing workshop on UDL – Universal Design for Learning. More specifically, we received a book called UDL NOW! A Teacher’s Guide to Applying Universal Design for Learning. It is very exciting that there is an Archdiocesan focus on UDL. They are offering many workshops for Grace Teacher Leaders as well as seminars that will be offered at our Archdiocesan Professional Development and Curriculum Day Conference 2024 on February 9th to all teachers as well as other classes.
Important message from Ms. Horton:
Dear Holy Rosary Families, We are excited to welcome a visiting team to our school next week on Monday – Wednesday as part of our six year accreditation renewal. Leading the visit to our school is the chair, visiting from San Diego. Six other teachers and leaders from our own Archdiocese will round out the team of seven, and their task will be to take a deep dive into the self-study that we spent two years writing, and to look at all aspects of our school including Academic Excellence, Catholic Identity, Operational Vitality, and Governance and Leadership. The result of this visit will be a six-year renewal of our accreditation status by the Western Catholic Education Association. You may remember taking a series of parent surveys as a part of this work way back in November 2022! During the visit they will observe classroom instruction and meet with many different constituent groups. I will share more about the work we’ve done as a school to set goals for the next six years after the visit is complete. During the visit next week, we ask all students to be in uniform all three days (no free dress please). Students with birthdays may take their free dress on Thursday or Friday next week. I also want to remind you of our noon dismissal on Wednesday next week. This noon dismissal is at the request of the chair of our visiting team, so the team is able to meet with the whole staff to discuss their findings Wednesday after school before the chair needs to fly back to San Diego.
Auction Announcement:
Auction procurement time is here. Please help us make our largest fundraising event a success! All families are required to donate a minimum of $225 in cash, experience or items to our auction. Additional information may be found at: https://holyrosaryws.org/giving/auction/.
Upcoming Dates:
Jan 24th – Noon Dismissal
Jan 26th – Gator Bowl
Jan 28th- Feb 3rd – Catholic Schools Week
Feb 9th – No School, Teacher-in-Service
Feb 15th – Incoming Kindergarten Testing
Feb 16th – Noon Dismissal
Feb 19th – No School, Presidents’ Day
The following is a curriculum update for the week of January 22 – 26th:
Religion
Next week we will move on to Chapter 15, the Sacraments of Healing. In this chapter we will learn about the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Anointing of the sick.
Second Step: Lesson 7, Disagreeing Respectfully
In this lesson we will be teaching the students the following skills:
Distinguish between respectful and disrespectful ways to disagree
Communicate their own perspectives
Demonstrate the skills for disagreeing respectfully
Math – Ms. Semandiris
Monday – Chapter 5, Lesson 4, Hands On: Adding Decimals Using Base Ten Blocks & Check My Progress Review
Tuesday – Chapter 5, Lesson 5, Hands On Adding Decimals Using Models
Wednesday – Chapter 5, Lesson 6, Adding Decimals
Thursday -Ch. 5, Lessons 1 – 3 Quiz (Check My Progress)
Friday – Finish Quiz, Aleks Practice
Math – Mr. Schreck
Chapter 6, Multiply & Divide Decimals
Monday: Lesson 6, Multiply Decimals by Powers of Ten
Tuesday Lesson 7, Problem Solving-Look for a Pattern
Wednesday: Lesson 8, Multiplication Properties
Thursday: Lesson 9, Estimate Quotients
Friday: Review Lessons 6-9
Math – Mrs. Heuer (5th)
Monday: *2.1 Fractions and Decimals
Tuesday: *2.2 Fractions and Percents
Wednesday: *2.3 Percents and Decimals
Thursday: *2.4 More with Percents
Friday: *ALEKS customized assignment reviewing the weekly learning
Science
Students begin a STEM unit by Project Lead the Way titled Ecosystems: Flow of Matter of Energy. Students will learn how matter and energy flow through an ecosystem. Students will also discover how a change in an ecosystem affects its balance.
Social Studies
Our Lesson 6 test was postponed to Friday, January 26th. Students should be studying for this test by following the study guide and “Reading Notes” which are on Google Classroom.
*Next week we will begin Lesson 7, Comparing the Colonies. In this lesson we will compare and contrast six early English colonies using a graphic organizer. Read about diverse historical perspectives from the 1600s. Then rank colonial belief statements and engage in respectful discussions.
ELA
Hello HRS families. Next week, we will continue our study of Wonder. On Monday and Tuesday, we will begin another Socratic Seminar, in which I give students an essential question about the novel, and they engage in a collaborative discussion about it. In these, students do most of the talking, as they build upon each other’s ideas. It’s a ton of fun, and the kids build their speaking and listening skills. Students can expect more chapters to read at home, and they should be adding quotes to their double-entry journal while reading. The minimum for section one is five entries, but I encourage students to add more. There are examples on Google Classroom, and a reminder below. Have a nice weekend!
Double-entry Journal: students find important quotes (left side), and write commentary (on the right side) about the quote. A quote can be anything written in the text, including dialogue. A good quote might show a theme, motif, a conflict, character traits, and more. In their commentary, students are practicing writing analysis, in which they explain why the quote is important. They can explain how it shows a character’s emotions, displays a motif, connects to a theme, etc… The commentary should be 2 two sentences (They can start with, This shows that… –or– In this quote, readers learn…). I’d like students to try not using words like “I” and “me.” Instead, they can say “the reader.” This creates the kind tone we’re looking for in literary analysis. Let me know if you have questions.