December 17, 2015

December 17, 2015

 

Dear Fifth Grade Parents,

 

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!! Kαλά Χριστούγεννα & Ευτυχισμένο το νέο έτος!! (In Greek too!) Please Read the Important letter below:

 

To parents of students in grades 5-7,

 

The Chromebooks are in! We will have a distribution assembly on Tuesday, January 5th from 8:45 to 9:15 in the School Hall. Parents are encouraged to join us! Each student will be presented with an 11″ Chromebook for their use while at school and will be signing an Acceptable Use Policy agreement. The Chromebooks will not go home with students each day but will remain at school to be charged overnight. Chromebooks run on the Google Chrome OS, which provides students home access to their Google Drive, including Docs, Slides, and Sheets, along with all the websites we use at school. This will provide continuity between schoolwork and homework. The same Chromebook will accompany students each year to the next grade, and will be theirs to keep upon graduation from 8th grade!  We are extremely excited to bring this 1:1 opportunity for learning to our students. It will change the way our students learn in the classroom, and beyond. Please feel free to contact Mr. Barker with any specific questions about the Chromebooks. 

For more information on Chromebooks, visit https://www.google.com/chromebook/

 

Here is a curriculum update for the week of January 4-8, 2016!!!

 

Religion

Today we had a beautiful prayer service in the church to bless all the donations each class focused on this Advent season. As you know, the 5th graders collected for our Adopted Family. We were able to buy clothes for the two kids as well as toys. We also stuffed 4 stockings with fun items for the mom, dad, and the two boys. Students also did a great job collecting for Uganda as well as bring in canned food.

 

After the break we will be continuing on to Chapter 15, Forgiveness & Healing.

 

Math

January 4 – Ch. 5 Lesson 1, Rounding Decimals

January 5 – Ch. 5 Lesson 2, Estimate Sums and differences

January 6 – Ch. 5 Lesson 3, Problem Solving Estimate an Exact Answer

January 7 – Check My Progress

January 8 – Hands On – Subtract Decimals Using Base Tem Blocks

 

Reading

5th graders have really enjoyed reading Hatchet and participating in book clubs. We are in a race with the clock to finish by the end of the week. It’s going to be very close. If we don’t finish the book, students will be allowed to take the books home over the break to finish the story. I hope your family enjoys a wonderful break and a very Merry Christmas!

 

Language Arts

This week in Language Arts s learned about elements of figurative language including similes, metaphors, alliteration, and personification. Students wrote two Christmas pieces using figurative language in their writing. We will begin the new year focusing on opinion writing.

 

Science

Students will learn how to prepare well slides and apply their skills viewing three-dimensional objects under the microscope in preparation to examine single celled organisms.

 

Social Studies

Students have been working to complete the Ch. 7 Comparing the Colonies notes in their Interactive notebooks. In this Chapter we will take a closer look at the New England, Middle, and Southern Colonies. After the break students will be assigned a colony and work together in small groups to create a billboard advertisement to attract people from England and other colonies to settle in their colony. We will have six small groups representing six of the colonies.

 

Kαλά Χριστούγεννα & Ευτυχισμένο το νέο έτος!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!